The creation and functioning of intelligent robots coalition is impossible without the organization of an information interaction environment between them. To solve this problem, it is proposed to use the concept of cyberphysical framework, which involves the unification of physical and cyber (virtual) environments. Intelligent robots can interact with each of the environments. The paper proposes methodology of the cyber physical smart space creation for the intelligent robots’ coalition formation and functioning, based on the concept of the “blackboard” with the support of smart contracts over the blockchain technology. It provides a new approach to the distribution of sensory, computational, information-control and service tasks between intelligent robots, embedded devices, fixed service equipment, cloud computing and information resources.
Giovanni Ciatto, Roberta Calegari, Stefano Mariani, Enrico Denti · 5 authors
The blockchain is a novel approach to support distributed systems enabling a common, consistent view of a shared state among distributed nodes. There, smart contracts are computer programs that allow users to deploy arbitrary computations, in charge of automatically regulate state transitions and enforce properties. In this paper we speculate on how the blockchain and smart contracts could take advantage of a logic programming approach, and, complementarily, on how logic programming can benefit from the blockchain infrastructure. Accordingly, we discuss some possible research directions and open questions for future research.
Matthew N. O. Sadiku, Yonghui Wang, Suxia Cui, Sarhan M. Musa
Originally developed as the accounting method for the virtual currency Bitcoin, Blockchains are appearing in a variety of commercial applications today. Blockchain technology is a type of distributed digital ledger that uses encryption to make entries permanent and tamper-proof and can be programmed to record financial transactions. It is used for secure transfer of money, assets, and information via a computer network such as the Internet without requiring a third-party intermediary. It is now being adopted across financial and non-financial sectors. As a catalyst for change, the Blockchain technology is going to change the business world and financial matters in major ways. This paper provides an introduction to Blockchain.
Recently we presented a single-party cryptographic timestamping mechanism based on proof-of-sequential-work, which we proved secure in the universal composability framework [16]. This paper describes this construction and its security claims and uses it to construct a multi-party permissioned blockchain protocol and show that it achieves an immutability notion. Finally we discuss applications of this protocol, including unpermissioned blockchains, and how these may benefit.
The Swedish central bank has in 2018 launched an investigation into what a digital e-currency in Sweden would look like. Tendermint is being investigated for a potential implementation. Tendermint is a blockchain building environment which has its own consensus-algorithm, and its own solution to the Byzantine general's problem. The most relevant part is the scalability and reliability of Tendermint. To do this we tested out the software by sending transactions between our computers, and recorded its performance in the case of one node and two nodes. After a series of simulations, we then come to the conclusion that indeed Tendermint is a suitable software for a potential e-krona.
Over the years we have seen the colossal development of internet before our eyes. We have also witnessed the growth of Google, Facebook and many others. As a unique technology Bitcoin, also is being built on top of the internet. Bitcoin is now a new currency that people are starting to talk about, the money of the future. Bitcoin is also just a big experiment, with no guarantees and we might be wasting our time exploring its concepts and ideas. It is at the crossroads of technology, philosophy, politics and everything, exploring the ways and means of settling into the financial system. Bitcoin was created to provide an alternative to the banking system.This paper discusses about Bitcoin, its genesis, opportunities, risk and possibilities, regulation in India, price in India.
At least since the first Bitcoin futures were launched in December 2017, quantitative risk management on Bitcoin is no longer indispensable. This paper provides methodology and fundamental findings on approximations of intraday bitcoin returns through both symmetric and non-symmetric probability distributions. Different time frequencies of Bitcoin returns were analysed, and their non-Normal behaviour is shown. Their exchange rates versus the US Dollar, between April 14, 2017 until August 7, 2017, were considered by fitting parametric distributions to them. The nonnormality changes with the size of the timesteps, where standard heavy-tailed distributions give good fits of the data. These results are a first attempt to characterize intraday risk of the Bitcoin.
Bernhard Beckert, Mihai Herda, Michael Kirsten, Jonas Schiffl
Smart contracts are programs building on blockchain technology. They implement functionality that has been agreed on between the concerned parties on a network. However, their immutability and exposed position make them vulnerable to programming errors, leading to faulty behavior and possible exploits. Therefore, smart contracts demand a particularly thorough analysis, ideally using formal program verification. In this paper, we present an approach for the deductive verification of Hyperledger Fabric smart contracts using the KeY prover. We have extended KeY to handle Fabric ledger implementations; in particular, we have developed mechanisms for reasoning about serialization and object persistence. The feasibility of our approach is demonstrated with a small case study.
The present research engages with theoretical notions related to anarchy, currency systems and the intersubjectivity of money to develop a critical analysis of the individual attitudes and motivations relevant to the usage of Bitcoin for what concerns users in Rovereto, Italy. Through the use of ethnography, this research explores the reasons behind the spread of use of Bitcoin in the area of Rovereto and how those reasons may be connected to the way the Bitcoin network was designed and the socio-political set of values of its creators. New theoretical paradigms and a re-interpretation of old theoretical notions is proposed, in order to overcome the lack of literature and fieldwork material related to the subject of cryptocurrency users, for what concerns anthropological research. General reflections on the impact of new technologies such as cryptocurrencies on individuals are also produced, in connection with the material collected on the field in Rovereto.
Frank T. Lorne, Sriram Daram, Rutha Frantz, Naveen Kumar · 6 authors
Blockchain as a supporting platform for various cryptocurrencies is a technology that will not sell by itself, meaning that its success could not be built on technical efficiency of an algorithm alone. Understanding the real economic problems that the technology should aim at solving is a first step towards identifying the marketing beachheads for the technology. The branding of any blockchain can be categorized under an economic framework pointing to the types that have the potentials of being sustainable and disruptive. Selection of appropriate beachheads, verticals, services etc. should aim to promote the exchange of real goods and services, and/or the utilization the accounting/data advantage of the technology.
A fraudulent election is one of the biggest problems of the contemporaneity in most countries. Even the world’s largest democracies like India, United States, and Japan still suffer from a flawed electoral system. Vote rigging, hacking of the EVM (Electronic voting machine), election manipulation, and polling booth capturing are the major issues in the current voting system. This fallacious election process calls voting systems into question. With the current Cambridge Analytica scandal a hot topic around the world, it brings the validity of current voting systems into question. In this paper, we investigate the problems in the election voting systems and propose a novel voting model which can resolve these issues. We use a recently introduced blockchain based protocol called PHANTOM, which uses a directed acyclic graph of blocks, also known as blockDAG, to generalize the initial blockchain technology.
In this thesis we study whether cryptocurrencies should be included in a well-diversified portfolio or\nnot. Moreover, we try to determine if the capital asset pricing model holds for cryptocurrencies, like\nother investments assets. We conclude that cryptocurrencies should be a part of a well-diversified\nportfolio. We make this conclusion based on the results from a selection of the most used financial\nperformance metrics. We also conclude that the capital asset pricing model holds for\ncryptocurrencies. The data period we have looked at spans from 2010 and to the end of 2017,\nwhich is a relatively short time period and therefore a limitation in this study. Our results show that\ncryptocurrencies have been an excellent investment opportunity in the time period of our research.\nOutperforming the traditional assets, cryptocurrencies provides a better return considering the risk,\neither the systematic, unsystematic or whole risk.
This master thesis investigates Bitcoin liquidity in a market microstructure setting and has\nbeen divided into two parts. In the first part we examine whether there is any correlation\nbetween the results generated by three liquidity measurement techniques (The Rolls, ILLIQ\nand Coefficient of elasticity) and the actual market microstructure spread. We find that only\nILLIQ shows a moderate, statistically significant correlation with the spread.\nThe second part investigates whether selected primary and secondary variables affect the\nspread and whether their relationship is in line with existing financial research and our\nintuition. This part also examines whether there is any weekly cyclicality in Bitcoin liquidity,\nand if occurrence of events affects Bitcoin liquidity or not. We find that the primary and\nsecondary variables have a significant impact on the bid ask spread, and that the nature of the\nrelationship is in line with empirical research and our intuition. Interestingly, we find that\nvariables which are not directly related to the market microstructure have a relatively higher\nimpact on the spread in comparison to variables that are directly related. We also find that\nBitcoin liquidity does not have any cyclical, weekly trends and only a few of the events have\nany sort of significant impact on liquidity.
The fintech revolution, crowdfunding, and blockchain-based funding have dramatically reduced borrowing and lending transaction costs. Many have argued that ultimately this would lead to the complete disintermediation of financing for start-ups and SMEs. However, persistent asymmetric information and moral hazard problems have led to the creation of a new class of intermediaries that play a vital role in these new innovative financing methods. The authors review the new ecosystem built around initial coin offerings (ICOs), and in particular study the role of the ICO aggregators, and listing and rating portals. Using their hand-constructed database of all ICOs from inception in 2013 to September 2017, the authors find robust statistical confirmation that extensive coverage of a particular fundraising campaign in the ICO aggregators’ lists is associated with more successful token sales. However, ratings data seem and appear to vary considerably across different ratings websites and appears to be of mediocre quality. Investors should therefore treat such ratings with caution. <b>TOPICS:</b>Currency, information providers/credit ratings, risk management