The terms decentralized organization and distributed organization are often used interchangeably, despite describing two distinct phenomena. I propose distinguishing decentralization , as the dispersion of organizational communications, from distribution , as the dispersion of organizational decision-making. Organizations can be distributed without being decentralized (and vice versa), and having multiple management layers directly affects only distribution – not decentralization. This proposed distinction has implications for understanding the growth of digital platforms (e.g. amazon.com ), which dominate the global economy in the 21 st century. While prominent platforms typically use machine learning as their core technology to transform inputs (e.g. data) into outputs (e.g. matchmaking services), blockchain has emerged as an alternative technological blueprint. I argue that blockchain enables platforms that are both decentralized and distributed (e.g. Bitcoin), whereas machine learning fosters centralized communications and the concentration of decision-making (e.g. Facebook Inc.). This distinction has crucial implications for antitrust policy, which, I contend, should shift both its analysis and its target of action away from the corporate level and focus instead on the data level. Based on this essay’s framework, I make several predictions regarding the future of competition between centralized and decentralized platforms, the evolution of government regulation, and broader implications for managers in the digital economy and for the business schools charged with their education. I conclude with reflections on the opportunity to revive cybernetic thinking for preventing a dystopian future dominated by a handful of platform behemoths.
Blockchain is a relatively new technology that is often described as “creating trust” or “removing intermediaries”. In this paper, we posit that blockchain is a new form of digitally-enabled boundary spanning that allows co-ownership models for the companies in question. Where companies have traditionally employed humans to act as interfaces to the external world, new digital technologies enable a digitised approach to many corporate operations that require interaction towards the external market and environment within which firms must operate. Blockchain is a special subset of digital technologies in this regard, enabling companies to co-operate to control parts of the market and to internalise transaction costs that until now have been a market function; using blockchain companies effectively create a new transaction boundary that means boundary spanning can be deeply embedded in core business, rather than kept to its periphery. This digitally-enabled boundary spanning is a key attribute of the emerging digital economy. Understanding its implications is of critical importance for economics, business and social science literature.
Abstract The article analyzes the problems of the development of modern banking business in Russia in the context of the growing share of large banks in the market. The aim of the work is to determine the need for the introduction of new advanced technologies by small and medium banks in order to increase the efficiency of their activities. The working hypothesis is that against the background of low economic growth in Russia and high competition among state and quasi-state banks, small and medium-sized banks can remain competitive only through cooperation and the introduction of new advanced technologies (artificial intelligence technology and blockchain technology). The article provides a brief overview of theoretical and empirical studies of the introduction of modern information technologies in banking. Briefly describes the international experience in implementing information technology in the financial sector of the economy. The article also provides a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the development of the modern Russian banking system. The analysis of official statistics of the Bank of Russia was carried out, which confirmed the tendency to decrease in the number of banks in the Russian economy, as well as the increase in the degree of monopolization of the banking sector of the Russian economy. Together, these two phenomena lead to increased competition between large banks on the one hand and medium and small banks on the other, in which the latter can only be actively introduced by new information technologies. The study clearly showed that the monopolization of the banking sector leads to the need to look for new development paths for small and medium-sized banks through the introduction of modern technologies.
Moritz Platt, Francesco Pierangeli, Giacomo Livan, Simone Righi
This article discusses a protocol to facilitate decentralised exchanges on an order-driven market through a consortium of market services operators. We discuss whether this hybrid protocol combining a centralised initiation phase with a decentralised execution phase outperforms fully centralised exchanges with regards to efficiency and security. Here, a fully efficient and fully secure protocol is defined as one where traders incur no trading costs or opportunity costs and counterparty risk is absent. We devise a protocol addressing the main downsides in the decentralised exchange process that uses a facilitating distributed ledger, maintains an order book and monitors the order status in real-time to provide accurate exchange rate information and performance scoring of participants. We show how performance ratings can lower opportunity costs and how a rolling benchmark rate of verifiable trades can be used to establish a trustworthy exchange rate between cryptocurrencies. The formal validation of the proposed technical mechanisms is the subject of future work.
Karoline Busse, Mohammad Tahaei, Katharina Krombholz, Emanuel von Zezschwitz · 7 authors
Payment cultures around the globe are diverse and have significant implications on security, privacy and trust. We study usable security aspects of payment cultures in four culturally distinct societies. Based on a qualitative study in Germany and Iran, we developed an online survey and deployed it in Germany, Iran, China, and the United States. The results reveal significant differences between the studied countries. For example, we found that participants from Iran and China are more comfortable with credential sharing and German participants were most accepting towards cryptocurrencies. We suggest these kinds of differences in payment culture need to be considered in the context of HCI research when evaluating current payment mechanisms or designing new ones.
Blockchain technology, beyond cryptocurrencies, is called to be the new information exchange ecosystem due to its unique properties, such as immutability and transparency. The main objective of this work is to introduce the design of a decentralized rental system, which leverages smart contracts and the Ethereum public blockchain. The work started from an exhaustive investigation on the Ethereum platform, emphasizing the aspect of cryptography and all the technology behind this platform. In order to test the proposed scheme in a realistic use, the implementation of a web application for the rental of vehicles has been carried out. The application covers the entire vehicle rental process offered in traditional web applications, adding more autonomy and ease of use to users. Following Ethereum application development guidelines, all business logic is located in the smart contracts implemented in the Ethereum network, where these contracts control the entire vehicle rental system of customers. While this is a work in progress, the results obtained in the first proof of concept have been very promising.
Youssef Faqir-Rhazoui, Javier Arroyo, Samer Hassan
Blockchain technology has emerged as a new paradigm to build decentralized systems which do not require a central authority. It is most popular for enabling Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. However, blockchain applications span beyond Finance, and recently it has been applied to decentralized governance. Blockchain-enabled "Decentralized Autonomous Organizations" (DAOs) have emerged as a new form of collective governance, in which communities may organize themselves relying on decentralized infrastructure. In this article, we introduce the concept of DAO and review the main software platforms that offer DAO creation as a service, which simplifies the use of DAOs to non-blockchain experts; namely: Aragon, DAOstack, DAOhaus and Colony. These platforms will be compared by showing their key features. Finally, we will review the available visualisation tools for DAOs, and we will introduce our open-source tool to plot DAOs activity, DAO-Analyzer. We will illustrate its potential with the case of the DAO Genesis Alpha, which is the main DAO of the DAOstack project.
The emergence of a decentralized peer-to-peer platform that matches lending and borrowing without collateral requirements has called the bank lending and balance-sheet channels for monetary transmission into question. Via a standard New Keynesian macroeconomic model expanded with two-sided platform and group identity, we put forward a novel platform density channel of monetary transmission, which could overshadow the conventional channels. An increase in policy rate, for instance, would instigate a shift toward platform borrowing. Increasing borrowers’ density attracts participation in platform deposits, which in turn further enhances borrowers’ benefit of joining the platform, making liquidity available at decreasing platform loan rates. Business investment and hence the inflation rate gets lifted despite monetary tightening. The implication of platform density channel diminishes, however, when platform borrowings complement bank borrowings, and pose nontrivial risk of default.
Feng Guo, Stephanie Walton, Patrick Wheeler, Yiyang Zhang
ABSTRACT This study examines factors that influence a public firm's decision to early-adopt blockchain technology. Blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt how firms collect, process, and maintain information about a wide range of firm activities including transactions and supply chain interactions. We examine several determinants of early blockchain adoption including patented technology, agency costs, complexity, and external monitoring. Our results suggest that blockchain early adoption involves opportunistic managerial behavior. Further, firms with greater technology innovations, proxied by number of patents, are more likely to disclose early adoption, possibly to overcome productivity concerns or attract inter-firm opportunities. We also examine the consequences of early adoption using a market-based approach. Our results suggest that blockchain adoption could be a lengthy and costly process. Our study provides evidence on why firms adopt this disruptive technology and informs regulators and policy makers on how managers can influence the blockchain early adoption decision.
Blockchain is a catch-all term for a combination of three technologies: distributed ledger, cryptology and network protocols. The first enables storing the same info in different places, the second allows secure transactions to be recorded and then encrypted on the distributed ledger. The third element governs the network and verifies transactions across the network automatically and independently. Considered by many as “the biggest technological innovation since the Internet”1, blockchain is a decentralized, more secure and transparent model for transactions that operates on an encrypted peer-to-peer basis. This model makes trust between parties superfluous by instead placing trust in the underlying technological platform. This would effectively remove the need for intermediaries whose business has been to make up for the lack of trust; these include banks, brokers, governments, internet platforms, law firms etc. While reducing the costs of contract enforcement and thus facilitating trade, blockchain technology may have significant implications for antitrust law. As decentralized organizations such as blockchain are not recognized as legal persons, this raises questionsabout whether anticompetitive practices and their perpetrators can be identified. For example, can a non-entity hold a dominant position? Can blockchain create a “monopoly without a monopolist”? Finally, if a blockchain is dominant, which users and/or entities hold that dominant position? This article intends to highlight the challenges that blockchain presents to the analyses of unilateral anticompetitive practices.
In den letzten Jahren sind das Internet of Things (IoT) und Blockchain-Technologien immer beliebter geworden. Blockchain-Technologien bieten die Möglichkeit, Transaktionen in einem Logbuch zu speichern, in welchem Daten nur angehängt werden können und das nur schwer manipuliert werden kann. Dieses Logbuch wird von einem Peer-to-Peer-Netzwerk verwaltet. Blockchains der zweiten Generation bieten darüber hinaus die Ausführung von Smart Contracts an. Hierbei handelt es sich um Codeteile, die in der Blockchain gespeichert und von jedem Teilnehmer des Netzwerks ausgeführt werden können. Das IoT wird durch miteinander verbundene Objekte gebildet, wobei ein Objekt jedes Rechengerät sein kann, welches eindeutig adressierbar ist und über standardisierte Protokolle kommunizieren kann. Das IoT wächst stetig, ebenso wie die Menge an Daten,die über das Netzwerk generiert und ausgetauscht werden. Da die Anzahl der vom IoT generierten Daten weiter zunimmt, gestaltet sich das Auffinden von Datenquellen ohne Datenmarktplatz als sehr schwierig. Zu diesem Zweck bieten Datenmarktplätze eine Plattform auf der verschiedene Parteien ihre Daten anbieten können. Die Kombination von Blockchain-Technologien mit dem IoT bietet vielversprechende Anwendungsfälle, einschließlich dezentraler Datenmarktplätze. Die Forschung hat bereits verschiedene Konzepte und Lösungen im Zusammenhang mit Datenhandel und Datenmarktplätzen hervorgebracht, das heißt sowohl traditionelle Ansätze als auch Ansätze, die bereits Blockchain-Technologien verwenden. Viele dieser Arbeiten decken jedoch nicht alle wesentlichen Funktionen von Datenmarktplätzen ab. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit entwerfen und implementieren wir ein Framework für einen dezentralen IoT-Datenmarktplatz. Das Design des Frameworks basiert auf einer Drei-Schichten-Architektur, bei der Smart Contracts verwendet werden, um verschiedene Funktionen zu implementieren und die Regeln des Datenmarktplatzes durchzusetzen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden unter anderem mehrere Smart Contract-Plattformen miteinander verglichen, um festzustellen, welche Unterschiede bestehen und welche für diese Anwendung am besten geeignet ist. Darüber hinaus enthält das Framework grafische Benutzeroberflächen, einen Proxy, der es Anbietern und Verbrauchern ermöglicht, IoT-Geräte zu integrieren und einen Broker, der den Datenhandelsprozess erleichtert und ressourcenintensive Aufgaben übernimmt. Abschließend evaluieren wir die Kosten, die durch die Verwendung von Smart Contracts entstehen und diskutieren Probleme, die während der Implementierung aufgetreten sind.
Im letzten Jahrzehnt hat der Begriff Blockchain aufgrund des Medienrummels um Bitcoin, der ersten Kryptowährung, immense Popularität erlangt. Bald darauf wurde die Blockchain-Technologie zu einer Inspiration für zusätzliche Anwendungen neben Kryptowährungen. Eine solche Anwendung sind Smart Contracts oder Programme mit dem Ziel, die Vereinbarungen eines Vertrags automatisch und sicher ohne die Unterstützung einer zentralen Stelle auszuführen. Derzeit ist Ethereum die wichtigste Blockchain-Plattform für Smart Contracts. Smart Contracts im Ethereum-Netzwerk können Teil einer dezentralen Anwendung sein oder als eigene Einheit existieren. Sie können durch eine externe Transaktion (User) oder eine interne Transaktion (einen Smart Contract) ausgelöst werden. Angesichts der Bedeutung und Sensibilität der Informationen und / oder Daten, mit denen Smart Contracts täglich umgehen, ist es wichtig, ein besseres Verständnis dafür zu erlangen, wie Smart Contracts tatsächlich funktionieren, welche Funktionen sie ausführen und wie sie im Ethereum-Netzwerk miteinander verbunden sind. In dieser Arbeit wird ein Ansatz für das Clustering von Smart Contracts auf Ethereum hinsichtlich der gemeinsamen Funktionalität vorgeschlagen, das die Graphdatenbank Neo4j und andere Visualisierungsmethoden und / oder –werkzeuge verwendet. Es werden verschiedene Datensätze (Partitionen des kompletten Datensatzes an Smart Contracts auf Ethereum), sowie zwei Clustering- Ansätze verwendet, um einen besseren Einblick in die Funktionsweise von Smart Contracts zu erhalten und deren funktionale Ähnlichkeiten zu verstehen.
Cryptocurrencies are used not only as a payment instrument but also as a speculative and investment instrument. In the context of their use, the question arises of how and whether they should be taxed. The aim of the paper is to analyse and to assess the taxation of income from the cryptocurrency operations from the perspective of a non-business natural person in compliance with the Act on Income Taxes in the Czech Republic, concurrently to find out the attitude of young future economists familiar with cryptocurrencies to this tax issue and to identify socioeconomic factors influencing their attitude. For this purpose, an online questionnaire survey was conducted among economists aged 19-35 years in May 2019. A total of 269 responses were obtained and evaluated using descriptive statistics and ordinal regression. While, according to the effective law, income from all cryptocurrency operations is to be taxed, the results show that most of the respondents (44.98%) would tax the income depending on how cryptocurrencies are used.
Joshua Ellul, Jonathan Galea, Max Ganado, Stephen McCarthy · 5 authors
Abstract Blockchain, Smart Contracts and other forms of Distributed Ledger Technology provide means to ensure that processes are verifiable, transparent, and tamper-proof. Yet the very same enabling features that bring decentralisation also pose challenges to providing protection for the various users and stakeholders. Most jurisdictions which have implemented regulatory frameworks in this area have focused on regulating the financial aspects of cryptocurrency-based operations. However, they have not addressed technology assurance requirements. In this paper we present a world-first technology regulatory framework.
There is a lot of excitement around Blockchain technology and its ability to disrupt many traditional industries and business practices. First invented as a part of Bitcoin’s underlying infrastructure, Blockchain technology offers a platform for decentralized and transparent transaction management between untrusting parties. Many believe this aspect of blockchain can revolutionize traditional supply chain practices typically involving many untrusting entities from the time raw material extraction to the final consumption of a finished product by the end consumer. While there have been many claims regarding its obvious benefits in Supply chain management, there are only few technical applications developed so far that are useful in real world scenarios. In this thesis, we review different real-world implementations of block chain technology in the supply chain domain, especially those that leverage smart contracts. Smart contract is a computer protocol that facilitates, verifies, enforces performance of a contract digitally using Blockchain technology. Since smart contracts are trackable, irreversible and allow performance of credible transactions without third parties, it can be deployed effectively to replace existing supply chain mechanisms that require working with an intermediate entity such as a bank that often comes with a price tag for their services. In this thesis, we present a framework to enable sale of goods between untrusting entities typically in different geographies leveraging smart contract technology that can effectively replace the "letter of credit" payment mechanism. An novel algorithm for dispute resolution is developed and a decentralized app (Dapp) is built and deployed on Ethereum block chain using smart contracts developed in Solidity. Last, we discuss the effectiveness of such a system, potential drawbacks or known security threats that may hinder the adoption of such an app in the real world.
Blockchain is drawing attention as rising technology with the advantages of security, transparency, and immutability by a decentralized network structure. However, blockchain technology is still an immature technology and lacks common standards. The researches on blockchain technology have been mainly focused on the financial sector but rarely applied to the supply chain in industry sectors. Especially, the blockchain technologies developed by technology entrepreneurs are still challenging to apply to an actual business due to a lack of understanding of the possibility of creating value. Therefore, it is necessary to provide technological entrepreneurs with an understanding of the business model and the feasibility of creating value with the new technology like blockchain. To address the issue, this study investigates how blockchain technology is effectively applicable and what value can be achieved from it. The purpose of this study is to analyze a livestock traceability system using blockchain technology and investigate its business model in terms of the value proposition, value delivery, and value creation. This study would provide insights into the business value creation of blockchain technology.
Ricardo Colomo‐Palacios, Mary Sánchez‐Gordón, Daniel Arias Aranda
Abstract Blockchain is considered as a major emerging technology that is having an ever‐increasing spread both in industrial and academic contexts. As the usage of blockchain keeps increasing, a fourth generation of blockchain platforms is being proposed. Thus, applications of blockchain have evolved towards wider scopes than cryptocurrency and asset management. In this context, it is important for practitioners to have deep understanding of various blockchain assessment initiatives. Therefore, this work discusses blockchain assessment initiatives from a technology evolution viewpoint. Furthermore, a mapping was conducted to identify factors that impact blockchain initiatives, synthesize available evidence, and identify gaps between relevant approaches available in the literature. As a result, nine selected works were analyzed based on applicability, research approach, assessment process, blockchain adoption process, and blockchain waves. The findings can help practitioners to understand the main assessment factors that undermine blockchain implementations.
Federation of services, as a 5G networks concept, aims to provide orchestration of services across multiple administrative domains. In this paper, we are exploring a solution of applying distributed ledger technologies, precisely the combination of blockchain and smart contracts, to enable highly secure, private, fast and distributed interaction between administrative domains in the federation process. Along with the designed solution, we developed an experimental prototype that requires simple one‐time setup and fast simultaneous registration time for multiple administrative domains. Obtained results show single service federation times (without considering the deployment time) of around 5 seconds.
The article presents a comparative legal analysis of the modern legal regulation of the multidimensionality of digital electronic currency in BRICS countries. It assesses the possibility of civil circulation of a digital property right as an economic and legal segment without clear legal regulation. It analyzes the judicial practice related to confidentiality, acquisition, and trading of virtual currency. The article justifies the ability to integrate a single digital currency – CRYPTOBRICS, a single equivalent for all payments in the form of cryptocurrency within the framework of BRICS for settlements and increase in the trade exchange volume on these international platforms. This will provide for the legalization and consolidation of the legal framework of cryptocurrency within the context of objects of civil rights, allowing BRICS members to become regulatory leaders in the field of digital assets. We formulated a proposal to create an international agreement defining the parameters of the digital currency issue based on blockchain technology for interstate transactions, which allows the BRICS counties to establish the next stage of their mutual integration for the free trade zone and the customs union. Unifying the civil circulation of cryptocurrency and using the platform of modern non-monetary digital circulation as our foundation, we concluded that BTC can be classified as a type of digital property right. The article justified the theoretical definition of digital property right in the form of cryptocurrency as a resource stored in a device or electronic system which allows the end user to complete transactions using virtual currency and denominated in another payment unit, as opposed to currencies issued by sovereign states. We suggested that insurance companies be insured against all possible risks associated with cryptocurrency circulation and cybersecurity as a civil measure to protect the order of intangible digital codes – cryptocurrencies.
Summary There has been a huge increase in interest in blockchain technology. However, little is known about the drivers behind the adoption of this technology. In this article we identify and analyze these drivers, using six real‐world and representative scenarios. We confirm in our analysis that blockchain is not an appropriate technology for some scenarios, from a purely technical point of view. The choice for blockchain technology in such scenarios may therefore seem as an irrational choice. However, our analysis reveals that there are nontechnical drivers at play that drive the adoption of blockchain, such as philosophical beliefs, network effects, and economic incentives. These nontechnical drivers may explain the rationality behind the choice for blockchain adoption.
First paragraphs: Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. The maxim is so perfectly self-evident, that it would be absurd to attempt to prove it. —Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations (1776) Introduction In today’s global food system, where the concentration of both economic and political power is self-evident, the maxim of consumer sovereignty is in great need of proof. In Montana, where we live, we have the great fortune to buy grass-finished certified organic beef from a rancher almost literally in our own backyard. We know the supplier of our food not only as a producer, but as a friend. This rancher can easily garner from us, and his other costumers, our preferences. In a sense, we drive the rancher’s production methods and pricing. Even though we insist on organic certification, it is largely on the basis of trust and friendship that we return to purchase from him over and over for our family’s beef supply. . . . See the press release for this article.