Київський національний економічний університет імені Вадима Гетьмана, Михайло ОРЄХОВ, Т.В. Орєхова, Донецький національний університет імені Василя Стуса
The paper analyzes the role of digital currencies in the global financial system, the peculiarities of their use. The paper pays attention to the characteristics of the historical preconditions for the emergence of electronic payments and, as a consequence, digital currencies. The paper analyzes the features of the emergence and functioning of major global cryptocurrencies - Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum. The advantages of cryptocurrencies, the authors of the study include unlimited opportunities for transactions, no borders, transaction speed. Among the disadvantages of cryptocurrencies is the lack of a proper level of knowledge, which leads to the spread of fraud. The paper presents the volume and share of bitcoin trade in different markets during the period from January 2013 to January 2018. The results of the study allow us to conclude that the modern cryptocurrency market, despite the fact that the evolution of electronic money is in its infancy, and cash is still the most important form of payment for retail transactions, is highly competitive and fragmented.
An early stage funding platform using cryptocurrency smart contracts can potentially provide an equity and debt capital raising platform for new ventures compared to crowdfunding, initial coin offerings (ICOs) and seed funding. The existing capital raising methods are less transparent, have limited depth of funding and less diversification. Utilising a cryptocurrency smart contract-based early stage funding platform will allow new ventures to obtain a staged funding environment, starting from seed funding. Each stage of funding can be represented by a smart contract that is aligned to a formal standardised legally binding contract between the venture and investors through the platform. Competition for funds and a transparent smart contract-based platform should allow free markets to price investments in the new venture in a more efficient fashion. Additionally, such a platform should provide more funding opportunities to new ventures that weren't available prior.
The article presents blockchain technology for developing national digital economy, efficiency of digitalization and basic principles of digitalization, and a set of blocks requiring material resources. The purpose of the article is to study features of digital economy development and propose application of blockchain technology in national economy sphere. Research methods: The instrumental and methodical apparatus of research based on application, in framework of a systematic approach, general scientific research methods. Implementing blockchain technology in financial system at micro-macro degrees, insurance system, system of government, electron trade system, industrial system, intellectual property account system, education system, health care system was analyzed in this article. Organizing in perfect way the operations to implement the digital economy in Uzbekistan, and develop and establish large financial projects at the state level, moreover, illustrated in details importance of using blockchain technology in national economy industries while developing and establishing large financial projects at the state level.
Developing Countries in Africa in general and Zambia in particular, have seen a rapid rise in use of mobile payment platforms. This has not only revolutionized access to finance for the poor but also allowed them access to other financial products such as savings or insurance. With a growing number of mobile money providers in Zambia, there is need for a solution that would enable integration of the mobile money provider’s systems using a central clearinghouse for purposes of clearing and settlement to achieve mobile money interoperability. In this study, we first reviewed the technical landscape and features of mobile payment systems in Zambia and then assessed the feasibility of using blockchain technology in proposing a settlement and clearing system that would facilitate mobile money interoperability. A prototype system was then designed in which amounts being interchanged between providers are managed as assets on a permissioned blockchain. The system runs a distributed shared ledger, which provides non-repudiation, data privacy and data origin authentication, by leveraging the consistency features of blockchain technology.
Um Kryptowährungen enstand in den letzten Jahren ein enormer Hype. Das kann unter anderem auch an den zahlreichen Lehrveranstaltungen unserer Universität beobachtet werden, die innerhalb kurzer Zeit aufgekommen sind. Im Zuge dieser Hype-Phase entsprang eine schier unübersichtliche Anzahl an Projekten im Kryptowährungs-Umfeld, und jede einzelne davon mit scheinbar vielversprechenderen Funktionalitäten als die zuvorgekommenden. Wir wollen mit dieser Arbeit zumindest wieder ein wenig Ordnung in diesen Bereich bringen. Dafür vergleichen wir die wichtigsten Plattformen auf einer technischen Ebene, und analysieren welche der Versprechungen sie wirklich halten können. Unsere Erfahrung zeigt, dass derzeit besonders Plattformen mit Unterstützung für “Smart Contracts” besonders beliebt sind. Das ist auch nicht wirklich verwunderlich, da diese neue Möglichkeiten zu Interaktionen innerhalb der Blockchains bieten. Ein weiterer Trend in der Blockchain-Forschung beschäftigt sich mit der Frage nach nachhaltigen Lösungen, um die bestehenden Probleme der Skalierung von Blockchains, die mit anderen Technologien verglichen nur einen äußerst geringen Durchsatz an Transaktionen schaffen, in den Griff zu bekommen. Dazu werden wir in dieser Arbeit einige Vorschläge besprechen. Einer davon stellt sogar die Struktur von Blockchains an sich in Frage. Diese stelle einen Engpass dar und daher sollte statt einer Kette (Chain) besser ein gerichteter Graphen ohne Zyklus (Directed acyclic graph, DAG) verwendet werden. Dieser hat zwar bessere Eigenschaften in Bezug auf die Skalierbarkeit, hat stattdessen aber den Nachteil, dass “Smart Contracts” auf solchen Strukturen nur schwer zu implementieren sind.In dieser Arbeit versuchen wir dennoch beide dieser Ansätze “Blockchain 2.0”, also “Smart Contracts” und “Blockchain 3.0”, wie Kryptowährungen basierend auf einer DAG-Struktur manchmal genannt werden unter einen Hut zu bringen. Solch eine Verbindung könnte man dann als “Blockchain 5.0” bezeichnen.
Blockchain is an innovative technology which is used by cryptocurrencies as a public, immutable ledger for recording transactions, while more recent versions of Blockchain can also record smart contracts and other assets. Blockchain can be viewed as a distributed platform that holds transactional records without the involvement of a central authority, and where ensuring decentralization, transparency and security is of paramount importance. But the transparency requirement, absolutely necessary for improving trust among the blockchain’s users, came with a price: lack of privacy. In most of the blockchains which are based on Bitcoin’s Blockchain, anyone can query the blockchain and see all the transactions. This introduces a privacy issue which needs to be addressed. Although there are a few solutions for mitigating the privacy concern, we consider that true anonymity must be built-in, not added on trough extensions to the base protocol. We propose a novel solution, called RandAdminSuite, that addresses the blockchain privacy problem through a comprehensive approach that covers the blockchain architecture itself, transaction mechanism and cryptocurrency as well. RandAdminSuite offers some improvements over the concept of currency rewards for transaction processing nodes.
The recent report on FinTech to the European Commission by the Expert Group on Regulatory Obstacles to Financial Innovation (ROFIEG), of which the author was a member, noted that just 19 of the 161 largest retail and commercial businesses globally are implementing digital transformation at scale. 3 However, over the next 10 years, Europe will grow its FinTech market with existing and new players deploying Al, DLT, smart contracts, and quantum computing at scale. Al will radically transform the front, middle, and back offices of banks. However, as I conclude elsewhere,' the industry will have to manage its information architectures better if it is to fully leverage the potential of an Al to take data analytics to the next level or reduce the burgeoning costs of regulatory compliance. Significantly, innovations in smart contracts and DLT will transform the payment marketplace as they will enable crypt° assets of all types to be traded at all levels across markets. I expect that disruptive digital innovations based on the trading of cryptoassets will transform monetary and fi nancial systems. However, quantum computing with its potential to make strong Al a reality, and at a practical level to perform complex tasks, such as optimizing investment portfolios, identifying arbitrage opportunities, performing accurate credit and risks scoring, and so on, will be the fi nal step in the digital transformation of the industry. It is clear from the forgoing that no one technology is a silver ballet in digital transformation of financial institutions.
Blockchain possui algumas características únicas, como a possibilidade de des- centralização em ambientes não confiáveis, auditabilidade e segurança, citando apenas algumas. Algumas blockchains podem até permitir a execução smart contracts, que são programas que podem ser executados de uma maneira distribuída e descentralizada. Eles têm a grande vantagem de permitir estender os benefícios da blockchain para qualquer tipo de aplicação. Contudo, esse conceito não tem sido empregado em todo seu potencial devido a desafios associados a complexidade computacional e latência. Esses desafios estão associados tanto ao uso de smart contracts, quanto ao da blockchain. Algumas soluções foram desenvolvidas com o objetivo de mitigar esses problemas. Uma importante solução proposta na área de blockchain é o desenvolvimento da appendable-block blockchain. Este tipo de blockchain tem o potencial de reduzir problemas de latência e escalabilidade através da possibilidade de adição de dados deforma paralela na blockchain. Contudo, atualmente, este modelo não possuía possibilidade de executar smart contracts. Além disso, modelos tradicionais para a execução de smartcontracts não são compatíveis com a appendable-blockb lockchain. Neste trabalho, nós apresentamos uma solução para essa falha. Nós introduzimos um modelo para a execução de smart contracts, que nós chamamos de context-based model. Este modelo além de permitir a execução de smart contracts na appendable-block blockchain permite que sejam aproveitados os benefícios de inserções paralelas desse modelo deblockchain. Isto incrementa a escalabilidade, porque permite a execução de smart contracts em paralelo. Essa melhora é comprovada por uma prova de conceito implementada neste trabalho, onde uma análise de performance foi efetuada comparando com execução sequencial de smart contracts.
Blockchain technology is a new general-purpose technology that poses significant challenges to the existing state of law, economy and society. Blockchain has one feature that makes it even more distinctive than other disruptive technologies: it is, by nature and design, global and transnational. Moreover, blockchain operates based on its own rules and principles that have a law-like quality. What we may call the lex cryptographia of blockchain has been designed based on a rational choice vision of human behavior. Blockchain adopts a framing derived from neoclassical economics, and instantiates it in a new machinery that implements rational choice paradigms using blockchain in a semi-automatic way, across all spheres of life, and without regard to borders. Accordingly, a global law and crypto-economics movement is now emerging owing to the spread of blockchain.
This Article suggests that such a rational choice paradigm is an insufficient foundation for the future development of blockchain. It seeks to develop a new understanding of blockchain and its regulation through code according to the emerging “law and political economy” framework. Blockchain should be understood as much more than a machine that enables the automation of transactions according to a rational choice framework. Blockchain should instead be understood as a technological infrastructure. Acknowledging the infrastructural dimension of blockchain technology may help identify a new role for the law in its interaction with blockchain, as well as for government in its interaction with the new technology. More precisely, identifying blockchain as an “infrastructural commons” helps us recognize that law and regulation should not be relegated to the role of merely facilitating the operation of the invisible hand of the market by and within blockchain, but should rather acquire more active roles, such as safeguarding access on non-discriminatory terms to users, on a model with net neutrality and other public utility safeguards. The Article closes by proposing a “law and political economy” framework for blockchain that is based on principles of publicness, trust, and interoperability.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently took steps to regulate certain forms of cryptocurrency as substitute securities. However, the SEC has not provided clear guidance regarding which forms of cryptocurrency it deems worthy of regulation. This creates a dilemma. While some cryptocurrencies, like those involved in capital-raising via initial coin offerings (ICOs), do indeed seem like securities, others do not. For example, J.P. Morgan is developing a cryptocurrency that appears to be more like fiat currency than a security. This Note discusses how the SEC recently convinced a federal judge that certain ICO-related cryptocurrencies can be considered securities under the Howey test, as well as how the major questions doctrine—which asserts that issues of major importance should not be left to the discretion of federal agencies absent clear congressional guidance—relates to the topic of cryptocurrency regulation. Furthermore, this Note discusses why it is undesirable that the SEC is regulating cryptocurrency without clear guidance from Congress regarding which cryptocurrencies the Commission has the authority to regulate. Because cryptocurrency is such a rapidly developing field, the gray area between forms of cryptocurrency that seem to be securities and those that do not will only become more complex. As a result, piecemeal cryptocurrency regulation will continue to deprive innovators of sufficient guidance regarding issues such as whether their cryptocurrency must be registered with the SEC. Ultimately, this Note argues that the regulation of cryptocurrency—as a developing technology—is a “major question,” and thus Congress should authorize a new commission or sub-agency that can adequately address this varied and everchanging field.
Understanding the complexities of blockchain governance is urgent. The aim of this paper is to draw on other theories of governance to provide insight into the design of blockchain governance mechanisms. We define blockchain governance as the processes by which stakeholders (those who are affected by and can affect the network) exercise bargaining power over the network. Major considerations include the definition of stakeholders, how the consensus mechanism distributes endogenous bargaining power between those stakeholders, the interaction of exogenous governance mechanisms and institutional frameworks, and the needs for bootstrapping networks. We propose that on-chain governance models can only be partial because of the existence of implicit contracts that embed expectations of return among diverse stakeholders.
Pablo Lamela Seijas, Alexander Nemish, David Smith, Simon Thompson
Marlowe is a DSL for financial contracts. We describe the implementation of Marlowe on the Cardano blockchain, and the Marlowe Playground web-based development and simulation environment. Contracts in Marlowe can be exhaustively analysed prior to running them, thus providing strong guarantees to participants in the contract. The Marlowe system itself has been formally verified using the Isabelle theorem prover, establishing such properties as the conservation of money.
This paper discusses the implications of smart contracts in energy trading for the protection of consumer and individual rights. It examines the legal risks and regulatory solutions for a peer-to-peer energy trading platform (P2P-ETP) in creating a sustainable energy ecosystem. Part I discusses the conceptual framework of P2PETP, which enables consumers to become energy ‘producers' and traders. Smart technologies—smart contracts, smart meters, and distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms, are the main components of this platform. The study examines the legal basis for these components. Part II analyzes the legal uncertainty of the smart contract, such as its enforceability, and the inadequate protection for consumers and their individual rights through price manipulation, violation of rights to privacy, and data breaches. Part III discusses the potential policy implementations and the principles behind a legal and regulatory framework for establishing a trusted peer-to peer energy trading platform.
Abstract Blockchain technology has rapidly emerged as a decentralized trusted network to replace the traditional centralized intermediator. Especially, the smart contracts that are based on blockchain allow users to define the agreed behaviour among them, the execution of which will be enforced by the smart contracts. Based on this, we propose a decentralized booking system that uses the blockchain as the intermediator between hoteliers and travellers. The system enjoys the trustworthiness of blockchain, improves efficiency and reduces the cost of the traditional booking agencies. The design of the system has been formally modelled using the CSP# language and verified using the model checker Process Analysis Toolkit. We have implemented a prototype decentralized booking system based on the Ethereum ecosystem.
Blockchain has become the new hype term in the business world for the last decade. Due to the new technology’s characteristics and innovative applications, it is being adopted globally in a wide number of industries including the banking industry, yet no adoption model is provided to guide this process. This research aims to contribute to facilitating the successful adoption and implementation of the blockchain new technology in the banking industry. Building on the assumption that the blockchain’s adoption in banking will be directed by the regulations and best practices guidelines of the global banking regulatory bodies and practitioner, this research asks: What is the blockchain adoption model for the banking industry? The currently available official documents of the regulatory bodies, practitioners, and research bodies were collected, text mined and analysed, based on the adoption factors identified in the literature review and investigating the adoption factors’ importance. This research was able to find three categories of adoption factors: supporting, hindering and circumstantial, identify a new adoption factor and establish the factors’ importance. As a result, an adoption model for blockchain technology in the banking industry from an institutional perspective is proposed. Based on this, it is recommended to carry further research on applying the proposed model at banks adopting the new technology to study its fitness.