The digital economy and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) are developing rapidly into our business and private life. The technology enables a way to secure decentralized datasets without involvement of third parties or intermediates in a secure, auditable and incorruptible way. Storing data on worldwide peer-to-peer networks makes these applications difficult to regulate as they are not residing in a specific area of influence of any given regulation or jurisdiction. Blockchain applications based on DLT offer an extensive level of anonymity to their stakeholders. In future artificial intelligence could start to optimize the applications and trigger decisions automatically which will become a major challenge for competition and anti-trust regulators. Based on the Bitcoin technology we will see that there are fair possibilities to regulate the ledgers indirectly through existing legal and regulatory systems. Also, strong self-regulation will play a part to make these technologies widely acceptable. Capacity building has to be emphasized to keep the asymmetry of information between regulators, industry and consumer as small as possible. Some scholars already claim that blockchains have already started to create a supranational economy in which the classical idea of a legal person is obsolete whereas the supranational law is not really designed to address these new developments yet.
Today’s cities face numerous challenges due to climate change and urbanization. The concept of a smart city aims to help cities to address these challenges by adapting modern information and communication technology. Smart mobility and transportation form one important aspect of smart cities. Inefficient mobility in cities can lead to problems such as traffic congestion, which results in frustration for residents and a decrease in the quality of life. Against the backdrop of global warming, cities also strive to reduce CO2 emissions, an attempt which requires sustainable and novel mobility concepts. Blockchain is a current technology, said to have huge potential, that is being investigated for application in many facets of smart cities. In the context of smart mobility, blockchain can be used for transactions relating to ridesharing and electric charging, handling of interactions of platoon members, or serving as a foundation for communication between vehicles. Although initial research about this topic exists, it is distributed among different use-cases and applications. This article conducts a systematic literature review to analyze blockchain’s role in mobility and transportation in smart cities, and its potential to increase efficiency in these areas. With this review, we aim to consolidate and summarize the current knowledge about this topic. As a first result, we present the findings from our literature review, which can be divided into five categories of use-cases. We also present a platform for further research about this emerging topic by identifying promising future research avenues. For this purpose, we derive a future research agenda based on our findings.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have garnered remarkable investor attention recently, with some NFTs securing selling prices that may have seemed unthinkable for a non-fungible virtual asset. This raises fascinating questions about “value” and “scarcity” with respect to blockchain technology, through a prism of non-fungibility of a digital asset, and this paper aims to draw attention to these questions insofar as they may shape an alternative space of blockchain development and exchange going forward. We find that NFT submarkets are cointegrated and feature various causal short-run connections between them. The success or adoption of younger NFT projects is influenced by that of more established markets. At the same time, the success of newer markets has an impact on the more established projects. The results contribute to the overall understanding of the NFT phenomenon and suggest that NFT markets are immature or even inefficient. This article will tackle these questions from a UK perspective, specifically looking at cases from England and Wales and Scotland, while also covering a few relevant CJEU decisions. This is a relatively recent technology, which will require a lengthier technical explanation to analyse the legal issues that are raised. In some instances, the public perception will be dealt with as well, as it has become evident that there is considerable misunderstanding not only about what an NFT really is, but about the ownership and copyright issues that surround the technology. While NFTs are not entirely related to copyright, and in some way they’re trying to bypass legal transactions in favour of technical solutions, this paper will concentrate on the copyright questions, but it will also tackle some of the emerging issues about the technology. A quick note about balance. This work will take a generally neutral approach to the study of NFTs, but this is a subject that is not devoid of controversy. There have been concerns raised about the viability of this model from various perspectives, but it is not the remit of the work to tackle these, and the approach will be to view non-fungible tokens at face value. The concerns range from the environmental cost of running blockchain technology,9 to the use of tokens for money laundering,10 to the existence of often crippling transaction fees that could make it difficult for artists to profit from their work.11 It is important to highlight these here, although they will not be the subject of further analysis.
Digital transformation of Collaborative Enterprise (CE), both in terms of planning and implementation, relies on new business models and innovative technologies. One of such technologies is Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) which deploys a decentralised approach requiring no need for intermediaries, thereby facilitating decentralised enterprise operations. Accordingly, this article provides a systematic review and theoretical background of the current state and applications of DLTs within CEs by exploring how this disruptive technology can digitally transform CE practices. Grounded on the review of existing literature, a comprehensive characteristics, application, governance, stakeholders, and emerging security threats faced during DLT adoption and mitigation strategies are presented. More importantly, a model is proposed based on the factors that inhibit DLT adoption in CE. Findings from this study provide implications to support smart digital transition in CE for smart enterprise operations.
Distributed Ledger Technologies provide a mechanism to achieve ordering among transactions that are scattered on multiple participants with no prerequisite trust relations. This mechanism is essentially based on the idea of new transactions referencing older ones in a chain structure. Recently, DAG-type Distributed Ledgers that are based on directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) were proposed to increase the system scalability through sacrificing the total order of transactions. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model to study the process that governs the addition of new transactions to the DAG-type Distributed Ledger. We propose a simple model for DAG-type Distributed Ledgers that are obtained from a recursive Young-age Preferential Attachment scheme, i.e. new connections are made preferably to transactions that have not been in the system for very long. We determine the asymptotic degree structure of the resulting graph and show that a forward component of linear size arises if the edge density is chosen sufficiently large in relation to the `young-age preference' that tunes how quickly old transactions become unattractive.
While trade finance has been recognized as a key enabler in international trade, there is a persistent gap between supply and demand. This gap threatens to widen after the shocks suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased risks percep- tion and decreased credit appetite. As a parallel phenomenon, distributed ledger technology (DLT), aka blockchain, has given birth to the decentralised finance (DeFi) paradigm, promising to revolutionize banking and the whole financial sector. This paper enquires whether a DeFi-based business model could address the trade finance gap problematic under the context and challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in relation to SMEs located in developing and least developed countries. To this end, it designs and presents a DeFi trade finance business model, showing how it could address the reasons behind the trade finance gap, while developing at the same time a broader meaning of the DeFi concept itself
The emergence of Intelligent Connected Vehicles (ICVs) shows great potential for future intelligent traffic systems, enhancing both traffic safety and road efficiency. However, the ICVs relying on data driven perception and driving models face many challenges, including the lack of comprehensive knowledge to deal with complicated driving context. In this paper, we are motivated to investigate cooperative knowledge sharing for ICVs. We propose a secure and efficient directed acyclic graph (DAG) blockchain based knowledge sharing framework, aiming to cater for the micro-transaction based vehicular networks. The framework can realize both local and cross-regional knowledge sharing. Then, the framework is applied to autonomous driving applications, wherein machine learning based models for autonomous driving control can be shared. A lightweight tip selection algorithm (TSA) is proposed for the DAG based knowledge sharing framework to achieve consensus and identity verification for cross-regional vehicles. To enhance model accuracy as well as minimizing bandwidth consumption, an adaptive asynchronous distributed learning (ADL) based scheme is proposed for model uploading and downloading. Experiment results show that the blockchain based knowledge sharing is secure, and it can resist attacks from malicious users. In addition, the proposed adaptive ADL scheme can enhance driving safety related performance compared to several existing algorithms.
The fourth technological revolution recorded the significance of blockchain technology for its providing users with a transparent, easily accessible and verified data system, eliminating unnecessary costs, maintaining the integrity, efficiency as well as enhancing the level of trust and security. Contour is a typical blockchain platform applied for trade finance business of banking industry. Formed and went live as a Beta network in January 2020, then official launched into live production in October 2020, Contour becomes the world’s first, decentralized, open-to-all trade finance network. Contour is still in its infancy, that means the scope of Contour’s application may not be fully explored. The objective of this paper is to clarify the concept of Contour , analyze its operations, discuss some application cases in the banking industry, point out the benefits, outline the challenges of joining Contour.
Jens Hunhevicz, Hongyang Wang, Lukas Hess, Daniel Hall
We introduce our ongoing research on no1s1 (“no-ones-one”), a meditation pod that aims to be the first autonomous space. To frame our early thinking, we conceptualize what we call Decentralized Autonomous Space (DAS) as a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) linked to a physical location. DAOs leverage a combination of Decentralized Ledger Technology (DLT) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to create self-governing coordination mechanisms through smart contracts. Therefore, DAS can self-create and self-manage, and ultimately self-own. DAS is presented as a potentially disruptive paradigm of future housing and infrastructure with wide-ranging implications to the built environment.
Henderi Henderi, I Ketut Gunawan, Husni Teja Sukmana, Agung Yudo Ardianto
We propose another blockchain client displaying stage that can be utilized to share data without letting completely go and possession and apply it to the field of movement booking. Our new stage gives answers for different central points of interest: extraordinary information insurance and client the board, and shared motivating forces. Track the functioning techniques, objects, time, strategies and reasons for UN associations in an unquestionable way. Gather client profile data and empower clients to trade data with elective travel suppliers to get endowments dependent on protection inclinations determined in great agreements. Client information dependent on the storehouse will be changed over into an open information design and communicated by means of blockchain transmission. This permits the information to be effectively handled and utilized by different hubs. The keen agreement confirms and executes the concurred information. Terms of utilization and token exchange become free help to clients. Savvy agreements can give an assortment of stores to guarantee that all members act with honesty. This record additionally assesses the presentation of the new stage dependent on the investigation of holding up time and memory utilization by characterizing three test situations. The outcomes show that the hub can rapidly react to every one of our issues by utilizing the exchange port nonconcurrently.
IntroductionWhat are now called “social machines” have been around for decades as part of a computer-driven wave of digitalization that has taken over developed societies around the world, including but not limited to the invention of the Internet. People and machines are becoming increasingly integrated through computing power, data processing and storage, information
The blockchain and cryptoasset sector, since coming to the attention of the mainstream business and financial markets during the bitcoin bull run of 2017, continues to accelerate and evolve rapidly. Decentralized finance (DeFi), a new iteration of what was previously referred to as open finance, has emerged as an innovative use case and service enabled by blockchain technology. As with any innovation or new tool, however, there remains a range of questions and considerations that will have to be addressed prior to wider adoption and utilization. This research attempts to contextualize the development of DeFi, frame it within the blockchain and cryptoasset sector, and explain potential obstacles and challenges to further development. Subsequent to this examination of DeFi trends, challenges, and opportunities, a potential framework for further development and implementation will be presented. Outlined and written in a manner approachable to both practitioners and academic users, this research should be used a springboard for further discussion, analysis, and progress.
Ridesharing is a transportation strategy that allows drivers to share their trips with other people which results in less travel expenses. It also minimizes traffic congestions and carbon emissions. Currently, most of the existing ride-sharing services rely on a central third party, like Uber, Ola, Didi which charges high service fees. In this paper, we are using blockchain technology to build a smart ride-sharing platform - CypherCab. All the services from registering as a driver, to using this platform for ridesharing will be written directly to the blockchain distributed ledger. Utilizing the decentralized nature of blockchain, the data stored in the blocks will be stored in a distributed ledger, hence removing the dependency on a central third-party server. Moreover, blockchain enables us to remove intermediaries and allows direct transactions between the driver and passengers. In this paper, we have implemented a prototype using smart contracts in the Ethereum network and Ganache test network.
Crowdfunding platforms are increasingly used as a means of attracting investment, donations or loans to finance projects, companies, organizations and causes. In equity crowdfunding, the investor acquires a stake in a company or project and is remunerated according to its success. This article aims to demonstrate how Distribuited Ledger Technology (Blockchain) can help mitigate some of the problems associated with equity crowdfunding platforms or even add features and capabilities, making them more appealing to fundraisers and investors. Through the design and modeling of an equity crowdfunding platform that uses a deconcentrated ledger to record the transactions that took place there, with the capacity to load and execute smart contracts, it was possible to verify that blockchain technology can create value in this type of platform, being able to mitigate or even solve some of the problems associated with this type of crowdfunding.
This paper contributes to emerging discussions of blockchain governance through an analysis of dispute resolution platforms that reimagine justice. We focus specifically on Kleros, a blockchain-enabled dispute resolution platform, that promises to secure, authenticate, and democratize access to justice for the twenty-first century. We advance the concept of cryptocourts whereby jurors, incentivized by accumulating cryptocurrency, rapidly mobilize using principles of on-demand crowdsourcing to resolve disputes. We critique the broader social imaginaries that cryptocourts such as Kleros will result in a more open, trustworthy, transparent, and democratic systems of justice. These platforms instead pose important questions concerning their potential impact on civil dispute resolution practices by embedding it within an economy of cryptocurrency speculation. This ostensibly results in a legal infrastructure founded on principles of financial acquisition that positions jurors as economic agents seeking to profit from disputes, and courts as computational systems that merely authenticate and secure the distribution of evidence and verdicts.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) manage by leveraging distributed ledger technology to capable unfaithful adjustment among members, allowing organizational regulations and operations to be executed autonomously through verifiable and tamper-resistant code.DAOs seek to encourage open and associate ecosystems in which members allocate resources, allocate capital, and build collective judgments transparently through predetermined, programmable governance mechanisms. This study observes the theoretical bases of DAOs, examines their possible real-world applications, and analyzes the importance of open-source improvement in advancing decentralized organizational models. Despite their innovative potential, DAOs encounter sufficient barriers such as suspicious regulatory frameworks, restrictions in governance mechanisms, and safety weaknesses arising from dependence on smart contract code. By integrating scholarly literature, real-world case analyses, and present actualizations, this paper provides an extensive perspective on the developed influence of DAOs within digital and financial ecosystems while identifying promising ways for ongoing research. Although DAOs remain extensively experimental, they reflect a potential purpose to review and redesign organizational combination, cooperation, and governance exercises appropriate to the claims of the digital era.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading is emerging as a new mechanism for settling the exchange of energy between renewable energy generators and consumers. P2P provides a mechanism for local balancing when it is facilitated through distributed ledgers (‘blockchains’). Energy communities across Europe have uncovered the potential of this technology and are currently running pilots to test its applicability in P2P energy trading. The aim of this paper is to assess, using legal literature and legislation, whether the legal forms available to energy communities in the United Kingdom (UK) can help resolve some of the uncertainties around the individual use of blockchain for P2P energy trading. This includes the legal recognition of ‘prosumers’, the protection of their personal data, as well as the validity of ‘smart contracts’ programmed to trade energy on the blockchain network. The analysis has shown that legal entities, such as Limited Liability Partnerships and Co-operative Societies, can play a crucial role in providing the necessary framework to protect consumers engaging in these transactions. This is particularly the case for co-operatives, given that they can hold members liable for not respecting the rules set out in their (compulsory) governing document. These findings are relevant to other European countries, where the energy co-operative model is also used.
Cross-border transactions have been more and more popular around the world. However, the current cross-border transactions still have risks and challenges, e.g., differences in regulation policies and unbalanced profits of banks. To address this critical issue, we construct a new framework for the transaction system with the support of blockchain technology. In this paper, we propose a new consortium blockchain system, namely asymmetric consortium blockchain (ACB), to ensure the implementation of cross-border transactions. Different from traditional consortium blockchain, the new blockchain system could support the supernode to regulate all the transactions timely. Furthermore, the new smart contract is designed to lower the opportunity loss for each node and make the profits allocation system fairer. In the end, the numerical experiments were carried out based on the transactions of Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The results show that the proposed ACB system is efficient to make the profit allocation fairer for the participants and keep intelligent for the new cross-border transaction system.
The work presented in this thesis describes the design and development of smart contract system for blockchain based applications. The main objective is to investigate the current state of blockchain technology and its implementations and to reveal how main principles of this disruptive technology can reshape "business as normal" activities. This work examines the Blockchain technology as a whole and addresses its potential for the development of distributed applications. Blockchain based smart contract system for different applications that demonstrate a streamlined access management system using Ethereum blockchain has been designed and implemented. Ethereum reinforces the second gen of blockchain technology by providing an open and global computing/environment platform allowing for the exchange of cryptocurrency (Ether) and the creation of self-verified smart contract applications. Smart contracts provide a framework for the ownership of digital assets and a range of distributed applications in the blockchain region. Ethereum and smart contracts are open, decentralized and unalterable, as such, they are susceptible to vulnerabilities that arise from developers ' simple coding errors. We have designed and implemented smart contract system for blockchain based applications across healthcare management to Facilitate Medical Ecosystems and Energy systems to increase energy efficiency by designing smart contract system for energy-saving certificates. We also identified key themes, developments and emerging areas of healthcare and energy research. In this thesis, blockchain technology has been applied in areas such as healthcare and Energy sector. Healthcare applications are the main contribution of this thesis and the work on the Energy systems reflects as an additional contribution of this thesis. Hopefully the work presented in this thesis will give enough motivation towards developing distributed applications (ĐApps) using blockchain based smart contract system.
<div>In cross-chain scenarios, there are different blockchains, which need to cooperate. Cooperation among different blockchains is done by smart contracts that work together to complete cross-chain tasks. When numerous cooperative smart contracts are involved, smart contracts form a complex interaction network, which makes it difficult to evaluate the cooperation. It needs a common model to quantitatively analyze the cross-chain cooperation of associated smart contracts. In this paper, we model the cooperation among smart contracts as conditions and their corresponding actions, the condition-trigger model. Then we propose the method to calculate the cooperation probabilities by the graph weight. As the edge weight lacks the information of interaction probabilities, we introduce the dimension of the edge weight to calculate the probabilities. Finally, we verify the proposed condition-trigger model and its different types. It demonstrates that our proposed methods can effectively analyze the cross-chain cooperation among smart contracts.</div>
Ella Tallyn, Joe Revans, Evan Morgan, Keith Fisken · 5 authors
Smart contract systems could change the nature of last-mile delivery for the better through enhanced precision, coordination and accountability. However, technological complexity poses a challenge for end-users participating in the design process, making it hard to explore their experiences and incorporate their perspectives. We describe a case study where technological prototypes create smart contract experiences for professional couriers and receptionists, allowing them to speculate about emerging possibilities, whilst remaining grounded in their current practices. Participants enacted a series of deliveries, choreographed by smart contracts, and their responses were explored in post-experience, one-to-one interviews. Working with professionals to explore the potential impact of smart contract technologies, revealed the systemic webs of value underlying their existing work practices. This has implications for design of such technologies, in which increased automation, efficiency and accountability must be delicately balanced with the benefits of sustaining personal values, relationships and agency.