Paul van Vulpen, H.M. Heijnen, S. P. van Mens, Thijn Kroon · 5 authors
Upgradeable smart contracts allow decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to address bugs, enhance security, and expand functionality post-deployment. The proxy pattern enables smart contract upgradeability but introduces admin-centric governance, where power is concentrated in a single or small number of addresses. This paper explores the potential of decentralized smart contract governance to overcome admin centric governance while achieving flexibility in governing smart contracts. We investigate the Diamond Pattern as a flexible upgradeable contract framework that allows for modular smart contracts. Using the SecureSECO DAO as a case study, we examine how the diamond pattern can be configured for decentralized governance. The used architecture allows DAOs to upgrade smart contracts collectively through community consensus, and the implementation provides proposals, votes, and execution without requiring technical knowledge. The study highlights the benefits of this approach, namely, flexibility in smart contract governance, enhanced modularity, and a single point of interaction for governance. We also discuss limitations and challenges for upgradeable smart contracts such as the decision-making delays and potential vulnerabilities. To encourage adoption of consensus governance, we call for the creation of user-friendly tooling and smart contract facets.
A adoção de blockchain e Contratos Inteligentes (CI) tem se demonstrado uma opção valiosa para organizações inovarem em seus sistemas de informação. Nesse sentido, presencia-se uma adesão ao desenvolvimento open source por parte dos envolvidos em tal ecossistema, especialmente com base na plataforma Ethereum e no uso do GitHub. Logo, nota-se uma formação de um contexto sociotécnico para desenvolvimento de CI através do uso de plataformas para hospedagem de código-fonte como, por exemplo o GitHub. Porém, apesar da presença de pesquisas prévias sobre manutenção de CIs, constata-se uma lacuna de pesquisa como foco na compreensão de componentes sociotécnicos em tal domínio. Nesse sentido, sob um escopo metodológico exploratório pautado em Mineração de Repositórios de Software na Teoria Sociotécnica, este traba- lho tem como objetivo principal analisar componentes sociotécnicos em repositórios open source de contratos inteligentes implantados na plataforma Ethereum. Como contribuições alcançadas, quatro perspectivas principais foram contempladas: 1) na discussão sobre efeito do deploy na Ethereum sobre os aspectos colaborativos (com foco em contribuidores, commits e issues); 2) na compreensão sobre a caracterização dos contribuidores envolvidos nos projetos; 3) na categorização sobre o que mudou quanto à evolução de software em tais projetos a partir das mensagens de commits e 4) no entendimento sobre a relação entre métricas de mercado (valor de mercado e volume e evolução de software (em termos de commits).
Presently to achieve enterprise digitalization technologies such as Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) has now been deployed to support digital services provided by enterprises. But several challenges in DLTs remain to be addressed, including the interoperability, standardization, and integration. Therefore, this study provides theoretical and practical understanding of DLT interoperability and identified the factors that influence the interoperability of DLTs. Also, an architecture is designed to shows how interoperability can be achieved in DLTs and legacy systems supported by Application Programming Interface (API). A case study is presented to illustrate the applicability of the architecture to support a digital energy marketplace.
Blockchain technology promises to revolutionize not only the way we transact among peers but also the way we organize to create socio-economic value. Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are governed and owned by the community whose members follow a set of blockchain-embedded governance rules that define and control participation. In this chapter, we will clarify what governance decentralization and automation mean, examining DAOs’ distinguishing characteristics. We will also discuss the problems that DAOs solve (e.g., lack of extrinsic incentives, censorship, mismanagement and lack of transparency and accountability), as well as the problems they face (e.g., lack of participation, rigidity, voting misbehaviours and legal status).
We introduce the notion of \emph{traceable mixnets}. In a traditional mixnet, multiple mix-servers jointly permute and decrypt a list of ciphertexts to produce a list of plaintexts, along with a proof of correctness, such that the association between individual ciphertexts and plaintexts remains completely hidden. However, in many applications, the privacy-utility tradeoff requires answering some specific queries about this association, without revealing any information beyond the query result. We consider queries of the following types: a) given a ciphertext in the mixnet input list, whether it encrypts one of a given subset of plaintexts in the output list, and b) given a plaintext in the mixnet output list, whether it is a decryption of one of a given subset of ciphertexts in the input list. Traceable mixnets allow the mix-servers to jointly prove answers to the above queries to a querier such that neither the querier nor a threshold number of mix-servers learn any information beyond the query result. Further, if the querier is not corrupted, the corrupted mix-servers do not even learn the query result. We first comprehensively formalise these security properties of traceable mixnets and then propose a construction of traceable mixnets using novel distributed zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) of set membership and of a statement we call reverse set membership. Although set membership has been studied in the single-prover setting, the main challenge in our distributed setting lies in making sure that none of the mix-servers learn the association between ciphertexts and plaintexts during the proof. We implement our distributed ZKPs and show that they are faster than state-of-the-art by at least one order of magnitude.
Recent regulatory changes have enabled NCAA student-athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), departing from previous policies requiring those athletes to maintain their amateur status. However, despite the changes, it is unlikely that all the approximately 500,000 NCAA student-athletes will profit from NIL contracts. Within this context, we study how to design a fair and inclusive solution that may help all student-athletes secure NIL financial resources. Following a design science approach, we define design requirements after interviewing student-athletes. Subsequently, we derive three design principles: inclusiveness, fairness, and transparency. Thereafter, we suggest a blockchain-based artifact that satisfies all design principles. Our idea lies in designing collectibles as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that pay different royalties whenever a transaction (purchase or exchange) happens in different markets (primary or secondary). Finally, we evaluate our solution by discussing its features with current student-athletes.
Jeremiah Stoddard, Michael Cutshaw, Tyler Williams, Allan Friedman · 5 authors
As Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) adoption efforts mature, SBOM sharing continues to occur, but no single solution or set of solutions have become ubiquitous. The purpose of this report is to enumerate and describe the different parties and phases of the SBOM sharing lifecycle and assist readers in choosing suitable SBOM sharing solutions based on the amount of time, resources, subject-matter expertise, effort, and access to tooling that is available to the reader to implement a phase of the SBOM sharing lifecycle. The SBOM sharing lifecycle consists of the Discovery, Access, and Transport of an SBOM and this report details these individual phases and how an SBOM goes from author to the consumer. This report also details how potential enrichment activities may be performed on an SBOM to create a new product before or after it has been shared. The concept of a sophistication classification for SBOM sharing solutions is concurrently introduced with a focus on the inclusion or lack of certain features and effort associated with their implementation. Examples of low, medium, and high-sophistication solutions are provided; however, these examples and associated categorizations should not be seen as a qualitative judgment meant to push the reader towards a particular adoption strategy since sharing solutions are chosen based on the unique needs of the user. This report does recommend the SBOM community consider how to make current and future sharing solutions interoperable with each other as well as more automated methods to facilitate sharing and broader SBOM adoption. This report also highlights an SBOM sharing survey results obtained from interviews with stakeholders to understand the current SBOM sharing landscape. The categorized results of the survey suggest that SBOMs are currently transported directly to the receiver through email or similar informal communication mechanisms or alternatively the SBOM resides on a repository available to consumers. In addition to these transport methods, this report captures industry efforts to create private sharing solutions and services that can store and transport enrichment data and may use higher sophistication features that are cloud-based or using distributed ledger technologies.
Social impact accounting is a significant issue for social economy organizations (SEOs), such as associations, foundations, social enterprises, social cooperatives, and other nonprofit organizations that aim to be transparent and accountable. The academic accounting literature addresses theoretical and empirical contributions on the methods and tools of measurement, assessment, and reporting of social impact. However, there are few contributions on the emerging topic of the digitalization of the social impact accounting process. Preliminary research analyses consider digital tools such as distributed ledgers including blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things as innovations that allow SEOs to be more accountable and transparent with their social impacts and value created. The increased attention to these technologies opens the way for new and multidisciplinary research questions on this topic.
Crowdsourcing task success depends on the contributions of developers. How to identify capable developers and motivate them to actively contribute to a task is a challenging issue. This study investigates how the use of cryptocurrency rewards, i.e., the choices of stablecoins and unstablecoins affects the crowdsourcing task success, and how the relationship depends on task difficulty. Based on 3858 crowdsourcing tasks, we find that the use of unstablecoins reduces the number of participating contributors and extends the time period of having the first contributor, but has no significant effect on the likelihood of task success. In addition, task difficulty alleviates the negative effect of the unstablecoins on the number of participants. Our study potentially provides important implications for the use of cryptocurrency tokens as task rewards.
The successful operation of a blockchain system crucially relies on its management of software development activities. Not only does the technological functionality of a blockchain system depend on the quality of its source code, but also the “neutrality” of a blockchain system depends on access to and control over its source code. In this paper, we delve into the dynamic evolution of collaboration within the open-source developer community of Ethereum, a leading blockchain platform today. Utilizing network analysis techniques, we demonstrate the tendency of initially decentralized open-source communities to gravitate toward local modular structures. Additionally, our analysis reveals that inputs to the blockchain’s software code are concentrated among a small group of contributors. Our findings have implications for the managers of decentralized open-source technology and policymakers who aim to preserve impartial access to technology.
Abstract Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital assets based on blockchain technology that are increasingly being used for various applications in organizations. Given NFTs’ unique technological features, we posit that traditional, centralized organizations can adopt them to introduce novel solutions to the fundamental problems of organizing, namely, division of labor and integration of efforts. We examine the prospects and promises of NFT-enabled organization design and suggest how organizations can navigate its potential hurdles. We discuss critical boundary conditions for the deployment of NFTs in organization design and conclude by articulating how our Point of View article contributes to scholarship on blockchain technology and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
The recent explosive development of new forms of the digital currency creates unprecedented opportunities while posing significant governance challenges.These challenges call into question whether bitcoin should adopt an institutionalized framework.It also raises concerns about whether bitcoin governance following the path of internet governance will be a viable solution to the challenges.This paper investigates the concept of the bitcoin ecosystem, the governance challenges that the ecosystem faces, stakeholder roles in governance, and whether having an institutionalized framework will effectively minimize the challenges that bitcoin network users face.
Abstract Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is a disruptive technology with the potential of improving extended enterprise (EE) which comprises organizations that combine their capabilities and knowhow to achieve a common goal. Within the extended enterprise, governance enables distributed ledger control and stewardship and provides effective ways for enforcing ledger access and ownership policies. Although research related to DLT has received attention from academics and industries, the decentralized governance perspective of DLT remains less explored, and it is uncertain how decisions are made concerning the deployment of DLT within EE. These call for governance policies to protect the interests and needs of all stakeholders within the extended enterprise. Therefore, there is need for research that provides insight regarding the decentralized governance of DLT, showing how stakeholders and actors within EE make informed decisions. Accordingly, grounded on academic literature, this study develops governance of DLT framework for extended enterprises which comprises DLT governance dimensions, stakeholder/actors, and DLT governance mechanisms. The findings also present the governance actors and categories of DLTs, potentials, and challenges regarding decentralized governance of DLT in extended enterprises. Findings provide implications to enterprises, researchers, practitioners, industries, and policymakers on the concept of decentralized governance for organizational transformation. Finally, findings from this research are instrumental for designing governance policies to support DLT implementation and stimulate potential research within this direction.
Alan Rodrigues, Allysson Allex Araújo, Matheus Paixão, Pamella Soares
Presencia-se uma adesão de projetos de Contratos Inteligentes (CIs) ao desenvolvimento open source. Ademais, reconhece-se que o desenvolvimento de CIs lida com novas restrições as quais motivam novos questionamentos sobre a dinâmica de colaboração entre desenvolvedores e para com a comunidade. Enquadrando-se a partir de uma pesquisa exploratória-descritiva, o presente artigo objetiva discutir resultados preliminares sobre elementos colaborativos quanto ao desenvolvimento open source de CIs, em específico: i) a relação entre commits e colaboradores, e ii) quanto ao report e resolução de issues.
This intersection of Web3 technology and the metaverse constitutes a major leap into decentralized digital environments. Web3, which is based on blockchain technology, offers a user-centric architecture that allows users to own and control their digital assets, identities, and interactions. Blockchain ensures transparent, immutable records in the metaverse; smart contracts enable secure, trustless transactions to happen automatically. Non-fungible therapy tokens (NFTs) advance ownership online by showing original virtual items. Metaverse is a notion that envisions a communal, virtual shared environment that exists beyond the physical world. This space is shared by all individuals. It is a digital world in which users can interact with computer-generated surroundings, connect with other users, and participate in a variety of activities by utilizing AR, VR, and other immersive technologies. This article investigates how the integration of Web3 technology supports distributed governance, virtual commerce, and interoperable experiences, thereby ushering a new era of immersive, fair digital places. We also look at potential adoption chances as well as challenges.
[概要]NFT（Non-Fungible Token：非代替性トークン）は模倣困難性，トレーサビリティ，所有権の証明によってデジタル資産の流通を保証し，デジタル・エコシステムが持ついくつかの特性を刷新しつつある。本稿では，文献レビューを通じて近年急成長を遂げているNFTの視点からユーザー・コミュニティとUGC（User Generated Content）を再考し，こうした技術的変化が今後のオンライン創造活動のマネジメントに与えうる様々な影響を検討する。 [Abstract] Non-Fungible Token (NFT) guarantees the circulation of digital assets through imitation resistance, traceability and proof of ownership, and is also renewing some of the characteristics of digital ecosystems. Through a literature review, this paper reconsiders user communities and UGC (User Generated Content) from the perspective of NFTs, which have been growing rapidly in recent years, and examines the various impacts that these technological changes may have on the management of online creative activities in the future.
This research study explores the use of near-miss clone detection to support the characterization of domain models of smart contracts for each of the popular domains in which smart contracts are being rapidly adopted. In this paper, we leverage the code clone detection techniques to detect similarities in functions of the smart contracts deployed onto the Ethereum blockchain network. We analyze the clusters of code clones and the semantics of the code fragments in the clusters in an attempt to categorize them and discover the structural models of the patterns in code clones.
Rafael Belchior, Luke Riley, Thomas Hardjono, André Vasconcelos · 5 authors
Entrepreneurs, enterprises, and governments are using distributed ledger technology (DLT) as a component of complex information systems, and therefore interoperability capabilities are required. Interoperating DLTs enables network effects, synergies and, similarly to the rise of the Internet, it unlocks the full potential of the technology. However, due to the novelty of the area, interoperability mechanisms (IM) are still not well understood, as interoperability is studied in silos. Consequently, choosing the proper IM for a use case is challenging. Our paper has three contributions: first, we systematically study the research area of DLT interoperability by dissecting and analyzing previous work. We study the logical separation of interoperability layers, how a DLT can connect to others (connection mode), the object of interoperation (interoperation mode), and propose a new categorization for IMs. Second, we propose the first interoperability assessment for DLTs that systematically evaluates the interoperability degree of an IM. This framework allows comparing the potentiality, compatibility, and performance among solutions. Finally, we propose two decision models to assist in choosing an IM, considering different requirements. The first decision model assists in choosing the infrastructure of an IM, while the second decision model assists in choosing its functionality.
The software industry's history is also its future. Its history has been defined by both abundance and scarcity, and its future will be, too. In the 1970s and 80s, perceived software scarcity led U.S. legislators to formally grant intellectual property protections to software creators. Later, a different kind of scarcity-a lack of access to source code-led the founders of the free and open source software movement to flip intellectual property protections on their head in an effort to better promote abundance. That movement proved wildly successful, with today's software industry based on vast amounts of freely available open source software resources that both organizations and individuals collaboratively build. Abundance and scarcity will also define software's future, but in different ways. The abundance that the open source software movement spawned is in the midst of a significant commercial phase. That sometimes means that commercial competitors bring to the table a scarcity mindset that conflicts with the norms that made that movement so successful. Intellectual property concerns at times derail what may otherwise be even greater software abundance. And because so much software is moving into the Cloud, trade secrecy may become the software industry's most important form of intellectual property to the extent the industry abandons open models of innovation. The software industry's growing dependence on artificial intelligence (AI) is likely to contribute to these trends. The software industry is increasingly becoming synonymous with the AI industry, as more and more software companies either rely on AI in running their services or provide AI products to the public. As with all software, these AI technologies are increasingly provided from the Cloud, where trade secrecy is not only possible, but often preferable. But trade secrecy may be even more likely in the AI context because much of the magic in implementing AI systems lies in the know-how to piece them together from available open source software resources, decades-old AI techniques, and data. Hence, to the extent that software and AI technologists spurn open innovation in favor of a scarcity mindset, trade secrecy is likely to become its dominant form of legal protection. The advent of web3 technologies may eventually change some of these trends. But for now, increasing secrecy seems the most likely outcome. I conclude by arguing that this shift to secrecy is likely preferable to other forms of intellectual property.
The IS discourse on the potential of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the financial services has grown at a tremendous pace in recent years. Yet, little has been said about the related implications for the costly and highly regulated process of compliance reporting. Working with a group of representatives from industry and regulatory authorities, we employ the design science research methodology (DSR) in the design, development, and evaluation of an artefact, enabling the automated collection and enrichment of transactional data. Our findings indicate that DLT may facilitate the automation of key compliance processes through the implementation of a "pull-model", in which regulators can access compliance data in near real-time to stage aggregate exposures at the supranational level. Generalizing our preliminary results, we present four propositions on the implications of DLT in compliance. The findings contribute new practical insights on the topic of compliance to the growing IS discourse on DLT.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have found use in the governance of Open Source Software (OSS) projects. However, the governance of an OSS producing DAO should match the particularities of OSS production while also overcoming the existing challenges of decentralized governance. Existing decentralized governance frameworks do not contain all the governance activities of open source software projects. Therefore, this study presents a governance framework for DAOs that produce open source software. The framework is built upon a total of 34 articles on DAO and OSS governance. The framework was evaluated in three leading DAOs that produce open source software. The evaluation underscored the significance of the framework and proved the potential of the systematic categorization of governance mechanisms. Finally, we list emerging governance practices in various governance domains in this developing field.