Blockchain Papers

Vedran Juričić, Matea Radošević, Ena Fuzul

No abstract is available for this record.

Valentina Derbeneva

An urgent task today is to strengthen the importance of property taxation, measured not only by quantitative indicators, but also by the correct perception of tax by local authorities. The scope of the research is the development of the process of fiscal decentralization in Russia. The subject of the study is the relationship of the principle of benefits in property taxation with the process of fiscal decentralization at a local and regional level. The employed research methods include logical analysis, the descriptive method and systematic presentation of the results of statistical analysis. The aim of the article is to study the importance of property taxes for the implementation of fiscal decentralization in Russia. As a result of the calculations, it was concluded that there is a tendency toward an increased financial dependence of local governments and increased centralization at the local level. It is shown that increasing transfer dependence and increasing centralization at the level of administrative centers of the regions while reducing gratuitous assistance at the regional level indicates a concentration of resources around the regional capitals and a decrease in financial support for smaller areas. The author proposes that the benefit principle in the property taxation system in Russia should be introduced and proves the possibility of doing that. The principle implies the transfer of property taxes to the targeted category, when tax revenues are directed toward specific items of municipal expenditures. The ultimate goal of introducing the principle of benefit is to increase the responsibility of local authorities regarding the efficient provision of municipal public goods, highlight the importance of property taxes and strengthen fiscal decentralization at the local level. To determine the potential ability of property taxes to fulfill the target function, a ratio of municipalities’ fiscal self-sufficiency was proposed and calculated, which allows one to determine the share of net expenditures of budgets subject to financing with property tax. The input data for the study was borrowed from statistical data on the execution of regional and local budgets, as well as tax revenue reports of tax authorities.

Arun Kumar Singh

Smart contracts are one of the most significant innovations in blockchain technology, enabling secure, transparent, and automated financial transactions without the need for intermediaries such as banks or clearinghouses. By embedding business rules into programmable code, smart contracts automatically execute agreements when predefined conditions are met, ensuring trust, immutability, and efficiency. Their adoption has expanded across banking, payments, trade finance, insurance, digital asset management, securities trading, and peer-to-peer lending. Smart contracts reduce manual intervention, lower transaction costs, accelerate settlement processes, and enhance transparency through decentralized validation mechanisms. This study examines the evolution of blockchain and smart contracts, reviews existing literature on contract automation and decentralized finance, and proposes a blockchain-based framework for financial transaction execution and settlement. Performance analysis demonstrates improvements in transaction speed, security, transparency, and cost efficiency compared to traditional financial systems. Despite challenges related to scalability, interoperability, privacy, and regulatory compliance, smart contracts show strong potential to transform financial ecosystems. Future advancements in blockchain scalability, secure programming, and regulatory standardization are expected to further strengthen their role in decentralized financial services and automated digital economies.

Authors unavailable

Cryptocurrency marked its presence with the inception of bitcoin in the year 2009. Bitcoin was created as a medium for peer to peer exchange. Cryptocurrency can be defined as money in digital form which can be used for exchange of goods and services. The cryptocurrency was designed to discover a type of currency which is not government regulated or in simpler terms currency whose demand and supply cannot be regulated by authorities. Cryptocurrency use cryptography to generate and allocate currency. The process of cryptography requires different verification of transactions without involving any king of centralized authority. To verify that no currency unit is spent twice, transaction verification authenticates the amount of transaction as well as the ownership of the currency. This step by step process is known as mining. The transaction record of cryptocurrency is stored in a ledger called blockchain. Blockchain can be defined as a distributed ledger which forms the basis for cryptocurrency market but its implication is not restricted to only cryptocurrency, blockchain technology can be used in financial services, supply chain management, government documentation. Mining algorithms in most of the cryptocurrency are public. Cryptocurrency presence was not felt only because of its concept but the controversies associated with it like the money laundering and terrorism activities being funded through its mechanism. The cryptocurrency market has shown turbulent with significant growth as well as downfalls. Since the main purpose of cryptocurrency was to replace real currency the question arises whether it has been able to impact the value of real currency in any significant way or not. This research aims at studying the correlation between cryptocurrencies namely Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Neo, Ripple, Ethereum, Tron, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, IOTA and real currencies namely Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Euro, Pound sterling, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan and commodities namely gold, silver keeping united states dollar as base for all conversions.

Adônis Brozoza

Portuguese abstract: O artigo destina-se à análise da possibilidade de aplicação do crime de lavagem de dinheiro a práticas de comercialização e utilização do sistema Bitcoin no Brasil. Para tanto, leva-se em conta a legislação vigente, aspectos específicos da tecnologia e o atual entendimento de órgãos reguladores sobre o tema. English abstract: The article aims to analyze the possibility of applying the money laundering law in commercial practices and in the use of the Bitcoin system in Brazil. To this end, it takes into account the current legislation, specific aspects of the technology and the current understanding of regulatory bodies on the subject.

Iris M. Barsan

No abstract is available for this record.

Yackolley Amoussou-Guenou, Antonella Del Pozzo, Maria Potop-Butucaru, Sara Tucci-Pergiovanni

Committee-based blockchains are among the most popular alternatives of proof-of-work based blockchains, such as Bitcoin. They provide strong consistency (no fork) under classical assumptions, and avoid using energy-consuming mechanisms to add new blocks in the blockchain. For each block, these blockchains use a committee that executes Byzantine-fault tolerant distributed consensus to decide the next block they will add in the blockchain. Unlike Bitcoin, where there is only one creator per block, in committee-based blockchain any block is cooperatively created. In order to incentivize committee members to participate in the creation of new blocks, rewarding schemes have to be designed. In this paper, we study the fairness of rewarding in committee-based blockchains and we provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the system communication under which it is possible to have a fair reward mechanism.

Leonardo Maria De Rossi, Nico Abbatemarco, Gianluca Salviotti

The increasingly need for companies to keep a high level of synchronization globally and the advent of new technologies are pushing more and more to move decision-making and operational power from the centre of organizations to their edges. The blockchain could be the key technology to make this change possible. However, there is no bridge yet capable of shortening the still long distance between this new technological phenomenon and today's business realities. Our work aims precisely at this goal; we propose a framework of blockchain models to help practitioners understanding and potentially implement new solutions based on this technological paradigm. In particular, we have developed an ontology that helps to identify and clarify in detail what are the concepts and structures revolving around this technology, and built a continuum of blockchain architectural solutions, ranging from a classic centralized IT architecture to one completely distributed within a public ecosystem.

Mohamed Torky, Emad Nabil, Wael Said

Rumors and misleading information detection and prevention still represent a big challenge against social network developers and researchers. Since newsworthy information propagation is a traditional behavior of most of the users in social media, then verifying information credibility and reliability is indeed a vital security requirement for social network platforms. Due to its immutability, security, tamper-proof and P2P design, Blockchain as a powerful technology can provide a magical solution to overcome this challenge. This Paper introduces a novel blockchain approach called Proof of Credibility (PoC) for detecting fake news and blocking its propagation in social networks. The functionality of the PoC protocol has been simulated on two datasets of newsworthy tweets collected from different news sources on Twitter. The results clarified a satisfying performance and efficiency of the proposed approach in detecting rumors and blocking its propagation.

Ilya Grishchenko, Matteo Maffei, Clara Schneidewind

No abstract is available for this record.

Gyanendra Gongal

Rabies is one of the ancient diseases known to humanity. Dog-transmitted rabies accounts for about 99% of human rabies cases in rabies-endemic regions.[1] It is estimated that 59,000 people die from rabies every year.[2] Economic impact of rabies in livestock production is considered high, but surveillance data are missing. Elimination of human rabies is feasible and sustainable if rabies is controlled at the source, i.e., dog. Rabies elimination is a global public good as thousands of people are still dying due to this vaccine-preventable disease mostly in Africa and Asia! It is unacceptable to see premature deaths of young children due to rabies when proof of concept, technical knowledge, and tools are at our disposal. Unfortunately, rabies remains a neglected disease affecting poor-marginalized population in rabies-endemic countries of Asia and Africa due to competing priorities and lack of political will. Rabies elimination has a social, technical, organizational, and political dimension and demands multidisciplinary and multisectoral approaches. Considering that rabies control and subsequent elimination is a model for operationalization of One Health, the WHO in partnership with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Organization for Animal Health, and Global Alliance for Rabies Control came up with a vision of encouraging rabies-endemic countries to achieve zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 worldwide in line with the Sustainable Development Goals' target date of 2030. The rationale for the global strategy is to build on lessons learned, to align country and regional successes into a global strategy with a common goal of eliminating dog-mediated human rabies by 2030. India is a country of more than one billion population, and it has the highest burden of rabies in the world. Remarkable progress has been done in the last 12 years in phasing out of nerve–tissue rabies vaccine by both introducing cost-effective intradermal rabies vaccination and making accessible and available vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin for postexposure prophylaxis in public hospitals. A pan India survey was supported by the WHO to capture the programmatic experiences of rabies prevention and control with emphasis on human rabies, which provided a clear ground reality of accessibility, availability, and affordability of human rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin in India with some recommendations for the improvement of surveillance, reporting, and policy advocacy. A multicenter study on burden of rabies was carried out with the WHO support in 2003, and it is appreciable that the National Centers for Disease Control and Indian Council of Medical Research have taken initiative to re-assess burden of human rabies in India which may show the impact of rabies control activities in human rabies incidence. All these assessments should lead to policy advocacy for operationalizing pan India rabies elimination campaign with goal of zero human rabies by 2030. Success stories have been generated for model dog rabies vaccination and animal birth control program in selected urban areas of India, but much needs to be done for surveillance and control of dog rabies under government leadership and ownership. The veterinary sector in India has a greater social responsibility in controlling dog rabies so that public fear of dog as a source of rabies is changed and livestock and people are no more victim of dog-mediated rabies. Investing in rabies control and elimination strengthens health systems, improves equity and access to healthcare, and contributes to sustainable development. There is a need for strong political commitment matched with equally robust activities, and India will have to play a proactive role to move South Asia Rabies Elimination campaign as it shares long border with rabies-endemic countries in South Asia.

Mihajlo Cvetković

The synergy between computer programs and contract law has generated considerable attention among legal scholars. Smart contracts were first theoretically described in 1996 but they came to life in 2009, with the development of cryptocurrencies. Relying on the papers published in the European Journal of Private Law, the author presents the problems and dilemmas arising from contract digitalization. Irrespective of whether smart contracts are perceived as a revolutionary change in contract law or just as a new mode of concluding and executing a contract, the automatic performance of a contractual obligation and the immutability of smart contracts profoundly affect the existing contractual practices. Traditional concepts such as contract formation, interpretation and inability to perform have acquired new meanings and functions. Online protection of contracting parties, consumers and the public order requires a regulatory reform but it is also essential to adapt technology to the intrinsic nature of legal transactions in order to meet juristic requirements. A smart contract is comparable to a vending machine: it is immutable and blockchain-based. The paper focuses on the most important types of smart contracts, their characteristics and application. Smart contracts lack artificial intelligence and their legal effects have been challenged. However, smart contracts have a great potential in terms of facilitating legal transactions and reducing the risk of contractual breach.

Leskiv Solomiia

No abstract is available for this record.

Lehlohonolo Letho

The dissertation examined the effect of cryptocurrencies on the portfolio risk-adjusted returns of traditional and alternative investments using daily arithmetic returns from August 2015 to October 2018 of traditional assets (South African stocks, bonds, currencies), alternative assets (commodities, South African real estate) and cryptocurrencies (Cryptocurrency index (CRIX) and ten other individual cryptocurrencies). This is worth investigating as cryptocurrencies have been performing well while the listed equities in South Africa and most alternative investments have been underperforming (Srilakshmi & Karpagam, 2017). The mean-variance analysis, the Sharpe ratio, the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) and the mean-variance spanning techniques were employed to analyse the data. The spanning test carried out was the multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression Wald test. The research findings showed that the inclusion of cryptocurrencies in a portfolio of investments improves the efficient frontier of the portfolio of investments and the portfolio of investments risk-adjusted returns. Moreover, the findings suggested that cryptocurrencies are good portfolio diversification assets. However, investments in cryptocurrencies should be made with caution as the risks of investments are high in relation to traditional and alternative investments. The findings of this study advocate for individual and institutional investors to include cryptocurrencies within their South African portfolio of traditional and alternative investments.

M. Kovryha

No abstract is available for this record.

KAPLINA V. A

No abstract is available for this record.

Savva Shanaev, Arina Shuraeva, Mikhail Vasenin, Maksim Kuznetsov

No abstract is available for this record.

Masafumi Nakano, Akihiko Takahashi

No abstract is available for this record.

Олег Казаков, Igor Korkin

ОБНАРУЖЕНИЕ КРИПТОМАЙНЕРОВ В ОС WINDOWS ИНСТРУМЕНТАМИ ТЕХНОЛОГИИ ETW Казаков О.А. 1 , Коркин

Lynda S. Livingston

We incorporate skewness and kurtosis into an optimization process for a unique student-managed fund. Unlike the vast majority of such funds, which hold only equity, our fund includes REITs, cryptocurrency, and peer-to-peer loans. Adding these unusual asset classes allows our students to explore portfolio management concepts more generalizable than just picking stocks. While most of our assets cannot be recommended based solely on traditional mean-variance analysis, they nonetheless offer beneficial contributions. Using polynomial goal programming to incorporate higher moments in our optimization, we find that asset classes dominated in mean-variance space can make meaningful contributions to the full risk-return profile of the portfolio. In particular, we find that including cryptocurrency and peer-to-peer loans can increase the skewness and decrease the kurtosis of our portfolio.

José Augusto Fontoura Costa, Leonardo Albuquerque Marques

portuguesO artigo expoe e discute os cenarios possiveis de interpretacao de contratos em ambiente de computacao descentralizada em blockchain. Parte-se de um caso ocorrido em 2016 no ambiente de transacoes do Ethereum, no qual a aplicacao de um contrato inteligente poderia ter levado a consequencias contraintuitivas e desastrosas, capazes de causar um prejuizo de cerca de cento e sessenta milhoes de dolares a investidores. Nesse caso, o potencial prejuizo foi contornado a luz de uma “intervencao humana” na codificacao de um contrato inteligente. Abordam-se as limitacoes dos contratos inteligentes (smart contracts) e das OAD a partir do argumento do quarto chines de John Searle, segundo o qual o modus operandi da computacao de maquinas e diverso da interpretacao humana. Em um segundo momento, procura-se fazer uma reflexao sobre como essa ideia pode ser confrontada com o principio contratual da autonomia da vontade em um cenario em que soberanias estatais praticamente nao tem como agir em ambientes de transacao em computacao descentralizada e outra reflexao sobre que tipo de consequencias podem ser esperadas a partir dai. Em seguida, a partir da Nova Economia Institucional e da eficiencia adaptativa, avaliam-se os caminhos possiveis para a decidibilidade de conflitos contratuais em computacao descentralizada, que se encontram em ambientes quase imunes a soberania estatal. EnglishThe article discusses the interpretation of contracts in the blockchain decentralized computing environment. To do so, it does analyse a 2016 case on a transaction that took place in the Ethereum environment. In this instance, the use of smart contracts would have led to counter-intuitive and disastrous consequences, particularly a loss of about one hundred and sixty million dollars. The potential loss was circumvented thanks to “human intervention” to a codified smart contract. The limits of smart contracts and DAO are addressed through the John Searle’s Chinese Room Argument, according to which there is an essential gap between machine computing and human understanding. It also seeks to challenge the Principles of Private Autonomy and Freedom of Contract in an environment marked by the decentralization of operations and their deleterious consequences to state control. As it is concluded, the New Institutional Economics and the concept of adaptive efficiency may help to understand and set possible ways to settling private controversies backed by contracts in an almost stateless scenario.

Nikolaus Lipusch, Dominik Dellermann, Philipp Ebel, Ahmad Ghazawneh · 5 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Vijaydeep Siddharth, Mansoor Hussain, Sanjay Arya

BACKGROUND: An efficient inventory control system would help optimize the use of resources and eventually help improve patient care. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to find out the surgical consumables using always, better, and control (ABC) and vital, essential, and desirable (VED) technique as well as calculating the lead time of specific category A and vital surgical consumables. METHODS: This was a descriptive, record-based study conducted from January to March 2016 in the surgical stores of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The study comprised all the surgical consumables which were procured during the financial year 2014-2015. Stores ledger containing details of the consumption of the items, supply orders, and procurement files of the items were studied for performing ABC analysis and calculating the lead time. A list of surgical consumables was distributed to the doctors, nursing staff, technical staff, and hospital stores personnel to categorize them into VED categories after explaining them the basis for the classification. RESULTS: ABC analysis revealed that 35 items (14%), 52 items (21%), and 171 items (69%) were categorized into A (70% annual consumption value [ACV]), B (20% ACV), and C (10% ACV) category, respectively. In the current study, vital items comprised the majority of the items, i.e., 73% of the total items and essential (E) category of items comprised 26% of all the items. The average internal, external, and total lead time was 17 days (range 3-30 days), 25 days (range 5-38) and 44 days (range 18-98 days), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitals stores need to implement inventory management techniques to reduce the number of stock-outs and internal lead time.

StanislawPeter Stawicki, SagarC Galwankar, Sebastian Clarke, Iain Craig · 11 authors

Technological progress is reshaping multiple domains of human activity, from financial transactions to medical care.[1] This paradigm shift represents a global movement that will transform our lives for generations to come.[2] The democratization of decision-making capacity, including consensus-based mechanisms for transaction verification, will enable global implementation of projects that were previously not feasible because of the requirement for centralized control.[34] Blockchain represents a decentralized ledger technology that operates by consensus and serves to democratize decision-making processes and to disintermediate traditionally understood intermediaries.[1] According to Deutsche Bank forecasts, by mid-2020's, approximately 10% of the worldwide gross domestic product could be regulated by blockchain-based solutions.[5] It is estimated that more than $400 billion will be invested in this technology in 2019 to advance its capabilities.[6] Within this broader context, it is important to understand that cryptocurrencies and financial transactions constitute only one small aspect of the blockchain concept, which also incorporates areas like verification, transparency, encryption, and maintenance of data integrity.[378] Blockchain technology appears to be following a fairly typical pattern of adoption, with multiple early entrants into the increasingly crowded and competitive cryptocurrency space and the fast-growing sphere of blockchain-based applications.[91011] It is the latter that will help truly define, and be responsible for the societal impact of, “the era of distributed ledgers” that is under way.[1112] The primary goal of the strategic global partnership between Litecoin Cash Foundation (LCCF, https://litecoinca.sh/) and OPUS 12 Foundation, Inc. (O12FI, http://www.opus12.org/), is to leverage our collective resources to establish early leadership in the development and implementation of practical, real-life, blockchain-based solutions in academic and clinical medicine.[11314] The practicality of the dual blockchain utilization, featuring both currency and application layers, becomes apparent with the realization that the need for ongoing data processing relies on constant verification and encryption activity throughout the entire network of blockchain nodes.[113] Thus, the approach selected by the LCCF-O12FI consortium creates significantly more synergy than a single-track approach based on subcomponent strategy. Within this context, the technology provides not only a “digital wallet” functionality for currency exchange, but also different blockchain-based use cases incorporating academic and medical information. In one example, cell phones are ubiquitous in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) whereas electronic health records are not. Older, less costly cell phone technology would suffice as only SMS capability is needed to utilize blockchain or cryptocurrency, enabling broad access to the populations of LMICs. Blockchain can support information exchange across disparate data types, while providing digital payments on a global scale and across borders. The functional dimension of introducing the primary currency feature of Litecoin Cash (LCC) cryptocurrency has the potential to bring tremendous benefits to the areas of the world where banking services (and infrastructure) are severely underdeveloped, yet basic components for the successful adoption of cryptocurrencies clearly exist (e.g., limited internet access and mobile devices capable of supporting blockchain transactions). Much like entire regions of the world that essentially “bypassed” landline-based telephony following the introduction of cellular networks, many localities stand to “bypass and leapfrog” traditional banking, and progress directly to distributed ledger technologies.[151617181920] There is growing recognition of the role of microeconomies and the critical need for efficient, dependable, accessible, safe, and scalable financial transactions and infrastructures, especially in low-resource regions, a topic that was recently recognized with a Nobel Prize in Economics.[2122] Of note, this does not necessarily preclude traditional banking firms from participation; however, they will need to adapt to new competitive pressures across economic realities for which high-resource environment models are not optimized. Ability to appropriately scale current blockchain capabilities will be critical to such implementations.[32324] Blockchain-based mechanisms also allow for crossover of monetary value from various loyalty cards and rewards programs, similar to currency exchange between different nations. Such reward points (mileage, car rental, and hotel stay) can then become an alternative subsidy for healthcare services. This can, for example, help establish a modernized barter system where a patient could use their “frequent flyer miles” to pay for medical costs, exchanging their reward points for “health care coins” through an intermediary exchange market. Institutions, such as nongovernmental organizations, could turn “flyer miles” used to shuttle staff between locations into vaccine and medical equipment purchases. Further, direct and real-time transparent payment for services in healthcare could lead to a reduction of both “intermediary” insurance companies and inefficiencies in the system. This streamlining would result in substantial healthcare savings, translating to lower costs, more access for patients, and decreased overhead with increased revenue for clinics, hospitals, and providers. Security of the blockchain (including various “side chains” and “layers”) is of paramount importance to ensuring trust and wider mainstream adoption of this technology.[252627] The inherent risk in the concept of distributed ledger “democratization” is the possibility of emerging inequality due to maldistribution of infrastructure responsible for the maintenance and ongoing operations of the blockchain.[2829] Within this broader topic area, our group previously described the risk of ill-intended, third-party actors to project massive bursts of “hashing power” and effectively take over the blockchain for a limited duration of time.[1] This, in turn, allows such destructive actors to “double spend” cryptocurrency output to the detriment of the broader populace.[114] To effectively prevent the risk of the blockchain being “hijacked,” the LCCF Developer Team devised an innovative paradigm of agent-based mining (e.g., the creation of new cryptocurrency) that helps ensure democratization of the LCC generation/transaction process while providing sustainable, long-term security of the distributed ledger.[14] Another significant advantage of this prototype mining technique is that it is not based on technologies that are becoming increasingly energy and resource inefficient, thus not requiring ever greater amounts of energy to generate diminishing amounts of block rewards (e.g., “coins”). The synergy between secure mining processes and the need for the highest possible levels of distributed ledger security creates a unique environment for the development of blockchain-based educational and medical applications. Our joint implementation framework of blockchain-based application layer includes clearly stated and reasonably achievable milestones, each defined within the broader contexts of adoption readiness and resource availability. Parallel to these developments will be the phased introduction of LCC as a voluntary medium of exchange for various international medical programs (IMPs) collaborating within our global network of institutions, providers, and clinical sites.[30] The initial step in the strategic LCCF-O12FI collaboration will be the development of a cryptography-based “Secure ID” (SID) that will serve as the foundation for the future developments. This SID will contain each user's unique identifying information, accessible only to the end-user (incorporating various best practices in cyber security such as 2-factor or multisource verification), and shareable for viewing and information verification only with end-user's designees. The SID will also serve as a “Secure Key” to access other, downstream blockchain-based applications including “Academic Activity Logger” (AAL) and “Credentialing Document Repository” (CDR). We will now discuss the development and implementation of AAL and CDR. The AAL will be the first step toward the integration of blockchain technology into real-life academic international medicine (AIM) applications. Powered by the global LCC network, the AAL will help record and track activities by faculty members, facilitating the categorization and quantification of academic efforts into the following subtypes: (a) teaching, (b) clinical medicine, (c) community/government interactions, (d) research, and (e) other/miscellaneous. Each entry will include the activity date/time/duration as well as basic description, with a number of generic entries available through a drop-down menu. Activities entered by academic faculty will then be analyzed periodically and will serve as a basis for resource mobilization and allocation. Access to the AAL will only be possible using the SID, thus making the AAL a logical extension and a springboard for subsequent LCC blockchain-based implementations. On this foundation, the CDR and ultimately a “basic electronic medical record” (BEMR, see below) will be constructed. Although the task of constructing a high-fidelity, immutable, and accurate ledger of academic activities will not be easy, certain steps can be taken to minimize the likelihood of “false claims.” Much like the blockchain-based cryptocurrency paradigm, a secure mechanism for consensus building and data verification can be constructed. Such a “network of trust” (NOT) is technically workable and analogous to how “pretty good privacy” keys were distributed at signing parties attended by people known to each other, and also similar to the way “secure socket layer” certificate authorities work.[3132] For example, if Party A's certificate is signed by some Party B who is trusted by Party C, Party C can trust Party A's certificate, etc. The next developmental step in our strategic plan will be the implementation of the CDR, where provider credentials will be securely uploaded and stored in decentralized fashion. These documents will follow predefined credentialing requirements by most institutions globally such as record of college education/graduation, professional school record/diploma, professional licensing/verification/certification, and any additional elements deemed important to the safe conduct of AIM efforts globally. Uploading of credentialing information will be voluntary, and access to this information will only be possible with the permission of the record owner, utilizing his or her unique SID. Optimally, this important credentialing instrument will help providers verify their identity, education, and qualifications, and ensure that appropriate standards are followed by all stakeholders. The end-result will be the provision of safe and efficient care to the patients worldwide. Similar to the academic activity verification process, there will be important challenges to consider before successfully implementing the global CDR. In principle, there will need to exist some form of “data onboarding” authority. This should be performed by a “verification agent” (e.g., independent organization/group) with equivalent authority to that which it takes to set up a legitimate record of specific type (e.g., a medical school diploma and medical board specialty certification). In terms of identity verification, for example, the level of diligence required is similar to that already present in “know your customer” legislation. The case for verifying professional credentials would be similar, including the process of independent data validation and certification. Again, this is technically possible with a NOT arrangement as mentioned above; however, there will be obvious limitations inherent to the workability of credential verification similar to traditional efforts already in place. If a practitioner is claiming to possess credentials from some credentialing provider, only that particular provider really has (and only should have) the authority to confirm that. At the same time, there must also be a mechanism to revoke trust and to hardwire time-defined recertification processes based on the expiry of records currently on file. The final step in the strategic LCCF-O12FI collaboration will be the development of a super secure, BEMR that could be deployed in low-resource environments, utilizing rudimentary portable device technology, and containing fundamental health information for each end-user. Much like the SID, information stored on the BEMR would be owned by the end-user and could be shared with healthcare providers only with the end-user's consent, requiring SID as the “Secure Key” to unlock information. We recognize the substantial challenges in the global implementation of this concept, especially with regards to the enormity of healthcare-related data (often from multiple systems and sources), the need for privacy, timely and accurate access, and verification of data. Other potential shortcomings, at this time, include the need for further development of the technology, limited availability of expert knowledge, significant gaps in public awareness, along with growth-related issues of scalability, security, and user adoption.[6] Nonetheless, it is our hope that the lessons learned from other blockchain application layers will serve as the foundation for successful development, evolution, and adoption of BEMR.[1] There are many other considerations related to blockchain technology implementations in healthcare. Although full discussion of such a broad topic is beyond the scope of this manuscript, certain key ramifications must be discussed in the context of the proposed O12FI-LCCF initiatives. Blockchain technology may be an important tool for increasing transparency of how charities collect and allocate funds, propelling a much leaner system that will benefit intended recipients to a much greater degree.[1] This application of the blockchain technology will help verify the integrity of an organization's operations such as the transparency regarding the proportion of contributions distributed to medical and educational causes versus the overhead. In turn, the public, philanthropic donors, and potential collaborators will be able to make more informed choices regarding where their contributions can be allocated most efficiently. Pharmaceutical companies may utilize blockchain to keep track of medications manufacturing and shipment, supply, expiration, and possible points of contamination.[33] By extension, similar technological approaches could be useful for tracking opiates in this age of epidemic prescription drug abuse.[34] In such cases, blockchain would make it easier to investigate and determine the source of access as the supply chain would become much more transparent. Various built-in data verification and safety features could also be used to prevent duplication of medications from different providers and other hazards that occur with polypharmacy. Furthermore, the same tracking approaches could be used to secure food supply chains and safeguard against disease outbreaks.[35] Contaminated food products could be quickly and more efficiently traced to specific farms, processing or packaging plants for immediate identification, and removal from circulation. When combined with potential applications for AIM and global health equity, blockchain-based applications could help catalyze further innovation. First, they can enable universal access to financial resources by removing third-party intermediaries and offering transparent, secure, and accountable means for AIM financing.[36] Next, they could help facilitate multilateral financing mechanisms dedicated to health system development and strengthening.[136] In addition, they could reduce fraud and corruption through the use of immutable, tamper-proof transaction ledgers.[136] Finally, entire new capital markets for healthcare data could be created, providing better access (and opportunities) to patients, institutions, governments, researchers, and other key stakeholders.[136] Additional benefit offered by any token with fixed or “capped” supply as a medium of international exchange – subject to harmonization with region-specific laws and regulations – is the noninflationary character of such cryptocurrency. This, in turn, may help provide end-users with a protective mechanism against inflation and loss of monetary value – a phenomenon experienced across many LMICs.[3738] In conclusion, the global partnership between OPUS 12 Foundation (including its allied partners and subsidiaries) and LCCF provides a unique platform for the parallel development of both global currency support framework and medical/educational application layer for the academic international medical community.