Blockchain Papers

Jasvant Mandloi, Pratosh Bansal

No abstract is available for this record.

Lan Xu, Yiliu Tu, Qiang Tang

Purpose . This paper aims to design the contract and present the profit distribution mechanism for CL platform, so as to realize the intelligent and automatic operation of the artificial intelligent- (AI-) based CL platform. Design/Methodology . A smart contract based on BT is designed for the AI-based CL platform. Profit distribution mechanism based on the Nash bargaining model for the CL platform is also put forward to coordinate different participators’ benefit relationship in CL. Findings . The AI-based CL platform and the proposed smart contract based on BT map the scenario which may be influenced by human factors and involve trust issues onto execution of codes. Practical Implications . The study will help CL practitioners in establishing effective profit mechanism and designing contracts on the platform, thus facilitating its sustainable operation. Originality/Value . The AI-based CL platform with BT smart contract can be totally free of human intervention, and hence, the problems of trust during CL platform’s operation are solved.

Abdul Jabbar, Samir Dani

The research and thinking pertaining to blockchain have thus far focused on cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. However, there is increased interest in using the technology to solve operational challenges in manufacturing and service supply chains. In this study, we introduce a new implication of using blockchain technology and propose two unique contributions. First, we introduce the notion of computational costs (measured in units of gas) as an essential mechanism for completing operational transactions in the blockchain environment. Second, we discuss the use of smart contracts and their influence on operational transactions. To investigate the link between blockchain transaction and computational costs, this study uses an experimental methodology. We develop and implement a fully functional virtual public blockchain to store, validate, and maintain transactions. The methodology provides a process to measure the computational costs, frequency, and intensity of transactions. This research contributes to conceptual research on the blockchain implementation paradigm. Its novelty stems from the identification of computational costs for operational transactions and use of an experimental methodology. This research provides managers an insight into the design of smart contract transactions in a supply chain from a cost perspective.

Олег Резник

The article deals with the content of the tax on cryptocurrency, which is an innovative IT instrument of economic development. It has been established that there was no common understanding of the official status of cryptocurrency given that each state establishes it in the framework of its national legislation independently, and the introduction of taxes is one of the instruments of state influence on the cryptocurrency circulation. It has been found out that the EU member states had only one restriction on the taxation of cryptocurrency, namely cryptocurrency transactions were not liable for VAT. Foreign experience in taxing cryptocurrency transactions is considered in the article. It has been established that Ukraine offered the most optimal tax rate on income from cryptocurrency transactions for individuals and legal entities. At the same time, the significance of the economic effect of the cryptocurrency tax in the form of revenues to the state budget due to the unstable cryptocurrency exchange rate is disproved, which raises the issue of the feasibility of search for new areas of state influence on cryptocurrency.

Felipe Calas Rosa, Marta Cristina Pelucio Grecco

O objetivo geral deste trabalho foi, a partir de um caso de estudo, criar um modelo de Sistema em blockchain e smart contracts, para gestão da tributação da prestação de serviços digitais com base no local do usuário à luz da Teoria da Agência. O trabalho foi guiado pelas diretrizes do método Design Science Research (DSR), proposto na área de Sistema de Informações. O artefato resultado deste trabalho, a partir do caso de estudo, foi um Sistema Unificado de Tributação Automática (SUTRA), como solução viável à ausência de um ambiente que integre empresas prestadoras de serviços digitais, seus usuários e entes tributantes, mitigando a assimetria informacional, existente entre estes atores, e suas consequências. A contribuição teórica deste trabalho foi no sentido de relacionar estudos relativos à teoria da agência e blockchain no ambiente tributário, especificamente no que tange à assimetria de informação, controles de tributação e mitigação de fraudes tributárias. A contribuição prática deste trabalho foi propor um artefato, baseado em blockchain e smart contracts, que integre empresas prestadoras de serviços digitais, seus usuários e entes tributantes, em um único ambiente onde possam compartilhar informações entre si.

Roger Bons, Johan Versendaal, Liudmila Zavolokina, Weidong Shi

New ways to organize economic activities are emerging, facilitated by Blockchain technology or the broader term Distributed Ledger Technology. Blockchains consist of dynamic shared ledgers that can be applied to ensure transparency and traceability and to save time when recording transactions between parties, remove costs associated with intermediaries (or, according to Nakamoto ( 2008 ), remove the need for intermediaries altogether), while enabling the introduction of pseudonymous parties on the Internet. First, and probably the most known application of blockchain technology, is cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin. It has taken businesses and industries some time to recognize that the underlying technology of Bitcoin could be the next wave for disruption of their existing business models. All too often, the focus of the media coverage is on the connection of cyber-currencies to criminal activities or on the highly speculative nature of their exchange rates and issues with coin exchanges.

Larissa Pschetz, Billy Dixon, Kruakae Pothong, Arlene Bailey · 7 authors

Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) have been celebrated for promoting transparency, trust, and efficiency in several domains. However, recent research has also pointed out the potential of these technologies to increase power asymmetries and deepen social inequality. In this paper, we contribute to this discussion by reporting on a collective effort of academics, development partners, local authorities, businesses, and farming groups to look at the potential of DLTs, particularly Blockchains, to support socio-economic development in rural communities in the Caribbean. We present a series of design concepts resulting from this effort and reflect on a method to facilitate stakeholders' experience of possible implementations and enable them to voice concerns, preferences, and expectations. Results from workshops with different groups of stakeholders contribute insights into opportunities and limitations of these applications to enable social development and to level the playing field in agricultural exchanges in developing countries.

Thomas Sødring, Petter Reinholdtsen, Svein Ølnes

Purpose This paper aims to examine the role blockchain can play for record-keeping by exploring what information from a record-keeping system it is possible to publish to a blockchain. A credible approach is presented, followed by a discussion on both benefits and limitations. Design/methodology/approach The approach is a combination of theorised possibilities verified with practical software implementation. The basis for the work is relevant record-keeping and blockchain literature. Findings The results show that it is possible to separate the formal record keeping structure from content, and this opens for new possibilities when integrating record keeping and block chain technologies. However, the approach does come with some limitations. Research limitations/implications The approach is beneficial where there is a record-keeping standard that has a clearly defined metadata model, and that also makes use of globally unique identifiers. Privacy legislation, for example, GDPR, may limit the scope of an implementation of the approach. Originality/value The originality lies in presenting an approach whereby a record-keeping standard is analysed, separating structural and content information to publish structural information to a blockchain.

Friederike Rühmann, Sai Aashirvad Konda, Paul Horrocks, Nina Taka

The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) demands unprecedented resources and efforts. Remittances as one of the largest development finance flows are an important source of income for millions of households in developing countries and offer tremendous potential to contribute towards the achievement of Agenda 2030. However, the high cost of sending remittances limits their full potential. The global average cost of sending USD 200 is 6.9% of the remittance. SDG 10 C aims to reduce the cost to less than 3% and to eliminate remittance corridors with cost higher than 5% by 2030. Blockchain technology promises to disintermediate banks, transform the financial landscape and drastically reduce the cost of cross-border transactions, yet there is a need for further evidence on this topic. The OECD Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) has developed this paper to provide an overview of diverse perspectives on the intersection of blockchain technology and remittances by exploring the opportunities and challenges of this technology for reducing the cost of remittances. The paper identifies several limitations, such as data privacy risks, regulatory uncertainty and last-mile delivery, among others, while investigating whether blockchain technology is the solution to reduce the cost of remittances.

Weili Chen, Tuo Zhang, Zhiguang Chen, Zibin Zheng · 5 authors

The birth of Bitcoin ushered in the era of cryptocurrency, which has now become a financial market attracted extensive attention worldwide. The phenomenon of startups launching Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) to raise capital led to thousands of tokens being distributed on blockchains. Many studies have analyzed this phenomenon from an economic perspective. However, little is know about the characteristics of participants in the ecosystem. To fill this gap and considering over 80% of ICOs launched based on ERC20 token on Ethereum, in this paper, we conduct a systematic investigation on the whole Ethereum ERC20 token ecosystem to characterize the token creator, holder, and transfer activity. By downloading the whole blockchain and parsing the transaction records and event logs, we construct three graphs, namely token creator graph, token holder graph, and token transfer graph. We obtain many observations and findings by analyzing these graphs. Besides, we propose an algorithm to discover potential relationships between tokens and other accounts. The reported case shows that our algorithm can effectively reveal entities and the complex relationship between various accounts in the token ecosystem.

Gerui Wang, Shuo Wang, Vivek Bagaria, David Tse · 5 authors

The performance of existing permissionless smart contract platforms such as Ethereum is limited by the consensus layer. Prism is a new proof-of-work consensus protocol that provably achieves throughput and latency up to physical limits while retaining the strong guarantees of the longest chain protocol. This paper reports experimental results from implementations of two smart contract virtual machines, EVM and MoveVM, on top of Prism and demonstrates that the consensus bottleneck has been removed. Code can be found at https://github.com/wgr523/prism-smart-contracts.

Paul Babie, David W. Brown, Ryan Catterwell, Mark Giancaspro

On 8 April 2020, Gendall J, sitting in the High Court of New Zealand, decided Ruscoe and Moore v Cryptopia Limited (In Liquidation), providing the most recent and authoritative common law statement in the world on whether a cryptocurrency is property. The case provides significant guidance for any jurisdiction, common or civil, faced with determining whether cyrptocurrencies are property. This note outlines the approach taken to ‘the property question’ by Gendall J, in four parts. Part I introduces the property question. Part II provides a brief overview of blockchain and the nature of cryptocurrencies. Part III briefly recounts Gendall J’s reasons for the judgment concluding that cryptocurrencies are property. Part IV offers some brief reflections on the implications of the decision for property and for the relationship of property to contract.

Carlo Gola, Andrea Caponera

This paper describes the economic characteristics of crypto-assets and the regulation of the exchanges and custodian wallet providers adopted in various jurisdictions. The possible accounting and prudential treatments are then analysed. The paper provides a taxonomy of DLT digital tokens based on mutually exclusive classes. Bitcoin belongsto the class of private digital tokens with no underlining claim or liability against an issuer, exchangeable at a floating rate, which operate through an electronic protocol called permissionless distributed ledger technology (DLT). The literature on the subject shows that this type of crypto-assets do not fall within the category of money and financial instruments. The instability of their price must be considered when evaluating these instruments from an accounting and prudential point of view. The paper describes the basic features of initial coin offerings (ICOs), smart contracts, and other related aspects.

R. Arjun, K. R. Suprabha

Blockchain has been gaining focus in research and development for diverse industries in recent years. Nevertheless, innovations that impact to the banking nurture a potential for disruptive impact globally for economic reasons; however it has received less scholarly attention. Hence the effect of blockchain technologies on banking industry is systematically reviewed. The relevant literature is extracted from Scopus, Web of Science and bibliometric techniques are applied. While a bulk of earlier papers focuses only on bit coins, a broader framework is envisaged that synthesizes interdisciplinary thematic areas for advancement; hence novelty in current work. A few practical and theoretical implications for stakeholders in view of technology, law and management are discussed.

Chen Zhu, Zixuan Fu

The combination of Internet technology and the financial industry makes information more symmetrical, improves the efficiency of payment and settlement in the financial industry, reduces the cost of currency financing, and makes risk management more effective based on big data technologies. Just the improvement of form and means has not changed the nature of finance. With the development boom of financial technology, blockchain technology seems to have become the key to start a new technological revolution. The value transfer of blockchain technology and the absence of credit intermediation, high security, decentralization, and de-monetization are a fundamental disruption of the financial industry.

Martijn de Vos, Can Umut Ileri, Johan Pouwelse

An increasing number of industries rely on Internet-of-Things devices to track physical resources. Blockchain technology provides primitives to represent these resources as digital assets on a secure distributed ledger. Due to the proliferation of blockchain-based assets, there is an increasing need for a generic mechanism to trade assets between isolated platforms. To date, there is no such mechanism without reliance on a trusted third party. In this work, we address this shortcoming and present XChange. Unlike existing approaches for decentralized asset trading, we decouple trade management and the actual exchange of assets. XChange mediates trade of any digital asset between isolated blockchain platforms while limiting the fraud conducted by adversarial parties. We first describe a generic, five-phase trading protocol that establishes and executes trade between individuals. This protocol accounts full trade specifications on a separate blockchain. We then devise a lightweight system architecture, composed of all required components for a generic asset marketplace. We implement XChange and conduct real-world experimentation. We leverage an existing, lightweight blockchain, TrustChain, to account all orders and full trade specifications. By deploying XChange on multiple low-resource devices, we show that a full trade completes within half a second. To quantify the scalability of our mechanism, we conduct further experiments on our compute cluster. We conclude that the throughput of XChange, in terms of trades per second, scales linearly with the system load. Furthermore, we find that XChange exhibits superior throughput and order fulfil latency compared to related decentralized exchanges, BitShares and Waves.

Carmelo Cennamo, Cecilia Marchesi, Tim Meyer

There is a shared view among practitioners that the blockchain is a revolutionary, decentralized technology that will have a larger impact than the Internet. Firms are increasingly using blockchains for various applications; the most prominent of which to date are digital currencies. In this article, we aim to increase our theoretical understanding of the driving forces behind the success and volatility of digital currencies. We use a detailed dataset of 345 digital currencies for our explorative analysis and identify some of the key factors that can explain their performance. We find that the success and volatility of digital currencies depend on their business type (i.e., whether they relate to a platform business or not) and on their technology type (i.e., whether they are based on their own specialized blockchain technology or on a third-party standardized platform blockchain). Our findings suggest that, paradoxically, to obtain the promised benefits of this decentralized technology, firms need to centralize part of it to retain control over critical strategic dimensions (data and rules for transaction). We discuss the implications of our discovery for other contexts undergoing digital transformation.

Serhan Ünalan, Sercan Ozcan

Purpose Blockchain is expected to have a significant impact on Systems of Innovation as the new General Purpose Technology. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Blockchain can revolutionise the Systems of Innovation by investigating its overall structure, actors and relationships. Design/methodology/approach This study used the systematic mapping method to explore and integrate the Blockchain and Systems of Innovation literature for the creation of a new conceptual model of Blockchain-enabled Systems of Innovation. In that scope, 37 Blockchain-related and 32 Systems of Innovation-related papers, besides two major books in the field of Blockchain, have been reviewed and then integrated based on the Systems Thinking approach. Findings The key findings for Blockchain-enabled Systems of Innovation are that there is (1) an increased distribution of networks and collaborations, (2) increased trust through the use of reputation systems, (3) an emerging new nature of platform characteristics, (4) a democratisation of entrepreneurship by the new funding landscape and (5) an increased significance of technological drivers, such as energy. Research limitations/implications The study shows new Systems of Innovation-related research implications. Accordingly, a new type of actor, relationship and attribute has been introduced where the boundaries of the role definitions are blurred and more distributed. This is where larger organisations can expect to lose their central position. The different types of actors are replaced by a network of actors as a result of the distributed new Blockchain-based system. The threshold for the Bottom of the Pyramid is expected to be reduced, leading to a more democratised innovation system. Practical Implications Blockchain appears to reduce the effects of distrust in collaborative innovation practices with its consensus mechanisms and the new Blockchain-enabled Systems of Innovation is expected to revolutionise the interactions in the future. Originality/value There are very few studies that have been found to integrate innovation management practices with Blockchain. This is the first Blockchain-based Systems of Innovation study enabling the fundamental revision of its structure, types of relationships and actors.

Allison Christians

of-ethereum-92b543594e84 [https://perma.cc/BWZ2-6PJE].2 In terms of reporting and withholding, the same problems arise in the cash economy, which is responsible for a significant amount of noncompliance with tax laws around the world.But in terms of the identification of reportable transactions, there may be base defining issues.The

Rafael Ziolkowski, Gianluca Miscione, Gerhard Schwabe

Blockchain comes with the promise of being a disruptive technology with the potential for novel ways of interaction in a wide range of applications. Following broader application, scholarly interest in the technology is growing, though an extensive analysis of blockchain applications from a governance perspective is lacking to date. This research pays special attention to the governance of blockchain systems and illustrates decision problems in 14 blockchain systems from four application domains. Based on academic literature, semi-structured interviews with representatives from those organizations, and content analysis of grey literature, common problems in blockchain governance have been singled out and contextualized. Studying their enactment revealed their relevance to major organizational theories in what we labelled “Patrolling the borders,” “External Legitimation,” “Reduction of Discretionality,” and “Temporal Management.” The identification of these problems enriches the scarce body of knowledge on the governance of blockchain systems, resulting in a better understanding of how blockchain governance links to existing concepts and how it is enacted in practice.

Инна Хаванова

No abstract is available for this record.

Nicolas Neysen

Purpose: A burgeoning body of research has described how the blockchain technology may affect the way firms operate within the recording industry which has undergone profound changes due to the dematerialisation of music and the emergence of now consumption habits. The purpose of the paper is to explore both the challenges and the opportunities related to the application of smart contracts and blockchain mechanisms to the recording industry. Approach/Methodology/Design: Based on a review of contributions made to the literature in various fields, we discuss recent developments, relying on several examples and use cases which bring an updated perspective to a topical question. While the blockchain brings interesting solutions in favour of an improved management of copyright data and fees collection, several barriers impede their uptake and large-scale adoption. Findings: We argue that the absence of both technological and regulatory standards, the resistance to change, and the necessary use of cryptocurrency, are all obstacles to a profound transformation of the sector. Practical Implications: To overcome these limitations, we suggest three recommendations that deal with technological standards, cooperative agreements, and international regulation around blockchain. Originality/Value: So far, the literature tends to focus either on blockchain technology or on smart contracts when discussing technological evolution within the recording industry. In this paper, we bring together these two elements which are definitely complementory to each other. Further research efforts are required to investigate in more details the feasibility and relevance of the recommendations we make.

Marta Maciejasz-Świątkiewicz, Robert Poskart

Purpose: The paper explores the differences between countries concerning perception and use of traditional and virtual money. We try to answer the question who uses virtual money for investment and building assets and who uses it just for Internet payments. The background of the analysis are significant changes that have taken place in the virtual money market in recent years in relation to changes in the global financial market. Design/methodology/approach: A pilot study was conducted in Poland, the Russian Federation, and China, which is supposed to be an introduction to the bigger and wider survey. It was conducted within December 2019 and January 2020 with 81 surveyed persons. These were students of financial studies in the chosen countries. The paper questionnaire used in the survey consisted of 26 questions connected to virtual money plus 5 demographic questions. It was provided personally by teachers in class. Findings: The findings indicated that there are differences between countries in perception and the use of traditional and virtual money. These discrepancies can have cultural or historical background. Practical Implications: The practical usefulness of the whole study is that gathered information will permit to examine the economic and financial literacy of the respondents and their preferences for the use of innovative financial instruments. Originality/value: The study is related to the very current issue – virtual money as alternative to the currently functioning fiduciary money. The result of the research as one of the first indicated that a different perception of traditional and virtual money among different countries exist. This statement might be a huge contribution to the analysis of the current and further financial system.

Oleksandr Sushchenko, Reimund Schwarze

Climate insurance is already a hot topic due to the increased number of climate-related catastrophic events accompanied by associated losses for the economy in general and insurance companies, in particular. The extremely hot and dry summer of 2018 in some European countries highlighted existing weaknesses of the agricultural insurance mechanisms in Europe, where the farmers had to wait for months before compensation payments could bemade. Our paper aims to compare features of the yield-based insurance2and the index-based insurance (IBI)3in agriculture in the light of new developments and trends in information technologies (IT). The results show that an application of the distributed ledger technologies (DLT) in combination with IBI could not only resolve existing problems, but also facilitate development of the innovative insurance mechanisms at the EU level –providing effective protection against climate-related risks and preventing a systemic risk escalation