The real estate market is influenced by the global growth trends, such as the growth of the transaction costs and new technologies of the fourth industrial revolution. The types of the transaction costs of the real estate market are analyzed in the paper. The characteristics of the blockchain as a new information technology that allows reducing transaction costs are considered. The essence of the blockchain as a value-communication technology that allows transferring not only information, but also value using mobile networks and the Internet, is substantiated. The types and classification of the blockchains are considered. The directions of real estate transformation on the basis of introduction of the blockchain technologies are shown. Some unresolved issues, as well as the dangers and challenges of the development of the blockchain technologies, are indicated in this article.
Global maritime logistics generates annual revenues upwards of two trillion dollars, more than one-fifth of which is earned by freight forwarders and other intermediaries facilitating the trade. Multiple entities in the supply chain, with their disjointed and often incompatible administrative procedures, outdated paperwork practices, and competing interests, add a great deal to the cost and time for exporters and importers. This study examines the feasibility of a blockchain-based approach to enhancing transparency, efficiency, and economy of the global maritime logistics and finds the approach much promising. A proof-of-concept Web client application, built using Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Sawtooth framework, is used to describe the functionality of a potential maritime logistics blockchain.
Digital identities and credentials are gradually replacing physical documents, as they can be verified with more accuracy and efficiency. Since online privacy is becoming more crucial than ever, it is essential to preserve the privacy of individuals whenever possible. Therefore, anonymous attestation of digital credentials should be feasible, where provers can selectively disclose attributes and create abstractions over attributes in their credential, in order to solely disclose the minimum amount of information required to complete the goal of verification.<br/><br/>Many schemes in the field of attribute-based credentials consider a single root authority issuing credentials to provers. This is coherent to the traditional way of the issuance of credentials since the process of producing physical documents is costly to distribute to multiple issuers. Digital identities provide the opportunity for authorities to distribute credential issuance rights (consecutively) to smaller entrusted entities.<br/><br/>To the best of our knowledge, we propose the first protocol which combines both anonymous attestation with attribute-based credentials and the delegation of selective signing rights for the issuance of these credentials. Root authorities could delegate signing rights for selective attributes consecutively to trustees, which are able to create anonymous attribute-based credentials with the acquired attributes for provers. Verifiers are able to verify presentation tokens with solely the public key of the root authority, without gaining knowledge about the identities of the prover and intermediate delegators. We introduce three adapted signature schemes based on existing work in order to realize a concrete instantiation of the protocol. Anonymity is achieved by incorporating Schnorr's zero-knowledge proof of knowledge with bilinear pairings to efficiently prove the correctness of presentation tokens.<br/><br/>We realized a prototype of our concrete instantiation and optimized the verification algorithm in order to achieve optimal pairing performance. Complexity analysis of the protocol shows improvement in efficiency by aggregating attribute signatures throughout signing right delegation. Experimental results demonstrate a degree of practical feasibility for the verification of presentation tokens on commodity hardware within the challenging public transportation access control time bound of 300 ms.<br/>
Cecilia Anthony Das, Krishna Prasad, Shibley Sadique
This paper seeks to review the current regulatory regime governing cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin, in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore, and traces the regulatory trend in those identified countries. These developments are compared to the Australian context. From the comparative analysis conducted be-tween regimes available in other jurisdictions and those in Australia, the authors conclude that the Australian regulatory regime in relation to cryptocurrency, in particular Bitcoin, are comparable in some respects and in others are much progressive. This is specifically in light of the 2017 amendments relating to anti-money laundering legislation which places Australia as a strong forerunner to legislate on Bitcoin and anti-money laundering legislation. However, to successfully achieve this, Australia must address its lag in relation to the classification of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency respectively. As such, it is concluded that the regulatory regime of cryptocurrency both internationally and at the Australian level is far from satisfactory.
In this research, the returns of four cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple and Ethereum) were analyzed in order to answer the following research question: “How do the returns of Bitcoin and other altcoins behave over time, and what can we say about extreme values for losses and profits?” With respect to volatility, cryptocurrencies can still be considered extremely volatile. For Bitcoin, the least volatile of the four, we found an annual volatility of approximately 70% based on daily exchange rates. For Ethereum, the most volatile of all four, this percentage was closer to 130%. Also, several distributions were fitted on the returns. It is shown that the Generalized Hyperbolic Distribution is the best fit for all four cryptocurrencies, apart from the tails in some cases.<br/>The tails were investigated seperately by using Extreme Value Analysis and by looking into both empirical and theoretical risk quantities (the Value at Risk and Expected Shortfall). Bitcoin appears to be the least risky of all four cryptocurrencies, but also the least profitable, whereas Ripple appears to be the most risky and also the most profitable.<br/>Compared to previous research, Bitcoin has also become less risky, showing a less fat tail for the losses than before. For Litecoin and Ripple, the reverse is true, as they appear to have become riskier. For Ethereum, no comparisons could be made, as this is a relatively new cryptocurrency that has not been investigated much yet. When tested for Paretianity, the left tails of Litecoin and Ripple appear to Pareto distributed: the losses seem to exhibit heavy tail behavior. For the profits, the tails turned out to be even heavier and can therefore also be considered Paretian. These results were confirmed by Maximum to Sum ratio plots, indicating infinite third and fourth moments for the losses and profits of Litecoin and Ripple, but not for Bitcoin and Ethereum. The results have implications for investment and risk management purposes.
The cryptocurrencies are important topics in economics literature because their significance for the monetary system as innovations in information and communication technology are impacting the conventional thinking about currency, money and payments as they are used over the internet outside existing banking systems. At the same time, all innovations in payment systems come with risks associated with cyber security, speculative investments and money laundering. In present due to their little usage comparing to the total amount of cash and other legal tenders they do not pose risks to financial stability, but as they will increase in volume, they may impede “the central banks’ core functions: monetary policy, financial stability, payments and currency†and the safeguards of investors in cryptocurrencies. One opinion expressed in economics is that in order to mitigate some of the particular risks entailed by cryptocurrencies’ circulation on global financial and monetary system the central banks should considering the issuing of “central bank digital currencies†.
The use of Internet of Things devices is an integral part of our modern society. Communication with internet of things devices is secured with asymmetric key encryption that is handled by the centralized certificate authority infrastructure. The emerging Blockchain technology now provides a safe way to change ownership of digital resources through a decentralized system that challenges the traditional centralized view of trust in digital systems. This project studies the security of building public key infrastructures and access communication protocols on Blockchain technology for IoT devices. An informal cryptographic analysis that used proof by contradiction showed that it is cryptographically safe to build Blockchain based Public Key Infrastructures. The analysed Blockchain based public key infrastructure was implemented with smart contracts and tested on the Ethereum platform along with a dynamic access control protocol ensuring dynamic authentication and distributed logging. The project also concluded that advancements in the software clients of nodes are required before Blockchain can be used in Internet of Things devices. This is due to the high storage demands required by currently available nodes.
The recent surge in renewable energy in the distribution grid could transform the generation side to be more variable, which potentially reduces power quality. This technical local challenge could be compensated by introducing a market solution, which could be realised in the form of a local energy market. Such markets requires a comprehensive infrastructure, where a centralised database solution traditionally have been used. However, blockchain technology have lately been presented as a possible preferable alternative. Blockchain is a decentralised communication platform, which logs all information in a structured and tamper-proof manner. This design makes it potentially suitable for operating a local energy market. However, there have not been performed a lot of research on the feasibility of developing local energy markets using blockchain technology. This will be therefore be the focus of this thesis, where a technical, economic and regulatory analysis are performed.\n\nThis thesis address this feasibility by developing a complex local energy market, deploying this on a test blockchain and analyse the results. The market consists of three unique trading mechanisms, where all explores the benefits of flexible loads. These trading mechanisms are then represented as blockchain applications, and simulated over a range of scenarios. The results illustrate a proof of concept, in addition to measure the usage of computational resources of operating blockchain applications.\n\nThe market simulation proved the technical feasibility of running several complex mechanisms in a blockchain environment, with an integrated payment solution. The observed computational resource consumption of the market revealed that a complex real time trading with 600 nodes and a trading frequency of 5 minutes requires a blockchain that can process 10.2 standard Ethereum transactions per second. This is considered to be possible for a modern blockchain protocol to process. The blockchain application design is also analysed, where it is identified how applications should be designed in order to lower the resulting computational consumption. In result, this thesis identifies blockchain technology as suited to operate a local energy market, without significant negative computational consequences. \n\nRegarding the economical feasibility, such a solution is considered to be more expensive than a database solution when it comes to development costs. However, a blockchain solution presents new market possibilities, which could result in a more efficient market, and hence be more economically beneficial. Regarding a regulatory analysis, the Norwegian energy market regulations presents several challenges towards decentralised local energy markets. However, the technology behind blockchain could provide arguments for changing these regulations, and hence make it possible for end users to participate actively in an energy market.
W spoÅeczeÅstwie informacyjnym dochodzi do przesuwania znaczeÅ takich pojÄÄ jak informacja oraz mienie, które sÄ dobrami chronionymi przez prawo. Już sam zapis danych może mieÄ kluczowe znaczenie z perspektywy naszej sytuacji majÄ tkowej. Elektroniczny system pieniÄżny, w którym to podmioty dokonujÄ zapÅat miÄdzy sobÄ â bez udziaÅu banków ani żadnego poÅrednika, ani nawet bez paÅstwowych pieniÄdzy […]
Natália Diniz Maganini, Antônio Carlos da Silva Filho, Eduardo Fonseca de Almeida
O surgimento e crescimento do uso de criptomoedas baseadas na tecnologia Blockchain, em tempos recentes, aumenta o interesse pelo estudo da sua dinâmica econômica e características financeiras.O Bitcoin é, atualmente, a criptomoeda mais conhecida e disseminada, com maior volume de transações, valor de mercado e aceitação em serviços de câmbio.Com o objetivo de contribuir para a análise do comportamento de preços do mercado do Bitcoin, este estudo analisa se a série histórica dos preços desta moeda, cotadas de 12 em 12 horas no período de 14 de setembro de 2011 a 20 de novembro de 2017, possui características multifractais.Os resultados da pesquisa foram positivos.Além disso, percebe-se que tanto correlações de longo alcance como a distribuição das caudas gordas, contribuem para o comportamento multifractal do Bitcoin.
The blockchain is one of the main mechanisms enabling Bitcoin to be a decentralized electronicpayment system. It provides the system with a shared transaction history, which can be verified byevery participant. With increased use, it has become apparent that there is limited possibility forscaling this to handle more transactions. Payment channel networks are one proposed solution tothis problem. They allow for more transactions to be done by moving some transactions to a sepa-rate network. The Lightning Network is one such network, which uses Bitcoin and the blockchain tooperate. While the transactions in this network will not be included in the blockchain, there will bedata there related to the network. This is because it needs the blockchain to manage the paymentchannels which the network consists of.In this project we have explored the blockchain with the goal of identifying transactions relatedto the Lightning Network, and by doing so, determine what information about it is available in theblockchain. We have created different methods for identifying these transactions. The methods usedifferent transaction characteristics differing in uniqueness, making some methods more precise,but having fewer results, and vice versa. We created software implementing the methods, whichwere used to parse the blockchain. The effectiveness of these methods have been quantified bycomparing the data we found when parsing the blockchain, to data we collected directly fromthe Lightning Network. The results shows that the methods are viable for identifying a subset oftransactions, and that precision can be sacrificed for finding more. By identifying these transactionswe were able to determine what information about the Lightning Network we can see from theblockchain perspective, and also some aspects where we are limited.We have also adapted heuristics from previous work doing blockchain analysis to our scenario.These were used to link related information we had found when parsing the blockchain, whichenabled us to create network graphs showing the relations between the Lightning Network channelsidentified on the blockchain. While the relations in this network graph were limited, comparedto the actual relations found within the lightning network, they show how the blockchain canbe used to infer non-explicit information about the lightning network. We have also identifiedseveral methods for potentially inferring or locating more information using what is available inthe blockchain.
Stefano Balbo, Guido Boella, Alex Cordero, Diego Di · 8 authors
We present Co-City, an Urban Innovative Action project funded by the European Commission.Co-City proposes a collaborative management of urban commons to counteract poverty and socio-spatial polarization through the combined use of different actions.In particular, we are developing a Proof of Concept based on distributed ledger technology that enables the development of local economy models.
Intelligent space is an environmental robot system where many intelligent sensor nodes are distributed for supporting humans and mobile robots. This paper introduces a blockchain-based sensor network system for the intelligent space. Blockchain is a system for distributed ledgers of crypto currencies such as bitcoin. Recently, blockchain is considered to be effective for construction of distributed sensor network systems without central servers. In this paper, a prototype sensor system with blockchain based on Ethereum is introduced for intelligent space.
Open access
Innovation in Digital Healthcare Systems
Robotics and Automated Systems
Internet of Things and Social Network Interactions
DI-fusion, le Dépôt institutionnel numérique de l'ULB, est l'outil de référencementde la production scientifique de l'ULB.L'interface de recherche DI-fusion permet de consulter les publications des chercheurs de l'ULB et les thèses qui y ont été défendues.
Abstract In the last decades, modern democracies have been witnessing a low rate of political participation and civic engagement with existing governmental institutions. Civic participation is not dead, however, it is only shifting to a new space. In the shadow corners of the internet, people are looking at blockchain technology as a means to replace many of our traditional institutions. While most of the attention was put, initially, on Bitcoin disrupting banks and other financial operators, as people understood the full potential of blockchain technology they saw it a means to implement new governance structures that could potentially replace some of our existing systems of governance. At the extreme end of this spectrum are those who envision the creation of new blockchain-based virtual nations, with a view to ultimately replace the nation state, or at least experiment with new and allegedly apolitical governance systems, which nevertheless play a crucial political function.
Economy Informatics Vol 18 No. 1/2018 CONTENTS Goalkeeper Analytics Using a Wearable Embedded System Bogdan IANCU 5 The aim of this research is to identify the main metrics linked to soccer goalkeeping that can be computed by using a small embedded device. Based on the identified KPIs, a prototype is created by using an old Android phone in order to compute them based on the values of the three sensors related to positioning: accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer. In the final part of this paper, the obtained results are validated in a real case scenario by comparing the values of computed KPIs against some baseline values. The baseline values are extracted from the video recording of the trainings where the goalkeepers used our wearable embedded system. By constructing a cheap and small version of our prototype, we can help small soccer teams to understand and use data to better train their goalkeepers. Keywords: Sport Analytics, Embedded System, IoT, Wearables A scalable architecture for automated monitoring of microservices Radu BONCEA, Alin ZAMFIROIU, Ioan BACIVAROV 13 In this paper we propose an architecture for monitoring microservices by logging key performance metrics at both system and application levels. By using advanced analytics algorithms we can then classify the events in microservice's behaviour and automate the decision processes, thus improving the overall reliability and security. We will be using Prometheus for storing short-live metrics, OpenTSDB for long term retention and RabbitMQ for passing structured messages between various IT components which orchestrate the collection of our microservices. Keywords: Microservice, Distributed Arhitecture, Monitoring, Complexity IT Agile Transformation Cristian Gabriel OLTEANU 23 The paper presents a case study on knowledge management for IT Agile adaptation, based on organizational changes. It includes discussions about future knowledge management challenges and favorable circumstances within Agile transformation process in terms of its pre-requisites. As shown in the research results, the entire organization was impacted by adopting Agile as a project management approach. The conclusions point out some of the most important pre-requisites for Agile transformation, such as: training and workshops, implication of Agile experts, support and effectiveness, establishment of community practice and learning organizational culture. Nevertheless, the endless learning process as a part of the learning organizational culture, was the biggest Agile challenge within companies transformation, which is like a journey without a final destination, always having to adapt to changes. Keywords: Agile implementation, project management, IT organizational change, Agile methods The Way of Cryptocurrency Mircea Constantin ȘCHEAU, Pop Ștefan ZAHARIE 32 Cryptocurrency market is estimated at several hundred billion dollars. The number of digital coins has exceeded the threshold of one thousand, each day appearing or disappearing some of them. Volatility, the difficulty in practical operation, high cost, associated risk and particular complexity make it quite difficult to choose one of the products without adequate counseling. Proponents of new technologies presents relevant arguments, while the appellants their call attention to the potential hazards/dangers to which expose themselves the investors. Reality offers us a spectrum that combines measures to limit the phenomenon development with the recognition and support from national and international organisms from which, however, is expected to adopt a joint position on the approach. Born at the end of the first decade of the second millennium, cryptocurrency has begun and continues to raise the interest of financial markets in general and specialized institutions in particular.
Dyntu V. A. The roots of cryptocurrencies / V. A. Dyntu // Правові та інституційні механізми забезпечення розвитку України в умовах європейської інтеграції : матеріали Міжнародної науково-практичної конференції (м. Одеса, 18 травня 2018 р.) У 2-х т. Т. 2 / відп. ред. Г.О. Ульянова. – Одеса : Видавничий дім «Гельветика», 2018. – С. 388-392.
Open access
Ukrainian Legal and Forensic Studies
Legal Studies and Reforms
Legal, Health, Environmental and COVID-19 Challenges
Thiago Bottino do Amaral, Christiana Mariani da Silva Telles
EnglishThe purpose of this article is to study bitcoins in order to verify (i) whether it serves as an instrument for the practice of money laundering; (ii) how national and international regulators are positioning themselves on the issue; and (iii) propose regulatory alternatives. The paper is divided into five parts, which demonstrate how Bitcoin System works and discusses whether, in the context of money laundering crime, bitcoins differ from traditional assets such as electronic money, cash, artwork and precious metals. Aspects related to the pricing of bitcoins and their anonymity are also discussed. Regulation is analyzed through the examination of the measures adopted in Brazil, in the United States and in the framework of the Financial Action Task Force (Gafi/FATF). Finally, alternatives are presented with the purpose of contributing to the improvement of regulation. portuguesO presente artigo tem por objetivo estudar os bitcoins com o fim de verificar (i) se a citada criptomoeda pode servir como instrumento para a pratica do crime de lavagem dinheiro; (ii) como os reguladores nacionais e internacionais estao se posicionando sobre o tema; e (iii) propor alternativas regulatorias. O artigo e dividido em cinco partes nas quais se demonstra como funciona o Sistema Bitcoin e se discute se, no contexto do crime de lavagem de dinheiro, a citada criptomoeda se diferencia de ativos tradicionais como moedas eletronicas, dinheiro em especie, obras de arte e metais preciosos. Sao tambem discutidos aspectos relacionados com a fixacao do preco dos bitcoins e com o seu anonimato. A regulacao da materia e analisada por meio do exame das medidas adotadas no Brasil, nos Estados Unidos e no âmbito do Grupo de Acao Financeira Internacional/Financial Action Task Force (Gafi/FATF). Por ultimo, sao apresentadas alternativas com o proposito de contribuir para o aprimoramento da regulacao.
In the past year cryptocurrencies have gained a lot of attention because of the increase in price. This attention has increased the number of people trading and investing in different cryptocurrencies which has lead to an increased number of transactions flowing through the different networks. This has revealed scalability issues in some of them, especially in the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. Many people are working on solutions to this problem. One proposed solution replaces the blockchain with a DAG structure. In this report the scalability of Bitcoin’s protocol will be compared to the scalability of the protocol used in the newer cryptocurrency, Nano. The comparison is conducted in terms of throughput and latency. To perform this comparison, an experiment was conducted where tests were run with an increasing number of nodes and each test sent different number of transactions per second from every node. Our results show that Nano’s protocol scales better regarding both throughput and latency, and we argue that the reason for this is that the Bitcoin protocol uses a blockchain as a global data-structure unlike Nano that uses a block-lattice structure where each node has their own local blockchain.
Creating standardized infrastructures for new technologies has become a frequent event in recent years, forcing competing firms to together collaborate in order to develop and mutually agree on a common standard. This is due to technologies such as blockchain (distributed ledger) technology that need interoperability to reach its full potential, making the collaboration aspect crucial for organizations that want to adapt to the technology. Therefore, this study’s purpose is to identify and analyze the challenges of creating such a standardized infrastructure. A case study was used to analyze these challenges, which involved experts of blockchain technology and three Nordic banks connected to the blockchain consortium R3. First, a pre-study took place with the help of blockchain experts, who helped identify potential problems regarding blockchain (distributed ledger) technology. Secondly, a main study was conducted consisting of four interviews with key persons representing the banks, in addition to collecting secondary data via news articles, and press releases. With the help of co-opetition theory and a technical description of blockchain (distributed ledger) technology, an analytical model was developed to support the analysis of the data collection. The analysis focus on aspects of co-opetition drivers, co-opetition capabilities, co-opetition dynamics and blockchain aspects, which were used to showcase the challenges of collaborating on creating a standardized infrastructure. The result of this study highlights the importance of learning and educational aspects, the size of a cooperation and threats from other competing solutions, which generates challenges. In addition to the identified challenges, this study has also contributed to an understanding of how these aspects can come to affect a collaboration.
Foteini Baldimtsi, Stefan Katzenbeisser, Volkmar Lotz, Edgar Weippl
This report documents the Dagstuhl seminar 18152 "Blockchains, Smart Contracts & Future Applications". While Bitcoin currently works well in practice, there are many open questions regarding the long-term perspective of blockchain technologies, for both public and private/permissioned blockchains. It is yet unclear how processes can be designed to work in predictive ways and how to embed security in the lifecycle of smart contract development and deployment. Furthermore, the distributed nature of the system needs to be considered when thinking about which groups or individuals can influence future developments. Similar to 'real-world' societies, blockchains are based on mutual recognition of conventions. Diverse academic disciplines as well as industry can and need to collaborate to advance research in blockchain and to fully understand how the technology might impact our future lives.