# Blockchain Inefficiency in the Bitcoin Peers Network

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.01414 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.01414/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 5 Apr 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Are Whitepaper Claims Reflected in Market Structure? A Contamination-Aware Pipeline and a Power-Limited Null](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.20336/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We investigate Bitcoin network monitoring the dynamics of blocks and transactions. We unveil that 43% of the transactions are still not included in the Blockchain after 1h from the first time they were seen in the network and 20% of the transactions are still not included in the Blockchain after 30 days, revealing therefore great inefficiency in the Bitcoin system. However, we observe that most of these `forgotten' transactions have low values and in terms of transferred value the system is less inefficient with 93% of the transactions value being included into the Blockchain within 3h. The fact that a sizeable fraction of transactions is not processed timely casts serious doubts on the usability of the Bitcoin Blockchain for reliable time-stamping purposes and calls for a debate about the right systems of incentives which a peer-to-peer unintermediated system should introduce to promote efficient transaction recording.