Anne Sofie Vingerhoets, Samedi Heng, Yves Wautelet
New blockchain-based projects do appear every day. The technology has indeed been popularized by cryptocurrencies but is now gaining interest in various domains and new types of applications are evaluated constantly. Understanding the impact of blockchain adoption on the organization and the internals of blockchain-related behavior nevertheless remains a challenge for managers but also for IT professionals. This article studies how two existing organizational and software modeling languages can be fit to document a blockchain development project in Supply Chain Management (SCM) at its earliest stages. These two frameworks are i* on the one side and the Unified Modeling Language (UML) use case and sequence diagrams on the other side. The real life project used as a case study in this application is ‘Farm-to-Fork’ where a blockchain solution for the Supply Chain (SC) of farm animals is developed. The application of the frameworks is intended to identify their strengths and weaknesses. An extension of i* is proposed to deal with blockchain privacy issues as well as laws and norms. We finally point to the complementarity of i* and UML use case and sequence diagrams in a Blockchain-Oriented Software Engineering (BOSE) context. The i* framework indeed supports early requirements to understand the impact of the project on stakeholders while UML use case and sequence diagrams support the late requirements and the design by depicting the use of blockchain and some of its behavioral mechanisms.
Johannes Rude Jensen, Victor von Wachter, Omri Ross
Decentralized financial applications (DeFi) are a new breed of consumer-facing financial applications composed as smart contracts, deployed on permissionless blockchain technologies. In this article, we situate the DeFi concept in the theoretical context of permissionless blockchain technology and provide a taxonomical overview of agents, incentives and risks. We examine the key market categories and use-cases for DeFi applications today and identify four key risk groups for potential stakeholders contemplating the advantages of decentralized financial applications. We contribute novel insights into a rapidly emerging field, with far-reaching implications for the financial services.
We propose a new way to share licensed spectrum bandwidth capacity in mobile\nnetworks between operators, service providers and consumers using\nblockchain-based smart contracts. We discuss the foundational building blocks\nin the contract as well as various extensions to support more advanced features\nsuch as bulk purchases, future reservations, and various auction mechanisms.\nFurthermore, we demonstrate how the system can be implemented with an\nopen-source, permissioned Enterprise blockchain, Hyperledger Sawtooth. We show\nthat our smart contract implementation can improve blockchain transaction\nperformance, by approximately four orders of magnitude compared to serial\ntransactions and one order of magnitude compared to parallell transactions,\nusing PKI-driven bulk purchases of mobile access grants, paving the way for\nfully automated, efficient, and fine-grained roaming agreements.\n
Abstract The block chain technology enjoys a promising development prospect. As one of the most popular technologies, block chain has been heatedly studied and researched by people from all walks of life. Based on an introduction to the technical background and basic concepts of block chain, by analyzing the technical architecture and working principle of block chain, this paper systematically explains the key technologies of block chain, namely decentralization, proof of work (POW), smart contract and Ethereum, and further discusses the development of the block chain technology, 5G, the Internet of Things and the future wireless network.
Kripto para kavramıyla birlikte kullanım alanı bulan, dijital uygulamalarla iki taraflı şifreleme tekniklerini kullanan ve belli bir merkezin otoritesine bağlı olmadan dolanımda olan para Bitcoin olarak adlandırılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada Bitcoin olarak adlandırılan bu yeni şifrelenmiş paranın dolar ve avro ile olan ilişkisi araştırılmıştır. 28 Ağustos 2011 – 15 Mart 2020 tarihleri arasındaki dönemden oluşan haftalık verilerin kullanıldığı çalışmada ilk olarak Carrion‐i‐Silvestre (2009) birim kök testi ve sonra da Maki (2012) eşbütünleşme testi uygulanarak Bitcoin ve döviz kurları ilişkisi analiz edilmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre Bitcoin ile hem dolar hem de avro arasında uzun dönemli ve pozitif yönlü bir ilişki tespit edilmiştir. Bu doğrultuda elindeki mevduatını avro ya da dolarda tutan bir yatırımcının sanal piyasalarda Bitcoin’e yatırım yapması riskini minimize ederek portföy çeşitlendirmesi yapmak adına yararlı olmayacaktır.
This paper outlines an approach for IEEE to take leadership for digital privacy to align many existing IEEE Societies and efforts in the areas of computer systems & applications security, organizational & global architectures, policy-supporting legislation, originating new standards, integrating compliance into technologies, and helping design decision-board infrastructures for governance bodies. Much of the current emphasis on evolving privacy technologies centers on big corporate enterprises and institutions, causing the industry to support corporate assets protection mainly. Fostering technology to empower individual privacy-enabling tools has lagged, and personal privacy has diminished because corporate big data applications have made sizable investments into exploiting private data. As one of the largest individual-member-based organizations, IEEE is urged to develop a collaborative approach for digital privacy with privacy-enabling technologies to benefit its members. The recommendations outlined define a prospective course that could result in future global individualized privacy capabilities which employ a combination of synergistic technologies such as distributed ledgers, differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, secure distributed multi-party computation, zero-trust architectures, proof-of-origin of data, software, or other techniques. Such an effort would involve community engagement and outreach, academic peer-review events, the establishment of governance bodies, coordination & expansion of existing standards, and the development of publicly-accessible prototypes. Collaboration with other IEEE-sponsored efforts for transactive energy systems, confidentiality and security of healthcare records and devices, and other IEEE-funded projects will help magnify digital privacy investments already in progress in these applications of emerging technologies.
Cryptocurrencies are revolutionary digital currencies used by people on a peer to peer network. Cryptocurrencies are predominantly used as a payment method in business transactions. However, challenges arise with cryptocurrency borne transactions due to the lack of universal accepted classification of cryptocurrencies, the result of which leads to unintended tax consequences for cryptocurrency users. This article examines the recent amendment to the Value-Added Tax (VAT) 89 of 1991 pertaining specifically to the VAT treatment of cryptocurrencies in South Africa. Currently, transactions in cryptocurrencies are deemed to be financial services in South Africa. This means that a supply of any cryptocurrency in South Africa is exempt from VAT. This article makes a comparison with the Australian legislative framework to determine how cryptocurrencies are treated for VAT/GST purposes in that country. Although the move to regulate cryptocurrencies is welcomed, this article argues that cryptocurrency activities are incorrectly legislated as financial services in the VAT Act.
Blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies have enormous potential for creating business value but have not yet been widely adopted. Enterprise blockchain systems are recognized as solutions to existing operational problems or ‘pain points’ but their potential for delivering value through strategic opportunities is not well understood. Drawing from literature on strategic alliances and the resource-based view of the firm, we identify avenues through which blockchain systems can contribute to a firm’s strategic capabilities and, as a result, to its sustained competitive advantage. We provide a framework for understanding how participation in blockchain solutions can enable companies to build upon existing strategic capabilities, strengthen collaborative capabilities and develop blockchain-specific capabilities. The framework can be useful to firms and service providers for incorporating strategic outcomes into the evaluation of blockchain investment opportunities.
Cryptocurrency is a new economy of transacting value whose use case is undeniable. Its only requirement is to be human, and it is borderless. In Morocco, cryptocurrency is erasing borders and gaining popularity. However, the general public opinion on this new innovation is unclear. This study aims to elucidate the popularity of this technology in the Kingdom by means of a small survey. The present study also investigates areas related to cryptocurrency, such as people's trust in banks. The results from the survey are contrasted with other countries to obtain a global perspective regarding Morocco's placement in the cryptocurrency adoption spectrum. The results also suggest that Morocco has the potential to adopt this technology. Notably, 9% of the sample population claim that they have owned, or still own, some sort of cryptocurrency. However, the country faces legal obstructions and financial restrictions that impede the progress of cryptocurrency adoption.
Yunshu Liu, Zhixuan Fang, Man Hon Cheung, Wei Cai · 5 authors
Miners in a blockchain system are suffering from ever-increasing storage costs, which in general have not been properly compensated by the users’ transaction fees. This reduces the incentives for the miners’ participation and may jeopardize the blockchain security. To mitigate this blockchain insufficient fee issue, we propose a Fee and Waiting Tax (FWT) mechanism, which explicitly considers the two types of negative externalities in the system. Specifically, we model the interactions between the protocol designer, users, and miners as a three-stage Stackelberg game. By characterizing the equilibrium of the game, we find that miners neglecting the negative externality in transaction selection cause they are willing to accept insufficient-fee transactions. This leads to the insufficient storage fee issue in the existing protocol (i.e., deployed in Bitcoin and Ethereum). Moreover, our proposed optimal FWT mechanism can motivate users to pay sufficient transaction fees to cover the storage costs and achieve the unconstrained social optimum. Numerical results show that the optimal FWT mechanism guarantees sufficient transaction fees and achieves an average social welfare improvement of 51.43% or more over the existing protocol. Furthermore, the optimal FWT mechanism reduces the average waiting time of low-fee transactions and all transactions by 68.49% and 61.56%, respectively.
Kontinuiranim razvojem informatičkih tehnologija i interneta intenzivirao se rad na postojećim idejama digitalnog novca. Kao rezultat toga, računalni program Bitcoin protokola je pušten u javnost 9. siječnja 2009. godine čime se kreira infrastruktura za prvu kriptovalutu s licencom otvorenog programskog koda koji je slobodan za javnost. To znači da svatko tko ima interes može replicirati postojeći protokol, kreirati novu kriptovalutu i pustiti u javnost. Ovo posljednje je omogućilo stvaranju niza novih kriptovaluta s različitim svojstvima i širenju njihove upotrebe prvo u platnom prometu, a zatim i u kontekstu njihovog trgovanja na novom sekundarnom tržištu. Cilj ovog rada je formalno identificirati i opisati mogućnost konstrukcije portfelja kreiranih prema različitim optimizacijskim ciljevima, a čije sastavnice predstavljaju kriptovalute kao nova vrsta utržive imovine. Prva skupina portfelja je formirana i modelirana kroz vrijednost bitcoin kriptovalute, a druga skupina kroz dolarsku novčanu jedinicu. U tu svrhu je provedeno pet različitih optimizacijskih strategija, te su i prezentirani rezultati strategije s jednakim udjelima u portfelju. Inicijalne sastavnice portfelja su definirane prema razvoju programskog koda i veličini zajednice. Rezultati portfelja izraženog kroz jedinice bitcoin kriptovalute sugeriraju da dinamika povijesnih prinosa kriptovaluta pruža mogućnost modeliranja portfelja u bitcoin valuti. Takvi rezultati su opravdani s obzirom da je dinamika prinosa optimizacijske strategije ostvarila kumulativni prinos viši od kumulativnog prinosa najuspješnije sastavnice portfelja. S druge strane, rezultati portfelja izraženog u dolarskoj vrijednosti nisu ostvarili kumulativni prinos viši od kumulativnog prinosa odabranog standarda usporedbe, pa se zaključuje da primijenjeni fundamentalni indikatori ne predstavljaju dobar pokazatelj za inicijalan odabir sastavnica portfelja.
Pierre Schutz, Stanislas Gal, Dimitris Chatzopoulos, Pan Hui
Abstract Peer‐to‐peer (P2P) networks utilize centralized entities (trackers) to assist peers in finding and exchanging information. Although modern P2P protocols are now trackerless and their function relies on distributed hash tables (DHTs), centralized entities are still needed to build file indices (indexing) and assist users in joining DHT swarms (bootstrapping). Although the functionality of these centralized entities are limited, every peer in the network is expected to trust them to function as expected (e.g. to correctly index new files). In this work, a new approach for designing and building decentralized online applications is proposed by introducing DIBDApp. The approach combines blockchain, smart contracts and BitTorrent for building up a combined technology that permits to create decentralized applications that do not require any assistance from centralized entities. DIBDApp is a software library composed of Ethereum smart contracts and an API to the BitTorrent protocol that fully decentralizes indexing, bootstrapping and file storing. DIBDApp enables any peer to seamlessly connect to the designed smart contracts via the Web3J protocol. Extensive experimentation on the Rinkeby Ethereum testnet shows that applications built using the DIBDApp library can perform the same operations as in traditional back‐end architectures with a gas cost of a few USD cents.
Abstract Digital innovations in banking and payments recently have garnered a great deal of attention. Specifically, distributed ledger technology (DLT) has the potential to fundamentally change the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in the financial sector. DLT is a novel and fast-evolving approach to record and share data, e.g., payment transactions, among members of a decentralized network. Using transaction cost theory, the paper examines how DLT will change the cross-border payment infrastructure. DLT can reduce the overall transaction costs potentially resulting in the disappearance of correspondent banks.
Johannes Rude Jensen, Victor von Wachter, Omri Ross
We document an ongoing research process towards the implementation and integration of a digital artefact, executing the lifecycle of a leveraged trade with permissionless blockchain technology. By employing core functions of the 'Dai Stablecoin system' deployed on the Ethereum blockchain, we produce the equivalent exposure of a leveraged position while deterministically automating the monitoring and liquidation processes. We demonstrate the implementation and early integration of the artefact into a hardened exchange environment through a microservice utilizing standardized API calls. The early results presented in this paper were produced in collaboration with a team of stakeholders at a hosting organization, a multi-national online brokerage and cryptocurrency exchange. We utilize the design science research methodology (DSR) guiding the design, development, and evaluation of the artefact. Our findings indicate that, while it is feasible to implement the lifecycle of a leveraged trade on the blockchain, the integration of the artefact into a traditional exchange environment involves multiple compromises and drawback. Generalizing the tentative findings presented in this paper, we introduce three propositions on the implementation, integration, and implications of executing key business processes with permissionless blockchain technologies. By conducting computational design science research, we contribute to the information systems discourse on the applied utility of permissionless blockchain technologies in finance and beyond.
Smart contracts have been plagued by security incidents, which resulted in substantial financial losses. Given numerous research efforts in addressing the security issues of smart contracts, we wondered how software practitioners build security into smart contracts in practice. We performed a mixture of qualitative and quantitative studies with 13 interviewees and 156 survey respondents from 35 countries across six continents to understand practitioners' perceptions and practices on smart contract security. Our study uncovers practitioners' motivations and deterrents of smart contract security, as well as how security efforts and strategies fit into the development lifecycle. We also find that blockchain platforms have a statistically significant impact on practitioners' security perceptions and practices of smart contract development. Based on our findings, we highlight future research directions and provide recommendations for practitioners.
Johannes Rude Jensen, Victor von Wachter, Omri Ross
Novel blockchain technology provides the infrastructure layer for the\ncreation of decentralized appli-cations. A rapidly growing ecosystem of\napplications is built around financial services, commonly referred to as\ndecentralized finance. Whereas the intangible concept of decentralization is\npresented as a key driver for the applications, defining and measuring\ndecentralization is multifaceted. This pa-per provides a framework to quantify\ndecentralization of governance power among blockchain appli-cations. Governance\nof the applications is increasingly important and requires striking a balance\nbe-tween broad distribution, fostering user activity, and financial incentives.\nTherefore, we aggregate, parse, and analyze empirical data of four finance\napplications calculating coefficients for the statistical dispersion of the\ngovernance token distribution. The gauges potentially support IS scholars for\nan objective evaluation of the capabilities and limitations of token governance\nand for fast iteration in design-driven governance mechanisms.\n
Iakovos Pittaras, Nikos Fotiou, Vasilios A. Siris, George C. Polyzos
We explore the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), such as blockchains, in mobile gaming, focusing on ecosystem expansion and diversification, customer attraction and retention, exploitation of context sensitive and personalized advertisements, and improved monetization of in-game assets. We evaluate the cost and transaction delay of DLTs in a location-based mobile game ecosystem using two types of blockchains (permissioned and permissionless or public), based on defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Our evaluation shows the advantages of using both types of blockchains as well as interledger technologies that combine them. Permissioned blockchains enable high performance, e.g., in terms of throughput and delay, and low cost, while permissionless (public) blockchains, through their transparency, immutability, and openness, support trust and facilitate interactions among unrelated parties. Finally, we show that the combination of IoT devices and DLTs in mobile gaming offers new business opportunities and enables innovative business models for both traditional mobile gaming companies and other participants in the ecosystem, e.g., game players, cafes, malls, and similar establishments, advertising companies, and independent programmers.
Hendrik Amler, Lisa Eckey, Sebastian Faust, Marcel Kaiser · 6 authors
The decentralized and trustless nature of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology leads to a shift in the digital world. The possibility to execute small programs, called smart contracts, on cryptocurrencies like Ethereum opened doors to countless new applications. One particular exciting use case is decentralized finance (DeFi), which aims to revolutionize traditional financial services by founding them on a decentralized infrastructure. We show the potential of DeFi by analyzing its advantages compared to traditional finance. Additionally, we survey the state-of-the-art of DeFi products and categorize existing services. Since DeFi is still in its infancy, there are countless hurdles for mass adoption. We discuss the most prominent challenges and point out possible solutions. Finally, we analyze the economics behind DeFi products. By carefully analyzing the state-of-the-art and discussing current challenges, we give a perspective on how the DeFi space might develop in the near future.
Juan Ignacio Ibañez, Chris N. Bayer, Paolo Tasca, Jiahua Xu
Triple entry accounting (TEA) is simultaneously a novel application in the blockchain universe and one of the many concepts applied in blockchain technology. Its Wild Wild West status is accompanied by a lack of consistent and comprehensive set of categories, a state of play that impedes a proper apprehension of the technology, leading to contradictions and oversight of important nuances. To clearly delineate the confines of TEA within the world of blockchain, we provide building blocks to standardise its terminology. Particularly, we distinguish between essential elements such as accounting and bookkeeping, as well as between decentralised systems, distributed ledgers, and distributed journals.
As blockchain technology is maturing to be confidently used in practice, its applications are becoming evident and, correspondingly, more blockchain research is being published, also extending to more domains than before. To date, scientific research in the field has predominantly focused on subject areas such as finance, computer science, and engineering, while the area of service management has largely neglected this topic. Therefore, we invited a group of renowned scholars from different academic fields to share their views on emerging topics regarding blockchain in service management and service research. Their individual commentaries and conceptual contributions refer to different theoretical and domain perspectives, including managerial implications for service companies as well as forward-looking suggestions for further research.
Abstract The development of blockchain-based applications, to date mostly virtual currencies, touches many areas of law and economics. The most well-known applications of public blockchains rely on Proof of Work as a consensus mechanism in which miners compete to solve a cryptographic puzzle. We argue that economic tools for market definition may be adapted to delineate relevant cryptocurrency mining markets. Antitrust law can help to prevent network attacks and exclusion of transactions with lower fees by large miners. When multiple blockchains are part of the same market, the role of network effects in securing the leading position of more established cryptocurrencies can potentially lead to exclusionary behaviour.
Research background: As humanity evolves, so do the new payment options. Today, one of the most popular and powerful electronic money is Bitcoin. Over time, virtual currency is becoming one of the most widely available and used means of payment. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to analyse ATMs in post offices, focusing on virtual currency ATMs. The paper also includes an analysis of available ATMs for virtual currencies and a comparison of their capabilities. Methods: We compare three most important ATM manufacturers and their most used models. It examines the use of those ATMs in post offices in Slovakia and abroad. Paper also analyses the attitude of customers of Slovak Post towards the deployment of virtual currency ATMs at its branches (on a sample of 400 respondents). Findings & Value added: In the Slovak Republic postal services are offered by several companies (19 out of 24 providers responded to our questionnaire). Slovak Post is leading provider of distribution, communication, and payment services in Slovakia. Czech Post is an example of country where virtual currency ATMs were introduced but subsequently withdrawn from post offices. In turn, Austrian Post Office is an example of a country where this system still operates and expands. While Slovak market still lacks such a service in the postal business, these trends will adapt over time. The virtual currency ATMs we have in Slovakia, are not operated by postal enterprises.