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Building Trust Takes Time: Limits to Arbitrage for Blockchain-Based Assets

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  • Nikolaus Hautsch
  • Christoph Scheuch
  • Stefan Voigt

Abstract

A blockchain replaces central counterparties with time-consuming consensus protocols to record the transfer of ownership. This settlement latency slows cross-exchange trading, exposing arbitrageurs to price risk. Off-chain settlement, instead, exposes arbitrageurs to costly default risk. We show with Bitcoin network and order book data that cross-exchange price differences coincide with periods of high settlement latency, asset flows chase arbitrage opportunities, and price differences across exchanges with low default risk are smaller. Blockchain-based trading thus faces a dilemma: Reliable consensus protocols require time-consuming settlement latency, leading to arbitrage limits. Circumventing such arbitrage costs is possible only by reinstalling trusted intermediation, which mitigates default risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolaus Hautsch & Christoph Scheuch & Stefan Voigt, 2018. "Building Trust Takes Time: Limits to Arbitrage for Blockchain-Based Assets," Papers 1812.00595, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1812.00595
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Divakaruni, Anantha & Zimmerman, Peter, 2023. "The Lightning Network: Turning Bitcoin into money," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    3. Chen, Meichen & Qin, Cong & Zhang, Xiaoyu, 2022. "Cryptocurrency price discrepancies under uncertainty: Evidence from COVID-19 and lockdown nexus," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    4. Brauneis, Alexander & Mestel, Roland & Riordan, Ryan & Theissen, Erik, 2022. "Bitcoin unchained: Determinants of cryptocurrency exchange liquidity," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 106-122.

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