Blockchain Papers

Hao Ding, Yizhou Liu, Xuefeng Piao, Huihui Song · 5 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Nicola Ruaro, Fabio Gritti, Rob McLaughlin, Ilya Grishchenko · 6 authors

In recent years, the Ethereum blockchain has seen significant growth and adoption.One of the key factors of its success is the possibility to run immutable programs known as smart contracts.Smart contracts allow for the automatic manipulation of digital assets and play a central role in the new decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.With the growth of DeFi, the interactions between smart contracts have become increasingly complex, enabling advanced financial protocols and applications.However, bugs in smart contract interactions are also a common cause of critical vulnerabilities that result in considerable financial losses.In this paper, we study and detect a type of cross-contract vulnerability known as a storage collision.A smart contract uses storage to persistently store its data on the blockchain.Typically, each contract has its own separate storage.However, it is also possible that two smart contracts share their storage (using a delegate call).Unfortunately, when these two contracts have different understandings of the types/semantics of their shared storage, a storage collision vulnerability can occur.This may lead to unexpected behavior such as denial of service (frozen funds), privilege escalation, and theft of financial assets.To detect and investigate the impact of storage collision vulnerabilities at scale, we propose CRUSH, a novel analysis system that discovers these flaws and synthesizes proof-of-concept exploits.We leverage CRUSH to perform a large-scale analysis of 14,237,696 smart contracts deployed on the Ethereum blockchain since its genesis.CRUSH identifies 14,891 potentially vulnerable contracts and automatically synthesizes an end-to-end exploit for 956 of them.Our system uncovers more than $6 million of novel, previously unreported potential financial damage caused by storage collision vulnerabilities.

Oleksandr Letychevskyi, Volodymyr Peschanenko, Maksym Poltoratskyi, Olga Konnova

Blockchain and smart contracts have transformed the modern world.They help ensure security and trust in transactions, revolutionize finance, logistics, healthcare, and many other industries.Smart contracts are based on software code, so they can contain errors that lead to incorrect execution of the contract.Since the area of use of smart contracts is often related to finance, the cost of such errors can be quite high.Also, errors in smart contracts that have already been sent to the network cannot be corrected due to the immutable nature of the blockchain.This problem can be solved through smart contract code analysis, which allows developers to check the correctness of their code and protect it from possible errors and vulnerabilities. This article proposes the use of insertional modeling to analyze smart contract code for the Algorand blockchain. This blockchain is one of the fastest, low-cost, carbon-negative blockchains that has advanced smart contract capabilities with low transaction fees. The language used to create smart contracts in Algorand is called Transaction Execution Approval Language (TEAL).In this work, we review existing tools for TEAL code verification and describe the capabilities that each of them provides.Among these tools are Graviton, Tealer, Algo Builder/runtime.In this paper we describe the features of the TEAL language, as well as give examples of writing a smart contract using it.We offer our method for verification created smart contract.It consists in using the algebraic approach, which is implemented in the scope of the insertion modeling system to verify the smart contract code.This approach will allow us to check the smart contract code for some state reachability and deadlocks.

Andrew Ebekozien, Clinton Aigbavboa, Samuel Adeniyi Adekunle, Mohamad Shaharudin Samsurijan · 7 authors

Abstract Studies have demonstrated that advanced technology, such as smart contract applications, can enhance both pre- and post-contract administration within the built environment sector. Smart contract technology, exemplifying blockchain technologies, has the potential to improve transparency, trust, and the security of data transactions within this sector. However, there is a dearth of academic literature concerning smart contract applications within the construction industries of developing countries, with a specific focus on Nigeria. Consequently, this study seeks to explore the relevance of smart contract technology and address the challenges impeding its adoption, offering strategies to mitigate the obstacles faced by smart contract applications. To investigate the stakeholders, this research conducted 14 virtual interview sessions to achieve data saturation. The interviewees encompassed project management practitioners, senior management personnel from construction companies, experts in construction dispute resolution, professionals in construction software, and representatives from government construction agencies. The data obtained from these interviews underwent thorough analysis employing a thematic approach. The study duly recognizes the significance of smart contract applications within the sector. Among the 12 identified barriers, issues such as identity theft and data leakage, communication and synchronization challenges, high computational expenses, lack of driving impetus, excessive electricity consumption, intricate implementation processes, absence of a universally applicable legal framework, and the lack of a localized legal framework were recurrent impediments affecting the adoption of smart contract applications within the sector. The study also delves into comprehensive measures to mitigate these barriers. In conclusion, this study critically evaluates the relevance of smart contract applications within the built environment, with a specific focus on promoting their usage. It may serve as a pioneering effort, especially within the context of Nigeria.

Aleksander Essex, Shin’ichiro Matsuo, Oksana Kulyk, Lewis Gudgeon · 9 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Karol Krajčo, Nikolai Siniak

In the last 10 years the blockchain technology has become mainstream research topic because of its features that offers, as: decentralized system, peer to peer (P2P) transaction, distributed consensus, and anonymity properties. Also, the blockchain technology overshadows regulatory problem and technical challenges and one of the opportunities that offers the blockchain technology is the 'smart contract'. A smart contract is a set of programs that can be much better from the traditional contracts for some features which are self-verifying, self-executing and tamper resistant. Also, smart contract with the integration of blockchain technology without which cannot function, is capable of doing a task in real time with very low cost and provide a greater degree of high security level. The aim of this paper is to explain the concept of the smart contract and its components and function. The paper is aimed at presenting the issue of smart contract, blockchain technology. The specific focus was on the application of smart contracts in real estate.

Muhammad Naveed, Shoaib Ali, Mariya Gubareva, Anis Omri

Using an event study approach, we examine how the forex, metal, energy, and cryptocurrency markets responded to the SVB collapse. We observe that the forex and metal markets respond positively on event and post-event days. In contrast, the cryptocurrency market reacts negatively but generates positive abnormal returns, indicating that investors may seek refuge in these purported safe-havens. However, the energy market responded adversely to the event, and the trend continued in the aftermath. The study advocates the need for monitoring and minimizing financial contagion risk due to the increased interconnectedness of the financial markets. Our findings highlight the perilous consequences of the SVB collapse, as it triggered contagious effects that may spread throughout the global financial markets. Therefore, investors and financial institutions must diversify their portfolios across various asset classes, which can help mitigate the risks of such events.

Ioannis Karamitsos, Maria Papadaki, Khalil Al-Hussaeni, Andreas Kanavos

In the aviation industry, the issuance of airside passes often encounters significant delays, posing logistical challenges and hindering crucial operations. This study delves into the potential of implementing blockchain technology, particularly smart contracts, to streamline and expedite airport security processes. Our analysis of data from leading UK airports reveals notable inefficiencies in the current airside pass issuance procedures, necessitating a transformative solution. We advocate for the integration of blockchain smart contracts as a pioneering approach to substantially reduce processing times. By automating execution based on predefined conditions, smart contracts have the potential to revolutionize airport security operations. This research signifies a groundbreaking advancement in the use of smart contracts within the airline industry, underscoring the substantial efficiency improvements that can be achieved. As we conclude this study, we foresee further research and practical implementations to unlock the full transformative impact of blockchain technology on aviation security.

Noha El-Sayad

The construction industry, characterized by its intricate processes and extensive stakeholder networks, stands at the cusp of a digital revolution. The adoption of blockchain-smart contract (BCSC) technology is at the heart of this transformation. This research delves deep into the BCSC within the construction arena to provide comprehensive insight into its probable applications, inherent challenges, and potential future trajectories. Leveraging the PRISMA analysis technique, a curated collection of relevant academic research articles was assembled, shedding light on the existing body of knowledge regarding the application of BCSC technology in construction. The authors developed an innovative user interface tool customized to automatically analyze Excel files exported from Scopus and Science Direct databases to ensure a rigorous approach. Preliminary findings highlight the existing gaps between the theoretical potential of blockchain and its tangible implementation in the construction domain. This study consolidates existing literature and emphasizes the critical domains and key parameters that future studies should address. The paper paves the way for innovative breakthroughs by pinpointing these gaps, pushing the boundaries of how blockchain and smart contracts might reshape the construction industry's future landscape.

K. Vijayakumar, Sameer Alani

Blockchain technology has revolutionized the way in which financial transactions are conducted. It has made possible secure financial management and digital transaction systems that are faster, more secure, and more reliable than traditional payment methods. Blockchain technology offers increased efficiency, trustworthiness and transparency to its users. The Blockchain works by creating a shared, distributed ledger of transactions. Each transaction is cryptographically secure and immutable, and all participating nodes have identical copies of the ledger. This ensures that transactions are traceable and secure, eliminating traditional problems such as double spending or fraudulent activities. Through the integration of Blockchain, the system provides transparency, prevents fraud, and ensures accountability. The research focuses on optimizing performance by reducing processing times and transaction costs, while maintaining scalability and flexibility. Additionally, the system facilitates auditing and compliance processes, while promoting financial inclusion by providing access to unbanked individuals. The proposed system’s contributions lie in its novel approach to secure financial management, utilizing Blockchain’s features to address the challenges of modern digital transactions.

Rupali Ahuja, Janhavi Khandelwal, K. Anjali

Decentralised Finance or DeFi has emerged as a transformative and disruptive force within the financial industry, offering innovative financial services powered by blockchain technology and smart contracts. This paper provides in-depth knowledge of DeFi, its evolution, applications, and their adoption. It identifies the opportunities brought about by DeFi, comparing it with the traditional CeFi (Centralized Financial) system, including financial inclusion, transparency, and programmable money. It highlights the potential of applications of DeFi for decentralized lending, decentralized exchanges, and yield farming as innovative and promising avenues within the DeFi space. A SWOT analysis comparing DeFi and CeFi was performed to delve into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with DeFi. This study explored the intricate challenges and inherent risks involved in the adoption of DeFi applications, offering insights into the hype, fear, and apprehensions among governments and the masses regarding its adoption. The findings offer a nuanced understanding of the current state of DeFi, providing valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and industry practitioners.

Oliver Bodemer

In the evolving landscape of the insurance industry, the integration of advanced technologies offers transformative potential. This research explores the amalgamation of Blockchain technology, specifically through the Hyperledger platform, with AI-enhanced smart contracts to address prevailing challenges in the insurance sector. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the efficacy of Hyperledger-based systems in streamlining insurance operations and the augmentation of smart contracts with AI algorithms for improved automation and decision-making were examined. Preliminary findings indicate that the combined application of Hyperledger and AI-driven smart contracts can significantly enhance transparency, reduce fraudulent claims, and optimize risk assessment processes. However, the implementation of these technologies also presents certain technical and regulatory challenges. This study provides a foundational understanding for stakeholders in the insurance domain, emphasizing the strategic advantages and potential pitfalls of embracing this technological convergence.

Subhasree Mukherjee, Nilofer Hussaini

The study investigates the relationship between the returns of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) and its categories; and fear indices during times of crisis. The fear indices considered are Global Fear Index (GFI), Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index (GEPU), Twitter based Economic Uncertainty Index (TEU), Global Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), Infectious Diseases Equity Market Volatility Index (IDEMV) and Crypto Volatility Index (CVI). Employing Granger Causality Test, Autoregressive Distributed Lag technique and ARDL Bounds test on data for the period starting 1st February 2020 and ending 28th February 2022, it is found that short run association exists between TEU, CVI and NFT returns. Further, GFI leads NFT Art returns while TEU leads NFT Metaverse returns by lag 5 and lag 2 respectively. No association between fear metrics and NFT Collectible, NFT Game and NFT utility is observed. No long run association in found between NFT returns and fear indices except TEU which influences NFT returns. It is concluded that NFT, NFT Art and NFT Metaverse returns have positive association to at least one fear index during times of turmoil, especially for the short run.

Oliver Bodemer

This scientific overview explores the application of blockchain technology and smart contracts in the insurance industry. It discusses their impact on various aspects such as claims management, underwriting, policy management, fraud prevention, and emerging trends. The benefits of automation, transparency, and efficiency in claims management are highlighted, along with examples of successful implementation. The potential of blockchain in enhancing underwriting processes and risk assessment through access to trusted data is explained. The advantages of transparent and auditable policy records, policy issuance, and enforcement through smart contracts are discussed. The role of blockchain in combating insurance fraud and its potential to improve trust and transparency are examined. The challenges of scalability, regulation, interoperability, and privacy are addressed, along with strategies for successful adoption. Lastly, the emerging trends of tokenization, parametric insurance, and peer-to-peer insurance are explored, envisioning a transformed insurance landscape driven by blockchain and smart contracts.

Sannidhi Agrawal

No abstaract

Xueyan Tang, Lingzhi Shi

When migrating smart contracts from one blockchain platform to another, there are potential security risks. This is because different blockchain platforms have different environments and characteristics for executing smart contracts. The focus of this paper is to study the security risks associated with the migration of smart contracts from Ethereum to Arbitrum. We collected relevant data and analyzed smart contract migration cases to explore the differences between Ethereum and Arbitrum in areas such as Arbitrum cross-chain messaging, block properties, contract address alias, and gas fees. From the 36 types of smart contract migration cases we identified, we selected four typical types of cases and summarized their security risks. The research shows that smart contracts deployed on Ethereum may face certain potential security risks during migration to Arbitrum, mainly due to issues inherent in public blockchain characteristics, such as outdated off-chain data obtained by the inactive sequencer, logic errors based on time, failed permission checks, and denial of service (DOS) attacks. To mitigate these security risks, we proposed avoidance methods and provided considerations for users and developers to ensure a secure migration process. It is worth noting that this study is the first to conduct an in-depth analysis of the secure migration of smart contracts from Ethereum to Arbitrum.

Fernando Richter Vidal, Naghmeh Ivaki, Nuno Laranjeiro

Supplementary Material refers to the paper "Vulnerability Detection for Smart Contracts: A Systematic Literature Review" and contains the following information: a) DataAnalysis.xls - An Excel file created for analysis (i.e., tables and graphics).

Gongfan Chen, Chuanni He, Simon M. Hsiang, Min Liu · 5 authors

Central project managers devote massive efforts to monitor, track, coordinate, and take actions to diagnose and prognose governed constraints and remove them to enable a reliable workflow.The blockchain-enabled smart contract can streamline the work process by predefining "intelligent" consensus to facilitate central managers' jobs.However, the inability of smart contracts to handle unexpected events under complicated environments posited challenges in realizing it automatically.This study aimed to develop adaptive mechanism to mediate production bottlenecks caused by constraints.First, the research identified the four main types of constraints and their levels of variability from a prefabricated project.Then, a simulation model was established to quantify the impacts of different constraints and determine the fair payment rules.Lastly, different constraint-bundled scenarios and execution policies were developed and encoded in the smart contracts for automated executions.Smart contracts can assist construction managers to motivate reliable production and minimize waste caused by bottlenecks in the system.

Imnatila Pongen, Pritee Ray

Remember internet boom of 1990s and how its usage changed the way we look at world? Blockchain technology (BT) is the Internet of present time. Studies highlighting ways to leverage the benefits of BT are being carried out aggressively and it's of keen interest for major industries and industrialists. Every new research in the area indicate various benefits of BT related to performance improvements. Therefore, to evaluate the enablers of blockchain adoption in smart contracts becomes essential and of great importance. For consumer driven economy like India, where implementation and adoption of BT has been sluggish, BT implementation can give strategic advantage to any industry, making it relevant to evaluate the feasibility and the importance of blockchain smart contracts in the electronic industry, which occupy a large share of the market. There are different enablers for BT adoption in different industries, and this study focuses on identifying and establishing the relationships between the enabler in the electronic supply chain. Eight enablers were considered after conducting a survey of the literature before applying the Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) technique to understand the complex relationships between the identified enablers. The result of the detailed analysis, highlighted traceability as the most significant enabler among others for BT-related smart contract adoption for the electronic industry. This result is of immense importance for managers in identifying and developing policies and strategies related to BT implementation for the firm.

Liuyang Zhao, Yezhou Sha, Kaiwen Zhang, Jiaxin Yang

Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies have attracted massive attention from both legal communities and businesses. Asset securitization is the procedure in which an issuer designs a financial instrument that is marketable by combining or merging different financial assets into one group. However, most securitization occurs with loans and other assets that generate receivables, such as consumer or business debt of various types. This article discusses the possible benefits of blockchain during the securitization process using the deep learning-based adaptive online intelligent framework (DLAOIF). The benefits can be significant, from reduced costs, time, and fraud risks to increased safety, trust, and accuracy. Tracking financial assets on a blockchain can reduce dependence on credit rating organizations and allow investors to monitor asset performance and the associated risk more carefully. It should improve investor confidence and increase secondary market interest.

Andrew Agapiou

The construction industry is one of the most critical sectors of the global economy, contributing significantly to economic growth and job creation [...]

Enas Qutieshat, Bassam Al-Tarawneh, Osamah Al Naimat

Contract theory is considered one of the legal theories most affected by technological development. Technology has become a challenge and a test of the extent to which the provisions of the law related to the contract on the basis whether such theory is able to respond to technical development. This paper deals with smart contracts in the light of the Jordanian civil law texts and the Jordanian electronic transactions law, to determine whether the current legal texts can recognize the legality of such contracts on the one hand and the ability of the Jordanian legal system to apply this type of contracts. It has been concluded that the smart contract cannot be considered a contract unless the basic pillars of any of the contracts stipulated in the civil law are available. The Jordanian Electronic Transactions Law until the moment of writing does not regulate smart contracts based on automated implementation of the terms of the contract without human intervention, as it covers only the stage of contract creation. In addition, the mechanism of creating and implementing this type of contract constitutes a legal challenge to most of the rules governing the contract in Jordanian law.

Tianyuan Hu, Jingyue Li, Bixin Li, André Storhaug

As smart contracts process digital assets, their security is essential for blockchain applications. Many approaches have been proposed to detect smart contract vulnerabilities. Studies show that few of the reported vulnerabilities are exploited and hypothesize that many of the reported vulnerabilities are false positives. However, no follow-up study is performed to confirm the hypothesis and understand why the reported vulnerabilities are not exploited. In this study, we first collect 136,969 unique real-world smart contracts and analyze them using four vulnerability detectors, namely Oyente, SmartCheck, Slither, and SolDetector. Then, we apply Strauss’ grounded theory approach to manually analyze the source code of the smart contracts reported as vulnerable to recognizing false positives and understand the reasons for false results. In addition, we analyze the transaction logs of the smart contracts reported as vulnerable to identifying and understanding their exploitations. Our results show that 75.37% of the 4,364 smart contracts reported as vulnerable are false positives, and eleven reasons are causing the false positives. After analyzing the 4,106,134 transaction logs of the contracts reported as vulnerable, we find that vulnerabilities of only 67 (0.015%) of the contracts have been exploited in history. We also identify six reasons for demotivating and preventing the attackers from exploiting the vulnerabilities. Our results reveal that state-of-the-art smart contract vulnerability detectors primarily treat the smart contracts as yet another application developed using Object Oriented (OO) languages when analyzing and reporting the smart contract vulnerabilities. Without considering the specific design principles of the Solidity programming language and the characteristics of smart contracts’ application scenarios and execution environments, many of the reported vulnerabilities are not exploitable or not cost-effective to be exploited by adversaries.

Feng Mi, Chen Zhao, Zongyu Wang, Sadaf MD Halim · 8 authors

With the increase of the adoption of blockchain technology in providing decentralized solutions to various problems, smart contracts have become more popular to the point that billions of US Dollars are currently exchanged every day through such technology. Meanwhile, various vulnerabilities in smart contracts have been exploited by attackers to steal cryptocurrencies worth millions of dollars. The automatic detection of smart contract vulnerabilities therefore is an essential research problem. Existing solutions to this problem particularly rely on human experts to define features or different rules to detect vulnerabilities. However, this often causes many vulnerabilities to be ignored, and they are inefficient in detecting new vulnerabilities. In this study, to overcome such challenges, we propose a framework to automatically detect vulnerabilities in smart contracts on the blockchain. More specifically, first, we utilize novel feature vector generation techniques from bytecode of smart contract as source code is rarely publicly available. These feature vectors are then analyzed using our innovative metric learning-based Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) to produce detection results. The framework’s predictions are further refined through a voting mechanism to achieve consensus. We conduct comprehensive experiments on large-scale benchmarks, and the quantitative results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach.