Integrity and transparency in electoral procedures are essential for the actual functioning of democratic countries. The present voting systems often face numerous issues such as vote rigging, counterfeit ballots, lack of transparency, and inefficiencies. Blockchain-enabled voting systems are promising, but they face challenges in maintaining public trust due to technical concerns, such as transparency, security, privacy, and scalability. The architecture of a Hyperledger-based framework is proposed to design and construct a robust and secure prototype for a blockchain-enabled voting system. Effective algorithms for key electoral processes such as identity management for voter authentication, vote casting, vote counting and vote tallying, using multi-signature validation are deployed. Contemporary cryptographic techniques, such as zero-knowledge proofs, homographic encryption, and digital signatures, ensure that votes are encrypted and anonymized, protecting voter privacy and facilitating a verifiable election process. Through an exploratory work, the recommended prototype using Hyperledger Fabric is compared with conventional electoral systems based on key parameters. This study demonstrates that a blockchain-based election system is able to maintain the integrity and efficiency of state-of-the-art technology by recommending a robust and secure prototype for conducting transparent and verifiable elections.
Michaël Allouche, Mnacho Echenim, Emmanuel Gobet, Anne-Claire Maurice
ABSTRACT We study price aggregation methodologies applied to crypto‐currency prices with quotations fragmented on different platforms. An intrinsic difficulty is that the price returns and volumes are heavy‐tailed, with many outliers, making averaging and aggregation challenging. While conventional methods rely on volume‐weighted average prices (called VWAPs), or volume‐weighted median prices (called VWMs), we develop a new robust weighted median (RWM) estimator that is robust to price and volume outliers. Our study is based on new probabilistic concentration inequalities for weighted means and weighted quantiles under different tail assumptions (heavy tails, sub‐gamma tails, sub‐Gaussian tails). This justifies that fluctuations of VWAP and VWM are statistically important given the heavy‐tailed properties of volumes and/or prices. We show that our RWM estimator overcomes this problem and also satisfies all the desirable properties of a price aggregator. We illustrate the behavior of RWM on synthetic data (within a parametric model close to real data): Our estimator achieves a statistical accuracy twice as good as its competitors, and also allows to recover realized volatilities in a very accurate way. Tests on real data are also performed and confirm the good behavior of the estimator on various use cases.
Urooj Waheed, Sadiq Ali Khan, Muhammad I. Masud, Huma Jamshed · 6 authors
The adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) in smart household energy systems offers new opportunities for efficiency and automation, while also posing substantial security challenges. These systems utilize diverse standards and protocols to autonomously access, collect, and share energy-related data over distributed networks. However, this interconnectivity increases their vulnerability to cyber threats, making the system vulnerable to cyber threats. The literature reveals numerous cases of cyberattacks on IoT-based energy infrastructures, primarily involving unauthorized access, data breaches, and device exploitation. Therefore, designing a robust ecosystem with secure and efficient access control (AC), while safeguarding user functionality and privacy, is essential. This paper proposes a dynamic attribute-based access control (ABAC) model that leverages a hybrid blockchain architecture to enhance security and trust in smart household energy systems. The proposed architecture integrates Hyperledger Fabric for managing user, resource, and device attributes using smart contracts, while Hyperledger Besu enforces decentralized access policies. Additionally, a trust recalibration mechanism dynamically adjusts access permissions based on behavioral analysis, mitigating unauthorized access risks and improving energy system adaptability. Experimental results demonstrate the model’s effectiveness in securing IoT smart home energy, while ensuring seamless device onboarding and efficient access control.
ABSTRACT Assuring environmental sustainability is essential for the continuity of the ecosystem. Every sector of the economy has some degree of impact on environmental sustainability. The United Nations (UN)’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have placed these objectives within a broader global framework, offering a global plan aimed at ensuring environmental sustainability. This study assesses the role of cryptocurrency mining on environmental sustainability, incorporating monthly data for the period from 2015 to 2023. In this context, the impact of the electrical energy consumed in Bitcoin mining, which has the largest transaction volume among cryptocurrencies, and the climate policy uncertainty on Bitcoin greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are examined by applying dynamic stimulated autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) and kernel‐based regularized least squares (KRLS) methods. The results of the empirical analysis indicate that the increase in Bitcoin electricity consumption and climate policy uncertainty have a significant negative impact on Bitcoin GHG emissions. Put another way, cryptocurrency mined using fossil fuels and climate policy uncertainty poses a considerable threat to environmental sustainability. These findings are crucial for policy makers and all stakeholders who want to achieve environmental sustainability goals to develop proactive proposals. It is also highlighted that Bitcoin mining should bring environmental regulations that can mitigate environmental degradation.
Noor Ul Ain Afzal, Muhammad Kamran Abid, Muhammad Fuzail, Naeem Aslam · 5 authors
Ponzi schemes have surfaced on the Ethereum platform as blockchain technology continues to gain traction. Using smart contracts, these schemes, also referred to as smart Ponzi schemes, have caused significant financial losses and adverse effects. Byte code features, op code characteristics, account qualities, and smart contract transaction behavior are the main focus areas for current Ethereum smart Ponzi scheme detection techniques. However, these methods often do not record the behavioral features of the Ponzi scheme, resulting in high false alarm rates and poor identification accuracy. In this study, we provide the source P. Source P is a unique way of knowing intelligent Ponzi schemes on the Ethereum platform, passed by dataflow. Using the intelligent contract's source code as a function eliminates the difficulty of collecting data and extracting functions from available identification methods. In particular, we convert the code into statistical flow diagrams, apply educated models, and use code representations to create classification models for the detection of Ponzi schemes. Experimental results show that SourceP outperforms cutting-edge technology in terms of sustainability and effectiveness, achieving an F1 score of 92.4% and a recall of 90.1% in Ethereum's smart Ponzi schema detection. Ponzi, Blockchain, Source Code, Intelligent Contracts.
Effectively managing umbilical cord blood (CB) data involves implementing precise attention and strategic solutions within the healthcare supply chain, driving notable advancements in registration, donation, and preservation compared to regular adult blood. These challenges encompass moral, practical, legal, and technical limitations, fostering a conducive environment for innovative thinking and progress. To ensure a fair and efficient process that improves patient experience, sustainability of the donated cord blood and trust, it is essential to have a peer-to-peer (P2P) umbilical cord blood donation management system. In this work, we propose a framework using the ethereum blockchain to facilitate decentralized, secure, traceable, auditable, accountable, transparent, and reliable management of umbilical cord blood procurement. We showcase the intricacies of our system architecture and sequence diagram, effectively illustrating the operational principles of our groundbreaking proposed solution in information management. At the core of our endeavor is the development of smart contracts, which includes the meticulous processes of algorithm generation, precise implementation, comprehensive testing, and thorough validation. Our rigorous evaluation aims to establish the superior efficacy of our proposed solution through in-depth vulnerability analyses and comprehensive comparisons with existing alternatives.
Zacharoula Sereti, Emmanouil Mavrikos, Christos Cholevas, George E. Tsekouras
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets powered by blockchain technology, enabling secure and decentralized ownership and monetization across diverse industries. However, their energy consumption is primarily linked to energy-intensive consensus mechanisms and has raised significant environmental concerns. This survey provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution and use of token standards and blockchain workflows in developing green NFT technologies, emphasizing the transition to energy-efficient consensus mechanisms. By seamlessly blending technological acumen with a discerning gaze, the current analysis suggests that, apart from the blockchain consensus mechanisms, the environmental impact of NFTs should also be investigated and linked to certain blockchain factors such as interoperability, scalability, sustainability, and Layer-2 scaling solutions. As such, the current endeavor offers a perspective on the symbiotic relationship between blockchain and NFTs by identifying pathways to balance innovation with environmental stewardship. Finally, this paper offers valuable insights into the role of green NFTs in fostering sustainable digital economies by exploring under-represented applications in various economic and industrial domains.
Several prominent DAG-based blockchain protocols, such as DAG-Rider, Tusk, and Bullshark, completely separate between equivocation elimination and committing; equivocation is handled through the use of a reliable Byzantine broadcast black-box protocol, while committing is handled by an independent DAG-based protocol. With such an architecture, a natural question that we study in this paper is whether the DAG protocol would work when the number of nodes (or validators) is only $2f+1$ (when equivocation is eliminated), and whether there are benefits in working with larger number of nodes, i.e., a total of $kf+1$ nodes for $k > 3$. We find that while DAG-Rider's correctness is maintained with $2f+1$ nodes, the asynchronous versions of both Tusk and Bullshark inherently depends on having $3f+1$ nodes, regardless of equivocation. We also explore the impact of having larger number of nodes on the expected termination time of these three protocols.
This paper presents a condensed system architecture for a file transfer solution that leverages post quantum cryptography and blockchain to secure data against quantum threats. The architecture integrates NIST standardized algorithms CRYSTALS Kyber for encryption and CRYSTALS Dilithium for digital signatures with an immutable blockchain ledger to provide an auditable, decentralized storage mechanism. The system is modular, comprising a Sender module for secure encryption and signing, a central User Storage module for decryption, reencryption, and blockchain logging, and a Requestor module for authenticated data access. We include detailed pseudocode, analyze security risks, and offer performance insights to demonstrate the system's robustness, scalability, and transparency.
We present a design called Proof of Gradient Optimization (PoGO) for blockchain consensus, where miners produce verifiable evidence of training large-scale machine-learning models. Building on previous work, we incorporate quantized gradients (4-bit precision) to reduce storage and computation requirements, while still preserving the ability of verifiers to check that real progress has been made on lowering the model's loss. Additionally, we employ Merkle proofs over the full 32-bit model to handle large parameter sets and to enable random leaf checks with minimal on-chain data. We illustrate these ideas using GPT-3 (175B parameters) as a reference example and also refer to smaller but high-performance models (e.g., Gemma~3 with 27B parameters). We provide an empirical cost analysis showing that verification is significantly cheaper than training, thanks in part to quantization and sampling. We also discuss the necessity of longer block times (potentially hours) when incorporating meaningful training steps, the trade-offs when using specialized GPU hardware, and how binary diffs may incrementally optimize updates. Finally, we note that fine-tuning can be handled in a similar manner, merely changing the dataset and the manner of sampling but preserving the overall verification flow. Our protocol allows verifiers to issue either positive or negative attestations; these are aggregated at finalization to either confirm the update or slash the miner.
This paper introduces a game-theoretic model tailored for reward distribution on crowd-sourced computing platforms. It explores a repeated game framework where miners, as computation providers, decide their computation power contribution in each round, guided by the platform's designed reward distribution mechanism. The reward for each miner in every round is based on the platform's randomized task payments and the miners' computation transcripts. Specifically, it defines Opportunity-Cost-Driven Incentive Compatibility (OCD-IC) and Dynamic OCD-IC (DOCD-IC) for scenarios where strategic miners might allocate some computation power to more profitable activities, such as Bitcoin mining. The platform must also achieve Budget Balance (BB), aiming for a non-negative total income over the long term. This paper demonstrates that traditional Pay-Per-Share (PPS) reward schemes require assumptions about task demand and miners' opportunity costs to ensure OCD-IC and BB, yet they fail to satisfy DOCD-IC. The paper then introduces Pay-Per-Share with Subsidy (PPSS), a new reward mechanism that allows the platform to provide subsidies to miners, thus eliminating the need for assumptions on opportunity cost to achieve OCD-IC, DOCD-IC, and long-term BB.
The Solana blockchain was created by Anatoly Yakovenko of Solana Labs and was introduced in 2017, employing a novel transaction verification method. However, at the same time, the innovation process introduced some new security issues. The frequent security incidents in smart contracts have not only caused enormous economic losses, but also undermined the credit system based on the blockchain. The security and reliability of smart contracts have become a new focus of research both domestically and abroad. This paper studies the current status of security analysis of Solana by researching Solana smart contract security analysis tools. This paper systematically sorts out the vulnerabilities existing in Solana smart contracts and gives examples of some vulnerabilities, summarizes the principles of security analysis tools, and comprehensively summarizes and details the security analysis tools in Solana smart contracts. The data of Solana smart contract security analysis tools are collected and compared with Ethereum, and the differences are analyzed and some tools are selected for practical testing.
Diego Mazzitelli, Elia Fiorenza, Inès Belgacem, Carmelo Arena
Objective of this manuscript is both to tracing the evolution of money, and examining its transition from commodity money to fiat money, up to the emergence of cryptocurrencies. It highlights the inherent issues of the barter system, emphasizing the urgencies and necessities that favored the adoption of legal tender. Subsequently, the impact of the creation of the Euro on the European economy—both historically and geopolitically—will be analyzed, contextualizing the European Union's institutional process. In a response to the crisis, Bitcoin (the first decentralized cryptocurrency) will be introduced, along with an illustration of the supporting Blockchain technology will be provided. Finally, the proposal of American Senator Lummis, who suggests a massive purchase of Bitcoin to be used as a strategic reserve through the “Bitcoin Act” program, will be explored, prompting several reflections on the future of the petrodollar as a reserve instrument. Through these reflections, the reader could develop their own thoughts on the importance of evolving towards forms of money more suited to an increasingly digitized and decentralized economy. In conclusion, by proposing an analogy between the ancient monetary practices on Yap and cryptocurrencies, we aim to stimulate the reflection that innovation is not only desirable in this fast-paced world but essential.
Investment management firms face the critical challenge of maintaining accurate, timely, and consistent data across multiple business functions, with particular emphasis on two fundamental systems: the Investment Book of Record (IBOR) and the Accounting Book of Record (ABOR). While IBOR provides real-time investment intelligence for front-office decision-making, ABOR serves as the official financial record supporting regulatory compliance and reporting. The operational separation between these systems creates significant challenges including data reconciliation complexities, timing mismatches, valuation methodology differences, and corporate action processing issues. Leading firms are pursuing integration strategies such as unified data architecture, near real-time accounting, automated reconciliation tools, API-based integration, and cloud-based solutions. Emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, and outsourcing models are reshaping how investment operations address the IBOR-ABOR divide. These innovations occur against a backdrop of increasing regulatory demands and expanding multi-asset class strategies, driving a transformation in investment data management.
The evolution of regulatory compliance in the financial sector has transformed enterprise data systems from basic record-keeping tools into critical strategic assets. Financial institutions face mounting regulatory requirements across jurisdictions, necessitating sophisticated technological solutions to ensure compliance while maintaining operational efficiency. This article explores how integrated regulatory reporting systems consolidate disparate data sources, real-time monitoring capabilities enable proactive compliance management, and data lake architectures provide comprehensive audit trails. It examines blockchain and distributed ledger technology's role in enhancing transparency and traceability across various compliance domains, including KYC/AML processes, securities settlement, trade finance, and cross-border payments. The article also addresses integration challenges through API-first architectures, data governance frameworks, regulatory change management, and cloud-based platforms. Finally, it explores emerging innovations such as AI-powered regulatory intelligence, predictive analytics, regulatory-as-a-service models, and cross-institutional compliance networks that represent the future of enterprise data systems in regulatory
The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is transforming healthcare by seamlessly connecting medical devices, wearables, and sensors to enable personalized, real-time health monitoring and treatment for consumers. As IoMT continues to advance, ensuring the security and privacy of transmitted data has become a critical concern. Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising solution to enhance privacy and security, particularly in sensitive areas such as medical data within the Internet of Things. By integrating blockchain with IoT, secure transmission of medical data can be achieved, paving the way for improved healthcare services, enhanced consumer privacy, and accelerated medical advancements. In this paper, we propose EHRGuard: Enhancing Privacy and Security of Electronic Health Records through Blockchain Technology. EHRGuard is a novel system that leverages blockchain technology to address key challenges in the management of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), with a focus on improving privacy, security, and interoperability in healthcare data systems for consumers. The framework utilizes the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) to collect real-time health data from consumers through sensors and integrates blockchain technology to ensure data anonymity, security, and integrity. By combining IoMT and blockchain, EHRGuard enables the seamless and secure gathering of real-time health data, ensuring that sensitive information is protected from unauthorized access and tampering. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system outperforms traditional healthcare systems in terms of service quality and consumer data monitoring. This innovative approach not only enhances the security and privacy of EHRs but also fosters trust and efficiency in healthcare systems, ultimately benefiting consumers and advancing medical research and treatment.
Abstract This paper introduces semi-competitive differential game logic $$\textsf {dG}\mathcal {L}_{sc}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dG</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>sc</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , which enables verification of safety-critical applications that involve interactions between two agents. In $$\textsf {dG}\mathcal {L}_{sc}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dG</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>sc</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , these interactions are specified as games on hybrid systems with two players that may collaborate with each other when helpful and may compete when necessary. The players in the hybrid games of $$\textsf {dG}\mathcal {L}_{sc}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dG</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>sc</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> have individual goals that may overlap, leading to nonzero-sum games. This makes $$\textsf {dG}\mathcal {L}_{sc}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dG</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>sc</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> especially well-suited for verifying situations where players, e.g., share safety objectives but otherwise pursue different goals, so that zero-sum assumptions lead to overly conservative results. Additionally, $$\textsf {dG}\mathcal {L}_{sc}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dG</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>sc</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> solves the subtlety that even though each player may benefit from knowledge of the other player’s goals, e.g., concerning shared safety objectives, unsafe situations might still occur if every player were to mutually assume the other player would act to avoid unsafety. The syntax and semantics, as well as a sound and relatively complete proof calculus are presented for $$\textsf {dG}\mathcal {L}_{sc}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dG</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>sc</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . The relationship between $$\textsf {dG}\mathcal {L}_{sc}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dG</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>sc</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and zero-sum differential game logic $$\textsf {dG}\mathcal {L}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dG</mml:mi> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> is discussed and the purpose of $$\textsf {dG}\mathcal {L}_{sc}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dG</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>sc</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> illustrated in a canonical example.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platforms often require over-collateralization, excluding users without substantial crypto holdings. This paper introduces LFG, a novel DeFi protocol that leverages on-chain social profiles and tokenized reputation to assess creditworthiness. By integrating Ethereum smart contracts with Layer-2 solutions (Ethereum, Polygon), decentralized storage (IPFS) and zero-knowledge proofs, LFG enables undercollateralized loans while preserving privacy. We present a technical architecture, analyze security risks, and compare LFGs with traditional models using quantitative metrics. The results show a 40% reduction in collateral requirements for users with high reputation scores on the chain.
Penelitian ini mengeksplorasi implementasi teknologi blockchain melalui Non-Fungible Token (NFT) dalam sistem e-ticketing pada industri hiburan, khususnya untuk acara stand-up komedi. Dengan pendekatan riset pasar dan uji konsep, penelitian ini bertujuan mengidentifikasi manfaat, tantangan, dan peluang dari penerapan NFT untuk meningkatkan daya saing bisnis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa NFT dapat memberikan solusi inovatif dalam menjamin keamanan, keaslian, dan fleksibilitas tiket digital. Selain itu, NFT menawarkan nilai tambah berupa akses eksklusif, sistem royalti untuk kreator, serta peluang investasi dalam aset digital.Meskipun adopsi NFT dalam ticketing masih tergolong baru, fitur seperti mixed reality dan akses premium mampu menarik minat audiens modern yang mengutamakan pengalaman digital. Analisis terhadap kompetitor mengungkapkan potensi besar dalam mengintegrasikan NFT ke dalam sistem e-ticketing, walaupun tantangan berupa rendahnya pemahaman masyarakat terhadap teknologi blockchain masih menjadi hambatan utama. Proyek "NFT ComedyChain" yang diusulkan dalam penelitian ini dirancang untuk mengintegrasikan teknologi NFT dengan industri hiburan di Indonesia, membuka peluang bisnis baru bagi kolektor seni digital dan pelaku industri kreatif.Penelitian juga ini merekomendasikan adanya edukasi luas dan kolaborasi lintas sektor untuk memaksimalkan adopsi NFT, sekaligus menciptakan ekosistem hiburan yang aman, modern, dan inklusif. Dengan memastikan keaslian tiket melalui teknologi blockchain, NFT ticketing tidak hanya mengurangi risiko pemalsuan tetapi juga memperkenalkan model bisnis berkelanjutan yang menguntungkan semua pihak terkait. Implementasi NFT pada e-ticketing diharapkan menjadi gagasan baru dalam transformasi digital industri hiburan, terutama di Indonesia, sehingga mampu menciptakan nilai kompetitif yang lebih tinggi bagi para pelaku usaha.
Damiano Di Francesco Maesa, Matteo Loporchio, Frank Tietze
This paper considers the application scenario of Intellectual Property (IP) management, a business process yet to fully embrace digitisation and the advantages it brings. We propose to leverage Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to digitise license agreements management by providing automated and trustworthy royalty computation, transaction execution, and payment distribution. This can be achieved by employing smart licenses, i.e., bundles of smart contracts implementing the royalty logic of license agreements. To provide scalability, flexibility, and resilience, we propose to deploy smart licenses on a network of networks model, i.e., a set of heterogeneous networks potentially running different DLT protocols and connected by cross-chain information exchange protocols. A novel advantage of the network of networks approach is that it allows for the use of private values for royalty computation, which is impossible in the traditional model. Of course, supporting private DLT networks requires privacy-preserving cross-chain schemes, a still open problem in the literature. This is why we present two alternative privacy-preserving cross-chain schemes for our considered application scenario of license agreements management, one based on Homomorphic Encryption (HE) and the other on Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs. Besides discussing their theoretical advantages and drawbacks, we present an experimental evaluation of a prototype implementation of smart licenses based on both schemes. • We propose a network of networks model that enhances scalability in smart license ecosystems. • The proposed model allows smart licenses to leverage data from heterogeneous networks, including private ones. • We compare two methods for privacy-preserving cross-chain communication: homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs. • We experimentally evaluate and compare two different privacy-preserving smart license implementations.
B. Vaidianathan, G. Regina Manicka Rajam, R.L. Shyja, M. Anitha
Know your customer (KYC) is the process of confirming user identities and assessing business risks from illicit activity. The manual KYC procedure is insecure, time-consuming, and expensive. With Blockchain technology's immutability, security, and decentralisation, such difficulties can be solved. KYC legal provide blockchain-based KYC verification by validating papers by a trustworthy network participant. This paper proposes an Ethereum-based Optimised KYC Blockchain system with symmetric AES encryption and LZ compression. The distributed ledger, cryptography, compression algorithm, and blockchain technologies make this system transparent, secure, efficient, and optimised. The suggested method uses Distributed Ledger Technology (Blockchain technology) to reduce KYC verification costs for institutions and speed up the process for clients. Our system is superior to conventional techniques since each customer only needs to be verified once, regardless of the number of institutions they want to link to. Since we use the DLT, we can securely communicate verification results with customers, boosting transparency. We created a Proof of Concept (POC) using the Ethereum API, websites as endpoints, and an android app as front office to prove its viability and efficacy. Overall, this strategy enhances customer experience, decreases costs, and boosts customer on boarding transparency.
As the development of Solidity contracts on Ethereum , more developers are reusing them on other compatible blockchains. However, developers may overlook the differences between the designs of the blockchain system, such as the Gas Mechanism and Consensus Protocol , leading to the same contracts on different blockchains not being able to achieve consistent execution as on Ethereum . This inconsistency reveals design flaws in reused contracts, exposing code smells that hinder code reusability, and we define this inconsistency as EVM-Inequivalent Code Smells . In this paper, we conducted the first empirical study to reveal the causes and characteristics of EVM-Inequivalent Code Smells . To ensure the identified smells reflect real developer concerns, we collected and analyzed 1,379 security audit reports and 326 Stack Overflow posts related to reused contracts on EVM-compatible blockchains, such as Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Polygon . Using the open card sorting method, we defined six types of EVM-Inequivalent Code Smells . For automated detection, we developed a tool named EquivGuard . It employs static taint analysis to identify key paths from different patterns and uses symbolic execution to verify path reachability. Our analysis of 905,948 contracts across six major blockchains shows that EVM-Inequivalent Code Smells are widespread, with an average prevalence of 17.70%. While contracts with code smells do not necessarily lead to financial loss and attacks, their high prevalence and significant asset management underscore the potential threats of reusing these smelly Ethereum contracts. Thus, developers are advised to abandon Copy-and-Paste programming practices and detect EVM-Inequivalent Code Smells before reusing Ethereum contracts.
In this paper, we examine the discourses and ideologies that underpin trust in Bitcoin (BTC) as an algorithm-driven socio-technical system, raising critical questions about how trust is established and sustained in complex socio-technical assemblages. Through a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of three significant events in the cryptocurrency, we identify two interconnected, yet sometimes contradictory, ideologies enacted through four discourses that construct specific subject positions to produce and maintain trust in Bitcoin. The first, technical sovereignty , reflects adherence to notions of technical utopianism. The second, which we term peer-to-peer neoliberalism , frames BTC as a political experiment rooted in the individualization of responsibility and risk. Our paper contributes to the existing literature by arguing that algorithm-driven technologies like BTC neither establish trust solely through their apparent technical neutrality and security nor simply replace traditional institutional mechanisms of governance, control, and interaction. Instead, they are enacted through discourses and material arrangements that require continuous maintenance. This maintenance relies on power relations enabled by these ideologies yet remains contingent upon the ongoing reinforcement of the ideologies themselves—rendering trust inherently precarious and always at risk. This insight shifts the analytical focus from the dominant emphasis in the literature on technical features, social arrangements, and user perceptions to the underlying ideological frameworks that shape these elements, as such. • We propose an alternative ideological perspective on trust in algorithms. • The methodology is based on critical discourse analysis. • There cannot be trust without the productive force of ideology shaping and maintaining trust. • We identify two ideologies of technical sovereignty and peer-to-peer neoliberalism.
The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain technology is reshaping the financial industry. AI enables intelligent data analysis, fraud detection, and automation, while blockchain ensures decentralized, secure, and transparent record-keeping. This paper explores the integration of AI and blockchain in financial applications, focusing on security, decentralization, smart contracts, and AI-driven consensus mechanisms. A review of 20+ scholarly sources from IEEE and ScienceDirect highlights opportunities, challenges, and future research directions. While the synergy between AI and blockchain presents promising applications in finance, regulatory hurdles, scalability issues, and computational overhead pose challenges. The study concludes that AI-blockchain integration has the potential to enhance financial services, improve efficiency, and establish new trust models, but requires careful implementation and governance.