A Literature Review of Bitcoin Network Infrastructure, Methodology, and Challenges^*

Cryptocurrency has become a significant business stream in recent years for investors worldwide. Through a giant decentralized bitcoin network, cryptocurrency solutions have been extended to world investors over the internet. Understanding the underlying infrastructure of the bitcoin network is essential for internet users to realize the business environment for their investment and for researchers to improve the provisioning of cryptocurrency solutions. This paper provides a literature review to illustrate the primary methodology of bitcoin networks, underlying infrastructure, and the significant technical challenges and security issues. We describe the blockchain network and its components and structure. We also discuss the bitcoin transaction handling over the blockchain networks and the cryptographic techniques for securing the blockchain networks and cryptocurrency solutions.