Should political elections be implemented using blockchain technology? Blockchain evangelists have argued that it should. This article sheds light on the potential of blockchain voting procedures and the legal constraints that need to be accommodated. I first identify the upsides of the distributed ledger technology and the normative principles guiding electronic voting systems. Specifically, I elucidate some of the major normative constraints for blockchain voting systems in a transatlantic comparison of U.S. and German constitutional law. I then discuss the technological, economic and normative limitations of blockchain voting procedures. On the one hand, these limitations result from the rules and incentives set by different consensus mechanisms. On the other hand, it is far from clear whether blockchain technology provides sufficient safeguards to ensure identity verification, the secrecy of ballots, and a verification that ballots are cast as intended, recorded as cast, and counted as recorded. Building on principles from constitutional law, I contend that blockchain technology may not provide sufficient safeguards to satisfy the requirements of democratic voting procedures, at least not in the near future.
The mHealth is a term that is used for mobile health supported by smart devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and wearable smart devices, etc. The smart devices strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of interaction with patients, physicians, and specialists. Patients nowadays would like to be intimately involved in their diagnosis as well as to make more informed decisions concerning their care. It has begun to measure the success of the quality of treatment. This was a reason that patients trust mHealth to provide them with consistency in their communications with the physicians. Most wireless strategies do not measure up to this standard so that patient engagement ultimately ended up decreasing. The block-chain can boost mHealth through storing and sharing electronic data securely and transparently. It can enhance the accessibility of patient information in real-time. The Internet of Things (IoT) provides a unique identification number to every connected device such as mobile devices, medical devices, and wearable devices. This framework uses the block-chain and IoT technologies together to provide quick help to the patients, monitor remotely, reduce the cost and unnecessarily hospitalization physically and find the real diagnosis. In order to increase patient involvement, mHealth framework with block-chain and IoT technologies has built with the key objective of providing patients with full information on their treatment and diagnosis.
Intelligent Connected Vehicles (ICVs) can provide smart, safe, and efficient transportation services and have attracted intensive attention recently. Obtaining timely and accurate traffic information is one of the most important problems in transportation systems, which would allow people to select fast routes and avoid congestions, thus saving their travel time on the road. Currently, the most popular ways to obtain traffic information is to inquire navigation agents, e.g., Apple map, and Google map. However, these navigation agents are essentially centralized systems, which are vulnerable to service congestions, a single point of failure, and attacks. Furthermore, users' privacy gets compromised as the agents can know their home and work addresses and hence their identities, track them in real-time, etc. In this paper, we propose TrafficChain, a secure and privacy-preserving decentralized traffic information collection system on the blockchain, by taking advantage of fog/edge computing infrastructure. In particular, we employ a two-layer blockchain architecture in TrafficChain to improve system efficiency, design a privacy-preserving scheme to protect users' identities and travel traces, and devise LSTM based deep learning mechanisms that can defend against Byzantine attacks and Sybil attacks in our system. Furthermore, an incentive mechanism is designed to motivate users to participate in the system. Simulation results show that TrafficChain works very efficiently and is resilient to both Byzantine attacks and Sybil attacks.
In order to explore the application of deep learning algorithms in arrangement and composition, and the role of blockchain in the protection of digital music copyright, a monophonic melody composition model based on the deep generative adversarial networks (DCGANs) is constructed firstly, and the composition performance of the model is analyzed using hymn as input sample in this study. Later, the multi-instrument co-arrangement (MICA) model based on the multi-task learning is proposed, and the composition performance is analyzed by taking the actual music as an input sample. Finally, the improved practical byzantine fault tolerance (IPBFT) algorithm is proposed, and a digital music copyright protection system is designed based on the blockchain in this study. The results indicate that the accuracies constructed DCGANs model in predicting the Soprano and Alto voice melody are higher than those of the DeepBatch model by 2.29% and 3.32%, respectively. The performance on the harmony score, note accuracy, Levenshtein similarity (LS), notes distribution mean square error, and empty as well as the convergence speed of the constructed MICA model are better than those of other models. The average transaction per second (TPS) value of the proposed IPBFT algorithm in the real digital music copyright protection system is 3469, which is superior to other blockchain technologies. Finally, the digital music copyright protection system is achieved, the error rate of completing the request is 0% in the state of many users operating concurrently, and a high TPS value can be guaranteed. In short, the DCGANs and MICA models pointed out in this study can be used in the composition of monophonic melodies and complex melodies, and the digital music copyright protection system based on the blockchain has excellent performance in practical applications.
Open access
Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis
Custody is a core financial service in which the custodian holds in safekeeping assets on behalf of the client. Although traditional custody service is typically endorsed by centralized authorities, decentralized custody scheme has become technically feasible since the emergence of digital assets, and furthermore it is badly needed by new applications such as blockchain and DeFi (Decentralized Finance). In this work, we propose a framework of decentralized asset custody scheme that is able to support a large number of custodians and safely hold customer assets of multiple times value of the total security deposit. The proposed custody scheme distributes custodians and assets into many custodian groups via combinatorial designs and random sampling, where each group fully controls the assigned assets. Since every custodian group is small, the overhead cost is significantly reduced. The liveness is also improved because even a single alive group would be able to process transactions. The security of this custody scheme is guaranteed in the game-theoretic sense, such that any adversary corrupting a bounded fraction of custodians cannot move assets more than his own security deposit. We further analyze the security and performance of our constructions, and give explicit examples with concrete numbers and figures for a better understanding of our results.
Automation is taking hold in different aspects of business across every industry and every sector. Consistent with this trend, the notion of embedding automation into legally binding contracts is also gaining momentum. COVID-19 is fuelling digital transformation and has highlighted frustrations with static contracts that sit disconnected from digital processes and systems. As automated ‘smart contracts’ become more common, lawyers have been grappling with how to preserve the legal integrity of the contract whilst harnessing the benefits of automation and digital connectivity. Automation of contract performance is a field lacking in standard definitions. This paper proposes a framework to assist discussion and development of legally enforceable automation of contract performance and explores high level features of contracts along the spectrum of contract automation by proposing an initial model for the levels of automation (and digitalisation). This model draws analogies with the SAE International J3016 “Levels of Automation” widely adopted for autonomous vehicles.
Blockchain is disrupting many traditional industries including financial services. In the case of remittance payments, blockchain is seen as a promising technology that can revolutionize the way we send and receive money. Traditional players like Western Union and Moneygram are facing new entrants in this market such as blockchain startups. This paper will analyze the application of blockchain in remittances in order to determine if it has the potential to transform this industry. Through our analysis of the remittance industry and its current competitive landscape, it seems that it is very likely that blockchain will disrupt the space and completely change it in the next few years. Some of blockchain’s benefits in remittances discussed in this paper consist of reduced costs, increased speed, and the possibility to offer remittance services for the unbanked population.
The article focuses on ways to assess the origin and development of the first national currency in the world which was introduced into circulation in Venezuela in 2018.Besides, it sets the goal to find out specific features of Petro (PTR) and its operation as Venezuelan national cryptocurrency.The methodological basis consists of general scientific methods of cognition to include analysis, synthesis, and comparison.The special methods such as content analysis of official documents as well as economic analysis are also applied in the article.The research produced some key findings: recent surveys confirm its new function of becoming a convenient means of payment in the environment of the cash absence, and a means of survival for many families living in the environment of a deepening economic crisis and sanctions introduce by the USA.The main outcomes imply that the national cryptocurrency PRT has some advantages over other cryptocurrencies, one of them being the fact that unlike Bitcoin and other currencies it is issued by the Venezuelan government and has a state guarantee of reliability and stability when operating in the country.However, it is not without disadvantages, the main one being the possibility of its anonymous usage which has resulted in an increased flow of illegal transactions and a larger shadow economy which has grown significantly in Venezuela.The main conclusions drawn from the research are that the introduction of the national cryptocurrency had produced a positive impact on the economic development of the country.In fact, it resulted in an increase in the number of financial transactions within the country; it led to additional opportunities concerning exchanges with other countries and international financing of Venezuela by third parties; the cryptocurrency contributed to the integration of Venezuela into a new type of the world market.
This paper examines the market efficiency of three key cryptocurrency markets namely: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Monero, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research makes use of a Durbin-Watson test and a non-parametric runs test to test for weak-form efficiency, and two comprehensive event studies to test for semi-strong form and strong form efficiency. We conclude neither market can be considered efficient due to the presence of strong positive correlation, and inefficient reactions to our event studies. Despite this, each market became more efficient during the COVID-19 pandemic than before, due to the presence of weaker positive correlation during this timeframe, but inefficient, nonetheless. Thus, the study finds that of the tested cryptocurrency markets, none can be consider wholly efficient. This conclusion is consistent with the vast majority of existing literature.
Social media, e-commerce, global peer-to-peer technologies, and the near ubiquity of computers and smartphones allow people to interact, trust, and exchange value across traditional socio-economic control boundaries and over significant distances. Since the creation in 2008 of a new cryptographic currency system called Bitcoin, a financial technology market sector of about 250 billion USD has rapidly emerged, raising questions about the nature of currency in society and whether new types of non-national money are warranted and viable. This debate has pitted heterodox economic interests against orthodox economic interests while it has rekindled interest in theories that view money as a social construct with a multitude of potential forms beyond ‘state’ or fiat money, and in forms that are increasingly predicted to be purely digital in the future. This study seeks to explain the policy, social, and economic factors that underlie perceptions and usage of these new currency types. First, I develop a novel theoretical matrix of trust and control to explain the conditions under which people choose to use any monetary system. Then, I test this theory with a quantitative analysis of policy, trust, socio-economic, and cultural factors affecting the perceptions and usage of the new currency systems of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 28 countries. This analysis draws on usage metrics recorded from the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency network systems, attitudinal data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and European Values Study (EVS), and a proprietary survey of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency perceptions and usage in 15 countries conducted by Ipsos for the behavioral economics research department at ING Group. I performed principal component analyses (PCA) to reduce factors among collected metrics, and I then integrated the findings of the PCA into a series of ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions along three primary vectors: trust, control, and culture. Based on my empirical findings, I group these new currency system users’ personality perspectives into four categories: Evangelists, Pragmatists, Skeptics, and Speculators. The analysis finds Bitcoin and cryptocurrency perceptions and usage are not correlated with the strictness or laxness of public policies concerning Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The analysis also finds Bitcoin interest as measured by Google Search Trends is not correlated to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency perceptions and usage but is correlated to several lower socio-economic metrics related to crime and lack of confidence in law enforcement and government control. There is more favorable perception and usage of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in countries with less developed socio-economic profiles, and less favorable perceptions and usage in countries with more developed socio-economic profiles. There is more favorable perception and usage of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in countries with aggregate lower generalized trust and lower democratic tendencies, and less favorable perceptions and usage in countries with aggregate higher generalized trust and higher democratic tendencies. Overall, the findings show the extent to which trends in usage and perception of the emergent currencies of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are associated with basic cultural and attitudinal tendencies that are not necessarily related to public policy or other typical monetary theory-based controls. I conclude that a matrix of trust and control is effective at demonstrating how sociological factors explain the landscape of historical, extant, and emergent currency systems and this matrix predicts where Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies situate in society relative to these other currency systems.
Prithviraj Lakkakula, David W. Bullock, William W. Wilson, Lakkakula, Prithviraj · 6 authors
A blockchain is a distributed, public or private digital ledger that uses cryptography to record transactions across computer networks to prevent records from being altered retrospectively. This paper illustrates the impact of blockchain technology on total cost, time, and risk in international commodity trading using a hypothetical case of soybean trade from Jamestown, North Dakota, to China. The results suggest that the savings include 2.3 cents per bushel of soybeans and a 41 percent reduction in the total time, including documentation and transit time. Further, the 5 percent value-at-risk model shows a reduction of 2.6 cents per bushel of soybeans traded using blockchain technology. These results are significant for agribusinesses and other agricultural stakeholders who are evaluating the benefit of adopting blockchain technology in international commodity trading.
Due to the rapid increase in the total amount of data generated in the world, the need for more computational resources is also increasing dramatically. This trend results in huge data centers and massive server farms being built around the world, which have a negative impact on global carbon emissions. On the other hand, there are many underutilized personal computers around the world that can be used towards distributed computing. To better understand the capacity of personal computers, we have conducted a survey that aims to find their unused computational power. The results indicate that the typical CPU utilization of a personal computer is only 24.5% and, on average, a personal computer is only used 4.5 hours per day. This shows a significant computational potential that can be used towards distributed computing. In this paper, we introduce ChainFaaS with the motivation to use the computational capacity of personal computers as well as to improve developers' experience of internet-based computing services by reducing their costs, enabling transparency, and providing reliability. ChainFaaS is an open, public, blockchain-based serverless platform that takes advantage of personal computers' computational capacity to run serverless tasks. If a substantial number of personal computers were connected to this platform, some tasks could be offloaded from data centers. As a result, the need for building new data centers would be reduced with a positive impact on the environment. We have proposed the design of ChainFaaS, and then implemented and evaluated a prototype of this platform to show its feasibility.
Jan 1, 2020·Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
As unforeseen situations, emergencies threaten the environment, property, and people’s lives. Large emergencies are characterized by the demand for coordination of a variety of actors, such as civil defense or disaster relief. Communication and information exchange are crucial for coordination. Therefore, a solid, stable communication infrastructure is among the crucial factors for emergency response. New technologies that seem to ensure trustworthy communication must be evaluated constantly. Blockchain technology is widely applied in a broad variety of contexts and is commonly known for its decentralized and distributed governance. This is the motivation for the design and evaluation of a framework for the adoption of blockchain technology in the case of emergency response following a design science approach. Evaluation of the artifact using a specific evaluation framework clearly indicates the suitability of the case for application of blockchain technology.
Pablo Lamela Seijas, Alexander Nemish, David Smith, Simon Thompson
Marlowe is a DSL for financial contracts. We describe the implementation of Marlowe on the Cardano blockchain, and the Marlowe Playground web-based development and simulation environment. Contracts in Marlowe can be exhaustively analysed prior to running them, thus providing strong guarantees to participants in the contract. The Marlowe system itself has been formally verified using the Isabelle theorem prover, establishing such properties as the conservation of money.