This is the first paper that explores lottery-like demand in cryptocurrency markets. Since recent research provides evidence that cryptocurrency returns appear to be short-memory processes, we modify Bali, Cakici and Whitelaw’s (2011) and Bali, Brown, Murray, and Tang’s (2017) MAX measure and employ a weekly forecast horizon and daily log-returns from the previous week to calculate the metric for our portfolio sorts. From an econometric point of view, this study proposes statistical tests that are robust to unknown dynamic dependency structures in the cryptocurrency data. Our results show that average raw and risk-adjusted return differences between cryptocurrencies in the lowest and highest MAX quintiles exceed 1.50% per week. These results are robust after controlling for Bitcoin risk or potential microstructure effects. Our findings are important also from a theoretical point of view because they suggest that parallel to stock markets, similar behavioral mechanisms of underlying investor behavior are present also in new virtual currency markets.
Hanna Hałaburda, Guillaume Haeringer, Joshua S. Gans, Neil Gandal
This chapter focuses on how bitcoin performs the functions of money. A better understanding of where cryptocurrencies fall short of fiat money might allow for a better design and might possibly decrease price volatility. The medium of exchange function means a generally accepted form of payment. The Haitian gourde, for example, is fiat money in Haiti. General acceptance of various forms of fiat money is limited. To function as a medium of exchange, a currency needs a low transaction cost. Transaction costs have both domestic and international dimensions. Cryptocurrency is faster and sometimes cheaper for international and long-distance domestic transactions, whereas fiat money is cheaper for local domestic transactions. The Lightning Network technology reduces transaction costs for parties that can pool bitcoin transactions without converting into and out of fiat currency each time. Bitcoin provides users with other valuable features, such as financial privacy. Fiat money in the form of physical cash offers excellent privacy.
The idea of a shared economy becomes one of the companies as an enterprise type. Especially with the advanced development of digital smart devices and the internet, several forms of the mutual economy have been advanced in accord with the need for sharing of separate income. Shareable commodity and digital content are also seeking to utilize. When digital content is used as a sharing economy, various possible threats may arise in the course of transactions, the potential for theft, alteration, and hacking of contents. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the security and privacy of Blockchain. Blockchain promise transparent, tamper-proof and secure systems that can enable novel solutions, especially when combined with smart contracts. In this research, we proposed a content protection and transaction method using Blockchain Ethereum Technology. The encryption algorithm is incorporated in proposed system to make transparent transactions and it is also implemented on content itself to prevent from smart forgery and hacking. The experimental results signify that the proposed method has strong potential to enhance transactions transparency by minimizing the security threats in digital content transactions.
Jan 1, 2020·Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Scott Thiebes, Niclas Kannengießer, Manuel Schmidt-Kraepelin, Ali Sunyaev
During the past decade, distributed ledger technology (DLT) has found its way into application areas outside finance, such as supply chain management, the Internet of Things, or health care. To this end, this novel technology phenomenon has recently also caught the attention of researchers and practitioners in genomics. Although various DLT-based data markets for genome data already exist or are in development, the potential of DLT in this context is far from exhausted, whereas the possible risks related to the application of DLT in genomics are not yet sufficiently known. In this work, we investigate the potential opportunities and challenges for the application of DLT in the field of genomics. Thus, we make an important contribution to the safe and socially acceptable use of DLT in this unique and highly relevant use context.
The rise of distributed ledger technologies, such as R3 Corda, Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum, has lead to a surge of interest in digitalizing different forms of contractual cooperation. By allowing for ledgers of collaboration-critical data to be reliably maintained between stakeholders without intermediaries, these solutions might enable unprecedented degrees of automation across organizational boundaries, which could have major implications for supply chain integration, medical journal sharing and many other use cases. However, these technologies tend to break with prevailing business practices by relying on code-as-contracts and distributed consensus algorithms, which can impose disruptive requirements on contract language, cooperation governance and interaction privacy. In this paper, we show how our Exchange Network architecture could be applied to avoid these disruptors. To be able to reason about the adequacy of our architecture, we present six requirements for effective contractual collaboration, which notably includes negotiable terms and effective adjudication. After outlining the architecture and our implementation of it, we describe how the latter meets our requirements by facilitating (1) negotiation, (2) user registries, (3) ownership ledgers and (4) definition sharing, as well as by only replicating ledgers between stakeholder pairs. To show how our approach compares to other solutions, we also consider how Corda, Fabric and Ethereum meet our requirements. We conclude that digital negotiation and ownership could replace many proposed uses of code-as-contracts for better compatibility with current contractual practices, as well as noting that distributed consensus algorithms are not mandatory for digital cooperation.
The success of the sustainable transformation of the energy sector, both in terms of planning and operation, relies on new entities, business models, and technologies. The shift from a relatively small number of centralized bulk producers and single direction energy flow to a decentralized multi-actor renewable system with a two-way flow of energy and multi-way flow of information needs to be accompanied by new technological solutions. Blockchain and other Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) represent a new technology for the energy sector, creating both opportunities and challenges for different aspects of energy systems, such as energy production, peer-to-peer (P2P) energy markets, green certificate registries, etc. Due to its decentralized nature and no need for intermediaries, DLT can facilitate energy democratization processes and decentralized energy production. In this paper, we present a systematic review of DLT principles, its theoretical background, and the most notable implementations, as well as an in-depth analysis of representative research projects and companies researching DLT use cases in the energy sector, taking into consideration technical aspects of DLT. We provide an insight into the benefits and limitations of DLT and identify technical challenges that need to be solved to enable widespread usage of DLT in energy systems. Additionally, we provide suggestions and guidelines for implementing DLT in different categories of use cases in the energy sector.
Jan 1, 2020·Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Since the emergence of blockchain in 2008, today, we see a kaleidoscopic variety of applications built on distributed ledger technology (DLT), including applications for financial services, healthcare, or the Internet of Things. Yet, each application comes with specific requirements for DLT characteristics (e.g., high throughput, scalability). However, trade-offs between DLT characteristics restrict the development of a DLT design (e.g., Ethereum, IOTA) that fits all use cases’ requirements simultaneously. Consequently, separated DLT designs emerged, each specialized to suite dedicated application requirements. To enable the development of more powerful applications on DLT, such DLT islands must be bridged. However, knowledge on cross-chain technology (CCT) is scattered across scientific and practical sources. Therefore, we examine this diverse body of knowledge and provide comprehensive insights into CCT by synthesizing underlying characteristics, evolving patterns, and use cases. Our findings resolve existing contradictions in the literature and provide avenues for future research in an emerging scientific field.
Yingying Zhang, Feng Xiong, Yi Xie, Xuan Fan · 5 authors
Recent developments in technology have introduced dramatic changes to the practice of the accounting profession. This paper provides a comprehensive review of current developments in big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and blockchain utilized in general business practice and by specialized practitioners in the accounting profession worldwide. This paper explores the evolution of the accounting profession following these recent technological developments and assesses the impact of future developments. Inherent challenges and opportunities posed by these new technologies pertaining to accounting professionals and accounting educators are also examined, including an increased demand for IT professionals with accounting experience as opposed to accounting major graduates. Considering the dramatic changes and developments of AI applications in accounting, this paper reflects how all these technologies and the associated requirements of job candidates will affect the desired capabilities of accounting graduates and provides further discussion regarding what higher institutions and their accounting graduates can do to adopt such changes.
The term decentralized finance (DeFi) refers to an alternative financial infrastructure built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. DeFi uses smart contracts to create protocols that replicate existing financial services in a more open, interoperable, and transparent way. This article highlights opportunities and potential risks of the DeFi ecosystem. I propose a multi-layered framework to analyze the implicit architecture and the various DeFi building blocks, including token standards, decentralized exchanges, decentralized debt markets, blockchain derivatives, and on-chain asset management protocols.
The Blockchain is a distributed database of all transactions or digital events that is maintained as Blocks. These transaction records that are executed between parties are stored as blocks in Blockchain and shared among parties that maintain the blocks. Each Block is analyzed, verified and stored by the parties who are part of the network/system. Each block contains the details of a single transaction and a hash key of the previous block. Digital Crypto Currency and Bitcoin use Blockchain as its backbone. By design, Blockchains are much secured and the technology ensures flawless record keeping. The Crypto Currency, Bitcoin which is used as a decentralized digital currency shall be transacted peer-to-peer without any third party involvement. Other areas like financial transactions, identity management, food traceability, medical records, even election processes shall be secured using Blockchain. Electronic payments have made a major breakthrough in Indian banking sector and continue to grow with more innovations in the enhancements to the existing system. Slowly Electronic payments are replacing paper based transactions which saves time and cost. Volume of transactions has also increased with more transparency and the sector is showcasing good progress. Introduction of Bitcoin and crypto currencies in Finance and Banking sectors have brought in a paradigm shift on the fundamental transaction processes of this sector. Essential elements of trade, ownership and trust are ensured through Blockchain which makes a disruptive intervention on whole transaction management model. Constructive and critical exploration of this technology in the context of India will bring out more prospective on how this technology shall be leveraged. This paper will present the current state of Blockchain adoption in India and will cover the challenges and opportunities in this space..
This study aims to explore cryptocurrency investment experiences from an emerging market context. This study investigates the lived experiences of cryptocurrency investors, the potential risks and benefits of the cryptocurrency investment, and the potential prospects from cryptocurrency investors' perspectives. The current study intends to adopt a qualitative research approach to address the phenomenon of the study. The qualitative study employs interviews as a data collection tool that allows researchers to seek people's stories from their lived experiences. In this regard, the interpretivism paradigm is employed as it indicates that people determine the reality around events rather than other factors. Moreover, the purposive sampling technique is adopted to discover and recruit the current study respondents, which were in alignment with the proposed research questions. The interviews were terminated at the point of saturation, where a total of twelve cryptocurrency investors participated in the survey.
The International Scientific Research Organization for Science, Engineering and Technology (ISROSET) is a Non-Profit Organization; The ISROSET is dedicated to improvement in academic sectors of Science (Chemistry, Bio-chemistry, Zoology, Botany, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Science, Bioscience, Bioinformatics, Biometrics, Biostatistics, Microbiology, Environmental Management, Medical Science, Forensic Science, Home Science, Library Science, Material Science Military Science, Physical Science, Physical Education Science, Educational Science, Fisheries, seed technology, Agriculture, Forestry Science, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Geology/Earth Science), Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology, Commerce, Management, Economics Sociology and Social Science.
Smart contract-based development of decentralized applications is increasing with the development of blockchain technology. Although blockchainbased smart contracts are expected to revolutionize the digital economy, several security issues need to be addressed before this technology can be used reliably. The recent discovery of security weaknesses in Ethereum smart contracts questions the reliability of smart contracts. Therefore, there is a need to create and diagnose security weaknesses in Ethereum smart contracts to mitigate security risks. In this study, we assessed the potential security weaknesses of running smart contracts on Ethereum.
Gildércia Silva Guedes de Araújo, Katyusco de Farias Santos
Este artigo trata de busca de anterioridade e análise quantitativa sobre a evolução do tema smart contracts, usando o depósito de patentes como principal indicador tecnológico. Para o levantamento dos dados utilizaram-se as plataformas Questel Orbit®, Lens e Patent Inspiration, aplicando como entrada as palavras-chaves “smart contract” ou “smart contracts” para as buscas nos títulos e nas reivindicações. Foram realizadas análises Macro e Meso, com o objetivo de identificar os indicadores quantitativos das patentes relacionadas aos smart contracts. As investigações foram realizadas até abril de 2019 e trouxeram o quantitativo de 968 invenções de patente pelo Questel Orbit®, um resultado de 1.935 depósitos de patentes pelo Lens e 660 depósitos pelo Patent Inspiration. Em todas as plataformas, houve uma predominância de depósitos realizados pelo setor privado (Empresas) e a área de maior relevância, quanto ao domínio tecnológico dos smarts contracts é o modelo de gestão, representando 49% das patentes verificadas.
This paper provides a comparative analysis of the new blockchain-based start-up and small companies funding methods, namely, initial coin offerings (ICOs) and security token offerings (STOs) against the backdrop of traditional fundraising methods like venture capital and private equity building on the experience of Switzerland. In particular, the comparative analysis is based on a theoretical overview of the nature of these blockchain applications, the relevant legislative framework as well as recent market developments with a focus on Switzerland. The paper concludes that both ICOs and STOs are characterized by lower entry barriers for investors and higher cost efficiency as compared to traditional start-up fundraising methods. However, STOs provide more security to investors than ICOs due to their wider regulation.
Shuchih Ernest Chang, Hueimin Louis Luo, YiChian Chen
This paper explores a potential paradigm shift in trade finance utilizing blockchain technology. Traditionally, the centralized operating model has governed trade finance and the manner in which traders handle business processes. However, such heavy reliance on centralized authorities has made for poor performance, the lack of flexibility and transparency, and vulnerability to malicious alteration. The blockchain, as a distributed ledger technology (DLT), has attracted growing attention and has the potential to disrupt legacy finance procedures such as payment by letter of credit (L/C). International trade players may benefit from the technological reengineering of financial processes through the implementation of blockchain- and smart contract-based platforms. From the conceptual perspective of a paradigm shift, this study analyzes the feasibility of blockchain innovation in trade finance through modern blockchain-based L/C initiatives. Moreover, this study also explores blockchain applications in terms of logistics tracking and how it integrates with trade finance procedures. This study contributes to the understanding of a blockchain paradigm shift with a multi-case study. The results may illuminate the potential future application of blockchain finance and provide researchers with an illustrative example of other finance-related capabilities. Studies of trade-related topics such as customs clearances, insurance, and logistics applications need to be addressed in the future to create a comprehensively trustless environment and facilitate the automation of trade.
The article examines the problem of the ICO (Initial Coin Offering, from English — “initial offer of coins, initial placement of coins”). The information source is the ICO rating data of the return on investment in blockchain startups. The methodological base of the research is a situational comparative analysis of the ICO, DAOICO, IEO and STO and systematization of information. The author analyzes three new ICO models. The first one includes elements of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO). Its aim is to minimize the difficulties and risks associated with the ICO. The second model (Initial Exchange Offering (IEO), from English — “primary exchange offer”) is designed to minimize risks, liquidity problems and a delay in listing tokens at the end of the token sale. The third model — the Security Token Offering (STO, from English — “offer of security token”) — was designed to support real assets and comply with the SEC requirements. These models are a new direction for small and medium enterprises and investors. The absence of any scientific work emphasizes the relevance and scientific novelty of the study. The article is a follow-up of the empirical work related to the success of the ICO, as well as the basis for its revision using the case study results.
Jörg Weking, Michael Mandalenakis, Andreas Hein, Sebastian Hermes · 6 authors
Abstract Blockchain technology enables new ways of organizing economic activities, reduces costs and time associated with intermediaries, and strengthens the trust in an ecosystem of actors. The impact of this seminal technology is reflected by an upcoming research stream and various firms that examine the potential uses of blockchain technology. While there are promising use cases of this new technology, research and practice are still in their infancy about altering existing and creating new business models. We develop a taxonomy of blockchain business models based on 99 blockchain ventures to explore the impact of blockchain technology on business models. As a result, we identify five archetypal patterns, which enhance our understanding of how blockchain technology affects existing and creates new business models. We propose to use these results to discover further patterns fueled by blockchain technology and illustrate how firms can use blockchain technology to innovate their business models.
Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrencies are applications of blockchain technology that offer many benefits.ICOs are increasingly used by companies for crowdfunding, allowing startups to find investors.Cryptocurrencies allow cheap, fast and straightforward international money transfers.However, along with such benefits also come risks, like volatility of cryptocurrency rates, abuse by (cyber)criminals, and other risks and uncertainties for investors.Governments across the globe are struggling with the question whether and how to regulate cryptocurrencies and ICOs.The technologies and applications are similar in different jurisdictions, but the responses of legislators, regulators and supervisory authorities widely differ.In this article, we investigate the regulatory responses to cryptocurrencies and ICOs in nine jurisdictions worldwide.The aim of investigating different approaches towards regulating cryptocurrencies and ICOs is to identify different approaches, to make a comparison between jurisdictions, and to identify potential good or best practices.The nine jurisdictions that are compared in this paper are Australia, Belgium, China, Estonia, Japan, Switzerland, The Netherlands, the United States, and the European Union. of cybercrime.Moreover, it should provide some sort of consumer/investor protection and clarity when it comes to tax liability.A legislative and regulatory framework that provides all these aspects will prevent abuse and may enable governments to intervene when issues occur.
Roben Castagna Lunardi, Henry Cabral Nunes, Vinicius da Silva Branco, Bruno Hugentobler Lipper · 6 authors
Blockchain emerged as a solution for data integrity, non-repudiation, and availability in different applications. Data sensitive scenarios, such as Health Care, can also benefit from these blockchain properties. Consequently, different research proposed the adoption of blockchain in Health Care applications. However, few are discussed about incentive methods to attract new users, as well as to motivate the system or application usage by existing end-users. Also, little is discussed about performance during code execution in blockchains. In order to tackle these issues, this work presents the preliminary evaluation of TokenHealth, an application for collaborative health practice monitoring with gamification and token-based incentives. The proposed solution is implemented through smart contracts using Solidity in the Ethereum blockchain. We evaluated the performance of both in Ropsten test network and in a Private instance. The preliminary results show that the execution of smart contracts takes less than a minute for a full cycle of different smart contracts. Also, we present a discussion about costs for using a Private instance and the public Ethereum main network.
The relationship between the development of financial technologies and the formation of the financial ecosystem has been investigated. It is proposed to divide the properties of the financial ecosystem into general and specific ones. The definition of the financial ecosystem has been clarified on the basis of identification of the institutional, functional and sectoral approaches to its understanding. The signs of classification of blockchains in the financial sphere are systematized.