Blockchain Papers

Zhiyuan Peng, Xin Yin, Rui Qian, Peiqin Lin · 8 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Gerardo Iuliano, Dario Di Nucci

Smart contracts are self-executing programs on blockchain platforms like Ethereum, which have revolutionized decentralized finance by enabling trustless transactions and the operation of decentralized applications. Despite their potential, the security of smart contracts remains a critical concern due to their immutability and transparency, which expose them to malicious actors. Numerous solutions for vulnerability detection have been proposed, but it is still unclear which one is the most effective. This paper presents a systematic literature review that explores vulnerabilities in Ethereum smart contracts, focusing on automated detection tools and benchmark evaluation. We reviewed 3,380 studies from five digital libraries and five major software engineering conferences, applying a structured selection process that resulted in 222 high-quality studies. The key results include a hierarchical taxonomy of 192 vulnerabilities grouped into 13 categories, a comprehensive list of 219 detection tools with corresponding functionalities, methods, and code transformation techniques, a mapping between our taxonomy and the list of tools, and a collection of 133 benchmarks used for tool evaluation. We conclude with a discussion about the insights into the current state of Ethereum smart contract security and directions for future research.

Georgios Stathis, Athanasios Trantas, Giulia Biagioni, Klaas Andries de Graaf · 6 authors

Abstract Contract automation is a challenging topic within Artificial Intelligence and LegalTech. From digitised contracts via smart contracts, we are heading towards Intelligent Contracts ( iContracts ). We will address the main challenge of iContracts: the handling of communications and risk data in contract automation. Our Research Question reads: to what extent is it possible to develop an ontology that automates contracts with communications and risk data? The article designs and conceptualises an iContract ontology. Our findings validate the conceptual expressiveness of our ontology. A brief discussion highlights the value of the ontology design and its application domains. From the results, we may conclude that the current method is innovative and that further research is necessary for handling more complex use cases.

John R. Graham, Jillian Grennan, Campbell R. Harvey, Shivaram Rajgopal

Corporate culture has been likened to an organization's heartbeat—the less visible, somewhat intangible force that shapes its movements, health, and longevity. Just as humans need a strong heartbeat to live, culture is often the difference between business success and failure. Google's culture is frequently celebrated as a cornerstone of its innovation and achievement.1 Zappos's superior customer service stems from a teamwork culture, cultivated as early as the hiring stage. In contrast, the troubles at VW, Toshiba, Uber, and Wells Fargo are routinely held up as examples of cultural failures.2 Yet designing a culture that can be credited with great business success is difficult, especially when considering the global catalysts shifting workers to hybrid arrangements and placing new demands on management practices and governance structures.3 Employees are increasingly seeking work that aligns with their personal values, rather than just financial incentives.4 Similarly, employees, especially when not immersed full-time in toxic office cultures, are feeling empowered as whistleblowers and increasingly reporting to the SEC failures within their companies.5 Amidst these transformations, we believe now is the time to reflect on what corporate culture means, and how it contributes to a company's productivity, efficiency, and value creation. To do so, we analyze executives’ answers to questions about culture, including “How do companies build and maintain a culture focused on enhancing efficiency and value?” “What role do other formal institutions, such as board oversight and compensation systems, play in reinforcing (or undermining) culture?” and “How does one measure the effectiveness of a corporate culture?” It is in this context of reflection and inquiry, that we synthesize insights from a comprehensive survey of chief executives and financial officers (CEOs and CFOs, referred to interchangeably as “executives” or “managers”) of a wide range of North American public and private companies.6 Along with specific questions about corporate culture and its role in their organizations, we also conducted in-depth interviews of executives representing over 20% of the US equity market capitalization. As we review the insights, we endeavor to incorporate the perspectives on culture, most relevant to this era of unprecedented change for leaders and workers. In the pages that follow, we begin by summarizing the survey findings to provide context for the interviews and open-ended responses. Among the most important findings is that a majority of the executives responding to the survey considered corporate culture as “a top three value driver” at their companies, and almost all agreed that improving their corporate culture would increase their firm's value. And although the CEO was identified as “the most influential person” in setting the firm's current culture, corporate boards were also seen as affecting culture—but primarily through their choice and oversight of the CEO. 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Todd Phillips

No abstract is available for this record.

Jos van Hillegersberg, Jonas Hedman

While global sourcing arrangements are highly complex and usually represent large value to the partners, little is known of the use of e-contracts or smart contracts and contract management systems to enhance the contract management process. In this paper we assess the potential of emerging technologies for global sourcing. We review current sourcing contract issues and evaluate three technologies that have been applied to enhance contracting processes. These are (1) semantic standardisation, (2) cognitive technologies and (3) smart contracts and blockchain. We discuss that each of these seem to have their merit for contract management and potentially can contribute to contract management in more complex and dynamic sourcing arrangements. The combination and configuration in which these three technologies will provide value to sourcing should be on the agenda for future research in sourcing contract management.

Joshua G. W. Bernstein

No abstract is available for this record.

Adam J. Sulkowski

No abstract is available for this record.

Helena Haapio

No abstract is available for this record.

Carla Reyes, Nizan Geslevich Packin

No abstract is available for this record.

Claire A. Hill

Complex business contracts are notoriously difficult to write and read. Certainly, when litigation arises, courts scarcely have an easy time interpreting them. Indeed, contracts don't look at all as though they are written to tell a court what the parties want. Why can't smart, well-motivated lawyers do a better job? My article argues that they rationally don't try. I argue for a view of contracting in which parties aren't principally trying to set forth an agreement for a court to enforce. Rather, by leaving inartful language and ambiguity in the agreement, parties are bonding themselves not to seek precipitous recourse to litigation. The agreement entered into provides each party with grounds to bring a lawsuit if it so desires. Thus, if one party sues, the other party will virtually always have grounds to countersue. The complex transacting community has a norm against litigation in any event; bonding encourages and bolsters this norm, as well as norms of appropriate conduct throughout the contracting relationship. The contracting process, and the contract that results, thus serves importantly to create the parties' relationship and to set the stage for dispute-resolution consistent with preserving the relationship, as well as to keep available the backstop of enforcement if needed.

Tracey Logan

No abstract is available for this record.