Since its initial inception, cryptocurrency has hit the world with both intrigue and skepticism. It was acting as an alternative form of currency that people could use that required no regulative authority to back it. As such, people had the option to make purchases in anonymous manners, leading to what most would consider unethical behaviours, and ultimately resulted in cryptocurrency gaining a poor reputation. However, specific trends in society have helped cryptocurrency growth to continue. A societal loss of trust in the traditional banking system and the positive perception towards the blockchain technology, which is a peer-to-peer system that cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, operate on are two such trends. Furthermore, recent years have witnessed exponential increases in the prices of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. This has led to widespread stories of people getting rich through cryptocurrency ownership, having been âwise-enoughâ to buy in on the cryptocurrency trend early enough to reap in the rewards of such as decision. And as a result, leading to more people wanting to be the next big success story and buying in on the cryptocurrency trend. This growing trend has also gained the attention of several multi-national companies, such as Expedia, Subway and Microsoft, who have begun accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Even though specific cases have seen this strategy implemented successfully, the volatility of cryptocurrency still poses a risk that has hindered the ability of cryptocurrency to become a widespread payment option. Given the current trend surrounding cryptocurrency, this thesis serves the purpose is to investigate another alternative option for cryptocurrency use. That option being the potential for cryptocurrency to be used as an alternative payment option in the online gambling industry. Where it has been used as a payment option in other areas, it would be interesting to identify whether there is potential for the cryptocurrency to be adopted and used in this particular industry as well. In order to investigate this phenomenon from both the consumer and industry point-of-views, this thesis used a mixed-methods study, which consisted of a qualitative study and quantitative study. Our qualitative study focused on the industry side of the phenomena. To carry it out, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with managers of a large online gambling company in order to gain deeper knowledge on their perspectives regarding their perceptions towards how cryptocurrency adoption would affect the online gambling industry. Based on the information gained from the interviews, specific themes were identified and further analyzed through a thematic analysis. Those themes included blockchain in online gambling, holding cryptocurrency, regulation and the reputation of cryptocurrency. Our results indicated that managers did not believe the industry was ready to adopt cryptocurrency due to specific regulatory factors, but that it had future potential, mainly regarding its association to blockchain. Our quantitative study focused on interpreting the perceptions of online gamblers regarding cryptocurrency use in online gambling. Specifically, identifying what would motivate them to use cryptocurrency in online gambling and if they were willing to accept it as a payment option. Based on the results obtained through a survey we distributed, we used linear regression to identify if online gamblers were willing to accept cryptocurrency. The resulting outcome was a moderate level of rejection towards cryptocurrency acceptance. The linear regression model also allowed us to interpret which predictor variables held the greatest level of importance towards predicting cryptocurrency acceptance. Those specific variables included cryptocurrency anonymity, usability, ownership, and belief in the future of cryptocurrency. When comparing the results from both studies through triangulation, we were able to conclude that both consumers and the industry were not ready to fully accept cryptocurrency usage in online gambling. However, both sides indicated positive outlooks towards its future potential as a payment method.
Today there exist no standardized payment solution for performing micropayments between Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This study was conducted to examine whether Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) could be suitable as a micropayment solution for IoT. Also, a more general demand for a scalable micropayment solution was examined, along with its potential. A qualitative study was performed by first conducting eight unstructured interviews regarding the subjects DLT and IoT, to be used as a complement to the literature research. Then, one unstructured and five semi-structured interviews were held to answer the research questions. The Bitcoin blockchain does not work as a micropayment solution, due to scalability issues. This study identified a positive outlook on the idea of Lightning Network, solving the scalability problems with off-chain transactions. However, since a fully functioning network is yet to be implemented, there exist uncertainties, for example regarding how decentralized it will really become. Also, issues considering the usage of DLT:s on small IoT devices arose, stemming from CPU and storage constraints. A demand of a sustainable micropayment solution was identified, possibly being a catalyst of the emergence of pay-per-use business models. Considering more powerful IoT devices, the Lightning Network could function as a micropayment solution. Such a technology is sought after, and its applicability will only increase as IoT devices evolve.
Perceived price volatility of cryptocurrencies may distract practitioners from further developments in the blockchain space that may generate audit and other implications. As next step applications and developments are built on top of existing blockchain programming, the potential implications for both accounting and legal practitioners may be substantive. Especially as different blockchain tools and platforms become more robust and conducive for business and transactional use, the importance of being able to attest and report on this information will move closer toward the mainstream. This article discusses the rise of blockchain applications in a manner applicable for both practitioners and academics, as well as the implications these applications will have on attestation and compliance reporting.
This paper studies the efficiency of the cryptocurrency market by looking at the distribution of bitcoin prices over time and across exchange-currency pairs. We document persistent differences in relative bitcoin prices (or discounts), with a half-life of 1 day, and a distribution which is leptokurtic, skewed to the right, with a standard deviation of 3.9%. The variability of discounts is larger in countries with tighter capital controls due to the combined effect of market segmentation and local supply and demand shocks, which we relate to location-specific mining activities and investor attention.
The implementation of smart contract technology with their plausible applications in a business to business are explored. The thesis work shows how Blockchain technology works on the concept of decentralized system which is beneficial to eliminate the need for central authority. The thesis focuses on elimination of challenges pertaining to the selected departments in an organization. The thesis resolves challenges pertaining to lack of transparency, traceability and significant time-delays while in the process of decision making. The influence of blockchain technology and smart contract technology to eliminate these challenges are discussed. Logic of the smart contract and working of the blockchain pertaining to a specific industrial case study are demonstrated. Methodology to set up a smart contract interface in a business to business setting is investigated in this thesis. An observation study has been done in order to show how transparency, traceability and time delay in decision making is achieved by using smart contract interface. This thesis also shows how the blockchain and smart contract technology tries to implement coordination theory.
Blockchain is deeply affecting finance procedures and investors behaviour. This technology is gaining momentum also in other disciplinary fields, since it allows to ensure reliability and trust in transaction operations. This paper aims at presenting how blockchain procedure could be applied to maintenance operations, ensuring a lean process and disintermediation between the agreements clauses and the implementation of the Operations Maintenance and Repair (OM&R) interventions. This can be done thanks to the application of the smart contracts to the use phase of the buildings. The research opens to a new scenario in OM&R, disintermediating OM&R contracts from the need for a contractsâ supervisor, which typically ensure the compliance with the terms of the contracts when OM&R contracts are defined. This could lead to a fairer and transparent asset management, despite some drawbacks are presented in the conclusion of the paper.
Digital assets can serve several functions. Some digital assets, such as Bitcoin or Litecoin, are widely regarded as decentralized stores of value or mediums of exchange due to certain common economic features that support these functions; these are sometimes referred to as âpure cryptocurrencies.â Other digital assets, such as Monero or Zcash, are a subset of pure cryptocurrencies that also possess certain features designed to enhance transaction privacy and confidentiality (âprivacy-focused coinsâ). Beyond pure cryptocurrencies and privacy-focused coins, there exists a broad array of general purpose digital assets (âplatform coinsâ), such as Ethereum, NEO and Ravencoin, which are designed to facilitate various peer-to-peer activity, from decentralized software applications to âsmartâ contracts to digital collectibles, such as CryptoKitties. Platform coins also enable the creation of new digital assets called âtokensâ, which are described further herein.
The digital asset market extends beyond the assets themselves. As this industry continues to grow, it has captured the attention of retail and institutional investors alike, including asset managers seeking to develop investment strategies and products involving these emerging assets and companies. Some strategies resemble early-stage growth strategies, featuring long-term investments either directly in certain digital assets or in start-up ventures developing complementary goods and services for the industry. Other strategies include hedge fund strategies, such as long/short funds, which often use derivatives, or arbitrage strategies, which seek to capitalize on the price fragmentation across the hundreds of global online exchanges.
This chapter outlines the current U.S. regulatory framework applicable to cryptocurrency and other digital asset investment funds (âdigital asset fundsâ) offered to U.S. investors and how those regulatory considerations affect fund structuring decisions.
Block chain, the technology behind Bit coin, promises to be nothing less than Internet 2.0. The financial services industry, in particular, is preparing for the disruption block chain/distributed ledger technology promises to cause. In the current business environment, the majority of startups and small businesses have to look for alternative sources of funding given that âgoing publicâ is increasingly expensive. The crowd funding space has seen tremendous growth as an alternative way to raise capital by businesses. However, these crowd funded shares cannot be traded for 7 - 10 years on average on any given platform in the current market scenario. To build a trading platform on the block chain which completely P2P, immutable, fully transparent and low cost is presents some key design issues. In particular, the issue of liquidity - and price discovery - on the block chain continues to be a puzzle. At the same time, the proposition of removing middlemen from equities trading is a very attractive one, streamlining the process of capital formation with higher market efficiency. The current paper addresses the following key questions: How can a DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) trading platform ensure adequate liquidity? What would be the process of price discovery? While some recent studies hail block chain technology as a boom for market liquidity, it is not immediately clear what the impact of P2P trading would be on the prices of various stocks. There are no âsolutionsâ just yet. At the same time, the lack of regulation around trading on the block chain creates an environment of uncertainty for all players. In particular, the implementation of such a platform can revolutionize capital formation and build robust markets in both developing and developed countries where crowd funding has proven to be a successful model. While my research is targeted at solving a very specific pain point for both researchers and companies working on distributed ledger technology, ultimately, it would be a significant step forward towards on boarding underserved communities across the world who don't have access to financial services.
Jan 1, 2018¡Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Manuel Schlegel, Liudmila Zavolokina, Gerhard Schwabe
The blockchain, the ledger that underlies the famous cryptocurrency Bitcoin, has huge implications for many industries. There have been various papers dedicated to research how blockchain technology will transform businesses and industries. However, current research lacks an overview of what the blockchain implies for the biggest stakeholder of these businesses and industries: consumers. This paper aims to provide an overview of how the blockchain affects consumers. We conduct a systematic literature review and enrich it with interview-based knowledge from blockchain experts to show how blockchain technology changes business sectors, name affected consumers in these sectors, derive implications for these consumers and list existing as well as currently emerging blockchain-based products and services. Finally, we warn of the technical, institutional and human challenges and manifold pitfalls blockchain technology must overcome to gain widespread adaptation among consumers.
âSmart contractsâ are a hot topic. Presently, smart contracts are mostly evidence of property, like cryptocurrencies or mortgages, created and/or transferred using blockchain technology. This is an exploration of the theoretical possibilities of artificial intelligence in a far broader range of complex and heretofore negotiated transactions that occur over time. My goal is to understand what it means to make a contract smarter, i.e. to delegate more and more of the creation, performance, and disposition of legally binding transactions to machine thinking. Moreover, I want to do so from the perspective of one who is neither a true believer in the purported technological singularity to come nor a digital Luddite.
Initial Coin Offering (ICO) has become global. Cryptocurrencies are offered to finance projects in the blockchain arena. This crypto-phenomenon challenges traditional capital raising and investment mechanisms and many strongly believe in its potential. This paper analyses some key characteristics of ICOs and investigates potential risks. It also examines the shift from traditional mechanisms to âcryptosâ and studies several features of blockchains. An overview on trust is provided to detect some trust-enhancing and trust-diminishing aspects of technologies. Finally, cryptology is discussed to test cryptocurrenciesâ potential as objects of trust.