Blockchain Papers

Jonas Deterding, Noah Janzen, David Rohrschneider, Philipp Lösch · 5 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Rhenan Gomes dos Santos Queiroz, Richard McGee, Sérgio Adriani David

No abstract is available for this record.

Kashfi Shormita Kushal, Tanvir Ahmed, Md. Ashraf Uddin, Muhammed Nasir Uddin

In recent years, COVID-19 has impacted millions of individuals worldwide, resulting in numerous fatalities across several countries. While RT-PCR technology remains the most reliable method for detecting COVID-19, it is both expensive and time-consuming. As a result, researchers have explored various machine learning and deep learning-based approaches to rapidly identify COVID-19 cases using X-ray images, with reduced costs and shorter processing times. However, preserving patient confidentiality poses challenges within third-party-controlled systems, potentially failing to safeguard patients from potential disgrace and discomfort. Nonetheless, blockchain technology offers the potential to securely store sensitive medical data anonymously, without requiring third-party intervention. Consequently, the combination of deep learning and blockchain could offer a viable solution to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 while ensuring patient privacy protection. In this paper, we propose a hybrid model of blockchain and deep learning model for automatically detecting COVID-19 using chest X-rays (CXR). The deep learning model includes a stacking ensemble of three modified pre-trained Deep Learning (DL) models: VGG16, Xception, and DenseNet169. The model obtained an accuracy of 99.10% and 98.60% for binary and multi-class respectively. Further, To ensure COVID-19 patients’ privacy and security, the Ethereum blockchain has been adopted to store information related to COVID-19 cases. In addition, a smart contract on the blockchain has been designed for handling X-ray images in the Interplanetary File System (IPFS).

Dario Thürkauf, Fabian Schär

No abstract is available for this record.

Sonja Bunčić, Milica Njegovan

Accelerated technological development has brought many novelties, among which is distributed ledger technology (DLT), often called blockchain (BC). BC is perceived as a peer-to-peer distributed immutable ledger that could revolutionize economies, societies and even our daily lives. All protocols for dealing with data and transactions are coded with an algorithm, so there is no need to trust the other contracting party or the intermediary. With the concept of decentralization and the absence of hierarchy, BC wants to avoid all traditional intermediaries and any regulation. The question arises, are BCtechnologies really decentralized and who controls them? What are the consequences if decision-making in BC is influenced by small groups of people or corporations? This article, in an attempt to answer these questions, explores technological scandals in which there have been significant deviations from the basic principles of BC (The DAO Hack, Parity's Smart Contract Bug on Ethereum and Facebook's Libra). Analysis of the above scandals suggests that decentralization is threatened and the current regulatory status of BC is substandard. It was shown that BC technology, due to its deterministic nature, cannot provide solutions for all life situations and that human judgment is irreplaceable.

Галина Вікторівна Марчук, Vitalii Levkivskyi, Alex Kuzmenko, Дмитро Костянтинович Марчук · 5 authors

Blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency market are developing and spreading quite dynamically and thus attract a lot of attention.The technology innovation of blockchain is that information about transactions is no longer stored in a centralized database, but is transferred to the computers of all network participants, who store the data locally.Bitcoin was the first application based on blockchain technology.In recent years, it has been the basis for the creation of other blockchain applications, most of which are currently being developed in the financial sector.In fact, blockchain technology is a universal way of storing and processing information in almost any field of activity.The paper analyzes the Ethereum and Fantom platforms.It was determined that Ethereum demonstrates greater flexibility, scalability and speed, allowing the use of various electronic wallets.The platform introduced the concept of smart contracts.Programming languages for writing smart contracts were analyzed and Solidity language was selected for various use cases including decentralized finance, NFTs and wallets.In working with the blockchain, liquidity issues often appear, which have been solved and described.An analysis of methods and means of implementing blockchain technology to create a platform for processing credit and deposit operations is the result of our work.Blockchain technology opens up a huge range of possibilities, starting with money transfers and payments, ending with smart contracts and reconciliation of documents.It is worth noting that blockchain technology has a number of questions related to insufficient study, understanding of technical implementation, and flexibility.

Mariia Dykha, Serhiy FROLOV, Vladyslav Hrabar

Introduction. The development of information technologies led to the emergence of new financial instruments, payment systems, methods and payment platforms. Cryptocurrency is a means of circulation and payments fundamentally different from traditional ones. Awareness of the emergence and existence of electronic money is quite high, however, awareness of the mechanism of its functioning and the possibility of using/making calculations, financing projects is low. The puppose of the article is to highlight the main characteristic features of cryptocurrencies, to justify the advantages and disadvantages of cryptocurrencies, to analyze the state, dynamics and development prospects of the cryptocurrency market. Results. Characteristic features of cryptocurrencies include: lack of payment system administration; impossibility of forced return, withdrawal or "freezing" of payments (without access to the owner's private key). Cryptocurrency is an investment object, and the speculative-investor type of demand for cryptocurrencies is also noted. The authors identified the advantages of using cryptocurrencies, including: equal conditions of use by users, unlimited possibilities of transactions, their transparency, lack of complications in international transfers and the impossibility of blocking or freezing a cryptocurrency wallet and its funds, no commission, open code of cryptocurrency, decentralization. Among the disadvantages of cryptocurrencies are identified: the danger of losing the key to cryptocurrency; the difficulty of returning funds in case of erroneous currency transfer; lack of guarantees for keeping electronic wallets; intervention by hackers; instability of the cryptocurrency exchange rate, dependence of the exchange rate on demand; high energy consumption; distrust of users. The dynamics of the exchange rate of bitcoin and ethereum were analyzed, significant fluctuations in their exchange rate relative to the dollar during the research period were noted. The difference in the views of countries on the issue of regulating the circulation of cryptocurrencies is described (recognition of operations with cryptocurrency as illegal activity, full / partial ban, legalization of legal circulation of electronic money). Conclusions. Barriers and prospects for the development of the electronic money market have been identified. Given the described features of cryptocurrencies, the prospects of recognition / settlement of cryptocurrencies as a financial instrument at the same level as freely convertible currencies (dollar, euro, etc.) are unrealistic and impractical within the framework of the existing mechanisms of functioning of the cryptocurrency market. The prospects for the growth of cryptocurrency circulation in the sectors of NFT-tokens (in games, music, art, sports) were noted.

Mengxia Yu, Ke Xu, Xinwei Zheng

No abstract is available for this record.

Sajan Kumar Kar

After the invention of Bitcoin by a man named Satoshi Nakamoto along with other blockchain-based person-to-person payment systems, the cryptocurrency market has instantly gained popularity. Because of this, that is, the volatility of the various cryptocurrency prices. This attracts much attention from both the investors and the researchers. The task of forecasting the prices of crypto-currencies because of the static prices and the arbitrary effects in the market is quite challenging. Cryptocurrency price forecasting models that are available now mainly focus on analyzing extrinsic factors, like macro-financial indicators, data linked to the blockchain, and data from social media – with the goal of enhancing the prediction accuracy. However, the intrinsic noise present in the raw data, caused by market and political conditions worldwide, is complex to interpret. In our research we propose a multiple input convolutional neural network model, specifically a convolutional neural network model for the prediction of future cryptocurrency price. Generally, RNNs and LSTMs are used for problems dealing with timeseries data. We used the concept of residual networks on 1-Dimensional convolutional networks to solve the problem of predicting the price of Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency out there at the moment. Furthermore, we conduct additional experiments on ether, the cryptocurrency of Ethereum to further confirm that even CNNs can work equally well, if not better in comparison to the widely used LSTM neural network models.

Guangye Cao

This dissertation consists of three essays. The first essay provides background on blockchain, cryptocurrency, and venture capital. It will explain the evolution of token distribution models, regulatory concerns, and the industry adoption of the technology. The second essay presents a model of startup financing that reflects regulatory concerns of the first essay. It develops a three-period model that compares token financing with traditional VC equity financing, where the key difference between the two is that tokens can be sold earlier than equity, which allows them to meet the liquidity needs of investors. The third essay combines token financial data and onchain transaction data from the Ethereum blockchain, to study the relationship between token liquidity, returns, and onchain market maker inventory.

Ghanim Hamid Al-Khattabi

Blockchain, one of these new digital technologies, has special qualities like immutability, decentralization, and transparency that can be helpful in many different areas including managing electronic medical data and access rights, as well as mobile health. We reviewed all COVID-19-related and unrelated blockchain applications in the healthcare industry. MEDLINE, SpringerLink, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Xplore, ScienceDirect, arXiv, and Google Scholar were searched for pertinent reports up to July 29, 2021. There were articles with both technical and clinical designs, with or without prototype development. A total of 85 375 articles were assessed, and 415 full-length reports—37 of which were connected to COVID-19 and 378 of which were unrelated—were ultimately incorporated into the study. The three primary COVID-19-related applications that were reported were contact tracing, monitoring of immunity or vaccination passports, and pandemic control and surveillance. Management of electronic medical records, internet of things (such as remote monitoring or mobile health), and supply chain monitoring were the top three non-COVID-19-related applications. The majority of publications (277 [667%] of 415] focused on the technical performance of blockchain prototype systems, whereas nine (2%) research indicated actual clinical use and uptake. Only technical studies (129 [311%] of 415) made up the remaining investigations. The most popular platforms were Hyperledger and Ethereum. Numerous COVID-19-related and unrelated health care applications of blockchain technology are possible. The necessity to adapt fundamental blockchain technology for use in healthcare settings is highlighted by the fact that the majority of current research is still in the technical stage and only a small number offers practical clinical applications.

Rishabh Garg

In times to come, blockchain is likely to permeate every human pursuit, making processes efficient and smart. As society realizes the full potential of these breakthroughs, things will slowly start to fall apart – international money transfers will be faster and more reliable; verification will be easy; identities will be global, decentralized; and no one - whether administrator, manager, industrialist, start-up, employer, service provider, educationist, student or user, will remain unaffected. Thus, the world is ready to embrace this technology with open arms.The book, Blockchain for Real World Applications by Rishabh Garg, provides a comprehensive description to the blockchain ecosystem, architecture, Ethereum, Hyperledger and cryptocurrencies, including potential uses of blockchain such as cyber-security, credential verification, identity management, healthcare, remote health monitoring, organ transplantation, genomics, pharmaceutical supply chain, food &amp; civil supplies, banking, business, decentralized finance, prediction markets, portfolio management, quadratic funding, crowd funding, e-commerce etc. with a de novo approach.<br>

Roberto Moncada, Enrico Ferro, Maurizio Fiaschetti, Francesca Medda

Blockchain tokens have accumulated tremendous market value but remain highly controversial, given their price volatility and seemingly speculative nature. Ironically, this very characteristic can foster token retention as users wait for occasions of appreciation. In this paper, we conduct an empirical analysis with 58 tokens in two steps: first, an investigation of the drivers of user activity and token price volatility using a new blockchain token classification framework, searching for possible tokenomics links. Our findings suggest that there is an intrinsic relationship between the way tokens are used as a means of exchange and how token usage dynamics influence user engagement oppositely to market stability. Only some features, such as earning potential and voting rights, foster token-holding strategies, while only Ethereum ecosystem membership has positive effects on price volatility. Second, we analyze the direct relationship between price volatility and active users. Results show that, on average, a 10% increase in volatility is related to a decrease in active addresses ranging between 3.96% and 5.88%. The finding is supportive of the hypothesis that token price volatility may be treated as an opportunity to increase token retention.

Bibhu Dash, Swati Swayamsiddha

No abstract is available for this record.

Surendra Tripathi, Tarun Kotagiri, P. Sanjeeva, Saurabh Aggarwal

Cryptocurrencies have been gaining popularity in India, but the lack of reliable and safe platforms for trading has been a significant concern. This research paper proposes a decentralized exchange (DEX) platform that enables Indian users to trade cryptocurrencies for Indian Rupees (INR). The system uses the Chainlink decentralized oracle network to convert INR to the equivalent ETH, the base currency for trading on the DEX platform. The proposed platform aims to provide secure and transparent trading to users, ensuring that transactions are executed instantly and at a fair market price. The paper outlines the technical details of the proposed DEX platform, including the integration with Chainlink oracles for price feeds and the development of smart contracts for trading. The platform utilizes the Ethereum blockchain and is built using Solidity, a programming language for smart contracts. Finally, the paper concludes with an evaluation of the proposed DEX platform, highlighting its potential benefits for Indian users and its potential impact on the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem in India. This research paper’s findings can guide the development of more secure and reliable DEX platforms in India and beyond.

Pandey Kavita, Shikha Jain

Vehicular adhoc networks (VANETs) are an interesting area of exploration among the intelligent transportation research community.Communication among vehicles with infrastructure units is an essential component.Thus, trust and privacy are important concerns in addition to dynamic topology, which is the main characteristic of VANETs.Ensuring the vehicles do not broadcast false information as well as protecting the identity of vehicles against tracking attacks are the objectives of this article.Here, a blockchain-based solution has been proposed to establish an identity-preserving trust model for VANETs.It preserves the real identities of vehicles with the utilization of Ethereum blockchain technology.A trust evaluation algorithm has been implemented to stop the dissemination of fraudulent messages.Validation of the algorithm has been conducted by running the algorithm in different VANET scenarios.

Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee, Chaitali Koley, Saibal Chattarjee

No abstract is available for this record.

Yeguang Chi, Wenyan Hao, Qionghua Chu

No abstract is available for this record.

Yuzhe Tang, Kai Li, Yibo Wang, Jiaqi Chen

Public blockchains are the digital infrastructure that powers the multi-trillion-dollar economy in cryptocurrencies. Understanding the security and performance of deployed blockchain networks is critically important, especially when the open-membership nature of blockchain results in a large attack surface. However, measuring operational blockchain networks raises ethical concerns and could interfere with the businesses running atop the blockchains. This work presents a survey of the recent measurement studies on the Ethereum networks and discusses their ethical issues, practices, and solutions. The paper also identifies several open ethical challenges faced by blockchain researchers.

Raed Saeed Rasheed, Khalil Hamdi Ateyeh Al-Shqeerat, Ahmed S. Ghorab, Fuad Salama AbuOwaimer · 5 authors

There has been an increase in the adoption of mobile payment systems worldwide in the past few years. However, poor Internet connection in rural regions continues to be an obstacle to the widespread use of such technologies. On top of that, there are significant problems with the currently available offline wallets; for instance, the payee cannot verify the number of coins received without access to the Internet. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that some existing systems are susceptible to false token generation, and some do not even permit the user to divide the offline token into smaller portions to be used as change. This paper proposes a blockchain-based wallet system that provides a secure mobile payment service even if a user cannot access a reliable Internet connection. Our approach relies on Bluetooth and digital signatures to establish and build a trust connection between the parties. The proposed solution overcomes the main limitations of existing systems that use offline transactions, such as the generation of fake offline tokens and the indivisibility of offline tokens. The user buys Offline Tokens (OTs) from a server called an Offline Token Manager (OTM) to use them later to perform offline transactions. Each mobile device must store a single, signed offline token transaction to prevent fake tokens. On the other hand, all offline transactions will be kept as a history in a particular local database. Finally, when the receiver becomes online, it will send a convert request to the OTM to change the value of the OTs to the appropriate amount in real coins. This step requires a connection to the Internet. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system, the Solidity programming language was used to develop a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain with a backend application programming interface (API) and an android mobile application. The proposed method has an advantage over other prominent wallets.

Aderonke Tosin-Amos

Virtual assets and currency sector are becoming increasingly intertwined.According to new IMF research, the correlation of crypto assets with traditional holdings like equities has increased dramatically as usage has grown, limiting their risk perception investment opportunities, and raising the danger of spillover across financial markets.Theoretical and empirical findings concerning cryptocurrencies and stock market behaviour have been misleading thereby putting policy makers at a crossroads.This paper therefore examines the response of stock market to investment in cryptocurrencies in the US stock market.Monthly data covering the period between February 2016 to February 2022 was used.The answer was achieved using novel dynamic autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL) simulation techniques along with the Breitung and Candelon causality test.Findings revealed that cryptocurrencies impacted positively on the US stock market.Secondly, investment in Bitcoin and Ethereum is a good predictor of stock market while no evidence of causality between investment in ripple and stock market indices in the US stock market.Thirdly, a long-run relationship exists between investment in cryptocurrencies and behaviour of stock market indices in the United State, and that investment in cryptocurrencies has a significant long-run increasing effect on stock prices in United State.

Hani Sami, Rabeb Mizouni, Hadi Otrok, Shakti Singh · 6 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Abdulaziz Aljaloud

In smart systems context, the storage and distribution of health-critical data – medical images, test reports, clinical information etc. that is processed and transmitted via web portal and pervasive devices which requires a secure and efficient management of patients’ medical records. The reliance on centralized data centers in the cloud to process, store, and transmit patients’ medical records poses some critical challenges including but not limited to operational costs, storage space requirements, and importantly threats and vulnerabilities to the security and privacy of health-critical data. To address these issues, this research proposes a framework and provides a proof-of-the-concept named Patient-Centric Medical Image Management System (PCMIMS). The proposed solution PCMIMS utilizes the Ethereum blockchain and Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS) to enable secure and decentralized storage capabilities that lack in existing solution for patients’ medical image management. The PCMIMS design facilitates secure access to Patient-Centric information for health units, patients, medics, and third-party requestors by incorporating the Patient-Centric access control protocol, ensuring privacy and control over medical data. The proposed framework is validated through the deployment of a prototype based on smart contract executed on Ethereum TESTNET blockchain that demonstrates efficiency and feasibility of the solution. Validation results highlight a correlation between (i) number of transactions (i.e., data storage and retrieval), (ii) gas consumption (i.e., energy efficiency), and (iii) data size (volume of Patient-Centric medical images) via repeated trials in Microsoft Windows environment. Validation results also indicate computational efficiency of the solution in terms of processing three most common types of Patient-Centric medical images namely (a) Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (b) X-radiation (X-Rays), (c) Computed tomography (CT) scan. This research primarily contributes by designing, implementing, and validating a blockchain based practical solution for efficient and secure management of Patient-Centric medical image management in the context of smart healthcare systems.

Mrs.R. Subapriya, S. Karthikeyan, S. Karthikeyan, A.Gokul Prasath · 5 authors

This article provides a comprehensive review on the use of blockchain technology in supply chain management, with a focus on product authentication and traceability. It then reviews the existing literature on the use of blockchain technology in supply chain management, including case studies and surveys. The product supply chain is a complex process that involves multiple stakeholders, including suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and customers. Ensuring transparency, efficiency, and security throughout the supply chain is a challenging task. This paper proposes a decentralized blockchain-based product supply chain management system with QR code verification that can improve transparency, efficiency, and security. The system allows manufacturers to enter product details, including brand name, logo and generates a unique QR code for each product. The QR code can be used by buyers to verify the authenticity of the product and track its movement through the supply chain. The methodology used includes Ganache, IPFS, Blockchain, Ethereum and Truffle.