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5,834 results ¡ page 155 of 244
Vesa Pursiainen, Jan Toczynski
No abstract is available for this record.
Francesco Maria De Collibus, Alberto Partida, Matija PiĹĄkorec
We analyse the transaction networks of four representative ERC-20 tokens that run on top of the public blockchain Ethereum and can be used as collateral in DeFi: Ampleforth (AMP), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Dai (DAI) and Uniswap (UNI). We use complex network analysis to characterize structural properties of their transaction networks. We compute their preferential attachment and we investigate how critical code-controlled nodes ( smart contracts , SC) executed on the blockchain are in comparison to human-owned nodes ( externally owned accounts , EOA), which are be controlled by end users with public and private keys or by off-blockchain code. Our findings contribute to characterise these new financial networks. We use three network dismantling strategies on the transaction networks to analyze the criticality of smart contract and known exchanges nodes as opposed to EOA nodes. We conclude that smart contract and known exchanges nodes play a structural role in holding up these networks, theoretically designed to be distributed but in reality tending towards centralisation around hubs. This sheds new light on the structural role that smart contracts and exchanges play in Ethereum and, more specifically, in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) networks and casts a shadow on how much decentralised these networks really are. From the information security viewpoint, our findings highlight the need to protect the availability and integrity of these hubs.
Marios Touloupou, Klitos Christodoulou, Antonios Inglezakis, Elias Iosif ¡ 5 authors
Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies appear to be at a worldwide threshold of acceptance and adoption. Since their inception, several innovative projects have been proposing solutions to the blockchain trilemma, improving blockchain features and its technical limitations. However, the adoption of blockchain as a technology requires a comprehensive understanding and characterization of its technical aspects. The latter introduces an uncertainty for an organization to decide which blockchain protocol best meets its needs and demands. In general, there is a lack of proper testing and software engineering practices for assessing the usage of different blockchain protocols and understanding their performance. Toward that direction, this paper presents an architecture for a blockchain benchmarking framework that aims at the deployment and evaluation of different blockchain protocols. Moreover, we introduce a set of modules for testing and evaluating their behavior under different test-cases and scenarios. To illustrate the usefulness of the proposed architecture we demonstrate an instantiation with the deployment of a private XRPL Network. The experiments conducted in this work were focused on how XRPL behaves under heavy load.
Marcelo Corrales Compagnucci, Niclas Nilsson, Paul Stankovski, Christoffer Olsson ¡ 7 authors
Research and Development (R&D) in the pharmaceutical sector traditionally occurred in closed, siloed institutional settings. This approach was a function of a rights-oriented intellectual property model which framed access and reuse of data (data sharing) as a threat to rightsholders. However, a closed model of explorative collaboration is less suited to todayâs more complex scientific ecosystem, where external engagement and dynamic partnering with multiple actors and diverse information sources has become essential. As such, devising alternative approaches is vital in ensuring that opportunities for scientific advances are not lost or innovation stifled. This article introduces a hybrid contractual framework that combines the benefits of the automated functionality of smart contracts and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) embedded in a blockchain with more traditional rights-based licensing schemes. The presented framework is based on the outcome of an experimental pilot platform that enabled participants to store, find and reuse data following FAIR data principles. The platform documents real-world physical assets in the drug discovery of chemical molecules in an immutable digital ledger. More generally, smart contracts and NFTs point us towards an open and global collaborative platform for exploiting and advancing drug research assets. The resulting platform creates mechanisms for resolving issues regarding standardization, interoperability, and disclosure. As such, it overcomes many of the practical hurdles currently obstructing collaboration in pharmaceutical R&D, as well as providing a framework to address the central conflict in drug discovery, namely the demand for greater data sharing and the protection of rightsholder interests.
Ahto Buldas, Dirk Draheim, Mike Gault, Risto Laanoja ¡ 11 authors
<p>Since its introduction with Bitcoin in 2009, blockchain technology has received tremendous attention by academia, industry, politics and media alike, in particular, through extended blockchain-based visions such as smart contracts, decentralized finance, and, most recently, Web3. The critical prerequisite for any such blockchain-based vision to be turned into reality is uncapped scalability. Furthermore, and equally important, blockchain technology needs to transcend the stage of specialized tokens into an adaptive, heterogeneous tokenization platform. In this paper, we explain the Alphabill family of technologies that addresses both unlimited scalability and unrestricted adaptivity. We deliver a sharded blockchain technology with unlimited scalability and performance, called KSI Cash, which is based on a new form of electronic money scheme, the bill scheme. We present performance tests of KSI Cash that we have conducted with the European Central Bank and a group of eight national central banks from the Eurosystem in order to assess the technological feasibility of a digital euro, showing the system operating with 100 million wallets and 15 thousand transactions per second (under simulation of realistic usage), having an estimated carbon footprint of 0.0001g CO2 per transaction (Bitcoin = 100 kg and more); furthermore, showing the system operating with up to 2 million payment orders per second, an equivalent of more than 300.000 transactions per second (in a laboratory setting with the central components of KSI Cash), scaling linearly in terms of the number of deployed shards. We explain, in detail, the key concepts that unlock this performance (i.e., the concepts of the bill money scheme). The results provide evidence that the scalability of our technology is unlimited in both permissioned and permissionless scenarios, resulting into the Alphabill Money technology. Next, we contribute the architecture of a universal tokenization platform that allows for universal asset tokenization, transfer and exchange as a global medium of exchange, called Alphabill platform. We reveal the crucial conceptual and technical contributions of the platform's architecture and their interplay, including the data structures of KSI Cash and Alphabill Money, the dust collection solution of Alphabill Money, and the atomic swap solution of the Alphabill platform.</p>
Tim Corballis, Max Soar
Digital organizations form part of the new wave of blockchain technologies, following Bitcoin and related cryptocurrencies. âUtopia of Abstractionâ offers an analysis of the utopian promise of digital organizations through a reading of one such project, Colony. We provide a critique of the ideology of Colony's white paper, supplemented by readings of pages from its website, as a member of a genre of texts that promote their products through seemingly neutral, technical descriptions. Colony's texts suggest an abstract, contextless and scaleless organizational solutionâpowered by smart contracts on a blockchainâthat, according to its proponents, might be applied to any social situation, from small firm to state-level governance. For its users, this organization combines a promise of sovereignty removed from that of the state, as well as implied financial returns. Our reading of Colony echoes the critiques of scholars arguing that cyberlibertarianism is a dominant politic of blockchain technologies. Furthermore, drawing on critiques of code as law and the elision of the social in smart contracts, we argue that Colony's vision presents a model of technical organization that substitutes for the state in the context of waning popular sovereignty. We ultimately suggest an understanding of digital organizations reminiscent of the settler colonial situation: the assumption of an empty social space to be filled, and the promise of sovereignty and riches for those occupying it. Analysis of these logics is relevant as hype increases around non-fungible tokens, Web3, and the corporate metaverse as well as data practices more widely.
Malni Kumarathunga, Rodrigo N. Calheiros, Athula Ginige
No abstract is available for this record.
Lin William Cong, Xiang Hui, Catherine E. Tucker, Luofeng Zhou
Blockchain-based smart contracts can potentially replace certain traditional contracts through decentralized enforcement and reduced transaction costs. However, scalability is a key bottleneck hindering their broader application and adoption, often leading to concentrated or exclusive networks. To avoid falling short of the original promise of the technology, firms actively explore âlayer-2â methods for scaling. We provide some initial evidence on the economic implications of a layer-2 scaling solution, which moves information aggregation from on-chain to off-chain peer-to-peer networks. A parallel-system experiment allows clean identification because we observe the same unit in the treatment and control systems at the same time. We find that this scaling solution reduces operating costs by 76%, and importantly, leads to decentralization with lower market concentration and more participation, which in turn improves data accuracy. The findings provide insights on how blockchain and smart contracting technologies evolve toward achieving decentralized and scalable trust. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, information systems. Funding: W. Cong received funding from Rippleâs university blockchain research initiative (UBRI). Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.00281 .
Mounir El Khatib, Asma Al Mulla, Wadha Al Ketbi
This paper discusses the impact of e-governance powered by blockchain in the project and program management industry. With the rise in technological innovations, many countries have turned to e-governance for efficiency in service delivery, transparency, and decision-making. E-governance backed by blockchain technology entails improving the public services provision by implementing structures of information and communication technologies. There are many challenges with the traditional project management approach that causes organizations and its stakeholdersâ cost and time. Thus, the introduction of blockchain has given many organizations a new approach to adopt in order to eliminate the challenges associated with the typical project management approach. In spite of the cutting-edge technology of blockchain and its broad applications in program management and e-governance, there are still many challenges that restrain its adoption on a broader scale. The research discusses the challenges of the blockchain deployment in the program management field and e-governance in private and government sectors and it highlights the efforts put by both sectors to make use of the technology. Also, the research covers the opportunities and the advantages of a blockchain adoption in various segments. The paper uses various case studies in the UAE, in both private and government sectors, and a qualitative research approach was implemented. The case studies were on government entities such as Smart Dubai and the Ministry of Health Prevention and also private entities like DP World and Emirates NBD. The paper concludes with recommendations and solutions on how to maximize the benefit of blockchain in the program management industry and how it is improving the decision-making process.
Noussair Fikri, Mohamed Rida, Nourredine Abghour, Khalid Moussaid ¡ 6 authors
Blockchain has become an unavoidable future in enterprise finance, particularly enabling and securing cross-company transactions. By introducing a comparable notion of smart contract, the trusted sub-ledger operation (TSLO), this article will propose a complete architecture based on the Blockchain to solve the traceability and validity of accounting data by assets groupement. TSLO is a more flexible and adaptable method for asset management in the corporate accounting system and the enterprise resource planner. This method is built on a decentralized microservices tree (DMST) and is an extendable E-Binding form of TEA (Triple Entry Accounting). Instead of using a multi-ledger architecture, the Hyperledger Fabric skeleton, limited to participant channels inside one entity or organization, our approach uses decentralized sub-ledgers with an implementation tree (DMST) for an assets-driven transaction. Furthermore, the government’s audit and taxation procedures for financial groups are more accessible by combining Proof of Authority and Proof of Stake to assure the logic of More stake more reputation to preserve.
Peterson K Ozili
This paper presents a concise review of the existing digital finance research in the literature, and highlight some of the developments in digital finance around the world. The paper reached several conclusions. Firstly, it showed that digital finance has become an important part of modern finance and the major application of digital finance can be found in Fintech, embedded finance, open banking and decentralized finance, central bank digital currencies, among others. Secondly, it identified some international determinants of digital finance which includes the need for efficiency in financial services delivery, the need to achieve the United Nations sustainable development goals using existing digital technologies, the need to increase financial inclusion through digital financial inclusion and the need for efficient payments and payment settlement finality. The paper also finds that digital finance research is growing fast, and recent studies have investigated contemporary issues in digital finance that are relevant for policy and practice. Regarding the digital finance developments around the world, the paper shows that the Fintech and mobile money industries are the largest beneficiary of investments in digital finance with the total number of users of mobile money services surpassing 1 billion globally. Also, the paper predicts that the future of digital finance is to create a digital environment that permits the offering of all kinds of financial product and services that can be customized and personalized to meet the unique needs of all users on a single digital platform and without requiring any form of human assistance or intermediary. The paper then suggest some areas for future research which include the need for more research on how regulators can keep pace with emerging digital finance transformation, the need for more research on user information security and compliance, the need for more research on how to deal with bias caused by bad data, the need for more research on how to deal with algorithmic bias, and the need for more research on how to combine a risk-conscious culture with a higher risk appetite for digital finance transformation.
Bella Siti Nurbarani, Gatot Soepriyanto
This study aimed to determine the effect of behavior factors and social demography on the investment decision in cryptocurrency in the Greater Jakarta area. The method used in this study is partial least square (PLS) using the SmartPLS software application. The behavior factor variables used in this study are overconfidence, herd behavior, subjective norm, and awareness variables. This study also used social demography moderating variables in age, gender, occupation, education, and investment experience on 400 respondents in the Greater Jakarta area. The test results show that only overconfidence and awareness variables have a significant positive effect on decisions to invest in cryptocurrency and subjective norms variables that have no significant positive effect but can be moderated by social demographic factors such as age and investment experience. In addition, other variables have no significant positive effect. They cannot be moderated by social demographic factors such as age, gender, occupation, and investment experience on the decisions of cryptocurrency investors in Greater Jakarta area. Our study contributes to developing knowledge, insight, skills and analyzing researchers, especially regarding the influence of behavioral factors and social demography on investment decisions in cryptocurrency.
Hyoungsung Kim, HyunâSik Kim, Yong-Suk Park
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is an emerging financial service model based on blockchain technology. DeFi composability denotes the ability for different DeFi services to interact with one another resulting in new forms of financial services. The DeFi ecosystem is largely based on ERC-20 tokens that can represent the value of an asset. Collateralized assets in DeFi composability are locked and additional profit cannot be generated. In this paper, we propose a method to generate profit from locked assets by using ERC-721 Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and perpetual contracts. NFT represents the rights to a certain asset. A perpetual contract is a futures contract that does not have an expiration date. We propose perpetual contract NFT, a new form of NFT that can be used as collateral, which exploits perpetual futures contracts in the cryptocurrency derivatives market. Collateral needs to be provided to back the value of a perpetual contract. If the perpetual contract is minted as NFT, the resulting NFT represents the rights to the perpetual contract and its collateral. Therefore, the perpetual contact NFT itself can be used as collateral for DeFi composability. A proof-of-concept smart contract and a web application for perpetual contract NFT are provided to demonstrate its functionality. To validate the profitability of the perpetual contract NFT using a real-world scenario, we experiment with the position NFT of Uniswap v3 decentralized exchange. The position NFT is a form of perpetual contract NFT. Specifically, we present validation with three types of pools: stablecoins, stablecoin/wrapped tokens pair, and wrapped tokens.
Kanis Saengchote, TÄlis J. PutniĹĹĄ, Krislert Samphantharak
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is built on a fundamentally different paradigm: rather than having to trust individuals and institutions, participants in DeFi potentially only have to trust computer code that is enforced by a decentralized network of computers. We examine a natural experiment that exogenously stress tests this alternative paradigm by revealing the identities of individuals associated with a DeFi protocol, including a convicted criminal. We find that, in practice, DeFi does not (yet) fully remove the need for trust in individuals. Our findings suggest that that because smart contracts are incomplete, they are subject to run risk (Allen and Gale, 2004) and personal character and trust of individuals are still relevant in this alternative financial system.
Hugo Inzirillo, Stanislas De Quenetain
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a new financial industry built on blockchain technologies. Decentralized financial services have consequently increased the ability to lend, borrow, and invest in decentralized investment vehicles, allowing investors to bypass third party intermediaries. DeFi's promise is to reduce the cost of transaction and management fees whilst increasing trust between agents of the Financial Industry 3.0. This paper provides an overview of the different components of DeFi, as well as the risks involved in investing through these new vehicles. We will also propose an allocation methodology which will integrate and quantify these risks.
Authors unavailable
No abstract is available for this record.
Hongyin Chen, Yukun Cheng, Xiaotie Deng, Wenhan Huang ¡ 5 authors
The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is viewed as one of the important applications of blockchain technology. Although NFT has a large market scale and multiple practical standards, several limitations of the existing mechanism in NFT markets exist. This work proposes a novel securitization and repurchase scheme for NFT to overcome these limitations. We first provide an Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) solution to settle the limitations of non-fungibility of NFT. Our securitization design aims to enhance the liquidity of NFTs and enable Oracles and Automatic Market Makers (AMMs) for NFTs. Then we propose a novel repurchase protocol for a participant owing a portion of NFT to repurchase other shares to obtain the complete ownership. As participants may strategically bid during the acquisition process, our repurchase process is formulated as a Stackelberg game to explore the equilibrium prices. We also provide solutions to handle difficulties at market such as budget constraints and lazy bidders.
Anantha Divakaruni, Peter Zimmerman
The Lightning Network (LN) is a means of netting Bitcoin payments outside the blockchain. We find a significant association between LN adoption and reduced blockchain congestion, suggesting that the LN has helped improve the efficiency of Bitcoin as a means of payment. This improvement cannot be explained by other factors, such as changes in demand or the adoption of SegWit. We find mixed evidence on whether increased centralization in the Lightning Network has improved its efficiency. Our findings have implications for the future of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment and their environmental footprint.
Sean Basu, Kimaya Basu, Thomas H. Austin
Abstract Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been used as a way of rewarding content creators. Artists publish their works on the blockchain as NFTs, which they can then sell. The buyer of an NFT then holds ownership of a unique digital asset, which can be resold in much the same way that real-world art collectors might trade paintings. However, while a deal of effort has been spent on selling works of art on the blockchain, very little attention has been paid to using the blockchain as a means of fundraising to help finance the artistâs work in the first place. Additionally, while blockchains like Ethereum are ideal for smaller works of art, additional support is needed when the artwork is larger than is feasible to store on the blockchain. In this paper, we propose a fundraising mechanism that will help artists to gain financial support for their initiatives, and where the backers can receive a share of the profits in exchange for their support. We discuss our prototype implementation using the SpartanGold framework. We then discuss how this system could be expanded to support large NFTs with the 0Chain blockchain, and describe how we could provide support for ongoing storage of these NFTs.
Cristiano Bellavitis, Christian Fisch, Paul P. Momtaz
Blockchain technology and smart contracts are catalysts for decentralization and disintermediation. These new technologies reduce transaction costs, agency costs, and offer a basis for trustless social and economic interactions. They are fueling new business models for decentralized platforms and have revolutionized crowdfunding. A recent trend, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), stands to fundamentally transform organizing and governance. DAOs are blockchain-native, decentralized organizations that are collectively owned and managed by their members via smart contracts. In this note, we assess the promises and challenges of DAOs, with a focus on decentralized governance and disintermediation, and offer a first empirical glimpse at the rise and functioning of DAOs. Overall, DAOs may introduce a new era in organizational economics, transforming the global corporate landscape from hierarchical organizations to democratic and distributed organizations powered by organizational entrepreneurship and innovations.
Mukul Pal
Crypto might be the most popular of the Web3 liquid alternatives [Alts] but as disintermediation picks up momentum, the new internet could lead to wealth redistribution by first taking away market share from the legacy world and then generating new opportunities in form of data assets. These assets could be bought and sold like stocks on the blockchain marketplace, creating an Alternative Assets revolution.
Miroslav StefanoviÄ, ÄorÄe PrĹžulj, Sonja RistiÄ, Darko StefanoviÄ Âˇ 5 authors
Land administration systems are of great importance for a large number of stakeholders. One of the key problems related to land administration systems is the problem of the correctness of their state, meaning that data stored in land administration systems are not in concordance with the actual legal, spatial and topographic situation. The main causes of land administration systemsâ incorrect state are data collection and compilation, data processing, and data misuse. In this paper, we discuss the problems of data tampering, the long time needed for registering land administration systemâs transactions, and the possibility of double spending, which all can add incorrectness in a land administration system. Our research is based on the hypothesis that these problems may be addressed by means of distributed ledger technology, or to be more precise, by means of blockchain technology. The solution is presented in a form of a smart contract written in Solidity programing language that can cover even those more specific use cases in land administration systems such as sharing of ownership, transferring part of ownership, splitting or merging of real estate, and limiting the possibility of trading a real estate. The proposed smart contract represents an implementation of a programming interface that was created based on both ERC-20 and ERC-721 token standards, to satisfy the specific needs of land administration systems.
Pedro Antonino, Juliandson Ferreira, Augusto Sampaio, A. W. Roscoe
Smart contract evolution is crucial for the success of decentralized applications, and current methods and processes are not well suited to handle these drivers of change, as the knowledge about the software is predominantly stored in informal documents. In addition, they are the building blocks of the âcode is lawâ paradigm: the smart contractâs code indisputably describes how its assets are to be managed - once it is created, its code is typically immutable. Faulty smart contracts present the most significant evidence against the practicality of this paradigm; they are well-documented and resulted in assets worth vast sums of money being compromised. To address this issue, the Ethereum community proposed (i) tools and processes to audit/analyse smart contracts, and (ii) design patterns implementing a mechanism to make contract code mutable. Individually, (i) and (ii) only partially address the challenges raised by the âcode is lawâ paradigm. In this work, we combine elements from (i) and (ii) to create a systematic framework that moves away from âcode is lawâ and gives rise to a new âspecifica- tion is lawâ paradigm. It allows contracts to be created and upgraded but only if they meet a corresponding formal specification. We explain how formal verification techniques can be used to ensure safety properties of smart contracts during their evolution. Although formal verification methods have the potential of being used in several application fields, we focus on ensuring compliance with its specifications. The process consists of three phases: Formal requirements specification, verification, and deployment. All steps are planned and executed in an integrated way and together they form a framework capable of fostering safe evolution and make it more reliable and secure. The framework is centered around a trusted deployer: an off-chain service that formally verifies and enforces specification conformance. We have proto- typed this framework, and investigated its applicability to contracts implementing three widely used Ethereum standards: the ERC20 Token Standard, ERC3156 Flash Loans and ERC1155 Multi Token Standard, with promising results.
Alexander Grasser, Alexandra Parger
This paper explores the potential of blockchain technology and the Web3 for a decentralized participatory architecture. In this context, the polyvalent capacity of a block in a blockchain is at the center of this investigation. Blockchain innovations in cryptography and efficient block validation and creation systems have led to autonomous blocks that act as decentralized, transparent, and secure Web3 assets. Following our previous research on collaborative objects that enable real-time participatory design activities, a case study project H=N BLOCK+A is developed that implements blockchain principles at both the conceptual and infrastructural levels. At the conceptual level, architectural blocks are speculated and applied as autonomous and decentralized Web3 assets, i.e., a decentralized kit of parts/blocks/NFTs/applications that can form a crazy patchwork of heterogeneous compatible blocks. At the infrastructural level, an existing sustainable blockchain is facilitated to embed a decentralized design methodology that enables real-time participatory co-creation of a collective architectural form.