This paper examines the strategic behavior of rational actors in the TON blockchain, focusing on their responses to slashing mechanisms in a proof-of-stake (PoS) environment. Slashing introduces financial penalties for behavior that threatens network integrity, addressing the nothing-at-stake problem, where validators in PoS systems can support multiple chains at no cost. Although slashing is intended to deter malicious behavior by Byzantine actors, it also affects rational validators by altering their expected returns. Using a game-theoretic model inspired by the BAR framework, this study examines how rational, utility-maximizing validators weigh the risks and rewards of violating or enforcing slashing mechanisms in the presence of potentially Byzantine actors when penalty enforcement is uncertain. Located at the intersection of game theory and distributed systems, this research sheds light on compliance and deviation dynamics in PoS networks, contributing to a deeper understanding of incentive alignment in blockchain governance.
Another threat is the development of large quantum computers, which have a high likelihood of breaking the high popular security protocols because it can use both Shor and Grover algorithms. In order to fix this looming threat, quantum-resistant cryptographic systems, otherwise known as post-quantum cryptography (PQC), are being formulated to protect cybersecurity systems of the future. The current paper presents the state of the art in designing, realizing, and testing the security of robust quantum-resistant algorithms, paying attention to lattice-based, code-based, multivariate polynomial and hash-based cryptography. We discuss their resistance to classical and quantum attackers, distributed system scalability properties, and their deployment in practice (secure communications, blockchain, cloud computing infrastructures). Also, we study a hybrid cryptographic model that integrates the classical efficient cryptography scheme and a quantum-resilient cryptographic scheme to achieve a backward-compatible solution and simultaneously improving the forward security properties. With the experimental findings, it is evident that performance with reasonable computational footprint of the proposed framework succeeds to install amplified security fortitude which successfully harbours prolific cybersecurity systems of the future.
Efficient management of vehicle fleets is nial for modern transportation networks, but old-fashioned centralized systems often face issues like data changes, lack of transparency, and inefficient processes. This paper presents a blockchain-based Fleet Management System that combines Distributed Ledger Technology with IoT devices to ensure secure, transparent, and tamper-proof operations. The system uses a multi-layered design that includes client, application, blockchain, consensus, and database layers, making it flexible and easy to expand. Smart contracts help automate tasks like checking drivers, planning vehicle maintenance, and handling payments, reducing the need for manual work and increasing accuracy. Real-time vehicle tracking using IoT sensors and GPS improves monitoring, while blockchain's ability to keep data unchanged builds trust and ensures reliability among all users. A comparison shows this system offers better reliability, lower costs, and more trust than traditional methods. The results show that using blockchain for fleet management provides a sustainable, efficient, and future-ready solution for smart transportation systems.
M. S. F. Nasrifa, R. P. D. M. Amarasinghe, W. M. P. K. Weerasinghe
The purpose of this research is to explore how investor attention, measured by GSVI, influences cryptocurrency market behavior under varying conditions. For this the study examines the impact of Google Search Volume Index (GSVI) on cryptocurrency returns, considering market uncertainty, news sentiment, and the COVID-19 pandemic. A regression analysis was conducted using datasets covering BNB, Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Solana, and Tether from 2015 to 2022. Stata was used to estimate the relationships between cryptocurrency returns and key variables, ensuring accurate and reliable results to quantify the relationships. Our findings indicate that abnormal increases in GSVI positively affect cryptocurrency returns, particularly during high uncertainty periods and when news sentiment is favorable. Moreover, the effect of investor attention on returns was significantly amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that global crises has heightened the role of behavioral factors in cryptocurrency markets. This research contributes to the literature by integrating investor attention with uncertainty and sentiment measures, offering a comprehensive view of cryptocurrency price dynamics. Unlike previous studies that examine these factors in isolation, our study highlights their combined effect, providing valuable insights for investors, policymakers, and analysts in understanding market trends and decision-making strategies.
The article is devoted to virtual assets (cryptocurrency) as a subject of a criminal offense from the point of view of its definition and proof. It is noted that cryptocurrency is characterized by a high level of anonymity, since the personal data of the owners of electronic wallets (in particular, the user’s name or address) are not disclosed, and identification is carried out only using a unique set of characters, which does not allow to identify the person. At the same time, information about transactions is open, and all operations with cryptocurrency are anonymous and irreversible. That is, in a broad sense, cryptocurrency is a digital intangible asset that functions as a settlement system with a dynamically changing value, has a predominantly anonymous nature and is not under the control of central banks. The most famous cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Ripple, Monero, Litecoin, Augur, MaidSafeCoin, etc. At the same time, the most famous and expensive of them is Bitcoin – the first decentralized digital currency, created in 2008, which is used to exchange for goods or services using blockchain technology. And the exchange of cryptocurrencies for real money is carried out through online platforms, electronic payment systems or specialized exchange services. It was established that there are no other norms in the current criminal legislation that would directly mention virtual assets or cryptocurrency. In practice, this leads to the fact that investigators and prosecutors in criminal proceedings related to cryptocurrencies act in fact at their own discretion, making procedural decisions, carrying out the seizure of digital assets and organizing their storage without a clearly defined legal mechanism. As a result, the issue of the further legal fate of the seized crypto-assets remains unregulated and is resolved situationally. It is concluded that virtual assets (cryptocurrency) can be the subject of many criminal offenses. For example, fraud (when deception is used when selling or exchanging it for real currency), theft (secret theft of property using a certain computer program), extortion or illicit enrichment (since cryptocurrency can be easily converted into fiat currency, which is quite difficult to track later), etc.
Open access
Legal, Health, Environmental and COVID-19 Challenges
Cryptocurrency was designed to eliminate the constraints of traditional finance: central bank control, governmentregulation, inflation, and capital controls. This paper argues that these 'constraints' were saturation mechanisms thatprovided stability. By systematically eliminating them, cryptocurrency has created a saturation-free monetarysystem (β X 0) that is structurally incapable of price stability.Using the Landau-Stuart framework, we analyze how each design feature of cryptocurrency̶fixed supply,decentralization, censorship resistance, 24/7 trading, HODL culture̶removes a stabilizing mechanism present intraditional finance. The result is extreme volatility: not a bug but an inevitable consequence of the designphilosophy. We extend the analysis to stablecoins (borrowed β), DeFi (negative β), and Proof-of-Work energyconsumption (saturation-free resource extraction). We conclude that cryptocurrency faces a fundamental dilemma:adding saturation mechanisms would provide stability but contradict the libertarian design philosophy that givescryptocurrency its appeal. Cryptocurrency cannot be both free and stable.
This paper presents a comprehensive comparative study of the legal regulation of smart contracts in the United States and the People’s Republic of China, taking into account both theoretical frameworks and practical applications. Smart contracts are examined as both technological and legal instruments that facilitate the automation of contractual obligations, enhance transactional transparency, and streamline the management of digital assets within the digital economy. The relevance of this research arises from the rapid integration of blockchain technology into the financial sector, public services, international trade, logistics, and insurance. Nevertheless, despite the widespread use of the technology, the legal status of smart contracts and their recognition by national and international courts remain subjects of academic and professional debate. The methodological basis of this study combines comparative legal analysis, a systematic review of regulatory acts and judicial practice, an examination of academic literature, and the synthesis of information from diverse sources. This research highlights the key features of the Chinese and American regulatory models. The Chinese model is characterized by centralized control, where smart contracts are integrated into state-backed digital platforms, including the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) and the digital yuan. This approach ensures standardization and security, however constrains the pace of innovative adoption. By contrast, the American model demonstrates flexibility and fosters innovation by recognizing program code as a legally significant instrument under digital transactions and contract law (e.g., the E-SIGN Act of 2000 and various state laws). However, it lacks clear standards and uniform security protocols.
The phenomenon of increasing public interest in investing in crypto assets, especially Bitcoin, has raised major questions about its feasibility and profitability compared to conventional investment instruments such as mutual funds. This study aims to compare the profitability and risk levels between Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency asset and mutual funds as traditional financial instruments. Although Bitcoin has gained increasing popularity as an alternative investment, there remains a lack of empirical research directly comparing its performance with mutual funds over an equivalent time horizon. Using a quantitative approach, this study analyzes historical monthly data from 2015 to 2024. Metrics such as cumulative return, average monthly return, CAGR, Sharpe Ratio, and maximum drawdown were employed to evaluate the performance of both instruments. Positioned within the existing literature on asset comparison, this study offers a novel empirical contribution by directly contrasting Bitcoin and mutual funds through risk-return analysis. The findings reveal that while Bitcoin offers significantly higher returns, it also carries much greater volatility and drawdown risk. These insights serve as a practical foundation for designing investment strategies aligned with different investor risk profiles. The research contributes to the body of knowledge in portfolio management and data-driven investment decision-making. Keywords: Bitcoin, mutual funds, risk-return, volatility, investment performance, portfolio management
Con el pasar de los años, los individuos han perdido la capacidad de ver la realidad por sí mismos. Se ha vuelto costumbre en la humanidad, necesitar de una institución, por perversa que sea, para que diga que es verdad o mentira, que existe y que no. La institución que más relevancia ha tomado para expresarse sobre lo anterior es el Estado. A través de él se ha negado la verdad por años. Ahora, el presente trabajo busca establecer si el Estado, a través del ordenamiento jurídico, intenta desconocer otra realidad. A lo largo de este texto, estudiaremos, en primer lugar, la cadena de bloques o Blockchain, aquel invento innovador y tecnológico que es utilizado para realizar las transacciones en criptomonedas toda vez que permite que su funcionamiento sea descentralizado, seguro y casi imposible de falsificar. En segundo lugar, estudiaremos el Bitcoin, un revolucionario desarrollo tecnológico que se convirtió en un medio de intercambio y que se constituye en una alternativa de libre elección a las monedas de curso legal. Estudiaremos su origen, qué es y cómo funciona. La problemática radica en que, a pesar de que esta criptomoneda se utiliza como dinero, no cuenta con el reconocimiento de la mayoría de los Estados, consecuencia de ello, no se le da tratamiento de dinero. En tercer lugar, exploraremos la teoría evolutiva del dinero. Esta teoría es de vital importancia, pues nos permite entender cómo determinado bien que tiene ciertas cualidades se convierte en un medio universal de intercambio y, con ello, en dinero. En este punto, también revisaremos las funciones del dinero que se derivan de su principal función: ser un medio de intercambio. Esto, con la intención de establecer si el Bitcoin, a la luz de la teoría evolutiva del dinero, puede o no ser considerado como tal así el Estado se niegue a reconocerlo.
Abdullah Aljumah, Tariq Ahamed Ahanger, Imdad Ullah
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly deployed across diverse domains such as surveillance, logistics, and disaster management. However, ensuring the safety, security, and trustworthiness of UAV operations remains a significant challenge, primarily due to vulnerabilities in centralized data processing architectures. Traditional UAV systems rely on remote cloud servers to perform machine learning (ML)-based analytics, which introduces issues such as data exposure, latency, scalability bottlenecks, and susceptibility to cyberattacks during data transmission and storage. These challenges underscore the urgent need for a decentralized, verifiable, and privacy-preser ving learning mechanism that can support collaborative UAV intelligence without centralized control. To address these limitations, this study proposes a blockchain-enabled distributed ML framework that facilitates secure, peer-to-peer collaboration among UAV nodes. The framework integrates blockchain’s immutable ledger and smart contracts with decentralized ML models, enabling UAVs to share and validate trained models rather than raw data. This ensures data confidentiality, integrity, and transparency throughout the learning process. A stacking-based ensemble mechanism is employed to enhance predictive performance through collaborative knowledge aggregation. The proposed system is experimentally validated using a collaborative intrusion detection (ID) scenario using the KDD99 network attack data set and real-world implementation. The results demonstrate significant improvements in detection accuracy, latency and F1-score compared to conventional centralized ML methods, achieving an average accuracy of 97.9%, latency 198ms, and F1-score exceeding 97%. These outcomes confirm that the integration of blockchain and decentralized ML effectively mitigates cybersecurity risks while enabling scalable, trustworthy UAV intelligence.
The study focuses on examining the implications of cryptocurrencies to the Bank Secrecy/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML framework.Accordingly, it applies a comparative legal research approach to understand trade-offs between cryptocurrencies and BSA/AML through comparing information from different primary sources obtained from LexisNexis, Bloomberg Law, and Westlaw.The motivation behind the study was the rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies among investors and retail consumers, which poses risks to the stability of the financial system.The study noted lack of a devoted prime regulator with paramount powers to oversee all cryptocurrency activities as a gap that blockchain applies, in respect to the regulatory arbitrage theory, to circumvent harsh regulations in some jurisdictions, for favorable ones in other jurisdictions.Some of the features noted to challenge effective regulation of these currencies include anonymity, lack of physical equivalent to bank notes and coins, decentralized, and the agile technology used in blockchain.However, efforts to embrace effective adoption and incorporation of crypto assets into the financial system are being demonstrated through the enactment of House Bills, legislative histories, State and Federal Acts such as the CANSEE) Act (S.2355) to mitigate against the risks of illicit activities perpetrated in the decentralized finance (DeFi).The study established if the current efforts being made might be combined with amendment of the BSA/AML regulation to apply in decentralized finance, identification of a primary regulator for cryptocurrencies, and collaboration between regulators and blockchain developers, they would enhance secure and effective adoption of cryptocurrencies.
In this paper we present BlockMedLedger, a decentralized patient health record management system based on blockchain and IPFS. BlockMedLedger provides solutions to the challenges of healthcare data silos, security vulnerabilities and patient ownership of their own data. The patient centric model supports patients, medical data owners, to have complete control over their own medical data, while providing an efficient process to facilitate secure sharing of the medical data with care providers initiated through smart contracts and cryptographic access controls. The system uses an Ethereum compatible blockchain to support access control decision and IPFS for decentralized encrypted storage of encrypted medical records. The implementation demonstrates good security, efficient access, retrieval and sharing of encrypted health information for health care providers and patients while meeting requirements specified in HIPAA utilizing zero-knowledge proofs and patient consent control features.
This study examines the intersection of cryptocurrency, terrorism financing, and sustainable economic practice, highlighting impacts on financial accountability and global security.While cryptocurrencies offer financial inclusion and innovation, their pseudonymous and decentralized nature also facilitates illicit activities like terrorism financing.Using Financial Liberalization and Illicit Financial Flows theories, the research employs qualitative thematic analysis with 12 experts from regulatory, technical, law enforcement, and academic backgrounds.Findings reveal cryptocurrencies' dual potential for abuse and benefits such as low transaction fees.The study calls for effective global regulatory frameworks, enhanced public-private collaboration, and advanced tools like AI and blockchain analysis to manage risks.It advocates a balanced regulatory approach that promotes transparency and harnesses cryptocurrencies' benefits while ensuring security, recommending harmonized regulations, cooperative task forces, regulatory sandboxes, and mandatory compliance audits.
Chibuzor Udokwu, Seyed Amid Moeinzadeh Mirhosseini, Stefan Craß
Smart contracts are deployed and represented as bytecodes in blockchain networks, and these bytecodes are machine-readable codes. Only a small number of deployed smart contracts have their verified human-readable code publicly accessible to blockchain users. To improve the understandability of deployed smart contracts, we explored rule-based classification of smart contracts using iterative integration of fingerprints of relevant function interfaces and keywords. Our classification system included categories for standard contracts such as ERC20, ERC721, and ERC1155, and non-standard contracts like FinDApps, cross-chain, governance, and proxy. To do this, we first identified the core function fingerprints for all ERC token contracts. We then used an adapted header extractor tool to verify that these fingerprints occurred in all of the implemented functions within the bytecode. For the non-standard contracts, we took an iterative approach, identifying contract interfaces and relevant fingerprints for each specific category. To classify these contracts, we created a rule that required at least two occurrences of a relevant fingerprint keyword or interface. This rule was stricter for standard contracts: the 100% occurrence requirement ensures that we only identify compliant token contracts. For non-standard contracts, we required a minimum of two relevant fingerprint occurrences to prevent hash collisions and the unintentional use of keywords. After developing the classifier, we evaluated its performance on sample datasets. The classifier performed very well, achieving an F1 score of over 99% for standard contracts and a solid 93% for non-standard contracts. We also conducted a risk analysis to identify potential vulnerabilities that could reduce the classifier’s performance, including hash collisions, an incomplete rule set, manual verification bottlenecks, outdated data, and semantic misdirection or obfuscation of smart contract functions. To address these risks, we proposed several solutions: continuous monitoring, continuous data crawling, and extended rule refinement. The classifier’s modular design allows for these manual updates to be easily integrated. While semantic-based risks cannot be completely eliminated, symbolic execution can be used to verify the expected behavior of ERC token contract functions with a given set of inputs to identify malicious contracts. Lastly, we applied the classifier on contracts deployed Ethereum main network.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Malware Detection Techniques
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
This study examines the influence of social media influencers (SMIs), fear of missing out (FOMO), and financial literacy on cryptocurrency investment decisions among Generation Z in Indonesia. A quantitative approach was employed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Data were collected through an online questionnaire distributed to Gen Z respondents, using purposive sampling and yielded 366 valid responses. The findings show that SMI primarily shape early interest by disseminating information, while FOMO dominates Gen Z’s investment behavior, driving impulsive decisions. As a moderator, FOMO negatively affects investment decisions, with fear outweighing influencer recommendations. Financial literacy emerges as the strongest predictor, fostering rational evaluation and reducing reliance on external cues. However, it does not strengthen SMI’s effect, underscoring the interplay of emotional, social, and cognitive factors in Gen Z’s cryptocurrency investments. This study provides new insights by jointly examining SMI, FOMO, and financial literacy on cryptocurrency investment decisions among Gen Z in Indonesia, an underexplored contextual and interactional perspective.
The bitcoin market has exhibited highly volatile return movements, experiencing a sharp surge starting from in November 2022 to 2024. This significant fluctuation underscores the importance of analyzing the factors influencing bitcoin’s return dynamics. This study utilizes daily data with a final sample of 590 observations. All time-series variables must be stationary before being processed in the statistical model. The analysis was conducted using Stata 16 software. To ensure the absence of unit roots, the stationarity of the research variables was tested using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) tests. The findings indicate that market capitalization, gold, and litecoin have no significant impact on bitcoin returns. In contrast, miners’ revenue has a significant negative effect, while hashrate, mining difficulty, and the S&P 500 exhibit a significant positive influence on bitcoin returns. This study highlights bitcoin’s role as a store of value and investment asset, emphasizing the impact of hashrate and mining difficulty on its returns and integration into financial markets, particularly the S&P 500. The findings provide insights for investors on portfolio diversification and assets like a gold and equities. Additionally, the study underscores the importance of sustainable mining practices and regulatory policies to balance cryptocurrency’s economic potential with environmental sustainability. Keywords: Market capitalization; Mines’s Revenue; Hashrate; Mining difficulty; Commodity Asset, Cryptocurrency
The application of blockchain-based smart contracts within Islamic finance presents both opportunities and significant governance challenges. While these technologies promise enhanced efficiency, automation, and immutability, their integration into Shariah-compliant financial instruments, such as Murabaha, Ijarah, and Sukuk, raises critical concerns regarding auditability, interpretive flexibility, and adherence to foundational Islamic legal and ethical principles. This study examines the tensions between automation and religious oversight by investigating how smart contracts intersect with Shariah governance and IT audit frameworks in Islamic financial institutions.Utilizing a qualitative multiple-case study approach, the research draws on semi-structured interviews with Shariah scholars, auditors, compliance officers, and blockchain developers across Islamic fintech ecosystems in Malaysia, Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Thematic analysis, supported by document review, reveals systemic challenges in embedding ethical discretion and human oversight into immutable contractual code. Analytical framing is guided by established IT assurance frameworks (e.g., COBIT, ISO 27001) and Shariah governance standards issued by AAOIFI and IFSB.Findings highlight the emergence of "risk zones" where algorithmic rigidity, audit traceability limitations, and ethical ambiguity converge, potentially undermining religious compliance. In response, the study proposes a conceptual governance model that integrates technological assurance mechanisms with structured Shariah supervisory engagement. The findings contribute to the discourse on responsible FinTech governance in Islamic finance and offer practical implications for policymakers, auditors, and technology developers navigating the intersection of blockchain innovation and faith-based financial regulation.
The regulation of virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Decentralised Finance (DeFi) protocols, represents a contested arena where economic innovation intersects with geopolitical interests, financial stability concerns and ideological debates over sovereignty and globalisation.This article examines the politics underlying virtual assets regulation, tracing global trends shaped by global standard setters such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), while analysing national responses in key jurisdictions such as the United States, the European Union, China, India, the United Kingdom, Japan.The article also highlights regulatory development and responses in Ghana and Nigeria.Drawing on regulatory capture theory and comparative political economy, it argues that virtual assets regulation is not merely a technical exercise, but a politicised process influenced by lobbying, electoral dynamics and international power asymmetries.Global harmonisation efforts coexist with regulatory fragmentation, posing challenges for cross-border compliance and innovation.The analysis highlights implications for global financial governance and proposes pathways for more equitable regulatory frameworks.
Online harassment, incitement to violence, racist behavior, and other harmful content on social media can damage social harmony and even break the law. Traditional blocklisting technologies can block malicious users, but this comes at the expense of identity privacy. The anonymous blocklisting has emerged as an effective mechanism to restrict the abuse of freedom of speech while protecting user identity privacy. However, the state-of-the-art anonymous blocklisting schemes suffer from either poor dynamism or low efficiency. In this paper, we propose $\mathsf{ShadowBlock}$, an efficient dynamic anonymous blocklisting scheme. Specifically, we utilize the pseudorandom function and cryptographic accumulator to construct the public blocklisting, enabling users to prove they are not on the blocklisting in an anonymous manner. To improve verification efficiency, we design an aggregation zero-knowledge proof mechanism that converts multiple verification operations into a single one. In addition, we leverage the accumulator's property to achieve efficient updates of the blocklisting, i.e., the original proof can be reused with minimal updates rather than regenerating the entire proof. Experiments show that $\mathsf{ShadowBlock}$ has better dynamics and efficiency than the existing schemes. Finally, the discussion on applications indicates that $\mathsf{ShadowBlock}$ also holds significant value and has broad prospects in emerging fields such as cross-chain identity management.
Digital mental health interventions increasingly require robust security frameworks, authenticated content delivery, and personalized therapeutic experiences. This systematic literature review examines the convergence of Blockchain technology, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and deepfake synthesis in mental health applications, addressing a critical gap in interdisciplinary research. Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted comprehensive searches across Scopus database (2014-2024), supplemented by IEEE Xplore, Web of Science, and PubMed Central. Our methodology employed PICO framework-based queries, identifying 15 037 relevant studies across seven queries (Q) configurations (Q1-Q7), with 5093 studies meeting inclusion criteria after rigorous quality assessment. Results demonstrate Blockchain provides immutable data governance (3962 studies), NFTs enable secure therapeutic asset tokenization (771 studies), while deepfakes facilitate personalized avatar-based therapy (230 studies). Cross-technology integration remains limited: Blockchain-NFTs combinations (102 studies), Blockchain-Deepfake integrations (24 studies), NFTs-Deepfake applications (2 studies), with only 2 studies addressing all three technologies simultaneously. This review establishes the first comprehensive taxonomy of converged technologies in mental health, identifying critical research directions for scalable, secure, and ethically-compliant digital therapeutic platforms.
Nadia van Niekerk, Brink van der Merwe, Louwrens Labuschagne
In the rapidly evolving realm of blockchain technology, the pursuit of enhanced privacy, security, and scalability has propelled the exploration of cryptographic innovations. Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) have emerged as a pivotal solution, addressing diverse challenges across decentralized applications and cryptographic systems. However, the intricate mathematical foundations of ZKPs can pose a barrier to widespread adoption. To bridge this gap, a spectrum of ZKP tools has been developed, abstracting mathematical complexities and enabling developers with varying levels of expertise to incorporate ZKPs into their projects. The exploration of the 5 W’s – Who, What, When, Where, and Why – guides developers in selecting ZKP tools aligned with their specific needs and understanding. This paper serves as a vital resource for developers entering the dynamic landscape of ZKP development. By answering crucial questions and providing nuanced insights into ZKP tools, it empowers developers to navigate this intricate domain effectively. As ZKP technology continues to evolve, our findings contribute to the ongoing dialogue surrounding its implementation, utilization and the ever-adapting toolkit shaping the future of cryptographic innovation. This paper employs a Mining Software Repositories (MSR) approach to unravel insights from the expansive landscape of ZKP development. By delving into GitHub repositories, we categorize author archetypes, discuss ZKP proof constructions, identify phases of tool development, explore the level of understanding required and examine the correlation between tool types and application purposes. Through a metrics-driven analysis, we unveil patterns in tool popularity, development trends, and historical perspectives, offering a comprehensive understanding of the ZKP tooling ecosystem.
Blockchain deployments continue to face challenges related to scalability, energy consumption, and susceptibility of classical cryptographic primitives to emerging quantum attacks. Conventional systems employing RSA or DSA signatures and consensus mechanisms such as Proof of Work (PoW) or Proof of Stake (PoS) incur substantial computational overhead and are not well suited for cloud-scale execution. This study presents PQ-PoETChain, a post-quantum-secure blockchain model integrating NTRU-based signatures, an adaptive Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) protocol executed within Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), and a Lightweight Hash Validation (LHV) mechanism. The framework was implemented in Python and evaluated in a controlled simulation environment using 50-1000 nodes, with repeated trials to measure variability across throughput, latency, and energy metrics. NTRU demonstrated sub-2 ms signature operations, while the adaptive PoET configuration reduced consensus delay under load-dependent conditions. Across multiple experimental runs, the system achieved an average throughput of ~ 195 TPS with a latency of 189 ± 4 ms at 500 nodes. Energy consumption reduced by up to 91.8% (± 1.6%) when compared with PoW under identical conditions. LHV further lowered verification cost by replacing Merkle-tree traversal with constant-time hash-pointer validation. Results indicate that PQ-PoETChain offers a balanced combination of quantum-resilient security and improved performance characteristics suitable for cloud-native and large-scale deployments.
The cryptocurrency market, characterized by high volatility, has evolved into a significant financial asset class, attracting both retail and institutional investors. Understanding its interconnectedness with macroeconomic factors is crucial for risk management and financial stability. This study empirically analyzes the dynamic relationships between two primary crypto assets, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), and the monetary policy shifts of the U.S. Federal Reserve (The Fed). Using a Vector Autoregression (VAR) model on daily time-series data from January 1, 2022, to June 16, 2025, this research investigates the short-term dynamics, Granger causality, and shock transmissions within this system. The findings reveal a significant one-way causal relationship from The Fed's interest rate changes to both Bitcoin and Ethereum returns, challenging the weak-form Efficient Market Hypothesis. Furthermore, Impulse Response Function (IRF) and Forecast Error Variance Decomposition (FEVD) analyses provide robust evidence of Bitcoin's market leadership, with shocks in Bitcoin explaining nearly 70% of the variance in Ethereum's movements. These results highlight a clear hierarchical structure: The Fed influences broad market sentiment, while Bitcoin leads internal market dynamics, offering critical insights for investors and policymakers navigating the digital asset ecosystem.
Luca Pennella, Pietro Saggese, Fabio Pinelli, Letterio Galletta
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications introduce novel financial instruments replicating and extending traditional ones through blockchain-based smart contracts. Among these applications, DeFi derivatives protocols enable the creation and trading of decentralized derivative instruments whose value depends on underlying cryptoassets, indices, or other reference variables. Despite their growing significance, however, they remain relatively understudied compared to other DeFi protocols, such as lending protocols and decentralized exchanges. This paper systematically analyzes DeFi derivatives protocols, categorized into perpetuals, options, and synthetics, with the aim of comparing their instrument structures, protocol mechanisms, operational dynamics, and economic agents. We provide a formal characterization of the main classes of decentralized derivative instruments and develop a protocol-agnostic framework that connects instrument-level specifications, market-state variables, and protocol-level mechanisms. We complement the analytical framework with numerical simulations that evaluate how derivative positions evolve under varying economic conditions, including changes in underlying asset prices, volatility, protocol-specific fees, and leverage. Overall, this study provides a structured analytical framework for understanding and comparing the design and functioning of decentralized finance derivatives protocols.