Presently to achieve enterprise digitalization technologies such as Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) has now been deployed to support digital services provided by enterprises. But several challenges in DLTs remain to be addressed, including the interoperability, standardization, and integration. Therefore, this study provides theoretical and practical understanding of DLT interoperability and identified the factors that influence the interoperability of DLTs. Also, an architecture is designed to shows how interoperability can be achieved in DLTs and legacy systems supported by Application Programming Interface (API). A case study is presented to illustrate the applicability of the architecture to support a digital energy marketplace.
Sergio Luis Náñez Alonso, Miguel Ángel Echarte Fernández, Konrad Kolegowicz, David Sanz Bas · 5 authors
Los países de la región del Caribe, Centroamérica y Sudamérica han irrumpido con fuerza e indiscutible liderazgo en la adopción del dinero digital, ya sea apostando por las monedas digitales emitidas y respaldadas por un banco central (CBDC) o por las monedas virtuales descentralizadas (DEFI), lideradas por Bitcoin y Ether. El objetivo del artículo es identificar las razones que llevan a un país o zona monetaria a decantarse por alguno de estos sistemas. Una vez estudiadas las ventajas y desventajas del uso de las divisas virtuales centraremos el análisis en doce variables sobre el uso de dinero móvil extraídas del GFI (Global Findex Indicator) de los años 2011, 2014, 2017 y 2021 de todos estos países. El presente artículo demuestra, entre otras cuestiones, que la apuesta por un dinero digital basado en CBDC o DEFI depende más de la elección política de los dirigentes del país en cuestión que de criterios socioeconómicos.
There is a noted rise in research examining the influence of digital transformation-specifically the application of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) on the progression of the financial sector.This paper presents conclusions from a study on participants' awareness, understanding, and intentions regarding cryptocurrencies and the Digital Euro.Participants have a relatively high awareness of digital assets and Digital Euro, but better understanding is needed through effective communication and educational initiatives.While recognizing cryptocurrencies as valuable investments, participants are skeptical about their use for payments due to concerns about illicit activities.Regulatory frameworks are deemed important to address these concerns.Participants support the introduction of the Digital Euro and intend to use it for various purposes, suggesting potential demand.Desired characteristics include privacy, ease of use, and cross-border usability.These findings inform the strategies for introducing and accepting the Digital Euro, promoting financial inclusion, and enhancing accessibility in Europe's digital economy.
L. Schädler, Michael Lustenberger, Florian Spychiger
Blockchain systems are a novel technology that allow for innovative business models. However, due to the decentralized nature of blockchains, new organizational challenges arise. Blockchains require intricate governance mechanisms to align all interests of the involved stakeholders. A crucial part of blockchain governance is decision-making, i.e., the way how a community of a blockchain system can reach decisions. While blockchain governance has received considerable interest of academia, decision-making in blockchains has not yet been sufficiently addressed. Through an exploratory multiple case study, we establish a framework for analyzing decision-making in blockchain systems and identify two dimensions along which decision-making in blockchains can be classified—namely community-driven vs. institution-driven as well as off-chain vs. on-chain decision-making. Even though blockchains are decentralized systems, we can show that there are often highly centralized elements present. The degree of this centralization varies across blockchains and might be connected to the business cases and origins of the different systems. Furthermore, many factors of decision-making processes in blockchains are still off-chain and only some factors are truly on-chain. We arrived at these insights through a structured approach for decision-making in blockchains. Thus, we provide new tools for researcher and practitioners and pave the way to novel blockchain applications with sound decision-making mechanisms.
Decentralized applications (dApp) have proliferated in recent years, but their long-term viability is a topic of debate. However, for dApps to be sustainable, and suitable for integration into a larger service networks, they need to attract users and promise reliable availability. Therefore, assessing their longevity is crucial. Analyzing the utilization trajectory of a service is, however, challenging due to several factors, such as demand spikes, noise, autocorrelation, and non-stationarity. In this study, we employ robust statistical techniques to identify trends in currently popular dApps. Our findings demonstrate that a significant proportion of dApps, across a range of categories, exhibit statistically significant positive overall trends, indicating that success in decentralized computing can be sustainable and transcends specific fields. However, there is also a substantial number of dApps showing negative trends, with a disproportionately high number from the decentralized finance (DeFi) category. Furthermore, a more detailed inspection of time series segments shows a clearly diminishing proportion of positive trends from mid-2021 to the present. In summary, we conclude that the dApp economy might have lost some momentum, and that there is a strong element of uncertainty regarding its future significance.
Sowelu Avanzo, Teodoro Criscione, Julio Linares, Claudio Schifanella
Recent advancements of blockchain technologies ensure security and trustability of Community Currency Systems (CCSs), enabling their increasingly widespread adoption. These systems aim at empowering the local economies by virtue of a medium of exchange whose governance and circulation are local. Smart contracts enable the enforcement of token economy policies, which facilitate the experimentation of radically new economic models. Recent studies investigated blockchain-based CCSs. Still, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study analyzing a CCS providing a token-based Universal Basic Income (UBI). We evaluate the Circles UBI decentralised application utility in delivering an unconditional income to its users, focusing on its main pilot project running in Berlin. We analyse the structural changes in the network, especially in relation to a subsidy program, involving local businesses. We also identify prominent users based on centrality measures, and investigate how the UBI was effectively spent. We adopt a method agnostic to the economic context to identify optimal aggregation windows for the temporal network of CCS transactions based on the Causal Fidelity (CF) index. This aims to provide static representations as accurate as possible in terms of sequential order of edges, which aspect was not considered in previous research on CCSs. Our findings suggest that the pilot project sustained the expansion of the economic network and the system facilitated trade in urban communities in Berlin. Future research is needed to identify methods to ensure sustainability of self-organised CCSs adopting a UBI issuance scheme and to further decentralise their governance.
Mayank Raikwar, Nikita Polyanskii, Sebastian Müller
This paper investigates the issue of fairness in Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), specifically focusing on the shortcomings observed in current blockchain systems due to Miner Extractable Value (MEV) phenomena and systemic centralization. We explore the potential of Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) as a solution to address or mitigate these fairness concerns. Our objective is to gain a comprehensive understanding of fairness in DAG-based DLTs by examining its different aspects and measurement metrics. We aim to establish a shared knowledge base that facilitates accurate fairness assessment and allows for an evaluation of whether DAG-based DLTs offer a more equitable design. We describe the various dimensions of fairness and conduct a comparative analysis to examine how they relate to different components of DLTs. This analysis serves as a catalyst for further research, encouraging the development of cryptographic systems that promote fairness.
Sergio Luis Náñez Alonso, Javier Jorge-Vázquez, Pablo Arroyo Rodríguez, Beatriz María Sastre-Hernández
Over the last few years, the holding and use of cryptocurrencies, as well as the entire ecosystem of decentralised finance (DeFi), has become popular worldwide. However, their acceptance and use are not equal for various reasons; and it is important to know these limiting reasons. There is a gender gap in the acceptance and use of so-called decentralised finance (DeFi), where females have much lower acceptance and usage rates than men. Our study has focused on analysing why this situation occurs. A structured questionnaire was used, including age, level of education and gender, as well as closed-ended questions and questions with respondent ratings (Likert scale). Replicating the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model, applied in this case to the study on the use and acceptance of cryptocurrencies by females. This has allowed us to generate a sample of 326 people living in Spain, 168 of whom are females. We obtained as a result that the barriers that limit the acceptance and use of cryptocurrencies by females are several: The lack of investment experience in traditional assets, the general lack of knowledge on the part of females about cryptocurrencies; as well as concepts such as blockchain, how to carry out transactions or what an exchange is and how it works. Also, the fact that cryptocurrencies do not inspire any security in females and risk aversion. In contrast, we found no evidence that females do not accept or use cryptocurrencies due to a lack of trust in traditional money, pressure from social media and influencers, fear of not doing the same as the next guy or speculation, which are mostly present in the motivation of males. Nor do we find that income or lack of digital skills among females are barriers to entry.
Non-fungible tokens(NFTs) are on the rise. They can represent artworks exhibited for marketing purposes on webpages of companies or online stores -- analogously to physical artworks. Lending of NFTs is an attractive form of passive income for owners but comes with risks (e.g., items are not returned) and costs for escrow agents. Similarly, renters have difficulties in anticipating the impact of artworks, e.g., how spectators of NFTs perceive them. To address these challenges, we introduce an NFT rental solution based on a pay-per-like pricing model using blockchain technology, i.e., smart contracts based on the Ethereum chain. We find that blockchain solutions enjoy many advantages also reported for other applications, but interestingly, we also observe dark sides of (large) blockchain fees. Blockchain solutions appear unfair to niche artists and potentially hamper cultural diversity. Furthermore, a trust-cost tradeoff arises to handle fraud caused by manipulation from parties outside the blockchain. All code for the solution is publicly available at: https://github.com/asopi/rental-project
Bruno Medeiros de Oliveira, Pedro Antonino, Augusto Sampaio
Transaction costs are a barrier to the wide adoption of decentralized applications. To address this issue, this paper proposes a framework to optimize transaction fees by carrying out a conflict-avoiding packaging of multiple smart-contract calls into a single transaction. It relies on two main concepts: a way to optimize the bundling of transactions with a conflict-avoiding packaging strategy and a way to execute such bundles with a package-processing methodology. We illustrate our framework and the gas economy it can bring with a case study where we analyze a popular Ethereum smart contract.
Lin Chen, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Ahmed Sunny · 6 authors
Recent advances in blockchain research have been made in two important directions. One is refined resilience analysis utilizing game theory to study the consequences of selfish behavior of users (miners), and the other is the extension from a linear (chain) structure to a non-linear (graphical) structure for performance improvements, such as IOTA and Graphcoin. The first question that comes to mind is what improvements a blockchain system would see by leveraging these new advances. In this article, we consider three major properties for a blockchain system: α-partial verification, scalability, and finality-duration. We establish a formal framework and prove that no blockchain system can achieve α-partial verification for any fixed constant α, high scalability, and low finality-duration simultaneously. We observe that classical blockchain systems like Bitcoin achieve full verification (α =1) and low finality-duration, Ethereum 2.0 Sharding achieves low finality-duration and high scalability. We are interested in whether it is possible to partially satisfy the three properties.
Through a bibliometric analysis, this article researches the central topics that link blockchain to public policy design and investigates the key policy priorities for the use of blockchain technology in the public sector. The analysis points out six thematic foci in the current literature: (1) business and strategic management, (2) technology adoption, (3) system infrastructure, (4) cryptocurrency and decentralized economy, (5) regulations and geopolitics, and (6) governance. The analysis demonstrates a high degree of co-occurrence between “barriers” and “blockchain adoption” confirming that blockchain adoption in the public sector domain is perceived as challenging. The association of the term “barrier” with other key terms suggests theoretical, technological, resource-based, and managerial challenges as the main showstoppers. The bibliometric analysis also reveals the underrepresentation of social and political sciences in our knowledge base, despite the thematic relevance of these disciplines to understand the underlying challenges. More research from these disciplines is warranted to understand better how this technology can be best integrated into the public policy processes.
Despite the reported disruptive nature of blockchain technology in the extant literature, its adoption is slower than its potential. This difference between the technology’s promises and its current adoption has sparked interest in understanding the factors impeding widespread adoption. This systematic literature review (SLR), drawn from 1786 studies published between 2008 and May 2023, seeks to address this gap. Specifically, our research explores the influence of factors and their differences and commonalities on blockchain adoption. The SLR, examining individual and organisational perspectives, identifies 152 unique factors influencing 25 industries across 21 countries. This review also highlights distinct commonalities and variations in these factors across industries and countries. For instance, while regulatory issues and costs were universal concerns, the importance of technical understanding diverged between industries. Furthermore, country-specific factors, including local regulations and cultural aspects, emerged as significantly influenced insights that provide a comprehensive perspective on the dynamics of blockchain adoption, offering valuable guidance to industry practitioners and researchers striving to navigate the complexities of blockchain integration.
Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyze the regulation of cryptocurrencies within the specific context of Competition Law. The research aims to examine the interrelationship between Competition Law and the blockchain technology that underlies cryptocurrencies. Theoretical framework: Cryptocurrencies is of concern in almost all the jurisdiction across the global and is of great challenge before all the regulators. The acceptance given to cryptocurrencies across various industries and among various countries is steadily increasing. This research paper would analyze on the regulation of cryptocurrencies in specific lines of Competition Law. Design/methodology/approach: The research undertaken is a Doctrinal one. The study mainly depends on the collection of primary and secondary sources from books, journals, websites, case laws and such other sources. This study uses analytical, critical, comparative and other necessary methods to deduce the conclusion and to make out the findings of the study and to provide the suggestions. Findings: The obtained results of the study allowed us to establish that there is a close interrelationship between Competition Law and the technology that operates the cryptocurrency which is the block chain technology. Cryptocurrencies give rise to several common and particular challenges to Competition Law enforcement agencies. They include the jurisdiction issue, market area, network effect, onus of liability, mergers and acquisitions, etc. Research, Practical & Social implications: The paper contributes to the understanding of the regulation of cryptocurrencies, specifically within the context of Competition Law. The paper sheds light on the legal implications of cryptocurrencies and provides insights into their impact on competition in various industries. The findings of this research can inform policymakers, regulators, and legal professionals involved in shaping the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. The research paper contributes to fostering a better understanding of the potential impact on market dynamics, consumer protection, and fair business practices. This understanding can promote transparency, trust, and accountability in the use of cryptocurrencies, benefiting both businesses and consumers. Originality/value: The result of the research paper would give possible solutions to the problem faced by the Competition Law enforcement agencies in dealing with cases related to cryptocurrencies.
This paper examines factors affecting the adoption of cryptocurrency across 158 countries worldwide. To this end, we collected cryptocurrency adoption data from Chainalysis’s reports and macroeconomic data from the World Development Indicators platform. We find that greater import volumes, larger population size, more sufficient levels of the labor force, higher unemployment rate, and a higher level of electricity access are associated with a greater level of cryptocurrency adoption. On the other hand, a higher level of government spending and a greater level of domestic savings are associated with a lower level of cryptocurrency adoption. In addition, we also find that the population size and level of the labor force have a negative impact on the three subcomponents of the cryptocurrency adoption index including (i) centralized service value received (CeFi); (ii) the volume of exchange trading (P2P); and (iii) the received DeFi value (DeFi). We find that while the import volumes and level of electricity access have an opposite relationship with the centralized service value received and the DeFi value received, GDP has a negative effect on the DeFi value received. Meanwhile, greater government spending and higher domestic savings are associated with a greater level of exchange trade volume P2P. In terms of urbanization, whereas it shows a positive impact on the exchange trade volume P2P, it has the opposite effect on the DeFi value received.
In this paper, we present subgraphs of Ethereum wallets involved in NFT trades of the top 15 ERC721 NFT collections. To obtain the subgraphs, we have extracted the Ethereum transaction graph from a live Ethereum node and filtered out exchanges, mining pools, and smart contracts. For each of the selected collections, we identified the set of accounts involved in NFT trading, which we used to perform a breadth-first search in the Ethereum transaction graph to obtain a subgraph. These subgraphs can offer insight into the linkability of accounts participating in NFT trading on the Ethereum blockchain.
Abstract Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a type of digital asset that can prove ownership of both virtual and physical assets using blockchains. Even though creating and trading NFTs have experienced a significant increase, research on the NFT market and its features is limited. In this study, we aim to bridge this gap by conducting a comprehensive analysis on the NFT market and its evolution from a network perspective. We examined the transactions network between NFT buyers and sellers and analyzed the structural characteristics of the NFT trades network. Additionally, we looked at how NFT usage and transactions have changed over time. Our findings indicate that a few participants are responsible for most of the NFT sales and purchases, while the majority of the addresses have only a few NFT transactions. Furthermore, we investigated the structural properties of the NFT trades network, including centrality measures, clustering coefficient, and assortativity, and how they have changed over time. We also explored the interactions between NFTs by constructing a graph of NFT relations. We identified four major communities and highlighted the top NFT projects in each community. We also examined the NFT projects that buyers mostly purchase together.
Kripto para ve spor arasında çeşitli ilişkiler bulunmaktadır. Kripto para birimleri, spor dünyasında sponsorluk ve reklam fırsatları sunarak önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Spor takımları, kripto para şirketleriyle anlaşmalar yaparak forma reklamlarında veya stadyum isim haklarında kripto para şirketlerinin markalarını sergileyebilirler. Ayrıca, kripto para birimleri spor etkinliklerinin bilet satışlarında da kullanılabilmektedir. Bazı spor organizasyonları, kripto para birimleriyle bilet satın alma ve ödeme imkânı sunarak, kullanıcıların daha hızlı ve kolay bir şekilde biletlerini temin etmelerini sağlayabilirler. NFT'ler (Non-Fungible Token), kripto para birimleriyle popülerlik kazanan bir konudur ve spor dünyasında da büyük ilgi görmektedir. Bazı çevrimiçi bahis platformları, kripto para birimlerini kabul ederek, kullanıcıların anonimliklerini korumasını ve hızlı işlem yapmalarını sağlayabilirler. Ünlü sporcuların kripto para yatırımlarıyla ilgili açıklamaları veya sosyal medya üzerinden kripto para birimlerini desteklemeleri, kripto para sektöründe ilgi ve bilinirlik oluşturabilir. Kripto para ve spor arasındaki ilişki, spor dünyasına yeni fırsatlar ve finansal yenilikler getirebilirken, aynı zamanda riskleri ve belirsizlikleri de beraberinde getirebilir. Ancak, bu ilişkinin gelecekte daha da gelişmesi ve spor endüstrisinde daha fazla etkileşim sağlaması beklenmektedir.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are becoming increasingly popular in Play-to-Earn (P2E) Web3 applications as a means of incentivizing user engagement. In Web3, users with NFTs ownership are entitled to monetize them. However, due to lack of objective NFT valuation, which makes NFT value determination challenging, P2E applications ecosystems have experienced inflation. In this paper, we propose a method that enables NFT inflation value management in P2E applications. Our method leverages the contribution-rewards model proposed by Curve Finance and the automated market maker (AMM) of decentralized exchanges. In decentralized systems, P2E Web3 applications inclusive, not all participants contribute in good faith. Therefore, rewards are provided to incentivize contribution. Our mechanism proves that burning NFTs, indicating the permanent removal of NFTs, contributes to managing inflation by reducing the number of NFTs in circulation. As a reward for this contribution, our method mints a compensation (CP) token as an ERC-20 token, which can be exchanged for NFTs once enough tokens have been accumulated. To further increase the value of the CP token, we suggest using governance tokens and CP tokens to create liquidity pools for AMM. The value of the governance token is determined by the market, and the CP token derives its value from the governance token in AMM. The CP token can determine its worth based on the market value of the governance token. Additionally, since CP tokens are used for exchanging NFTs, the value of the NFT is ultimately determined by the value of the CP token. To further illustrate our concept, we show how to adjust burning rewards based on factors such as the probability of upgrading NFTs' rarity or the current swap ratio of governance and CP tokens in AMM.
Despite the increase in the number of blockchain-based Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), there is no consensus on what constitutes a DAO. This paper provides an in-depth study of DAOs by analyzing their definitions, characteristics, and emerging developments. Existing definitions in the literature hardly recognize common functionalities and intermingle coded DAOs, DAO deployment platforms, and blockchain DAOs. We developed a comprehensive DAO definition by reviewing the literature and empirically analyzing 1,859 DAOs. The findings show that many DAOs were inactive and that a threshold of 20 tokenholders is a tipping point for DAOs to survive over time and maintain sustained levels of activity. Finally, based on an empirical analysis of 9,845 perceived DAOs, we identified the emerging development of off-chain voting. This emerging development challenges the autonomous nature of DAOs. We recommend further research to investigate the effect of governance structures on their long-term sustainability and viability for both on-chain and off-chain DAOs.
Ángel A. Juan, Elena Pérez Bernabeu, Yuda Li, Xabier A. Martin · 6 authors
The popularity of blockchain technology stems largely from its association with cryptocurrencies, but its potential applications extend beyond this. Fungible tokens, which are interchangeable, can facilitate value transactions, while smart contracts using non-fungible tokens enable the exchange of digital assets. Utilizing blockchain technology, tokenized platforms can create virtual markets that operate without the need for a central authority. In principle, blockchain technology provides these markets with a high degree of security, trustworthiness, and dependability. This article surveys recent developments in these areas, including examples of architectures, designs, challenges, and best practices (case studies) for the design and implementation of tokenized platforms for exchanging digital assets.
Daniël Reijsbergen, Bretislav Hajek, Tien Tuan Anh Dinh, Jussi Keppo · 6 authors
Decentralized Finance (DeFi), in which digital assets are exchanged without trusted intermediaries, has grown rapidly in value in recent years. The global DeFi ecosystem is fragmented into multiple blockchains, fueling the demand for cross-chain commerce. Existing approaches for cross-chain transactions, e.g., bridges and cross-chain deals, achieve atomicity by locking assets in escrow. However, locking up assets increases the financial risks for the participants, especially due to price fluctuations and the long latency of cross-chain transactions. Stablecoins, which are pegged to a non-volatile asset such as the US dollar, help mitigate the risk associated with price fluctuations. However, existing stablecoin designs are tied to individual blockchain platforms, and trusted parties or complex protocols are needed to exchange stablecoin tokens between blockchains. Our goal is to design a practical stablecoin for cross-chain commerce. Realizing this goal requires addressing two challenges. The first challenge is to support a large and growing number of blockchains efficiently. The second challenge is to be resilient to price fluctuations and blockchain platform failures. We present CroCoDai to address these challenges. We also present three prototype implementations of our stablecoin system, and show that it incurs small execution overhead.
This project integrates Web 3.0, web development, and mobile game development to create aplay-to-earn (P2E) mobile game with a web component. The objective of this project is to seamlesslycombine a mobile game with a website and a distinctive token ecosystem to provide players with anenjoyable experience. For the purposes of creating mobile games, websites, and smart contracts,respectively, the Unity Game Engine and the "Next.js' framework, Solidity, are employed. The projectmakes use of Web3 Modal, the MetaMask extension, Microsoft Azure PlayFab for player management,and Web3 Modal for a seamless interface with blockchain networks. The main outcomes of the projectinclude successful implementations like a mobile game with simple gameplay that players can quicklyunderstand and a website with an interface that will allow you to withdraw crypto tokens securely usingsmart contracts. By offering real benefits like personalized crypto tokens, the idea increases playerparticipation. The primary conclusion to be drawn from this project is that combining gaming withblockchain integration results in a unique and engaging experience for gamers. In conclusion, our studyshows that integrating several technologies to improve user experiences in the gaming and blockchain areasis both feasible and potentially rewarding.