prevalence, the price did not exceed a few cents. Bitcoin experienced significant changes in the price a
year after the network's launch, with the appearance of the first cryptocurrency exchange – Mt.Gox.
And already in early 2011, the cost of the first cryptocurrency crossed the mark of 1 US dollar.
Over time, Bitcoin has become widespread, and since 2012, more and more retailers have started
implementing cryptocurrency payments as an alternative payment method. At the end of 2013, the price
of 1 BTC crossed the 1,000$ mark for the first time, thanks to the popularization of Bitcoin in China,
the opening of new exchanges and the beginning of cryptocurrency mining on an industrial scale.
The cryptocurrency market has experienced many ups and downs in its history. In the beginning,
the cryptocurrency industry was subjected to numerous attacks that significantly affected pricing. So,
in 2014, due to the lack of a proper security system and proper management, the most popular exchange
at that time, Mt.Gox, filed for bankruptcy due to the theft of about 850,000 BTC. This is the most
significant cryptocurrency theft in history. Users are still trying to get their funds back today. After
these events, the price for 1 Bitcoin dropped to 580$ and continued its prolonged fall for almost two
years to 315$. In early 2017, the price of Bitcoin returned to 1,000$. The emergence and development
of new projects, such as Litecoin, Ripple, Ethereum and others, the boom of the so-called initial coin
offering (English ICO – initial coin offering) - a form of attracting initial investment in a project similar
to the initial public offer of shares on the stock market, contributed to another rapid growth in the
capitalization of the cryptocurrency market. Over the years, interest in cryptocurrencies has grown not
only among ordinary users but also among financial institutions worldwide. A significant event was
introducing Bitcoin futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which made it possible to
attract traders from traditional stock and Forex markets to the cryptocurrency market and significantly
increase trading volumes. In December 2017, the cryptocurrency market's capitalization reached a peak,
and the price for 1 Bitcoin reached almost 20,000$ – its historical maximum [11]. Today, more and
more countries are trying to legally regulate and legalize working with cryptocurrencies and their legal
status, and financial institutions from different parts of the world are developing and implementing
systems that would enable ordinary users to invest in cryptocurrencies and use them. The emergence of
hundreds of cryptocurrency exchanges, margin trading, futures, derivatives and other trading
instruments indicates an increase in public interest in cryptocurrencies. In recent years, there has been
a correlation with stock indexes of securities, which means the arrival of investors and traders from
traditional markets. The cryptocurrency market's capitalization as of the end of April 2020 is about 265
billion US dollars [12]. Projects of state-owned digital currencies are emerging, and testing of the
national cryptocurrency has even begun in China, which indicates the inevitable transformation of the
global economic system using digital money.
2.3. Arbitration. Features of Arbitration in the cryptocurrency market
Eliminating the price difference with profit extraction by performing a specific sequence of actions
that start and end with the same asset, which, if completed, leads to its increase at the end of this
sequence, is called arbitrage. For example, if we buy share A for 10$ on exchange X and sell it on
exchange Y for.10.30$, we will get 0.30$ in profit, excluding commissions [13].
The concept of arbitrage is not new, and various types of price discrepancies exist in all financial
markets, including stock exchanges and currency markets. This trading principle has been used for
many years by banks and other financial institutions around the world. For example, currency arbitrage
involves buying and selling currency pairs from different brokers to take advantage of the price
difference to make a profit [14]. The cryptocurrency market is no exception to Arbitration, where these
discrepancies are even more significant compared to traditional markets. Today, there are about 4,000
cryptocurrencies. A side effect of this was a similar increase in the number of cryptocurrency
exchanges. Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Bitfinex, Bittrex are just a few of the many popular businesses
that exist. Low level of state regulation, decentralization, a large number of speculators seeking to make
money, high volatility – all these factors create difficult conditions for the existence of a single price
and make arbitration in the cryptocurrency market particularly attractive [15].
Arbitrage in the cryptocurrency market almost entirely works on the same principles as in traditional
markets, but with a different asset. Significant price discrepancies between exchanges, on a large scale,
often occur against the background of political instability. So, in August 2019, in Argentina, against the