Blockchain is a publicly distributed ledger system that provides access to all records for everyone participating in the network. All the additions to the block are permanent and unchangeable. All major or minor changes are reported in a new block and cannot be reversed. Since the ledger is being distributed, there is no centralized authority. By eliminating the need for intermediaries, blockchain enables parties to trace transactions quickly and easily. The transactions occurring on a blockchain are transparent, reliable, authenticated and secured with the help of cryptography. The biggest advantage of the distributed ledger of blockchain is reduced operating costs. Blockchain is already being used by companies like IBM, Barclays, and Kodak etc. Blockchain can contain details of transactions for resources other than money such as land, automobiles, agricultural products etc. Any adjustment must be accepted by most people in the network, and this is achieved using Consensus algorithms. This paper discusses some of the core algorithms for consensus used in blockchain systems.
Blockchain technology, has the characteristics of decentralization, openness and transparency, so that everyone can participate in database recording. Therefore, blockchain technology has a good application prospect in various industries. As the most successful application of blockchain technology, the Bitcoin system applies the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Under the PoW consensus mechanism, each miner competes through his own power to solve a SHA256 mathematical problem together, so as to gain profits. Due to the difficulty of the cryptography puzzle, miners tend to join the mining pool to obtain stable income. And the block withholding attacks will be carried out between the mining pools, so as to maximize his own income by controlling the infiltration rate dispatched to other mining pools. In this paper, we build a game model between mining pools based on the PoW consensus algorithm, and analyze its Nash equilibrium from two perspectives. The influence of the mining pools' power, the ratio of the power to be infiltrated, and the betrayed rate of dispatched miners on the mining pool's infiltration rate selection and income were explored, and the results were obtained through numerical simulations.
The sharing of electronic health records (EHRs) has shown great advantages in the accurate treatment of patients and the development of medical institutions. However, it is easy to cause some security problems in the process of medical data sharing. Generally, after a patient's EHRs are generated by different medical institutions, they are outsourced to the cloud server (CS) by the authorized medical institutions for storage, which causes the patient to lose control of EHRs. Moreover, malicious medical institutions and semi-trusted cloud servers may collude to tamper with EHRs to seek benefits, which threatens the integrity of EHRs. Therefore, we propose a blockchain-assisted verifiable outsourced attribute-based signcryption scheme (BVOABSC) which realizes the secure sharing of EHRs in a multi-authority cloud storge environment. Firstly, we use the attribute-based signcryption algorithm to realize the confidentiality and unforgeability of the EHRs and protect the privacy of the signer. Secondly, it greatly reduces the computational burden of users by using verifiable outsourcing computation mechanism. Most of the designcryption calculation is performed by the cloud server, and the correctness of the generated partial designcryption ciphertext is verified by users. Furthermore, we use blockchain technology to protect outsourced EHRs from tampering by illegal users. Specifically, each operation on outsourced EHRs is stored as a transaction on the public blockchain, which ensures that EHRs cannot be modified. At the same time, the auditor can verify the integrity of the outsourced EHRs by checking the corresponding transactions. In addition, the smart contract created by the patient can solve the problems in cloud storage, such as tampering EHRs and returning incorrect results. Finally, security analysis and performance evaluation show that the proposed BVOABSC scheme satisfies stronger security and higher efficiency than similar schemes.
Jin Wang, Wencheng Chen, Lei Wang, Yongjun Ren · 5 authors
With the development of the Industrial Internet of Things and the continuous expansion of application scenarios, many development bottlenecks have followed. Its data security issue has become an obstacle to its widespread application. It has attracted substantial attention from both academia and industry. Blockchain technology has the characteristics of decentralization, openness and transparency and non-tampering. It has natural advantages in solving the security of the Industrial Internet of Things. Accordingly, this paper first analyzes the security risks associated with data storage in the Industrial Internet of Things and proposes the use of blockchain technology to ensure the secure storage of data in the Industrial Internet of Things. In traditional blockchains, the data layer uses Merkle hash trees to store data; however, the Merkle hash tree not able to provide non-member proof, which makes it unable to resist attacks from malicious nodes in the network. To solve this problem, this paper replaces the Merkle hash tree with a password accumulator to provide member proof and non-member proof. Moreover, the existing accumulators have trapdoors and cannot be updated in batches, and unable to meet the blockchain’s expansion requirements. This paper presents an improved RSA accumulator and gives the definition of the accumulator. Finally, this paper uses RSA to construct a batch update accumulator scheme without trapdoor, and shows that the scheme is feasible through correctness and security
Government of Uganda is undertaking reforms to improve on the funding levels and modalities of local governments but is faced with a limited budget to fund both the central government and decentralized functions. Less is known about the effect of central government transfers to local revenue collection especially in the context of decentralization in Uganda. We assessed the effects of central government transfers on local revenue generation by municipalities in Uganda by analyzing the trends of central government transfers and locally generated revenues by the municipal councils and assessing the effects of central government transfers on own local revenue generation. Our study focused on municipalities that have been in existence since introduction of decentralization policy and some of these have recently been upgraded into cities. Time series data covering the selected municipalities were obtained from the Local Government Finance Commission. The dataset comprised of locally generated revenue and central government transfers for 13 old municipal councils. The data was in Excel and it had to be exported to E-Views statistical software for further analysis using the fixed effects regression model. Our findings indicate that over the period 2002 to 2017, both central government grants and local revenue generation grew exponentially. We find that increased central government grants contributed to a decline in locally generated revenue and this partly attributable to too much reliance of the local governments on central grants. The results showed that the lagged total central government grants had a significant negative effect on the locally generated revenue. Government should factor in the allocation formula for central government grants to the local revenue performance to serve as an incentive for the municipal councils to raise own local revenue.
The transition to market relations increases the relevance of the study of decentralized finance. As P. A. Levchaev rightly remarked, due to the historical specifics, the peculiarity of Russia's financial science was a detailed study of the state finances of the planned economy of socialism. In contrast, the functioning of the finances of business entities often remained insufficiently studied. So, the subject of financial law is a state and municipal finance. Private decentralized finance is not studied by legal financial science, which gives rise to a fragmentary regulation of these relations by civil law.
Introduction. The issue of institutional legal support of formation and implementation of the budget policy of territorial development is extremely important at the present stage of the state development and decentralization processes that are taking place. The purpose is to study the institutional and legal support for the formation and implementation of budget policy for the development of the territories of Ukraine and to develop proposals for reforming the system of inter-budgetary relations and changes to the basics of budget regulation. Results. It was determined that subsidiarity is one of the key principles of organization of functions in the sphere of public administration, which is one of the main principles of organization of power institutions. The main directions of reforming the administrative and territorial structure of the country are outlined. The basic legislative acts which today form the legal basis for forming the budgetary policy of territorial development in Ukraine in the context of decentralization and reform of public finances are analyzed, namely the laws on amendments to the Budget and Tax Codes of Ukraine. The main priorities of the state regional policy were investigated according to the Law of Ukraine "On the Principles of State Regional Policy". Definition of powers of subjects of the state regional policy, directions of coordination of activities of the governing bodies of different levels and mechanism of their financing are considered. The reform of the system of intergovernmental relations is analyzed in detail. Conclusions. Creation of a decentralized territorial development policy requires usage of a systematic approach that targets directly all participants in the process with institutional compliance and mandatory state-level delegation of mandate.
The study examines the stability of Bitcoin price/returns volatility using an AR-GARCH model. The data for the study were the daily closing Bitcoin prices obtained from the bitcoin,com website for the study period 01/01/2013 - 31/12/2017.
This research paper focuses on the interconnections between traditional and cutting-edge technological features of virtual currencies and the EU legal framework to prevent the misuse of the financial system for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes. It highlights a set of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) challenges brought about in the Internet of Money (IoM) landscape by the double-edged nature of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) as both transparency and privacy ori- ented. Special attention is paid to inferences from concepts such as pseudonymity and traceability; this contribution explores these notions by relating them to privacy enhanc- ing mechanisms and blockchain intelligence strategies, while heeding both core elements of the present AML/CFT obliged entities’ framework and possible new conceptualizations. Finally, it identifies key controversies and open questions as to the actual feasibility of ef- fectively applying the “active cooperation” AML/CFT approach to the crypto ecosystems.
Abstract This essay explores the organisational character of Facebook's Libra currency by undertaking a critical reading of documents published by the Libra Association. Drawing on the conceptual work of Marilyn Strathern and Michel Serres, it illustrates how ownership cuts the network and encourages parasitism as a means of driving future profit. Central to this is the claim that Libra is not an exercise in democratising money, but rather, the opposite: Libra is run as a club, for the benefit of club members. The conceptual theme of ‘cutting’ is used to organise the argument. Rather than a cutting-edge technology, Libra's true innovation is organisational and consists in overturning the decentralised character of blockchain, such that distributed ledger technology is re-centralised by big tech firms. Outsiders are thus cut-off from Libra; only those inside the club have the right to participate in Libra and its governance. This position also affords members an exclusive capacity to take a cut of the profits generated through Libra. As a private organisation, members have sole rights to future profits generated from the Libra ecosystem and are in this way incentivised to create new product opportunities over time.
The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) represents a network of implantable or wearable medical devices that continuously collect medical data about the patient’s health status. These data are heavy, sensitive and require high level of security. With the emergence of blockchain technology, researchers are focusing on using blockchain strategies to bring security to healthcare applications. However, such integration is very difficult and challenging due to the different requirements in these two technologies. We present in this paper a technical review of existing solutions applying blockchain technology on IoMT. We analyze these studies, discuss the proposed architectures and how they managed the integration challenges. The open issues regarding the application of blockchain over IoMT are also specified.
The present paper analyzes the potential of crowdfunding as an alternative source for financing the economy, but also the limitations of the process and the current gaps. Structured as a practical guide in the field, the study offers examples of crowdfunding platforms, systemizing the theoretical background of the concept in accordance with the Romanian context. Community financing is still poor understood by the Romanian public, the analysis focusing on a consistent literature review that reach the mechanism and the main typology of the crowdfunding platforms, defining the concept and exploring its novelty. Legal regulations and technological development are also considered in the frame of the Industry 4.0, revealing the advantages of using the Fintech tools for both investors and entrepreneurs. Due to the distributed risks, the crowdfunding platforms make easier the investment effort, while still protecting the rights of the capital-seeking. The next step of this evolutionary process is the integration of the blockchain technology in the crowdfunding system, adding substantial features as: anonymity, decentralization and transparency.
The role and place of costs policy in the modern system of financial regulation of budgetary institutions is defined. The priorities facing the national system of budgetary institutions are identified, taking into account the need to strengthen its effectiveness and efficiency, including in the part: creating conditions for increasing the economic independence of budgetary institutions based on the replacement of estimated funding for end-to-end budgeting; updating the institutional mechanisms for financing and co-financing of socially important services; increased transparency and publicity of activities; introducing a system for evaluating the quality of services provided; introduction of an institution of effective public financial control at all stages of the management cycle, starting with planning. A methodology for evaluating the socio-economic costs efficiency of budgetary institutions is proposed, including the definitions of relative fiscal autonomy and of the decentralization level of the system of financing for the network of budgetary institutions, which can be used to characterize the compositional structure of financial policy in the sphere of costs. The role of fiscal decentralization in financing the costs of social development is defined. The specifics of use of the program-targeted method in financing the activities of budgetary institutions are characterized. Ways to improve the cost efficiency of budgetary institutions in the spheres of education and public health are suggested.
Smart contracts are one of the business and organizational areas where blockchain technology is thought to have a major potential impact.Smart contracts can be a secure method to technologically ensure that a certain action is followed by other agreed-upon transactions.Payment transactions for contract bindings might be the first go-to thought in this regard, also considering that blockchain technology's most significant impact until now has been through cryptocurrencies.And yet, so many other aspects of organizational processes rely upon transactions between different organizational units.There might not be a flow of currencies, and the value driver might be the flow of correct, on-time information.Such is the case when patients are released from a hospital to the organizations that provide home care in the Norwegian health care system.The health care professionals in home care need the right information to be able to provide the necessary care and medication.There is an ongoing ITprogram in the Norwegian health care system called AKSON, with the goal of one patientone journal.This article sheds light on opportunities regarding the potential use of smart contracts-technology in the Akson program, for information sharing when patients are transferred from hospital to home-care.
Sameti Morteza, Mohammad Djawadi, Emadzadeh Mostafa
Theories of money and credit can be divided into two general categories: commodity theory of money and credit theory of money. Both categories
theoretically question the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as money. The present study aimed to provide a new interpretation of the Theory of
Money and Credit in relation to both theories mentioned above. First, the functions of public trust was taken as a commodity, which is consistent
with Karl Mengers views and the subjective theory of value. Based on this approach, the definitions of the credit theory of money will be acceptable
with a new interpretation. This new interpretation also involves an extension of Hayek's definition of money, which is consistent with Mises'
definition of money. Then, the concept of intertemporal preferences, with an emphasis on the barter root of money based on Mises regression
theorem, was used to show that cryptocurrencies can be accepted as money as far as they serve as private currency and suit the computability of
dynamics of Underlying Economic Realities with intertemporal preferences. Therefore, the main criterion for defining money is how it affects
intertemporal preferences
Over the last few years, debates regarding the application of federal securities laws to primary cryptocurrency offerings and secondary market trading have taken a sharp turn. At the heart of this discussion, regulators, developers, and market participants began to recognize the diversity of protocols supporting the distribution of digital assets and resales on secondary market trading platforms.
This Essay proposes modifying an exemption from registration for exchanges under the regulations governing alternative trading systems (“ATS”). Promulgated in 1998, Regulation ATS offers a set of rules governing emerging alternative trading platforms. The exemption enables the Commission to monitor and supervise newly developing trading venues. In recent years, for example, the Commission has amended Regulation ATS to permit private exchange operators to service secondary trading markets; this approach enables private exchange operators to avoid the onerous registration requirements under Section 5 of the Exchange Act yet facilitates the Commission’s oversight of a critical and increasingly sizeable volume of secondary market trading activity. Anticipating the need to register with the Commission, a number of cryptocurrency trading platforms have already submitted or announced their intention to submit applications to register as alternative trading venues under Regulation ATS.
In Part I, this Essay briefly explores the existing legal framework applied to exchanges and examines the settlement agreement between the SEC and Coburn in the Commission’s first prosecution of a platform accused of violating Section 5 of the Exchange Act. Part II offers a brief analysis of the unique attributes of decentralized exchanges and concludes with questions regarding the existing regulatory framework for secondary market trading. Part III of this Essay proposes that the Commission adopt an exemption from registration under Section 5 of the Exchange Act for secondary market trading platforms facilitating cryptocurrency transactions under Regulation ATS. By taking affirmative action and engaging in formal rule-making procedures, the SEC will enhance liquidity, price accuracy, and price discovery and reduce regulatory uncertainty in secondary cryptocurrency trading markets.
The widespread presence of Corona virus (COVID-19) is causing organizations and individuals major economics downsizing.The way this virus is transmitted from one individual to another is the real cause of the problem.For that, researchers in different fields started seriously looking for touch-less and contact-less exchange.Particularly in the finance world, cash transactions and key pad based transactions are becoming obsolete because they are some of the major causes of the spread of this virus (and other viruses and bacteria).Cryptocurrency could be one of the solutions to the above mentioned situation.This novel money is based on Blockchain technology, which is based on cryptography algorithms for the safety and the security of the transactions.This paper exhibits a comparative study of the asymmetric cryptography algorithms.This helps the user to best choose the most secure, safe and reliable method to encrypt/decrypt the transactions created in the Blockchain.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
With the greater availability and reduced dimensions of complex electronics, an Internet of Things (IoT) will emerge in the future, in which machines use sensors to collect and evaluate information about the physical world and share it with other machines without having to rely on human interaction. Blockchain technology encompasses features such as trustworthiness and decentralization and these features can be advantageous in the IoT context, as they can help to ensure data integrity in an Internet of Things unmonitored by humans. In the course of this paper, we investigate to what extent the use of blockchain technology is feasible for autonomous devices in IoT. For this purpose, a prototypical client blockchain component is built using the single-board computer Raspberry Pi and a simulated Ethereum blockchain. This prototype will be examined for aspects like proper functionality, response times and performance.