The purpose of the research is to explore the latest trends in blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption. Cryptocurrency has been drawing the attention of individual investors. Although institutional investors had been hesitant to invest in cryptocurrencies due to lack of clarity regarding regulations, recent legislation encouraged them to add cryptocurrency to their investment portfolios. However, blockchain the underlying technology of cryptocurrency, has also drawn the attention of both companies and researchers. The aim of this study is to identify the latest trends through an analysis of publications on blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption. To achieve that, the study adopts a bibliometric approach by using both VOSviewer and Bibliometrix programs after obtaining the required dataset from Web of Science (WOS). The results exhibit the latest trends as well as both qualitative and quantitative statistics, such as the growth rate, density and relations among different studies on the subject.
Abstract The growth of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Real-World Asset (RWA)-backed stablecoins in emerging economies has raised growing concern regarding their potential impact on the systemic stability of the traditional financial system. RWA tokenization reached USD 36 billion in 2026, and its concentration in private credit and U.S. Treasury bonds configures a bidirectional risk transmission channel between the crypto ecosystem and the regulated banking system. This study aims to quantitatively analyze the systemic contagion risk between DeFi and traditional banking in the Peruvian context, and to propose a tiered regulatory framework adapted to the country's institutional particularities, integrating the supervisory role of SUNAT, the consumer protection role of INDECOPI, and the prudential supervision of the SBS. A sequential-explanatory mixed-methods design (QUAN→qual) was employed based on: systematic review of 47 studies with verified DOI (2020–2026); financial contagion network analysis through betweenness centrality metrics; a comparative risk matrix with 12 quantified dimensions; and documentary study of the current Peruvian regulatory framework. Results reveal that the DeFi + RWA ecosystem concentrates 68% of its assets in illiquid instruments, presents tail correlations of 0.73 with traditional markets during stress episodes (TerraUSD 2022, First Brands 2025), and that the DeFi + RWA contagion risk profile reaches 4.8 out of 5. In the Peruvian context, SUNAT's 30% tax rate on crypto assets generates disincentives to formalization, driving an informal market estimated at USD 450 million annually. A three-level regulatory framework is proposed: (1) 100% reserve requirement in liquid assets supervised by SBS; (2) differentiated 15% taxation for SUNAT-regulated stablecoins; and (3) INDECOPI consumer protection mechanisms within a maximum of 30 days. Gradual implementation of this architecture would reduce systemic contagion risk by 38% and increase crypto asset tax collection by 42% annually.
Lei Yu, Jingyuan Zhang, Xin Wang, Li Yang · 6 authors
Smart contracts automate the management of high-value assets, where vulnerabilities can lead to catastrophic financial losses. In the task of automated smart contract generation using Large Language Models (LLMs), this challenge is amplified by two interconnected failures: first, they operate as unauditable "black boxes" by failing to produce a transparent reasoning process, and second, as a consequence, they generate code riddled with critical security vulnerabilities. To address both issues, we propose SmartCoder-R1 based on Qwen2.5-Coder-7B, a novel framework for secure and explainable smart contract generation. It begins with Continual Pre-training (CPT) to specialize the base model on the nuances of smart contract code. To construct the data for subsequent stages, we first prompt the DeepSeek model to generate reasoning-and-code samples from verified on-chain contracts, followed by a rigorous validation process where each sample is manually reviewed by security experts for compilability, functionality, security, and reasoning completeness. Based on this, we then apply Long Chain-of-Thought Supervised Fine-Tuning (L-CoT SFT) on 7,998 of these expert-validated samples to train the model to emulate human security analysis. Finally, to directly mitigate vulnerabilities, we employ Security-Aware Group Relative Policy Optimization (S-GRPO), a reinforcement learning phase that refines the generation policy using 1,691 samples by optimizing a weighted reward signal for compilation success, security compliance, and format correctness. Evaluated against 18 state-of-the-art baselines on a challenging benchmark of 756 real-world functions from 289 deployed contracts, SmartCoder-R1 establishes a new state of the art by achieving top performance across five key metrics: a ComPass of 87.70%, a VulRate of 8.60%, a SafeAval of 80.16%, a FuncRate of 53.84%, and a FullRate of 50.53%. This FullRate marks a 45.79% relative improvement over the strongest baseline, DeepSeek-R1. Crucially, its generated reasoning also excels in human evaluations, achieving high-quality ratings for Functionality (82.7%), Security (85.3%), and Clarity (90.7%).
This study investigates the legal status of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) from an Islamic perspective. NFTs, as unique digital assets recorded on blockchain, raise complex questions in Shariah due to their intangible nature, potential for speculation, and content-related ethical concerns. The research analyses classical and contemporary juristic views, fatwas, and scholarly writings to determine whether NFTs can be classified as lawful property and traded accordingly. Findings reveal divergent scholarly opinions: some argue NFTs fulfill the requirements of a valid sale (bayʿ) and can be considered māl (property), while others highlight violations of key Islamic commercial principles, including uncertainty (gharar), unethical content, and the use of impermissible cryptocurrencies. This paper proposes a middle-ground view of conditional permissibility in which NFTs are deemed Shariah-compliant only if the underlying content, transaction method, and purpose align with Islamic legal and ethical standards. The study offers a framework for Muslim stakeholders to evaluate NFTs based on content, ownership, contract clarity, and societal benefit, supporting a responsible and principled engagement with digital assets.
This article proposes a contemporary and innovative approach to portfolio efficiency, aiming to approximate a state of antifragility during periods of heightened geopolitical uncertainty and accelerated technological transformation. The multidisciplinary analysis draws on academic literature, European regulatory frameworks (such as MiCA), reports from international institutions including the World Economic Forum and the International Monetary Fund, as well as conceptual and technical documentation developed by leading platforms in the Web3 ecosystem. In preparing for the transition into a new technological era, the authors present a framework for real estate tokenization through converting property ownership into NFTs and using these tokens as collateral for lending in digital currencies. This approach addresses the problem of low real-estate liquidity and creates conditions for democratizing investment by enabling a low entry threshold and fractional ownership. The model’s antifragility is demonstrated through quantitative analysis, including an evaluation of portfolio volatility and efficiency based on Markowitz theory and the Sharpe ratio, with the results confirming the logic of Taleb’s barbell strategy. The study supports the potential for Bulgaria to position itself as an innovative regional hub for the development of Web3 and the tokenization of real-world assets.
As blockchain technology and smart contracts gain widespread adoption, ensuring their security is essential to prevent financial and operational risks. Detecting vulnerabilities in smart contracts using automated techniques provides a reliable and scalable solution. This study utilizes the Smart Contract Vulnerabilities Dataset from Kaggle, containing annotated smart contracts with labeled vulnerabilities. Preprocessing includes tokenization and exploratory data analysis to extract meaningful textual patterns. Deep learning models such as LSTM and BERT are trained and evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. To further improve detection performance, BERT embeddings are combined with BiLSTM and CNN + LSTM architectures. A Flask-based user interface enables real-time vulnerability prediction. Experimental results show that the CNN + LSTM model outperforms all other models, achieving 95 percent accuracy and demonstrating strong capability in identifying smart contract vulnerabilities.
The expansion of blockchain technology has given rise to a range of new digital assets that are significantly changing the way people behave and invest today. Cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have come to be considered the main elements of digital financial markets, with an ever-increasing involvement of young people. The economic framework of tokenomics that controls the creation, distribution, utility, and governance of tokens is among the key factors influencing how value is perceived and how investors behave today. The paper delves into the relationship between tokenomics and the youth investment decisions within digital ecosystems. Through the analysis of blockchain features, token supply mechanisms, financial literacy level, influence of social media, and the use of inferential statistics, the research reveals the manner in which young investors in Macedonia understand and handle digital assets. Additionally, the paper investigates how technology and behavioral aspects influence their investment choices. Findings contribute to the area of digital economy and platform-based finance by pointing out that economic design, openness, and education are the main factors for the continued involvement of the young generation in the markets through the use of blockchains. The token economy, through its influence on finance, changes the design of the digital ecosystem by channeling digital capital from young people. Young Macedonian investors are far from just speculative players. In fact, they are ecosystem participants who evaluate structural economic design.
Yaiza Cabedo, Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, Fabian Schär, Nicolas Zhang
This paper examines how tokenization and distributed ledger technology may transform Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs) by enabling smart contracts to perform a growing share of functions traditionally undertaken by central securities depositories, central counterparties, and trade repositories. It argues that while record-keeping, settlement, collateral management, and reporting can increasingly be executed on-chain, key functions requiring legal certainty, governance, accountability, and discretion remain institutional in nature. The analysis assesses which activities across issuance, clearing, settlement, and reporting can migrate to code, where limitations persist, and how risks evolve in tokenized environments. It finds that tokenization is more likely to reconfigure than eliminate FMIs, creating new efficiencies while introducing novel operational and governance risks. The most plausible outcome is a hybrid FMI model in which technology and institutions jointly provide the trust, resilience, and oversight required for financial stability.
Il contributo analizza l’evoluzione delle piattaforme digitali di pagamento nel passaggio dai modelli del Web2 alle prospettive del Web3, con particolare attenzione alle ricadute per i consumatori, gli operatori e le autorità di vigilanza. L’Autore ricostruisce le principali trasformazioni del settore dei pagamenti, segnato dalla convergenza tra innovazione tecnologica, nuove discipline europee, esigenze di sicurezza, contenimento delle frodi e tutela della fiducia degli utenti. Il saggio approfondisce il ruolo del nuovo pacchetto normativo europeo sui servizi di pagamento, con riferimento alla PSD3 e al Payment Services Regulation, evidenziando le criticità connesse alla responsabilità dei prestatori di servizi di pagamento, alla colpa grave dell’utente, all’educazione finanziaria e alla crescente rilevanza dei servizi tecnici abilitanti, dei digital wallet e delle BigTech. Particolare attenzione è dedicata all’euro digitale, considerato come possibile ponte tra Web2 e Web3 e come strumento per preservare il ruolo della moneta pubblica nell’ecosistema digitale. Il contributo esamina infine le stablecoins, mettendo a confronto l’approccio prudenziale europeo, fondato su MiCA, stabilità finanziaria e sovranità monetaria, con l’impostazione statunitense più orientata al mercato. In conclusione, viene sottolineata la centralità di un enforcement coerente, coordinato e multilivello, capace di bilanciare innovazione, certezza del diritto, tutela dei consumatori e stabilità del sistema dei pagamenti. The contribution analyses the evolution of digital payment platforms in the transition from Web2 models to Web3 perspectives, with particular attention to the implications for consumers, operators and supervisory authorities. The Author reconstructs the main transformations affecting the payment sector, shaped by the convergence of technological innovation, new European rules, security needs, fraud prevention and the protection of users’ trust. The essay examines the role of the new European regulatory package on payment services, with reference to PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation, highlighting the issues related to the liability of payment service providers, the concept of gross negligence of users, financial education and the growing importance of enabling technical services, digital wallets and BigTech companies. Particular attention is devoted to the digital euro, considered as a possible bridge between Web2 and Web3 and as a tool to preserve the role of public money in the digital ecosystem. The contribution also explores stablecoins, comparing the European prudential approach, based on MiCA, financial stability and monetary sovereignty, with the more market-driven approach adopted in the United States. In conclusion, the essay emphasizes the central role of coherent, coordinated and multi-level enforcement, capable of balancing innovation, legal certainty, consumer protection and the stability of the payment system.
Blockchain technology has evolved from a nascent peer-to-peer payment system into a paradigm-shifting digital trust infrastructure, fundamentally challenging conventional centralised models. However, a deep understanding of the fundamental technical aspects behind the popularity of crypto assets remains limited. This study aims to: (1) analyse the fundamental architecture of blockchain; (2) evaluate tokenisation mechanisms; and (3) conduct a comparative analysis of its characteristics against traditional database systems. The research employs a qualitative descriptive method utilising a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach to synthesise technical literature published between 2023 and 2025. The analysis focuses on consensus mechanisms, the architectural transition from monolithic to modular systems (Layer-2 scaling), and the measurement of decentralisation using the Nakamoto Coefficient. The results indicate that: (1) blockchain offers distinct advantages in data integrity (immutability) and censorship resistance through a distributed append-only ledger structure, standing in sharp contrast to the CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) model of relational databases; and (2) recent innovations such as Zero-Knowledge Proofs and Optimistic Rollups serve as critical solutions to the "Blockchain Trilemma" (balancing scalability, security, and decentralization). This study concludes that blockchain is not an absolute replacement for conventional databases, but rather a specialised solution for ecosystems that require high transparency and "trustless" interactions without a central authority.
The financial sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has become increasingly important in the context of economic volatility, technological disruption, and growing sustainability demands. However, existing studies remain fragmented and often examine financial, organizational, technological, and environmental factors in isolation. This study systematically reviews 49 articles indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases published between 2014 and 2026 to identify the dominant determinants, thematic patterns, and conceptual structure of financial sustainability in SMEs. Using the PRISMA protocol and NVivo-based bibliometric and thematic analyses, this study examines publication trends, geographic distribution, lexical structures, and thematic relationships across the literature. The results show that research is concentrated primarily in Asia and Europe, reflecting increasing scholarly attention to financial literacy, governance quality, resilience, digital transformation, FinTech adoption, ESG practices, and green finance. Thematic synthesis reveals three interconnected pillars—Internal Capability, Adaptive Resilience, and Digital–Green Transformation—which collectively form an architecture of endurance framework that explains how SMEs maintain financial viability under conditions of uncertainty and change. This framework advances prior reviews by integrating organizational capability, resilience-building mechanisms, and sustainability-oriented transformation into a unified model of financial sustainability for SMEs. Practically, the findings highlight the importance of strengthening financial literacy, governance quality, risk management capability, digital adoption, and sustainability-oriented financing, while emphasizing the role of policy support and financial inclusion in fostering SME resilience. Future research should further explore the implications of generative artificial intelligence, blockchain-based finance, and decentralized finance (DeFi) on SME financial sustainability.
Anas Azenzoul, Nacer MAHOUAT, Ouissale El Gharbaoui, Jihane Tayazime · 6 authors
Tax systems worldwide face a compliance gap that OECD data places at USD 100–240 billion annually in corporate avoidance alone, before accounting for the shadow economy and crypto-asset transactions. FinTech mandatory e-invoicing, real-time transaction matching, and machine-learning audit selection is narrowing the informational conditions that enable evasion, while simultaneously introducing governance risks: opaque algorithmic audit targeting, contested blockchain forensic evidence, and the surveillance potential of programmable money. This article presents a PRISMA 2020 systematic literature review of 59 peer-reviewed articles (Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect), complemented by IRAMUTEQ lexicometric analysis and an extension of the Allingham Sandmo compliance model to incorporate algorithmic detection probabilities, bomb-crater belief dynamics, and Zero-Knowledge Proof verification. Four thematic clusters emerge: tax compliance behaviour and FinTech adoption (19.92%), digital transformation and corporate performance (35.34%), bibliometric and emerging-technology research (16.54%), and cryptocurrency markets and regulatory challenges (28.20%). Across them, FinTech reduces evasion where institutional and technical conditions allow but generates distributional, evidentiary, and constitutional risks that existing legal frameworks have yet to resolve. In response, we propose the Techno-Legal Due Process Framework (TLDPF) three pillars (Techno-Proportionality, Cryptographic Burden of Proof, and Algorithmic Constitutionalism) grounded in EU/OECD constitutional doctrine as a normative design proposal awaiting empirical validation.
Objective: This study examines the legal and procedural challenges posed by decentralised finance (DeFi) technologies to the anti-money laundering framework in Iraq, The research problem lies in the clear regulatory gap resulting from the decentralised nature of these platforms, which relies on smart contract technology and blockchain to eliminate the need for traditional financial intermediaries; this decentralised nature hinders the ability of Iraq’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Law No. 39 of 2015 to control cryptocurrency flows and establish criminal liability in this context,، Method: The study adopted a comparative analytical approach, analysing the text of Iraqi legislation and comparing it with the operating mechanisms of decentralised finance platforms, whilst also examining the extent to which it complies with the updated international standards issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) In particular, with regard to Recommendation No. 15, Results: the study reached a number of important conclusions, the most notable of which is that the current legal definitions of funds and financial institutions in Iraq are outdated, thereby limiting the ability of regulatory bodies to track virtual assets, Novelty: The study also identified procedural shortcomings in the handling of encrypted digital evidence and recommended urgent legislative reforms, including the regulation and oversight of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) through the establishment of a dedicated institutional framework.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengevaluasi penggunaan cryptocurrency sebagai metode pembayaran zakat yang halal di Malaysia, dengan mengeksplorasi kesesuaiannya dengan prinsip-prinsip Islam sambil mempertimbangkan inovasi teknologi dan kepatuhan syariah untuk pembayaran zakat yang efisien dan transparan. Pendekatan kualitatif digunakan, melibatkan tinjauan pustaka dan analisis regulasi terkait fatwa Malaysia, peraturan keuangan, serta sumber akademis tentang keuangan Islam dan cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency dapat berfungsi sebagai sarana halal untuk zakat jika memenuhi kriteria syariah seperti transparansi, kepemilikan aset yang sah, serta menghindari gharar dan riba. Regulasi dan fatwa di Malaysia menunjukkan penerimaan yang berkembang di bawah pengawasan ketat; teknologi blockchain meningkatkan akuntabilitas distribusi zakat, meskipun volatilitas nilai dan pemahaman publik tetap menjadi tantangan utama. Integrasi cryptocurrency dapat memodernisasi sistem zakat, meningkatkan kepercayaan dan transparansi sekaligus memastikan kepatuhan syariah. Kolaborasi antara regulator, ulama Islam, dan pengembang fintech sangat penting untuk membangun ekosistem zakat digital yang inklusif dan dapat diakses oleh komunitas Muslim Malaysia. Studi ini menawarkan perspektif inovatif dengan menggabungkan analisis regulasi, teknologi, dan fiqh mengenai cryptocurrency halal untuk zakat di Malaysia, mengisi kekosongan penelitian tentang solusi keuangan Islam digital di pasar negara berkembang.
Deniz Erer, Tuna Can Güleç, Özge Korkmaz, Elif Erer
Rapid developments in blockchain, decentralized finance, and tokenization have raised the question of whether Sukuk can complement technology-based financial assets. This study compares the time-varying efficiency and multifractal dynamics of Sukuk indices, DeFi tokens, lending and borrowing tokens, and a FinTech index from May 25, 2020, to November 29, 2023. Using TGARCH, nonlinearity and long-memory tests, MF-DFA, and MF-DCCA, the study examines shock persistence, asymmetric volatility, market efficiency, and cross-market dependence. The findings show that negative shocks increase volatility more strongly than positive shocks and that all markets display nonlinear and multifractal behavior. Sukuk indices, particularly RMENA and RDJSUKUK, show lower market deficiency values than most technology-based assets. However, persistent cross-correlations indicate that Sukuk is not a direct substitute for these assets. Rather, Sukuk may serve as a relatively stable and efficient complementary asset in technology-exposed portfolios.Key Words: Sukuk, DeFi assets, Tokenization, Financial Economics, MF-DFA, MF-DCCAJEL Classification: F65, E44, G15, C58
This study presents the design and implementation of a blockchain-based decentralized portfolio management system that enables secure, immutable, and transparent storage of user records. The system is developed using Ethereum smart contracts and evaluated within a testing environment consisting of Remix IDE, Ganache, and MetaMask. The proposed architecture allows authorized actors to create records while enabling users to access and verify their data through blockchain-based identity mechanisms. Experimental results, based on gas consumption and insertion-time measurements, demonstrate that although smart contract deployment incurs relatively high initial costs, routine operations such as record insertion and retrieval remain efficient and predictable. The findings highlight the practical feasibility of the proposed system, while also revealing challenges related to scalability, cost variability, and system usability.
In the digital revolution driven by blockchain technology, smart contracts emerge as a paradigm-shifting tool, poised to redefine traditional business practices across multiple domains. smart contracts stand as a cornerstone of innovation, promising to revolutionize the way we engage in business trustlessly. Driven by the pioneering spirit of exploration, this research delves into the expansive realm of smart contract use cases and applications, seeking to unveil the transformative potential they hold. Through meticulous analysis and case studies, this research illuminates the diverse array of scenarios where smart contracts can revolutionize processes, enhance accountability, and streamline operations in sectors such as finance, supply chain management, healthcare, and government services. By fostering collaboration and innovation, we seek to unlock the full potential of smart contracts, ushering in a new era of efficiency, integrity, and trust in the digital age while illuminating the path towards unlocking the untapped opportunities presented by smart contracts, reshaping the future of digital economies and organizational paradigms. Areas of application like decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-Fungible Token (NFT), Regenerative Finance (ReFi) and many more where all discussed extensively.
Decentralized finance exposes supervisors to fast-moving, networked credit risks. General-purpose LLM agents fit this setting poorly: they over-read weak evidence and recommend high-stakes interventions, while existing evaluations offer no regulator-aligned way to measure the resulting false alarms. We introduce DeXposure-Claw, a forecast-grounded agentic supervision system that routes LLM decisions through structured evidence: (1) DeXposure-FM, a graph time-series foundation model, forecasts future exposure networks; (2) deterministic monitors and stress scenarios then turn those forecasts into typed alerts, attribution signals, and scenario evidence; and (3) data-health and confidence gates constrain escalation before DeXposure-Claw emits auditable supervisory tickets with rationales. We further develop DeXposure-Bench, a six-axis evaluation harness, whose decision axis scores tickets against a regulator-aligned absolute-loss ground truth and an explicit false-intervention rate. Experiments on five years of weekly real data fully support our system. Code is at https://github.com/EVIEHub/DeXposure-Claw.
Traditional philanthropic organizations often suffer from lim ited transparency, where donors have minimal visibility into how their contributions are utilized after donation [1,14]. To addressthisissue, this paper presents NGO-Chain, a hybrid Web3 platform designed to im prove accountability and transparency in charitable fund management. The proposed system utilizes a milestone-based conditional escrow mech anism in which donated funds are locked within blockchain smart con tracts and released incrementally only after administrative verification of uploaded proof documents stored on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) [4,5]. The architecture combines React-based frontend interfaces, Spring Boot middleware, decentralized IPFS storage, and Ethereum/Polygon smart contracts to create a scalable hybrid infrastructure capable of supporting real-time public transaction monitoring [14,12]. In addition, the platform integrates donor reputation tracking and blockchain-backed transaction auditing to strengthen trust between donors and NGOs [6,7]. By com bining decentralized financial management with milestone verification workflows, NGO-Chain provides a secure and transparent framework for milestone-driven charitable donations while reducing dependency on cen tralized trust mechanisms.
The rapidly expanding landscape of Web3 and the metaverse profoundly accentuates the escalating challenge of rigorously assessing and strategically selecting foundational Layer-1 digital blockchain platforms. Decision-makers frequently contend with the imperative of rational choice amidst a complex confluence of often conflicting technological attributes. This study directly addresses this critical exigency by utilizing robust benchmarking and validation for the comparative ranking of 10 prominent blockchain platforms. By applying a suite of five established multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, namely TOPSIS, ARAS, RAPS, RAMS, and RATMI, a comprehensive evaluation is undertaken, scrutinizing performance across three pivotal criteria categories: performance/scalability, security, and economic/activity. The weights for the entire criteria set were determined using the objective entropy method. Using the entropy approach to determine weights based on randomness, the criteria weights were determined as follows: Speed 12.9%, Market Cap 7.2%, Hash Rate 43.7%, Time to Finality 12.1%, Total Transactions 10.8%, and Number of Nodes 13.3%. The empirical analysis consistently identifies Bitcoin as the top-ranking platform, securing first position across all five MCDM methodologies. This finding validates its unparalleled robustness and security based on the defined criteria. Hyperliquid and Sui also emerged as exemplary performers, consistently exhibiting strong aggregate scores and securing second and third positions, respectively. Conversely, other blockchains, such as the BNB Chain and Tron, demonstrated significant ranking volatility across the different evaluation methods. This study provides a validated, data-driven benchmarking tool, offering stakeholders a transparent framework for strategic decision-making. This application contributes to the conceptual accuracy of evaluating sustainable digital infrastructure.
A current, urgent problem is whether the price behavior pattern of significant quantities of digital assets reflects a single direction trend line or multiple phases that exhibit different structures, adjusted inter-asset relationship differences, and changes in management systems, given the growing importance of digital assets in investment portfolios and collateral holdings, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), new forms of financial activities, and system risks over the period from 2020 through 2025. Because of this period’s post-pandemic recovery, speculative overextension, sharp decline, stabilization, and the re-entry of large-scale institutions into practice, these changes in prices are more clearly identified under such a context. Empirically, this study integrates descriptive statistics, rolling volatility analysis, augmented Dickey–Fuller’s unit-root test, segmented trend regression model with structural breaks, and vector autoregression (VAR) for return interactions. Based on these bases, both Bitcoin and Ethereum have demonstrated a relatively strong direction of continuous appreciation, together with quite considerable regime-specific instability. The log-price series is non-stationary, but the daily return series is stationary; so a level model is appropriate for medium-term trend analysis, and returns-based models can be applied more flexibly at shorter timespans. The segmented trend-regression analysis shows that close to peaks, such as those that occurred in 2021 for a long period, the 2022 correction, and the resumption of investment in 2024, are relatively distinct from the overall linear change pattern across all time periods. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum display pronounced contemporaneous co-movement, but they show no substantial lags via VAR or Granger causality tests conducted in the context of time-varying parameters. This study employs an integrated empirical research approach based on various perspectives to explore the long-term structural adjustment and near-instantaneous cross-market relationship dynamics, as well as regulatory mechanisms within a systemic context.
Measuring and rewarding distributed productive contribution remains unsolved: GDP-era indicators miss digital commons, and existing token economies systematically reward speculation over contribution. We address this problem by formally specifying VitaChain, a protocol for verified productive value. Our contributions are threefold. (i)Theoretically, we introduce a quadratic-form asset scoring system with a diversity-corrected aggregate index (nvpvi), multi-source consensus-weighted attribution, and a four-class parameter governance system with constitutional invariants. (ii)Architecturally, we propose a dual-token design separating soulbound contribution records (pc{) from transferable value tokens (vt), governed by Proof-of-Productivity (PoP) with dual-track decay to prevent plutocracy. (iii)Empirically, we characterize six protocol properties through simulation-based consistency checks under synthetic ensembles ($n \geq 50$ trials per configuration): \pop{}-weighted voting reduces top-1\% governance influence 2.8$\times$ versus token-weighted voting (under the assumption that contribution is less concentrated than wealth); temporal decay illustrates how the chosen decay bands translate into a 39$\times$ long-horizon value gap between maintained and unmaintained assets at year 20; and Progressive Trust with $\sigma{=}50$ limits Sybil inclusion-pool capture to below 3.5\% of pool capacity. Sybil attribution shift remains within the theoretically derived bound across all configurations. The privacy architecture---blockchain hashes only, zero-knowledge verification bridges, federated off-chain storage---is designed to target GDPR Article~17 requirements, subject to legal interpretation. All experiments operate on synthetic asset ensembles; results characterize the behavior of the formalism rather than real-world deployment outcomes.