Teodora Maria Suciu, Nicoleta Verejan, Adela Socol
The accelerated development of digital technologies and cryptocurrencies in latest years has been accompanied by an exponential raise in related scientific literature. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis based on the VOSviewer software for documents indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection from 2015-2024, focusing on the evolution of research topics in the field of cryptocurrencies. The analysis employs co-occurrence mapping of the main research topics related to cryptocurrencies. The results highlight a high degree of thematic diversification, organized into five major clusters with the following directions: cryptocurrency markets and financial performance, digital assets and technological foundations, blockchain infrastructure and governance, emerging applications and risks, general cryptocurrency concepts and operational aspects. This research contributes to the knowledge by offering a comprehensive and structured overview of cryptocurrency-related literature streams, providing valuable insights for scholars, policymakers and industry stakeholders seeking to understand the trajectory and future potential of cryptocurrency-related research.
Introduction: The rapid development of financial technology (fintech) and blockchain has brought a major transformation in the global industry, including in the Islamic finance sector. However, integrating fintech and blockchain with Sharia principles remains a challenge and has not been studied systematically. This research aims to map and analyze the development of research related to Fintech, Blockchain, and Islamic finance, identifying trends, research gaps, and future development directions. Methods: This study employed a qualitative research method with a Systematic Literature Review approach, utilizing a model prism. The data source for this study consisted of published articles obtained from Scopus and Emerald. The study's results showed that 30 articles, published in Scopus and Emerald, were published between 2015 and 2024. Results: Based on the findings obtained, it is evident that blockchain technology, fintech, and digital innovation have significant potential in enhancing the efficiency, transparency, and inclusivity of Islamic finance, particularly through applications in zakat, waqf, sukuk, and crowdfunding. Despite regulatory and collaboration challenges, these technologies have been able to eradicate poverty, support economic development, and expand access to finance, including in non-Muslim countries. Technology adoption is also influenced by religiosity factors and perception of benefits, confirming the need for global regulatory and standard support to maximize its benefits. Conclusion and Suggestion: The reviewed studies suggest that blockchain technology has significant potential to strengthen trust and compliance with Shariah by enabling smart contracts, decentralized financial products, and transparent auditing mechanisms. Moreover, fintech solutions can expand financial inclusion in Muslim-majority countries and beyond, especially for the unbanked population. However, challenges remain in terms of regulatory frameworks, Shariah standardization, scalability of blockchain applications, and the readiness of financial institutions and customers to adopt these innovations. In conclusion, while fintech and blockchain present strong prospects for advancing Islamic finance, further research and practical implementation are required to fully realize their potential in providing Shariah-compliant, inclusive, and sustainable financial services.
Mr. Aditya S. G., Mr. Ram Anil Ainkar, Prof. Ms. Pranalini Joshi
The current Know Your Customer (KYC) ecosystem is largely built on centralized systems, which are vulnerable to data breaches, incur high operational costs, and often require customers to repeat verification steps unnecessarily [1], [2]. Such centralized designs concentrate sensitive data in single repositories, creating âhoneypotsâ that conflict with modern data privacy standards like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) [3], [4]. At the same time, the transparent nature of public Distributed Ledger Technology(DLT) presents challenges for maintaining privacy in financial transactions, giving rise to what is often called the âBlockchain-PrivacyParadoxâ [5]. This survey explores cutting-edge DLT-based solutions that integrate Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and Zero-KnowledgeProof (ZKP) techniques. Key challenges in current approaches include scalability limitations in certain permissioned blockchains [6],inadequate mechanisms to fully support GDPRâs Right to Erasure [3], [4], [7], and the absence of reliable protocols to ensure legal access for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance when users are uncooperative [8], [9].
This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the academic literature surrounding digital wallets and crypto payment systems, two pivotal components of the evolving FinTech landscape. By utilizing data from the Scopus database and visualizing it through VOSviewer, the study maps co-occurrence of keywords, co-authorship networks, institutional collaboration, and country-level partnerships. Findings reveal that blockchain technology serves as the central anchor of research, connecting diverse themes such as smart contracts, authentication, digital assets, and decentralized finance (DeFi). Temporal analyses show a progression from foundational infrastructure studies to more application-driven topics like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto wallets. Co-authorship and collaboration networks highlight key contributors and regions, with India, the United States, and select European countries leading scholarly production and partnerships. The study provides theoretical contributions by identifying core research clusters and emerging themes, while offering practical implications for regulators, developers, and financial service providers aiming to integrate digital and crypto payment solutions. Limitations include database scope and the inherent constraints of bibliometric methods, suggesting avenues for future mixed-method or qualitative enrichment.
The rapid evolution of financial technology (fintech), including cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi), has transformed how consumers and businesses engage with financial services. This chapter examines the drivers of fintech adoption by extending established technology acceptance models, such as technology acceptance models (TAM), unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), and theory of planned behavior (TPB). A systematic review of 80 articles (2017â2023) identifies key factors influencing adoption, including perceived usefulness, ease of use, social influence, and facilitating conditions. Emerging factors, such as financial literacy, hedonic motivation, and trust, are especially important during crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, gaps remain in understanding how evolving perceptions of security and trust impact sustained adoption, particularly in decentralized environments, such as blockchain networks and crypto assets, where algorithmic transparency replaces institutional intermediaries. This chapter proposes integrating trust, security, and user perceptions into existing models to create a cohesive framework applicable across fintech services. The findings provide actionable insights for researchers and industry stakeholders to enhance user acceptance and guide future innovation.
We present LISA, an agentic smart contract vulnerability detection framework that combines rule-based and logic-based methods to address a broad spectrum of vulnerabilities in smart contracts. LISA leverages data from historical audit reports to learn the detection experience (without model fine-tuning), enabling it to generalize learned patterns to unseen projects and evolving threat profiles. In our evaluation, LISA significantly outperforms both LLM-based approaches and traditional static analysis tools, achieving superior coverage of vulnerability types and higher detection accuracy. Our results suggest that LISA offers a compelling solution for industry: delivering more reliable and comprehensive vulnerability detection while reducing the dependence on manual effort.
Cryptocurrencies have emerged miraculously all over the globe due to their legitimacy, transparency, immutability, and the traceability that blockchain technology provides. However, the benefits it provides are dwarfed by how unpredictable and extremely price-volatile the cryptocurrencies are. That makes it really tough for investors to find their profitable opportunities in such volatile markets. Social media sources, like Twitter and Reddit, have evolved as crucial tools of sentiment estimation above the explosively volatile price movements of decentralized currencies. Here we introduce an attention-based hybrid CNN-LSTM model optimized for social media sentiment analysis to use them towards investment decisions in a broad portfolio of cryptocurrencies. The existing Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) effectively extracts the essential features, and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) has the potential to capture the long dependencies between phrases. Although these models can process massive textual data, they limit treating all the features equally important. Therefore, the proposed model induces the attention mechanism into hybrid CNN-LSTM for emphasizing more or fewer weights on different words according to their contributions and optimizes the parameters of employed neural networks using grid search. In our pipeline, the attention-augmented CNN-LSTM first transforms each tweet/review into a 512-dimensional task-specific embedding; a calibrated radial-basis SVM then serves as the final decision layer, refining the margin for classes that the neural network alone tends to blur. This sequential ('deep-features-plus-SVM') architecture boosts F1 by 3.2 pp over a pure Softmax head while adding only 0.4 ms of inference time. Extensive experiments conducted on cryptocurrency-related tweets and Reddit reviews reveal the outperformance of the proposed model over existing Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) and state-of-the-art models. Trained on 9.9 k crypto-tweets and 33 k Reddit comments, AEH attains 98.7% accuracy, 0.987 F1, and Îș = 0.94, outperforming strong baselines (pure LSTM + 8.3 pp; pure CNN + 19.3 pp) and the widely-used VADER toolkit (+ 11.8 pp). On the forecasting side, a complementary GRU regressor trained on eight-year price series yielded MAE = 0.0315, MAPE = 5.95%, and MSE = 0.0022 for Bitcoin, beating an ARIMA benchmark at p < 0.001. The primary objective of the proposed hybrid model attributed to processing huge social sentiments with an attention mechanism to break the dilemma of cryptocurrency investors.
Securities trading systems have settlement efficiency, audit transparency, and fraud prevention concerns due to centralized intermediaries and aging infrastructure. Existing research models risk counterparty trading due to delayed settlements, opaque record keeping, and human compliance checks. The study aims to design and evaluate a blockchain-based equities trading platform for transaction security and traceability. Provable Atomic Consensus for Trading (PACT), a blockchain-based architecture for regulated financial institutions' trading environments, combines hybrid consensus with a privacy-preserving cryptographic approach. A hybridized consensus process for efficient transaction finality, zero-knowledge proof enabled atomic settlements for instant delivery vs. payment while protecting commercial secrecy, and regulator-accessible smart contracts for real-time compliance checks are used in the PACT algorithm PACT found a 20% reduction in consensus finality time, 53% reduction in proof verification time, 56% improvement in smart contract vulnerability, and 42% improvement in auditability index on a permissioned blockchain with hardware-accelerated smart contracts. The study indicated 35.6% lower throughput and 41.7% lower Tx volume over 10 validators. Latency over 10 validators is 24% lower and Tx volume is 23.2% lower than existing research models. Blockchain improves securities infrastructure speed, reliability, and transparency without affecting compliance, according to studies.
Nopita Sari, Nurul Ain Safrizon, Basarudin Basarudin, Adam Idris
The increasing adoption of blockchain technology in Islamic finance has prompted growing interest in its application for smart contracts within murabahah financing structures. The digital transformation of financial transactions raises important questions regarding Sharia compliance, contractual validity, and legal enforceability in decentralized systems. This study aims to examine how blockchain-based smart contracts can enhance transparency, efficiency, and trust in murabahah financing while maintaining strict adherence to Islamic legal principles. A qualitative-doctrinal research method was employed, integrating analysis of classical fiqh al-muâ?mal?t with contemporary regulatory frameworks governing digital transactions and smart contract implementation. The study utilized comparative analysis of existing blockchain platforms and Islamic financial models to identify areas of alignment and potential conflict. The findings indicate that blockchain technology supports murabahah transactions by automating contract execution, eliminating asymmetrical information, and ensuring compliance with Sharia requirements for ownership transfer and cost disclosure. However, challenges remain in achieving legal recognition of decentralized contracts within conventional judicial systems. The study concludes that blockchain-based smart contracts can be considered Sharia-compliant when developed under proper legal supervision and governance mechanisms, offering a promising pathway for digital transformation in Islamic finance.
Abstract Cryptocurrency speculation involves investing in assets with highly volatile price movements in which large sums can be gained or lost in short periods. Although fear of missing out (FOMO) has been positively linked to this type of activity, less is known about the role of regret, such as how people react to actions taken (acts of commission) or not taken (acts of omission). Anticipated regret was investigated in a study involving 403 investors ( M = 325, F = 73, Other = 5) recruited from an online panel and presented with meme coin scenarios that manipulated omission (not buying) or commission (sold early) while also examining the roles of social comparison and temporal framing. Scenarios were arranged in a 2 Ă 2 Ă 2 factorial design with FOMO, risk tolerance, impulsivity, financial literacy and problem gambling included as covariates to control for potential individual differences. Acts of commission were associated with greater regret and negative emotion but not with FOMO-based investment decisions. No effects were found for temporal distance or social comparison. At-risk and problem-gambling investors were also found to be more vulnerable to negative emotions and risky intention decision-making than non-risk gamblers. FOMO and risk tolerance were related to making decisions based on FOMO, whereas cryptocurrency literacy appeared to mitigate this tendency. These findings underscore the potential value of consumer education in raising awareness of psychological biases that are likely to lead to riskier speculative decisions.
Abstract This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of FinTech research spanning from 1968 to 2025, using 2760 articles indexed in the Web of Science database. It aims to uncover major publication trends, core theoretical frameworks, emerging topics, and the intellectual structure of FinTech scholarship. Employing VOSviewer and Harzingâs Publish or Perish software, this study maps co-occurrence networks, citation structures, and thematic clusters. It analyzes document types, source distribution, geographical contributions, keyword evolution, and the top 10 most cited papers in FinTech literature. The analysis reveals a significant surge in FinTech research since 1968, driven by the growing impact of digital finance innovations. The top three countries contributing to FinTech publications are the USA, England, and China. Dominant publication outlets include the International Journal of Bank Marketing and the Journal of Financial Services Marketing. Key research themes have evolved across three distinct periods: early banking and innovation (1968â1999), customer satisfaction and trust (2000â2011), and bank performance and digital adoption (2012â2025). Emerging topics include blockchain, mobile banking, crowdfunding, and Internet banking. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), along with its extended versions (TAM2, TAM3, UTAUT), is identified as the foundational theoretical framework in this field. The co-citation and keyword cluster analysis confirm the centrality of trust, risk, satisfaction, and performance in shaping FinTech outcomes. These findings not only synthesize FinTechâs academic development but also inform future research by identifying intellectual gaps and high-impact trends. The study highlights the growing integration between FinTech and consumer behavior and calls for deeper exploration into regulatory, ethical, and cybersecurity issues affecting FinTech adoption. Beyond the banking sector, the thematic patterns uncovered particularly in areas such as blockchain-based supply chain finance, crowdfunding ecosystems, and AI-enabled embedded financial services signal substantial strategic implications for non-financial firms. These include enhanced liquidity management, decentralized capital access, and data-driven business model innovation across diverse industries such as manufacturing, retail, and digital commerce.
Fintech modernization is a ground-up shift from traditional batch-processing infrastructure to event-driven real-time architectures that redefine financial service delivery and social mechanisms of trust. Modern financial institutions draw on advanced stream processing technologies, API-first integration, and distributed computing to support transaction throughput rates in millions of operations per second with sub-millisecond latencies for key financial transactions. Occasion-driven architectures (also known as event-driven architecture) provide instantaneous affirmation of transactions, real-time detection of fraud, and clear audit trails through immutable event recording structures that ensure end-to-end transaction traceability for regulatory purposes. Mobile-first design patterns and modern web-based packages boost access to finance for the underprivileged through offline-enabled interfaces that function across diverse device specifications and network connectivity eventualities. Advanced cryptographic algorithms, which include homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs, facilitate privacy-enhancing analytics that reconcile customized financial offerings in opposition to peopleâs privacy protection. Regulatory technology embedding using compliance-by-design architectures in regulatory technology help automate policy application and reporting while advanced trust protocols using biometric authentication, behavior analysis, and machine learning algorithms prevent fraud while ensuring frictionless user experiences. The intersection of distributed architectures, privacy-retaining technologies, and inclusive design styles generates financial structures that cater to various populations even as adhering to demanding safety and regulatory compliance in diverse jurisdictions.
Stanton Heister, Felix Kin Peng Hui, David I. Wilson, Yaakov Anker
The 2015 Paris Agreement paved the way for the carbon trade economy, which has since evolved but has not attained a substantial magnitude. While carbon credit exchange is a critical mechanism for achieving global climate targets, it faces persistent challenges related to transparency, double-counting, and verification. This paper examines how Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) can address these limitations by providing immutable transaction records, automated verification through digitally encoded smart contracts, and increased market efficiency. To assess DLTâs strategic potential for leveraging the carbon markets and, more explicitly, whether its implementation can reduce transaction costs and enhance market integrity, three alternative approaches that apply DLT for carbon trading were taken as case studies. By comparing key elements in these DLT-based carbon credit platforms, it is elucidated that these proposed frameworks may be developed for a scalable global platform. The integration of existing compliance markets in the EU (case study 1), Australia (case study 2), and China (case study 3) can act as a standard for a global carbon trade establishment. The findings from these case studies suggest that while DLT offers a promising path toward more sustainable carbon markets, regulatory harmonization, standardization, and data transfer across platforms remain significant challenges.
In the current economic background, traditional supply chain finance mainly relies on the credit of core enterprises, but the credit is difficult to be effectively transmitted to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at the end of the supply chain. This paper examines the application of blockchain technology in SMEs supply chain finance through a case study of AntChain platform. The distributed ledger and smart contract technologies of blockchain can effectively solve the problems of information asymmetry, high financing costs and high financing risks in SMEs supply chain financing. After AntChain platform integrates the data of the upstream and downstream of the supply chain, it can provide more flexible financing for SMEs through the credit transfer of core enterprises. However, there are also certain deficiencies in actual operation. It is suggested to strengthen data privacy security, lower the entry barriers for SMEs and actively expand strategic partnerships to improve the development of AntChain platform.
This article explores the transformative potential of Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) in Afghanistanâs financial sector, amid a backdrop of systemic instability, infrastructural gaps, and geopolitical constraints. Drawing on an extensive review of digital banking development, expert interviews, and comparative global experiences, the study critically assesses Afghanistan's readiness to adopt Blockchain as a tool for financial inclusion, transparency, and institutional resilience. Although the formal banking system has largely regressed post-2021, grassroots crypto adoption reflects a latent readiness for decentralized solutions. The paper argues for a strategic, phased approach to Blockchain integration through regulatory reform, stakeholder engagement, and pilot implementations, particularly in land registration and remittance processing.
The global carbon credit trading market faces significant challenges including lack of real-time verification, double-spending issues, and insufficient transparency in emission measurements. This paper presents a novel blockchain-enabled framework integrating Internet of Things (IoT) sensors for automated carbon credit generation and trading. Our proposed system combines tamper-proof IoT sensor networks with smart contract automation to address current limitations in carbon credit systems. The methodology employs distributed sensor nodes equipped with CO2, temperature, and humidity sensors connected to an Ethereum-based blockchain network. Through extensive simulation and real-world testing, our system demonstrates 99.2% accuracy in emission measurement and real-time carbon credit generation. The framework reduces verification time by 87% compared to traditional manual verification processes while ensuring immutable transaction records. Key contributions include: (1) a decentralized IoT-blockchain architecture for carbon monitoring, (2) smart contract protocols for automated credit generation, (3) a novel consensus mechanism for sensor data validation, and (4) comprehensive security analysis demonstrating resistance to common blockchain attacks. Results indicate significant potential for transforming carbon credit markets through enhanced transparency, reduced fraud, and improved environmental monitoring accuracy.
In the last decade, cryptocurrency has emerged as a major financial and technological phenomenon. This research explores the use of Bitcoin in Yemen. Yemen is a country currently facing a severe humanitarian and economic crisis. The study aims to analyze the opportunities offered by Bitcoin. These opportunities could help overcome traditional financial constraints. The research also examines the challenges that hinder its spread and use. An analytical descriptive methodology was used. The study looked at economic, legal, and social aspects. The results showed that Bitcoin provides real opportunities. It can facilitate financial transfers and offer alternatives to broken banking systems. However, it also faces significant challenges. These include the absence of a legal framework. Other challenges are weak infrastructure and the risks of security breaches and fraud. The research also addressed the legal stance towards these currencies, which remains unclear. The study concludes with recommendations. It provides suggestions for relevant authorities and users. The goal is to maximize benefits and reduce the risks of cryptocurrencies. It emphasizes the need for effective regulations. This will ensure safe and sustainable use.
The development of digital technology has driven the transformation of the global economy, including in Indonesia, through the commercialization of digital assets such as creative works, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and e-commerce platforms. However, the national legal system is still unable to accommodate these dynamics comprehensively. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of legal protection of CopyrightCopyright as a digital asset in technology-based transactions, using normative legal methods and legislative, conceptual, and comparative legal approaches. The results of the study show that Law Number 28 of 2014 concerning Copyright and related regulations still has a gap in norms in dealing with new forms of digital intellectual property, weak law enforcement, and limited technical understanding by law enforcement officers. In addition, the less-than-optimal regulation in the financial, taxation, and personal data protection sectors increases the legal risks for digital economy actors, especially MSMEs and content creators. Therefore, responsive legal reforms are needed to strengthen the digital justice system, integrate technologies such as blockchain and AI, and increase legal literacy and coordination between institutions. This reform is important to create a fair, safe, and sustainable digital ecosystem that supports the growth of the national creative economy.
In the world of increasing population with ever increasing strain on law enforcement agencies and judiciary, lack of imparting justice in time has become a major concern. The lack of timely justice has adversely affected the societyâs ability to both administer and regulate public relations and affairs. In the middle of such concerns, Blockchain and Smart Contracts can play a pivotal role in managing society and ensuring a balance between criminal intent and legal sanction. Blockchain is a decentralized distributed framework where all nodes in the network collaborate on an equal footing to maintain necessary properties and functions. First introduced in 2008 via a seminal work âBitcoin,â the principles underlying cryptocurrency have shown immense potential. As of 2023, Blockchain is an institutional technology reshaping the current internet (web version 2.0) forcing it to evolve to web 3.0. It is the basis of âsmart contracts,â âdistributed applications,â âtoken economies and âdecentralized autonomous organization.â This paper dwells on two such applications, namely, cryptocurrency and smart contracts wherein we explain the technologies while highlighting legal challenges and open questions which need significant attention.
Digital payments have grown exponentially but face risks such as fraud, account takeover, and unauthorized transactions. This paper explores how blockchain technology, with its decentralized ledger, cryptographic integrity, and smart contracts, can secure digital payments and prevent fraud. We propose a permissioned blockchain architecture for payment systems, integrating identity management, escrow-based smart contracts, and audit-ready transaction logs. Illustrative simulations compare fraud-risk indices, transaction confirmation time, and per-transaction cost across traditional payment gateways and blockchain systems. The results indicate that blockchain can reduce fraud exposure while maintaining near real-time settlement. Challenges such as scalability, privacy, and regulatory compliance are also discussed. This study highlights blockchain?s potential as a preventive, secure mechanism for digital payments and sets the stage for future research integrating zero-knowledge proofs and federated learning.
ABSTRACT Cryptocurrency markets are known for their wide price fluctuations, lack of central control, and fastâpaced development. These characteristics present serious challenges to traditional theories about how markets work and how prices reflect available information. Understanding how information is processed in these markets is essential for investors, policy makers, and academic researchers. This paper offers a thorough review on the extent to which cryptocurrency markets reflect information, based on 977 peerâreviewed articles published between 2015 and 2024 and indexed in Scopus. Using a combined method of bibliometric analysis and thematic review, the study identifies key research directions and common methods used to explore how information affects cryptocurrency prices. The review goes beyond the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and includes related topics such as volatility modelling, behavioral dynamics, spillovers, liquidity, and institutional influences. It presents a detailed overview of the most influential publications and organises the literature into six thematic research clusters, highlighting conceptual tensions and new methodological approaches. Finally, the paper outlines a future research agenda that connects market efficiency with changing regulatory environments, innovations in market structure, and the increasing role of institutional actors in the cryptocurrency space.
Olaolu Samuel Adesanya, Akindamola Samuel Akinola, Lawrence Damilare Oyeniyi
Smart contract technologies are revolutionizing the landscape of global finance by enabling secure, automated, and transparent cross-border financial transactions. Traditional international transactions are often hindered by delays, high costs, and reliance on multiple intermediaries such as correspondent banks, clearinghouses, and regulatory bodies. These processes not only increase operational complexity but also expose transactions to risks of fraud, errors, and regulatory inefficiencies. Smart contracts, built on blockchain platforms, address these challenges by embedding contractual terms directly into self-executing code that autonomously enforces obligations once pre-defined conditions are met. This technological innovation eliminates the need for third-party verification, reduces transaction latency, and ensures that funds or assets are exchanged only when contractual conditions are satisfied, thereby enhancing both trust and efficiency in global markets. The application of smart contracts in cross-border financial transactions streamlines settlement processes by providing real-time execution and verification, reducing the risk of human error and dispute. Automated compliance mechanisms can be integrated into the contract logic, ensuring adherence to international trade and financial regulations while minimizing manual oversight. Moreover, transparency inherent in blockchain technology allows stakeholders including regulators, financial institutions, and clients to access immutable transaction records, strengthening accountability and trust. The interoperability of smart contract platforms with emerging technologies such as digital currencies and decentralized finance ecosystems further amplifies their potential to reshape international trade and investment flows. Strategically, smart contracts promote inclusivity in global markets by lowering transaction costs, expanding access for small and medium-sized enterprises, and accelerating settlement times, particularly in regions where traditional banking infrastructure is underdeveloped. However, challenges remain, including legal recognition across jurisdictions, standardization of protocols, and ensuring resilience against cyber threats. Addressing these issues through coordinated governance and international regulatory cooperation will be critical for mainstream adoption. In summary, smart contract technologies enable secure, automated, and transparent cross-border financial transactions, offering significant advances in efficiency, cost reduction, and trust-building across global economic markets. Keywords: Smart Contracts, Blockchain, Cross-Border Transactions, Financial Automation, Global Economic Markets, Transparency, Compliance, Decentralized Finance.
Purpose: to develop a methodological framework for selecting the optimal technology for building cross-border payment infrastructure based on the criterion of decentralization of key financial system actors. Methods: structural analysis of objects, a systems approach, a service approach, a method of structural-matrix analysis of concepts, a research method from general to specific, a comparative analysis method. Results: payment institutions and infrastructure are classified as the main factors influencing the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of cross-border payments. Such characteristics can be improved by forming a cross-border payment infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology, which allows for more equal relations between its users. The features of a cross-border payment infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology include mechanisms for forming, using, maintaining identity and protecting processes, objects and data, which provide it with the required functionality. A comparative analysis with centralized data processing systems shows the advantages of using distributed ledger technology to form a cross-border payment infrastructure. The signs of a payment's cross-border nature are determined by splitting the payment into fragments and identifying pairs of payment subjects located in different jurisdictions. It has been established that a number of cross-border payment subjects may be located outside the payment space and, under certain circumstances, fail to perform their functionality. Numerical indicators of the level of a cross-border payment dependence on the actions of entities outside the payment space are proposed. A model of a decentralized cross-border payment infrastructure is constructed, containing one structural level and an integrated payment token. Conclusions and Relevance: the proposed model can serve as a methodological foundation for the practical implementation of the task of developing cross-border payment infrastructure that ensures a sufficient level of key actors decentralization, meets the needs of economic agents in conducting cross-border payments, and possesses long-term development potential.
Real-World Assets (RWAs) serve as a bridge between traditional financial instruments and decentralized infrastructures. By representing assets such as bonds, commodities, and real estate on blockchains, RWAs can extend the scope of decentralized finance. Industry forecasts further indicate rapid growth in tokenized RWAs after 2025, underscoring their potential role in the evolution of digital financial markets. However, in the current multi-chain environment, RWAs face challenges such as repeated authentication across multiple chains and inefficiencies arising from multi-step settlement protocols. To address these issues, we present a cross-chain framework for RWAs that emphasizes identity management, authentication, and cross-chain interaction. The framework integrates Decentralized Identifiers and Verifiable Credentials with customized attributes to support decentralized identification, and incorporates an authentication protocol based on Simplified Payment Verification to avoid redundant verification across chains. Furthermore, this paper adopts a cross-chain channel that supports efficient RWA settlements, and we refine its design so that the channel does not need to be closed immediately after each settlement, thereby reducing on-chain cost. We implement the framework and evaluate its performance via simulations, which confirm its feasibility and demonstrate improvements in efficiency for RWAs in cross-chain settings.