In service firms, where value creation increasingly depends on human interaction and intangible assets, the development of soft skills and inclusive mindsets has become a strategic priority.Yet, traditional training programs rarely generate lasting behavioral change or make unconscious biases visible.This paper explores how Web3-enabled neuro-immersive technologies can transform learning processes within service organizations, turning technology-assisted experiences into ethically managed and measurable forms of knowledge creation.Drawing on ten real-world cases developed between 2021 and 2025 across consulting, banking, healthcare, and education, the study adopts a qualitative, comparative approach to examine how immersive simulations affect individuals' awareness, emotional regulation, and decision-making.
Open access
Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
Human Resource Development and Performance Evaluation
The contemporary Internet, a cornerstone of modern society, is characterized by a high degree of centralization. This centralization concentrates data and power within a few large corporations, raising significant concerns regarding data privacy, censorship, single points of failure, and monopolistic control. The "Decentralized Internet," often associated with the Web3 paradigm, proposes a fundamental shift toward a more open, trustless, and user-centric network. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the decentralized Internet, beginning with an exploration of its core principles—trustlessness, censorship resistance, and user-controlled data. We then examine the key enabling technologies that underpin the decentralized Internet, including distributed ledger technologies (DLT), peer-to-peer (P2P) data protocols such as the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), and smart contracts. Finally, we discuss the significant open challenges and research questions that must be addressed, including scalability, usability, governance, and regulatory uncertainty. This paper aims to provide a structured overview for researchers, developers, and policymakers interested in the future of Internet architecture. Index Terms—Decentralized Internet, Web3, Blockchain, Peer-to-Peer (P2P), IPFS, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), Smart Contracts, Decentralized Applications (dApps), Scalability, Governance.
Liang, Hanzhong, Yue Duan, Xing Su, Xiao Li · 8 authors
As the Web3 ecosystem evolves toward a multi-chain architecture, cross-chain bridges have become critical infrastructure for enabling interoperability between diverse blockchain networks. However, while connecting isolated blockchains, the lack of cross-chain transaction pairing records introduces significant challenges for security analysis like cross-chain fund tracing, advanced vulnerability detection, and transaction graph-based analysis. To address this gap, we introduce ConneX, an automated and general-purpose system designed to accurately identify corresponding transaction pairs across both ends of cross-chain bridges. Our system leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) to efficiently prune the semantic search space by identifying semantically plausible key information candidates within complex transaction records. Further, it deploys a novel examiner module that refines these candidates by validating them against transaction values, effectively addressing semantic ambiguities and identifying the correct semantics. Extensive evaluations on a dataset of about 500,000 transactions from five major bridge platforms demonstrate that ConneX achieves an average F1 score of 0.9746, surpassing baselines by at least 20.05\%, with good efficiency that reduces the semantic search space by several orders of magnitude (1e10 to less than 100). Moreover, its successful application in tracing illicit funds (including a cross-chain transfer worth $1 million) in real-world hacking incidents underscores its practical utility for enhancing cross-chain security and transparency.
Tingginya risiko manipulasi data dan lemahnya sistem autentikasi tradisional menimbulkan tantangan serius dalam menjaga keamanan identitas digital. Dampak dari permasalahan ini adalah meningkatnya potensi pencurian data, penyalahgunaan identitas, serta rendahnya tingkat kepercayaan terhadap sistem keamanan digital yang ada. Untuk menjawab tantangan tersebut, penelitian ini mengembangkan sistem autentikasi wajah berbasis blockchain yang aman, transparan, dan terdesentralisasi. Sistem dirancang dengan memanfaatkan algoritma SHA-256 untuk mengubah data wajah menjadi hash yang tidak dapat dibalik, sehingga menjaga privasi dan integritas data pengguna. Informasi identitas dicatat ke dalam blockchain melalui smart contract berbasis Ethereum yang dijalankan menggunakan Ganache, dengan bahasa pemrograman Python dan pustaka face_recognition sebagai deteksi wajah serta web3.py untuk integrasi blockchain. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan sistem mampu mengenali wajah secara akurat, memverifikasi identitas secara real-time, serta memastikan data tidak dapat dimanipulasi karena tercatat dalam blockchain. Sistem ini dapat dimanfaatkan oleh institusi pendidikan, perusahaan, maupun instansi pemerintah untuk meningkatkan keamanan akses, sistem absensi, serta perlindungan data sensitif. Penelitian selanjutnya dapat diarahkan pada implementasi di jaringan testnet Ethereum publik agar mendekati skenario dunia nyata, termasuk pengujian biaya gas, performa transaksi, serta integrasi dengan aplikasi berbasis mobile.
Prof. Madhavi Bhosale, Abhishek Kangude, Vedant Khandare, Sunil Kajave
Abstract In recent years, advancements in blockchain technology have paved the way for creating transparent, secure, and decentralized digital ecosystems. This paper presents a blockchain-based electronic voting (e-voting) system designed to overcome the limitations of traditional and centralized electronic voting methods. The proposed system integrates Solidity-based smart contracts, a Python middleware API using Web3.py, and a Flutter frontend to create a secure, verifiable, and user-friendly voting platform. The architecture ensures voter anonymity, immutability of votes, and real-time result verification through blockchain’s decentralized ledger. The system employs MetaMask for voter authentication, enabling a one-person-one-vote mechanism and eliminating centralized control or tampering risks. Experimental simulations using Ganache demonstrate efficient transaction processing, transparent result computation, and tamper-proof data storage. The proposed solution enhances security, transparency, and trust in digital elections and serves as a foundation for scalable, real-world implementations in organizational, academic, and governmental voting scenarios. This research contributes toward developing next-generation decentralized voting infrastructures that reinforce democratic integrity and public confidence in electoral processes. · Keywords : Blockchain Technology; E-Voting System; Smart Contracts; Decentralized Applications (DApps); Solidity; Ethereum; Python Web3.py; Flutter Frontend; MetaMask Authentication; Digital Elections; Voter Privacy; Transparency; Immutability; Secure Voting; Electronic Governance
Shwetha K R, Divya G S, Bhavan Pande, Darshan K · 6 authors
Due to the ever-increasing demand to use safe and reliable electronic votes, a blockchain-based secure voting system has been developed to enhance transparency, trustfulness, and voter recognition. This system eliminates such issues as voting fraud, impersonation, and manipulating the results by means of biometric verification and decentralized blockchain ledger. The voters are matched to a facial-recognition database containing previously registered voters before voting. It is authenticated by a K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) approach as it works well on classifying facial features and is not very laborious. After the vote is successfully authenticated, it is stored and signed on a blockchain network where it cannot be altered by another party. The features of smart contracts ensure the safety of voting, the correct counting of votes, and the awareness of each network node of what is happening. The cryptography of hashing and decentralized make certain that the votes are immutable, due to the decentralized structure of blockchain and consensus mechanisms. The face-matching module ensures that only the qualified individuals are allowed to vote. The system also supports mass elections and guarantees the ease of interaction among the voters. It was designed in such a way that it is scalable and user friendly. Trust, security, and efficiency are enhanced in the system through biometrical authentication, distributed ledger technology, encryption, and classification through machine-learning. It is highly dependable in how to conduct the current digital elections.
Asheshemi Nelson Oghenekevwe, Okoro Akpohrobaro Daniel, Ayeh Blessing Elohor, Ayo Michael Ifioko · 6 authors
Developments of Web 3.0 technologies present vital problems regarding data confidentiality, authentication of users and their privacy in decentralised systems. The traditional multifactor authentication (MFA) systems have been effective when deployed in Web2 environments but have failed in protecting sensitive information in the decentralised environment because they use centralised servers and are also dependent on static security factors. The paper explores the concept of multifactor authentication that is based on blockchain technology as the effective method of improving the use of data confidentiality in Web3. A blockchain-augmented MFA infrastructure was created on the basis of an Ethereum smart contract, decentralised storage, and biometric data that were cryptographically encrypted. Simulation demonstrated significant increases in security relative to conventional MFA systems, a significant drop in the probability of breaching (0.0270 to 0.0040), an improvement in the entropies, a decrease in the likelihood of session hijacking, and limited mutual information leakage. Also, the blockchain-based system becomes more resistant to Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) and phishing attacks, mitigating them by about 60 per cent and 50 per cent success rates, respectively. Whereas the blockchain MFA made some minor sacrifices in latency and computation cost in the course of authentication, such a trade of costs is productive in the Web3 environment where security and data integrity remain of utmost importance. The study could be useful to developers, security practitioners and policymakers who intend to develop more secure, scalable, and user-centric authentication mechanisms in decentralised apps. As a potential improvement, it is suggested that future research should implement the aspect of consensus optimisation and Layer-2 to increase the efficiency and scalability further.
This paper studies how luxury brands act in the metaverse. It utilizes a literature review and two semi-structured expert interviews. It details three stages of digital adoption: resistance, selective integration, and Web3 experiments. It explains how NFTs, virtual goods, and token-gated access create technical scarcity and visible status. It shows how young consumers use digital items to build identity and community. It also lists key risks: energy use, data privacy, and brand dilution. The findings outline key digital tools that help maintain core luxury values and point to unanswered questions about long-term brand equity and consumer behavior.
Open access
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
This study explores the design and implementation of a blockchain-based system to enhance trust, transparency, and security in academic credentialing. Motivated by the growing distrust in centralized institutions and the inefficiencies of traditional credential verification processes, the research leverages the immutability, decentralization, and transparency of blockchain to develop a tamper-proof mechanism for academic record storage and validation. Using the Ethereum Sepolia test network and real-world student performance data from the Open University Learning Analytics Dataset (OULAD), the system securely issues, verifies, and revokes academic credentials through a custom smart contract developed in Solidity. Each credential is hashed using SHA-256 to ensure student privacy while enabling public, real-time verification. The implementation was conducted in a Google Colab environment using Web3.py and Infura, with batch processing mechanisms and a Web3 interface for seamless interaction. Empirical results reveal performance patterns across modules and highlight opportunities for academic intervention. The system not only demonstrates operational feasibility but also offers a scalable, interoperable, and ethical framework for higher education institutions to combat credential fraud and enhance institutional accountability. Future work will focus on privacy-enhancing cryptographic integrations and decentralized identity standards to further solidify blockchain’s role in education.
Phishing attacks in Web3 ecosystems are increasingly sophisticated, exploiting deceptive contract logic, malicious frontend scripts, and token approval patterns. We present DeepTx, a real-time transaction analysis system that detects such threats before user confirmation. DeepTx simulates pending transactions, extracts behavior, context, and UI features, and uses multiple large language models (LLMs) to reason about transaction intent. A consensus mechanism with self-reflection ensures robust and explainable decisions. Evaluated on our phishing dataset, DeepTx achieves high precision and recall (demo video: https://youtu.be/4OfK9KCEXUM).
AI text-to-video systems, such as OpenAI’s Sora, promise substantial efficiency gains in media production but also pose risks of biased outputs, opaque optimization, and deceptive content. Using the Orientation–Stimulus–Orientation–Response (O-S-O-R) model, we conduct an empirical study with 209 Chinese new media professionals and employ structural equation modeling to examine how information elaboration relates to AI knowledge, perceptions, and adoption intentions. Our findings reveal a knowledge paradox: higher objective AI knowledge negatively moderates elaboration, suggesting that centralized information ecosystems can misguide even well-informed practitioners. Building on these behavioral insights, we propose a blockchain-based governance framework that operationalizes five mechanisms to enhance oversight and trust while maintaining efficiency: Expert Assessment DAOs, Community Validation DAOs, real-time algorithm monitoring, professional integrity protection, and cross-border coordination. While our study focuses on China’s substantial new media market, the observed patterns and design principles generalize to global contexts. This work contributes empirical grounding for Web3-enabled AI governance, specifies implementable smart-contract patterns for multi-stakeholder validation and incentives, and outlines a research agenda spanning longitudinal, cross-cultural, and implementation studies.
本文提出了面向 AI 与 Web3 时代的全新治理共识——“爱的证明(Proof of Love, PoL)”。作者认为,爱——作为共情、互惠与创造性合作的伦理力量——是当代技术文明所缺失的核心原则。论文融合区块链治理、去中心化激励机制与伦理哲学,探讨如何以“爱”作为文明共治的新基石,让人类与 AI 在共享价值创造中实现共生。该研究跨越哲学、经济学与系统设计,旨在重新定义智能、治理与文明的意义。 This paper proposes Proof of Love (PoL) as a new ethical and governance consensus for the age of AI and Web3. It argues that love—understood as empathy, reciprocity, and creative cooperation—is the missing principle in current technological civilization. By integrating blockchain governance, decentralized incentives, and ethical philosophy, the study outlines how PoL can serve as a foundation for a new “Love-based Civilization,” where human and AI co-govern through shared value creation. The work bridges philosophy, economics, and systems design, aiming to redefine the meaning of intelligence, governance, and civilization itself.
Katja Leifheit, Judith Pies, Hilde Van den Bulck, Alessandro D’Arma · 8 authors
This article presents a quality assessment of Web3 coverage in mainstream media across four European countries—Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom—as a starting point for discussing the standards of technology journalism that can meaningfully support an informed public. It begins with an overview of existing research on technology journalism and its role in fostering informed citizenry. This is followed by a mixed-methods content analysis, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, to examine how the complex topic of Web3 is reported in the four European countries. Insights from journalists and editors contextualize the analysis. The findings highlight three key challenges across all countries: an event-driven rather than process-oriented focus, a narrow thematic scope on the financial applications of Web3 technology (cryptocurrencies), and a relatively limited diversity of sources. The article concludes by exploring how these challenges—and the broader trends in Web3 reporting—shed light on the potential and pitfalls of technology journalism in contemporary societies.
Abstract Blockchain wallet manages decentralized identities in Web3, which allows users to identify themselves in a verifiable yet anonymous manner by digital signatures. However, native wallet scheme has been proven vulnerable to Sybil attacks in practice, where adversaries can easily create large numbers of controlled wallets at a low cost to undermine Web3 applications. To this end, many solutions are proposed for mitigating Sybil attacks. Nevertheless, they typically rely on either costly specialized biometric hardware or behavior-based heuristics that can be easily bypassed. In this paper, we introduce EdenDID, the first trinity-bound identity management system that uniquely binds human user, wallet address, and physical device into a unified framework. EdenDID combines edge-based video recognition, on-chain transactional activity analysis, and device computational power verification to establish a decentralized Proof-of-Trustworthiness consensus. The system provides compliant users with a trusted, verifiable credential to prove their unique identity. We prototype low-cost Eden Devices and deploy them on a Layer-2 blockchain network. Our experiments demonstrate the low end-to-end latency and robust resistance performance to Sybil attacks. Moreover, we present a case study to show how EdenDID can mitigate virtual-hardware fraud in DePIN, in which EdenDID successfully binds the user, wallet, and device uniquely, thus preventing users from binding multiple wallets or devices.
The dominant paradigm of the modern internet, built on graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and discrete web applications, forces users into a fragmented and manual process of interaction, fundamentally limiting the complexity of tasks that can be automated. This paper argues for a new architectural paradigm: an AI-powered network of autonomous digital agents that replaces manual navigation with goal-oriented, natural language-based service procurement. To establish the necessity and viability of this approach, a critical literature review of dominant service-oriented architectures is conducted. The analysis reveals that Microservice Architecture (MSA), despite its advantages, suffers from inherent complexities in communication, discovery, and data management that undermine true service autonomy. A review of its predecessors finds that Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) was hindered by centralized bottlenecks, while the Semantic Web’s vision of a machine-readable web failed due to the rigidity and complexity of its formal, logic-based approach. Furthermore, modern Web3 architectures, while offering decentralization, are shown to have severe limitations in scalability, cost, and flexibility that make them unsuitable for dynamic agent collaboration. The paper concludes that these existing paradigms contain fundamental gaps and posits that a Multi-Agent System (MAS) architecture provides a more robust and appropriate foundation for building a truly autonomous, post-GUI digital ecosystem.
The growing reliance on digital financial services necessitates a secure, efficient, and privacy-centric approach to identity verification and Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance. Traditional identity management systems rely on centralized databases, making them susceptible to data breaches, inefficiencies, and regulatory constraints. Over 10 billion identity records have been exposed in centralized KYC breaches, leading to a 60% increase in financial fraud cases. The rise of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has further complicated KYC compliance, requiring innovative solutions that balance privacy and regulatory requirements. This paper proposes a Web3-powered decentralized identity framework that leverages blockchain technology, self-sovereign identity (SSI), verifiable credentials (VCs), and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). By eliminating reliance on centralized authorities, our system enhances data privacy, reducing personally identifiable information (PII) disclosure by 80% while ensuring compliance with AML and GDPR regulations. The integration of zk-SNARKs enables trustless identity verification with an average proof generation time of 12.5 seconds, significantly reducing the 3–5 day verification period required by traditional systems. Smart contract-based KYC automation eliminates intermediaries, cutting compliance costs by 40% and reducing fraud risk by 60%. Through comparative analysis, we highlight that decentralized KYC improves security, cost-effectiveness, and scalability compared to traditional models. Performance evaluation confirms that transaction throughput remains within acceptable blockchain limits, with gas costs stabilized at 35,000–55,000 Gwei per verification request. Despite challenges in regulatory adaptation and zk-SNARK scalability, the proposed model demonstrates the feasibility of Web3-driven identity management for trustless, privacy-preserving, and compliant financial ecosystems.
Open collaboration business models (OCBMs) and software have existed since the 1950s but have been plagued by work ethic and financial bottleneck due to inadequate monetization schemes. OCBMs provide a range of advantages, primarily in accelerating problem solving & innovation, reducing costs, and enhancing security and transparency. Companies could establish sustainable revenue streams while benefitting from broad tech or platform adoption. However, fair revshare and credit attribution have been persistent problems with OCBMs. Businesses such as Diaspora, Soul Force, Sun Microsystems' Open Solaris, and others have experienced unsustainable OCBM initiatives, especially in the open-source software area. Web3 ethos-based business models and blockchain technologies provide an opportunity to correct and enforce many of the monetization strains associated with open collaboration. By decentralizing operational and governance control, free markets nested within companies that run themselves can be realized. The basic philosophy for a meritocratic monetization system with fair credibility-revshare automation is discussed.
The relevance of the study is determined by the need for in-depth study and systematization of innovative decision-making methods that Web3 technologies offer to the modern business environment. In the context of global digital transformation, traditional approaches to management and finance are proving insufficient to ensure the competitiveness and sustainable development of organizations. The purpose of this article is to analyze Web3 tools, in particular blockchain, asset tokenization, decentralized finance (DeFi), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), as a basis for forming new, more transparent, secure, and effective methods and models for management decision-making. The paper applies a comprehensive methodology that includes a systematic analysis of the functional capabilities of Web3 technologies and a structural-logical approach to classifying their impact on corporate governance and financial management. The use of case studies has made it possible to illustrate the practical aspects of integrating these tools into the activities of large companies. The results confirm that Web3 is not only a technological trend but also a new paradigm that provides managers with qualitatively different tools. It has been established that blockchain creates a foundation for trust and data security; tokenization and DeFi radically increase the flexibility and liquidity of financial management; and DAOs transform corporate governance into a collective and inclusive process. In addition, the integration of AI agents into routine operations allows managers to effectively refocus their attention on strategic planning. The practical value of the article lies in providing organizations with clear recommendations for implementing Web3 technologies: from the need to start with pilot projects to test systems and processes to the mandatory investment in the development of internal competencies. The materials in the article can serve as a basis for developing innovative strategies that will help business organizations minimize technical and regulatory risks and secure leadership in today's digital market.
In this interview with Ana Maria Caballero, we explore how poetry intersects with technology and Web3, highlighting its potential to redefine creative expression, challenge power dynamics, and enhance the cultural relevance of poetry in the digital age.
This context informs the conversations with artists and creative practitioners in this book.Often, their work with and around Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) emerges from these very concerns.Does that mean that DAOs are capable of solving the sociopolitical issues of precarity, cuts, and censorship?No. 'Free blockchain money' does not exist.DAOs do not 'magically' make more funding appear, least of all structurally so.And DAOs do not allow artists and cultural practitioners to leave behind their national contexts of austerity and repression and exchange them for some virtual utopia.However, this does not mean that engaging with DAOs is pointless in the face of these circumstances and limitations.In this publication, I ask practitioners to share their experiences, focussing specifically on the definition of new forms of agency in cultural decision-making, explorations of shared ownership in arts and culture amid widespread logics of private property and extractivism, and the making of prefigurative claims on futures envisioned from the bottom up.None of these practices will be able to replace the structures of state funding or cancel oppressive concentrations of power any time soon, but they do open up space to manoeuvre and create tactical interventions, to find each other and build solidarity, and to regain a sense of futurity together.In other words, to reimagine, reclaim, and restructure shared socio-technical futures.The six people that I interviewed represent key voices in the countercultural and artistic DAO space.Penny Rafferty is a cofounder of Black Swan -a DAO that pursued horizontal and decentralised approaches to art-making -and she pushes DAO discourse into new directions with critical and imaginative work.Erik Bordeleau is a co-founder of The Sphere -a DAO that explores new ecologies of funding to develop a regenerative commons for the performing arts -and contributes boundarypushing philosophical and media theoretical perspectives to DAO thought.Ruth Catlow developed CultureStake -a voting system for decentralised cultural decision-making that uses quadratic voting on the blockchain -and has been a central Repression of Palestinian Culture and soidarity: Independence as Resistance,' Reset! 8
A mobilidade urbana representa um dos maiores desafios das cidades contemporâneas, sendo a imprevisibilidade do transporte público um fator crítico que impacta milhões de cidadãos e turistas. Atrasos decorrentes de congestionamentos, acidentes e outros eventos inesperados, somados à complexidade das rotas, comprometem significativamente a experiência do usuário. Este artigo apresenta o SIGRÔ (Sistema Inteligente de Gerenciamento de Rotas de Ônibus), uma solução inovadora para o rastreamento e previsão em tempo real da localização de ônibus coletivos. A arquitetura do sistema baseia-se em uma rede descentralizada Web3, na qual cada veículo atua como um nó comunicante em uma malha peer-to-peer (p2p), utilizando GSM LTE-M e, de forma redundante, LoRa, para mitigar falhas de cobertura. Cada ônibus é equipado com sistemas embarcados dotados de Unidades de Processamento Neural (NPUs), que aplicam Inteligência Artificial para corrigir perdas de sinal de GPS e aprimorar estimativas de chegada, integrando dados históricos e em tempo real. O ecossistema é complementado por um aplicativo multiplataforma (iOS, Android, WebApp e sistema embarcado), que oferece planejamento de rotas, visualização em tempo real, informações sobre paradas e uma interface de gestão para operadores, permitindo o reporte de incidentes. O projeto tem como objetivo aprimorar a pontualidade percebida, otimizar a experiência do usuário e fornecer dados estratégicos para a gestão inteligente do transporte público urbano.
Decentralized storage is one of the most natural applications built on blockchains and a central component of the Web3 ecosystem. Yet despite a decade of active development -- from IPFS and Filecoin to more recent entrants -- most of these storage protocols have received limited formal analysis of their incentive properties. Claims of incentive compatibility are sometimes made, but rarely proven. This gap matters: without well-designed incentives, a system may distribute storage but fail to truly decentralize it. We analyze Shelby -- a storage network protocol recently proposed by Aptos Labs and Jump Crypto -- and provide the first formal proof of its incentive properties. Our game-theoretic model shows that while off-chain audits alone collapse to universal shirking, Shelby's combination of peer audits with occasional on-chain verification yields incentive compatibility under natural parameter settings. We also examine coalition behavior and outline a simple modification that strengthens the protocol's collusion-resilience.
Xihan Xiong, Zhipeng Wang, Qin Wang, William Knottenbelt
Decentralized communication is becoming an important use case within Web3. On Ethereum, users can repurpose the transaction input data field to embed natural-language messages, commonly known as Input Data Messages (IDMs). However, as IDMs gain wider adoption, there has been a growing volume of toxic content on-chain. This trend is concerning, as Ethereum provides no protocol-level support for content moderation. We propose two moderation frameworks for Ethereum IDMs: (i) BUILDERMOD, where builders perform semantic checks during block construction; and (ii) USERMOD, where users proactively obtain moderation proofs from external classifiers and embed them in transactions. Our evaluation reveals that BUILDERMOD incurs high block-time overhead, which limits its practicality. In contrast, USERMOD enables lower-latency validation and scales more effectively, making it a more practical approach in moderation-aware Ethereum environments. Our study lays the groundwork for protocol-level content governance in decentralized systems, and we hope it contributes to the development of a decentralized communication environment that is safe, trustworthy, and socially responsible.
Cryptocurrency money-laundering forensic analysis after Web3 incidents faces challenges such as fragmented evidence, expanding transaction paths, and cross-chain discontinuity. Existing Web3 AML methods largely rely on manual clues and heuristic or graph-search-based tracing, with outputs limited to lists of suspicious addresses and lacking path-level evidence and verifiable explanations. Directly applying general-purpose large language models to raw transaction flows also struggles to ensure evidence constraints and result verifiability. To address these limitations, this paper presents RISKTAGGER, an LLM-guided agent for forensic tracing of Web3 cryptocurrency money laundering. RISKTAGGER embeds the LLM as an evidence-constrained decision component within a controlled tracing loop. It extracts case clues from public incident materials, recursively expands a risk-labeled fund-flow graph over on-chain evidence, and generates evidence-organized reports for analyst review. We evaluate it on five real-world incidents spanning multiple years and covering heterogeneous attack patterns and laundering path structures. We further conduct cross-case generalization analysis, baseline comparison, component ablation, and LLM backend analysis. In the main Bybit case, the system achieves a 97.33% address recall and a 98.69% expert-reviewed sampled address precision. Across the other four incidents, it achieves 95.24-100.00% address recall and 91.27-100.00% expert-reviewed address precision. The cross-case results further show that the complexity of Web3 money laundering arises from heterogeneous mechanisms, including short-cycle fund fragmentation, long-range laundering paths, interwoven DeFi services, and deterministic denomination splitting. RISKTAGGER can recover case-related fund paths, identify high-priority risk accounts, and organize public evidence into verifiable forensic reports.