Blockchain Papers

Christian Cachin

No abstract is available for this record.

Kai Jia, Falin Zhang

This chapter explains the interactive relationship between blockchain technology and the corresponding policy responses of governments it has provoked. It reviews existing global governance and global political economy literatures on the implications of technology change. The chapter explores the origins of Bitcoin and the challenges it has brought for governance. Nearly a decade since its inception, the global popularity of Bitcoin reveals the increasingly established nature of the emergent technology. The extant literature largely ignores the regulation of Bitcoin in China. China has grown to be the largest Bitcoin market globally. Despite the existing problems and uncertainties in the future, China provides both the Global South and the Global North an alternative between two other polarized extremes of either liberalization or prohibition. Bitcoin is exposed to market risks and volatile speculation. Investors have flooded into the market and pumped up Bitcoin prices. The two common illegal uses of Bitcoin across jurisdictions are in digital black markets and for money laundering.

Moritz Hütten, Matthias Thiemann

This chapter examines how Bitcoin came to secure a place as money at the margins of the global monetary system by focusing on the possibly most controversial question surrounding Bitcoin. It examines the topic of theorizing money. The chapter discusses the initial positioning of Bitcoin against the dominant money game. It develops the original three phases that defined the evolution of Bitcoin as a money game based on evaluation of recent journalist, academic, and governmental publications. The chapter summarizes how the Bitcoin money game changed and shifted since its inception, and how this might affect other existing money games. Bitcoin was initially positioned as a clear criticism of the two-level money system consisting of central banks and commercial banks. The chapter examines the development of the Bitcoin money game over time to understand how Bitcoin could prevail despite starting off without any institutional underpinning or political backing.

Ying‐Ying Hsieh, Jean‐Philippe Vergne, Sha Wang

Blockchain technology proposes to create value by decentralizing the creation, verification, validation, and secure storage of economic transactions, both within and between organizations. The chapter provides deeper understanding of how these blockchain solutions would be operated and by whom. It focuses on decentralization as the key dimension by which organizational governance forms vary. The chapter utilizes theory on organizational and corporate governance to unpack how blockchain-based organizations operate. It examines the relationship between internal and external governance design features and cryptocurrency returns. Blockchain-based organizations such as cryptocurrencies compete with traditional economic institutions by proposing alternative forms of organizational governance. Demand for cryptocurrencies mainly stems from two sources: first, consumers and merchants using cryptocurrencies as a means of payment; and second, investors holding a cryptocurrency as an investment, hoping that the price will rise. Many cryptocurrencies were created from the open-source Bitcoin software code, and follow the same open-source development model.

Daivi Rodima‐Taylor, William W. Grimes

This chapter examines the emergence of the digital financial inclusion paradigm, including the role of new communicative technologies in facilitating inclusive innovation practices. It examines the “mobile money revolution” in East Africa, exploring in particular the central role of local practices of money management and user innovations in the success of that digital finance initiative. Building on the analysis of the impact of mobile money, the chapter considers emerging practices of person-to-person payments based on block-chain technologies in developing economies. It examines the conceptually novel approaches to sending and receiving migrant remittances made possible by the blockchain technology, which include new digital forms of money, novel payment infrastructures, and new types of remittance actors such as fintech start-ups and other non-bank financial service providers. The chapter demonstrates that the social meaning attached to actual financial practice helps to illuminate the broader impact of the digital financial technologies as they move through the material and human infrastructures.

Quinn DuPont

This chapter describes a short-lived experiment in organizational governance that attempted to utilize algorithmic authority through cryptocurrency and block-chain technologies to create a social and political world quite unlike anything we have seen before. It details the governance structures that were promised by the developers and community members involved in the making of The decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO), and in contrast, those that were observed in its discourses before, during, and after the “exploit.” The DAO was a decentralized, crowdfunded, direct-management organization and investment platform. In the original vision of decentralized autonomous organizations, as proposed by Vitalik Buterin, founder and member of the Ethereum Foundation, a DAO is a pseudo-legal organization run by an assemblage of human and “robot” participants. From the earliest days of The DAO, many community members acknowledged that the enormous complexity of decentralized and algorithmic governance required a new kind of experimental “science” to map the “uncharted territory” The DAO was entering.

Anastasia Mavridou, Áron Lászka

The adoption of blockchain-based distributed computation platforms is growing fast. Some of these platforms, such as Ethereum, provide support for implementing smart contracts, which are envisioned to have novel applications in a broad range of areas, including finance and Internet-of-Things. However, a significant number of smart contracts deployed in practice suffer from security vulnerabilities, which enable malicious users to steal assets from a contract or to cause damage. Vulnerabilities present a serious issue since contracts may handle financial assets of considerable value, and contract bugs are non-fixable by design. To help developers create more secure smart contracts, we introduce FSolidM, a framework rooted in rigorous semantics for designing con- tracts as Finite State Machines (FSM). We present a tool for creating FSM on an easy-to-use graphical interface and for automatically generating Ethereum contracts. Further, we introduce a set of design patterns, which we implement as plugins that developers can easily add to their contracts to enhance security and functionality.

Jian Wang, Qianggang Wang, Niancheng Zhou, Yuan Chi

The installed capacity of distributed generation (DG) based on renewable energy sources has increased continuously in power systems, and its market-oriented transaction is imperative. However, traditional transaction management based on centralized organizations has many disadvantages, such as high operation cost, low transparency, and potential risk of transaction data modification. Therefore, a decentralized electricity transaction mode for microgrids is proposed in this study based on blockchain and continuous double auction (CDA) mechanism. A buyer and seller initially complete the transaction matching in the CDA market. In view of the frequent price fluctuation in the CDA market, an adaptive aggressiveness strategy is used to adjust the quotation timely according to market changes. DG and consumer exchange digital certificate of power and expenditure on the blockchain system and the interests of consumers are then guaranteed by multi-signature when DG cannot generate power due to failure or other reasons. The digital certification of electricity assets is replaced by the sequence number with specific tags in the transaction script, and the size of digital certification can be adjusted according to transaction energy quantity. Finally, the feasibility of market mechanism through specific microgrid case and settlement process is also provided.

Anastasia Mavridou, Áron Lászka

The adoption of blockchain-based distributed computation platforms is growing\nfast. Some of these platforms, such as Ethereum, provide support for\nimplementing smart contracts, which are envisioned to have novel applications\nin a broad range of areas, including finance and Internet-of-Things. However, a\nsignificant number of smart contracts deployed in practice suffer from security\nvulnerabilities, which enable malicious users to steal assets from a contract\nor to cause damage. Vulnerabilities present a serious issue since contracts may\nhandle financial assets of considerable value, and contract bugs are\nnon-fixable by design. To help developers create more secure smart contracts,\nwe introduce FSolidM, a framework rooted in rigorous semantics for designing\ncon- tracts as Finite State Machines (FSM). We present a tool for creating FSM\non an easy-to-use graphical interface and for automatically generating Ethereum\ncontracts. Further, we introduce a set of design patterns, which we implement\nas plugins that developers can easily add to their contracts to enhance\nsecurity and functionality.\n

Jason Potts, Ellie Rennie, Jake Goldenfein

Abstract Drawing on economic transaction cost theory, this paper explores how blockchain and distributed ledger technology could shift the smart city agenda by altering transaction costs with implications for the coordination of infrastructures and resources. Like the smart city the crypto city utilizes data informatics, but can be coordinated through distributed rather than centralized systems. The data infrastructure of the crypto city can enable civil society to run local public goods and services, and facilitate economic and social entrepreneurship.

Andrea Pinna, Simona Ibba

Temporary work is an employment situation useful and suitable in all occasions in which business needs to adjust more easily and quickly to workload fluctuations or maintain staffing flexibility. Temporary workers play therefore an important role in many companies, but this kind of activity is subject to a special form of legal protections and many aspects and risks must be taken into account both employers and employees. In this work we propose a blockchain-based system that aims to ensure respect for the rights for all actors involved in a temporary employment, in order to provide employees with the fair and legal remuneration (including taxes) of work performances and a protection in the case employer becomes insolvent. At the same time, our system wants to assist the employer in processing contracts with a fully automated and fast procedure. To resolve these problems we propose the D-ES (Decentralized Employment System). We first model the employment relationship as a state system. Then we describe the enabling technology that makes us able to realize the D-ES. In facts, we propose the implementation of a DLT (Decentralized Ledger Technology) based system, consisting in a blockchain system and of a web-based environment. Thanks the decentralized application platforms that makes us able to develop smart contracts, we define a discrete event control system that works inside the blockchain. In addition, we discuss the temporary work in agriculture as a interesting case of study.

Avi Garg

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence systems can be justified by the success in the field of machine learning. This is due to increase in knowledge (data) which leads to increase in intelligence. Similarly, the blockchain has a power to transform the artificial intelligence systems. The blockchain can be defined as a peer-to-peer transaction database which maintains the integrity of information through the distributed open ledger. It is a decentralized way to store value transactions across the nodes in the network. Every node in the network has access to the ledger. The blockchain has a wide range of applications including digital currency or crypto-currencies, smart assets, contracts, voting, etc. When it comes to artificial intelligence, the smart contract can be used to create an artificial intelligence system or it can be helpful in reaching a consensus during a dilemma through voting. A peer-to-peer model training can also be implemented using a blockchain network. The blockchain database can be helpful in improving the quantity and quality of data.

Ravi Kiran Raman, Lav R. Varshney

Blockchain uses the idea of storing transaction data in the form of a distributed ledger wherein each node in the network stores a current copy of the sequence of transactions in the form of a hash chain. This requirement of storing the entire ledger incurs a high storage cost that grows undesirably large for high transaction rates and large networks. In this work we use the ideas of secret key sharing, private key encryption, and distributed storage to design a coding scheme such that each node stores only a part of the entire transaction thereby reducing the storage cost to a fraction of its original cost. When further using dynamic zone allocation, we show the coding scheme can also improve the integrity of the transaction data in the network over current schemes. Further, block validation (bitcoin mining) consumes a significant amount of energy as it is necessary to determine a hash value satisfying a specific set of constraints; we show that using dynamic distributed storage reduces these energy costs.

Zhen Hong, Zehua Wang, Wei Cai, Victor C. M. Leung

Device-to-device (D2D) communication is becoming an increasingly important technology in future networks with the climbing demand for local services. For instance, resource sharing in the D2D network features ubiquitous availability, flexibility, low latency and low cost. However, these features also bring along challenges when building a satisfactory resource sharing system in the D2D network. Specifically, user mobility is one of the top concerns for designing a cooperative D2D computational resource sharing system since mutual communication may not be stably available due to user mobility. A previous endeavour has demonstrated and proven how connectivity can be incorporated into cooperative task scheduling among users in the D2D network to effectively lower average task execution time. There are doubts about whether this type of task scheduling scheme, though effective, presents fairness among users. In other words, it can be unfair for users who contribute many computational resources while receiving little when in need. In this paper, we propose a novel blockchain-based credit system that can be incorporated into the connectivity-aware task scheduling scheme to enforce fairness among users in the D2D network. Users’ computational task cooperation will be recorded on the public blockchain ledger in the system as transactions, and each user’s credit balance can be easily accessible from the ledger. A supernode at the base station is responsible for scheduling cooperative computational tasks based on user mobility and user credit balance. We investigated the performance of the credit system, and simulation results showed that with a minor sacrifice of average task execution time, the level of fairness can obtain a major enhancement.

Pedro Jorge Melgo Vieira

No abstract is available for this record.

James Nicholson

This article considers Bitcoin as a system of exchange, and the block chain technology it is built on, in the context of supporting developing nations. If integrated correctly Bitcoin could have far reaching applications, from tackling corruption to empowering women. This article found Bitcoin to be a feasible option, with support from real world applications and global endorsement from users. The discussion is then applied in the context of corruption as it puts forward this emerging technology as an alternative to traditional centralised fiscal systems. The article posits that public libraries could be potential facilitators and a crucial component of this integration.

Zehui Xiong, Yang Zhang, Dusit Niyato, Ping Wang · 5 authors

Blockchain, as the backbone technology of the current popular Bitcoin digital currency, has become a promising decentralized approach for resource and transaction management. Although blockchain has been widely adopted in many applications, e.g., finance, healthcare, and logistics, its application in mobile environments is still limited. This is due to the fact that blockchain users need to solve preset proof-of-work puzzles to add new transactions to the blockchain. Solving the proof-of-work, however, consumes substantial resources in terms of CPU time and energy, which is not suitable for resource-limited mobile devices. To facilitate blockchain applications in future mobile Internet of Things systems, multiple access mobile edge computing appears to be an auspicious option to solve the proof-of-work puzzles for mobile users. We first introduce a novel concept of edge computing for mobile blockchain. Then, we introduce an economic approach for edge computing resource management. Moreover, a demonstrative prototype of mobile edge computing enabled blockchain systems is presented with experimental results to justify the proposed concept.

Zehui Xiong, Yang Zhang, Dusit Niyato, Ping Wang · 5 authors

Blockchain, as the backbone technology of the current popular Bitcoin digital currency, has become a promising decentralized data management framework. Although blockchain has been widely adopted in many applications (e.g., finance, healthcare, and logistics), its application in mobile services is still limited. This is due to the fact that blockchain users need to solve preset proof-of-work puzzles to add new data (i.e., a block) to the blockchain. Solving the proof of work, however, consumes substantial resources in terms of CPU time and energy, which is not suitable for resource-limited mobile devices. To facilitate blockchain applications in future mobile Internet of Things systems, multiple access mobile edge computing appears to be an auspicious solution to solve the proof-of-work puzzles for mobile users. We first introduce a novel concept of edge computing for mobile blockchain. Then we introduce an economic approach for edge computing resource management. Moreover, a prototype of mobile edge computing enabled blockchain systems is presented with experimental results to justify the proposed concept.

Roman Beck, Michel Avital, Matti Rossi, Jason Bennett Thatcher

No abstract is available for this record.

Thomas F Heston

Blockchain technology can be utilized to improve gun control without changing existing laws. Firearm related mortality is at epidemic levels in the United States and not only has a significant impact upon public health, it also creates a large financial burden. Suicide is the most common way guns kill. Through better gun tracking and improved screening of high risk individuals, this technological advance in distributed ledger technology will improve background checks on individuals and tracing of guns used in crimes.

Thomas F Heston

Healthcare complexity and costs can be decreased through the application of blockchain technology to medical records and insurance companies. Estonia has taken a leadership role in blockchain based services both in the commercial sector and in government. The Estonian government’s innovation strategy was to create GovTech partnerships to implement blockchain based technologies throughout the country, and become a global leader in the technology. Starting in 2011, just 3 years after Satoshi Nakamoto published the first description of distributed ledgers and blockchain technology, the Estonian Government started partnering with the private technology startup company Guardtime to use blockchains to secure public and internal records. Then in 2016, Estonia once again reinforced its global leadership in blockchain technology when it announced it would use blockchain technology to secure the health records of over a million citizens. Estonia’s systematic method of applying blockchain technologies through GovTech partnerships demnostrates how innovation is a process. Estonia also identified early the value of the blockchain as a disruptive platform innovation. The application of blockchain technology to healthcare is a radical innovation given that nearly all previous applications have been in the financial and legal sectors.

Brian M. Till, Alexander W. Peters, Salim Afshar, John G. Meara

Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies could remake global health financing and usher in an era global health equity and universal health coverage. We outline and provide examples for at least four important ways in which this potential disruption of traditional global health funding mechanisms could occur: universal access to financing through direct transactions without third parties; novel new multilateral financing mechanisms; increased security and reduced fraud and corruption; and the opportunity for open markets for healthcare data that drive discovery and innovation. We see these issues as a paramount to the delivery of healthcare worldwide and relevant for payers and providers of healthcare at state, national and global levels; for government and non-governmental organisations; and for global aid organisations, including the WHO, International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group.

Shehar Bano, Alberto Sonnino, Mustafa Al-Bassam, Sarah Azouvi · 7 authors

The blockchain initially gained traction in 2008 as the technology underlying bitcoin, but now has been employed in a diverse range of applications and created a global market worth over $150B as of 2017. What distinguishes blockchains from traditional distributed databases is the ability to operate in a decentralized setting without relying on a trusted third party. As such their core technical component is consensus: how to reach agreement among a group of nodes. This has been extensively studied already in the distributed systems community for closed systems, but its application to open blockchains has revitalized the field and led to a plethora of new designs. The inherent complexity of consensus protocols and their rapid and dramatic evolution makes it hard to contextualize the design landscape. We address this challenge by conducting a systematic and comprehensive study of blockchain consensus protocols. After first discussing key themes in classical consensus protocols, we describe: first protocols based on proof-of-work (PoW), second proof-of-X (PoX) protocols that replace PoW with more energy-efficient alternatives, and third hybrid protocols that are compositions or variations of classical consensus protocols. We develop a framework to evaluate their performance, security and design properties, and use it to systematize key themes in the protocol categories described above. This evaluation leads us to identify research gaps and challenges for the community to consider in future research endeavours.

Jakub J. Szczerbowski

Smart contracts are technically defined as an event-driven programs, with state, that run on a distributed, decentralized, shared and replicated ledger (blockchain) and that can take custody over and transfer assets on the ledger. This new invention enables declarations of will to be expressed as self-executing computer code. The fact that smart contracts can transfer assets without the need for judicial system creates many questions about their place in the civil law. Also, it raises a question about their legality. This paper explores some basic concepts related to smart contracts and tries to set boundaries to their legality in the framework of civil law in scope of form and interpretation.