Serving as the first touch point for users to the cryptocurrency world, cryptocurrency wallets allow users to manage, receive, and transmit digital assets on blockchains and interact with emerging decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Unfortunately, cryptocurrency wallets have always been the prime targets for attackers, and incidents of wallet breaches have been reported from time to time. Although some recent studies have characterized the vulnerabilities and scams related to wallets, they have mostly been studied at a coarse granularity, overlooking potential risks inherent in detailed designs of cryptocurrency wallets, especially from perspectives including user interaction and advanced features. To fill the void, in this paper, we present a fine-grained security analysis of browser-based cryptocurrency wallets. To pinpoint security issues in wallet components, we design WalleTruth, a visual-oriented testing framework specifically for browser-based wallet extensions. We have identified 12 attack vectors that can be abused by attackers to exploit cryptocurrency wallets and exposed 21 concrete attack strategies. By applying WalleTruth on 39 widely-adopted browser-based wallet extensions, we find that all of them can be abused to steal crypto assets from innocent users. Identified potential attack vectors were reported to developers in a timely manner and 26 issues have been patched already. This calls for urgent action from the community to mitigate threats related to cryptocurrency wallets.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has revolutionized financial services by eliminating traditional intermediaries, but this openness creates new vulnerabilities that malicious actors exploit for fraud. The pseudonymous nature of blockchain transactions and lack of centralized oversight make traditional fraud detection methods inadequate for the DeFi ecosystem. This paper introduces ChainGuard, an end-to-end fraud detection system that leverages verifiable machine learning with zero-knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge (zk-SNARKs). ChainGuard utilizes a comprehensive approach that combines advanced feature extraction from Ethereum blockchain transaction data, optimized machine learning models, and on-chain verification through zk-SNARKs. Our solution enables privacy-preserving fraud detection while maintaining the ability to verify results without exposing sensitive transaction data and the internal architecture of the model. We demonstrate that ChainGuard achieves permissible accuracy in detecting fraudulent activities across Ethereum and various DeFi platforms while ensuring computational efficiency through multiple optimization techniques, including quantization. Experimental results show that our approach achieves performance comparable to traditional fraud detection methods while maintaining the decentralized and trustless nature of blockchain systems.
Decentralization is a popular idea that is believed to bring improved public service and sustainable growth that is both inclusive and natural. On the other hand, in the case of developing states, the degree to which it works depends mainly on the local political situation and the existing social order. One of the most notable achievements in the Nigerian judicial system has been a historic Supreme Court judgment in 2024 that gave local governments direct financial allocations. Each of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria must now be directly financed to make local governance more effective by limiting state intervention. Nevertheless, this initiative is carried out in a very politicized setting that is at the verge of breaking apart due to the increase of ethnicity after the 2023 elections, and a citizenship policy that perpetuates a two, class system of indigenes and settlers. This paper illustrates how local financial independence, along with the indigene, settler systems, have an effect on the patterns of resource distribution and the provision of public goods and services. Through a mixture of a research paper on the local financial autonomy of LGAs in the South, West and North, Central zones of Nigeria and a theoretical framework based on Peter Ekeh's works "Two Publics" and a ground reality review, it is established that some of the scenarios created by financial autonomy exacerbated local elite capture and exclusion of so, called "long, term residents" who are defined categorically as "non, indigenes." This is evidenced by the findings on disproportionate capital expenditure distribution within wards, and qualitative viewpoints on local narratives about the justification for exclusion and rightful local belonging. The debate will continue on the proposition that if the idea of citizenship is not changed from one based on birth to one based on residency, it will result in local exclusion and development failure. The solution ends with a conclusion on residency, based citizenship and conditionality in the transfer of funds between different levels of governance
The paper proposes an extended quality assessment model for Distributed Ledger Technology platforms, referred to as DLT-QM, developed on the basis of the ISO/IEC 25010 standard while considering the architectural and operational specifics of decentralized and blockchain-based systems. The relevance of the study is determined by the rapid development of digital technologies and the growing adoption of DLT platforms in finance, e-government, logistics, IoT ecosystems, and enterprise information systems, alongside the absence of a unified formalized approach for comprehensive quality assessment of such platforms. The study analyzes the applicability of ISO/IEC 25010 charac-teristics to DLT-oriented software systems and identifies a set of DLT-specific quality attributes reflecting the unique properties of distributed ledger environments, including decentralization level, consensus reliability, transaction finality, auditability, trust model, interoperability, and on-chain/off-chain balance. For each characteristic, mathematical metrics are formalized to support multicriteria quality assessment and optimization of architectural decisions in software engineering tasks. The integral quality indicator QDLT is defined as a weighted combination of the traditional ISO/IEC 25010 component and a DLT-specific component, enabling the adaptation of the model to various application scenarios. The proposed model is validated using four representative DLT platforms: Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum, Corda, and Polygon. The obtained results confirm the existence of structural trade-offs between decentralization, performance, security, and interoperability in modern distributed systems. Furthermore, a scenario-oriented application methodology is developed, including a procedure for determining weighting coefficients depending on the application domain, such as financial consortium systems, e-government infrastructures, and IoT supply chain environments. The practical significance of the research lies in the development of a formalized decision-support instrument for selecting DLT platforms in the design and implementation of modern software systems and digital services. Keywords: blockchain, distributed ledger technology, DLT platforms, decentralized systems, distributed systems, information technologies, digital technologies, software engineering.
<b>Abstract</b>The rapid growth of decentralized technologies has intensified the need for secure, privacy-preserving, and Sybil-resistant identity systems capable of operating without centralized authorities. Existing blockchain identity mechanisms frequently depend on trusted intermediaries, invasive biometric verification, or token-based incentives that introduce privacy risks, centralization, or economic manipulation. This paper presents the Decentralized Proof of Humanity (dPoH) Protocol, a blockchain-native identity framework designed to establish unique human identities through decentralized verification while preserving user privacy and network scalability.The dPoH protocol combines decentralized attestations, cryptographic verification, reputation mechanisms, and consensus-driven validation to ensure that each participant corresponds to a unique human identity without exposing unnecessary personal information. By eliminating reliance on centralized identity providers, the protocol significantly reduces Sybil attacks while maintaining transparency, auditability, and interoperability across blockchain ecosystems.The proposed architecture is suitable for decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized governance (DAO), voting systems, digital identity infrastructure, token distribution, and next-generation Web3 applications. The protocol contributes to the growing field of decentralized identity by providing a scalable framework for secure human verification in trustless environments.
Setyo Tri Wahyudi, Al Muizzuddin Fazaalloh, Kartika Sari, Amalia Rahmawati
Fiscal decentralization has expanded the responsibilities of local governments, yet substantial disparities in fiscal performance persist across jurisdictions. This study examines how governance capacity influences fiscal performance and revenue sustainability within Indonesia’s decentralized metropolitan governance framework. Using panel data from seven local governments in the Gerbangkertosusilo metropolitan area during 2015–2024, the analysis develops a Composite Fiscal Performance Index (CFPI) that integrates revenue effectiveness, expenditure efficiency, fiscal autonomy, and revenue sustainability. The results reveal significant and persistent variation in fiscal outcomes. Jurisdictions with stronger governance capacity, particularly Surabaya City and Sidoarjo Regency, consistently achieve higher CFPI scores, reflecting more effective revenue mobilization, greater fiscal autonomy, and stronger expenditure management. In contrast, lower-capacity jurisdictions exhibit weaker fiscal performance, slower growth in own-source revenues, and greater dependence on intergovernmental transfers. Revenue forecasting further indicates that high-performing jurisdictions are more likely to sustain favorable fiscal trajectories over the medium term. By combining multidimensional fiscal performance measurement with forward-looking revenue sustainability assessment, this study contributes to the subnational public finance literature. The findings identify governance capacity as a critical institutional determinant of fiscal resilience and highlight the need for capacity-sensitive policies to improve the effectiveness of decentralized governance systems.
Continuous-Time Dynamic Graphs (CTDGs) are essential for modeling event-driven dynamics in complex, evolving systems, ranging from streaming temporal knowledge graphs (tKGs) and real-time recommendation systems to decentralized finance (DeFi) networks. State-of-the-art temporal graph learning methods predominantly compress historical interactions into flat, one-dimensional state vectors. However, we demonstrate that this architectural choice suffers from severe structural interference, akin to catastrophic forgetting, in heterogeneous networks where entities maintain multiple concurrent relational identities (e.g., decentralized finance wallets acting simultaneously as lenders, swappers and borrowers). In this work, we propose DYG-LA (Dynamic Graph Learning via Linear Attention and Recurrent Matrix States), a novel architecture that resolves structural interference by expanding node memory into Matrix-Valued Hidden States (MVHS). Each node maintains a multi-head H × (D/H) × (D/H) state matrix, geometrically updated via asymmetric outer products and regulated by a selective, data-dependent Ebbinghaus decay. To overcome the O(L²) bottleneck of Transformer-based methods without succumbing to the random sampling paradox of pure sequence models (where nodes lose identity due to sparse or noisy temporal sampling), DYG-LA integrates a dual-memory approach. It pairs an RWKV-6 linear attention short-term temporal scanner with the long-term MVHS global memory. The architecture further incorporates a Dynamic Gated Fusion mechanism, effectively acting as an adaptive mixture-of-experts to route signals from the temporal scanner, spatial structure and memory. We evaluate DYG-LA across twelve benchmark datasets under transductive settings. Comprehensive ablation studies demonstrate that the dual-memory design is critical for complex, heterogeneous networks, with the full model achieving state-of-the-art performance.
Giulio Segalini, Yigit Çolakoğlu, Marko Putnik, Jérémie Decouchant
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications rely heavily on the order in which transactions are executed, making them susceptible to reordering attacks that enable adversaries to extract Blockchain Extractable Value (BEV). While linear blockchain systems such as Ethereum have inspired extensive research into fair ordering mechanisms, DAG-based consensus protocols have remained largely unprotected despite their growing adoption for scalability and performance. In this paper, we introduce Tilikum, a DAG-based ledger protocol that ensures fair transaction ordering without relying on weak edges. Tilikum achieves ordering linearizability by leveraging median-based timestamp aggregation, or batch order fairness, while maintaining low data redundancy and robust garbage collection. We implemented Tilikum in Rust and evaluated it against representative baselines, namely Narwhal/Tusk, Pompē, Themis and FairDAG. Our results show that Tilikum achieves up to $39\times$ higher throughput than other fair-ordering baselines, while fully blocking state-of-the-art DAG-specific reordering attacks.
Aktam U. Burkhanov, Abdul Jalil Mahama, Ilyоs Abdullaev, Nodira B. Abdusalomova · 6 authors
Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractStablecoins serve as the primary liquidity and settlement platform for decentralized finance, yet recent market shocks and de-pegging events demonstrate systemic vulnerability regarding their stability. The purpose of this study is to quantify the tail risk of Tether (USDT) to determine the accuracy of different risk modeling frameworks during periods of extreme market stress. This study employs historical simulation, parametric Gaussian models, Monte Carlo simulation, and Extreme Value Theory using the Peaks-Over-Threshold approach on daily log returns from 2015 to 2025. Statistical diagnostics confirm high excess kurtosis of 24.3 and a negative skewness of –3.1 in the asset returns, which explicitly invalidates normal distribution assumptions. The empirical results reveal that Gaussian methods systematically underestimate extreme risk by 47% during high-volatility regimes. Extreme Value Theory models capture fat-tailed behavior with 50% higher precision than traditional models, identifying a maximum potential one-day loss of 1.50%. Backtesting parameters at the 95% and 99% confidence levels show that standard Value at Risk models fail to predict 14 out of 18 historical tail-risk anomalies. Expected Shortfall calculations under the generalized Pareto distribution successfully cover 99.8% of historical volatility spikes. This study concludes that Extreme Value Theory frameworks are essential for the robust design of decentralized finance protocols and the development of institutional risk management standards.AcknowledgmentsThe authors express gratitude to our respective university departments and institutional research groups for providing the technical infrastructure necessary to conduct this study. We also recognize the participants of internal research seminars whose early feedback helped refine the core empirical parameters of this stablecoin risk framework.
Vivek Kumar, Navya Vyas, Myron Anthony Godinho, S. Elstin Anbu Raj · 5 authors
Abstract Background Vector-borne diseases (VBD) pose significant threats to global public health. Despite the adoption of Integrated Vector Management (IVM) in India to address this issue, its implementation encounters several obstacles that undermine its effectiveness. This review systematically examines implementation challenges and highlights key areas for improving VBD reduction in India. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-synthesis following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines. Studies conducted during 2016–2025 were included in this review, as the first IVM guidelines were introduced in India in 2016. PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science databases were included in the search. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was used as a lens to synthesise the evidence. Methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using an appraisal tool based on the study design. Results Across the 55 studies included, 35 implementation challenges affecting IVM were identified. The most frequently reported barriers included low preventive practices and risk perception (29.1%, n = 16), insecticide resistance (25.5%, n = 14), deficits in community engagement (21.8%, n = 12), and gaps in physical and information technology infrastructure (21.8%, n = 12). System-level challenges related to health workforce capacity, inter-sectoral coordination, financing, and governance were common. Individual-level barriers included knowledge gaps, misconceptions, and limited motivation among communities, as well as training and competency gaps among implementers. Process-related challenges were prominent and included coverage and fidelity gaps, weak engagement, issues with surveillance data quality, and inadequate planning and monitoring. Conclusion IVM implementation in India reflects interconnected multi-level barriers, particularly within the outer, process and inner domains. Strengthening decentralized, real-time surveillance system with a formal feedback mechanism, alongside institutionalizing community co-design approaches, represents a key approach through theory-informed, context-sensitive implementation strategies to improve implementation fidelity and program effectiveness and accelerate towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3. Registration This review protocol was developed and registered in the Open Science Framework (OSF). Registration https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/JTCWD
Global environmental and geopolitical challenges, compounded by Ukraine’s wartime infrastructure destruction and heightened investment risks, heavily disrupt corporate operations. Under these conditions, green financing shifts from a mere ecological tool into a vital strategic mechanism ensuring long-term enterprise resilience, market competitiveness, and security-oriented development. This study aims to substantiate strategic vectors of green financing for domestic corporate security and identify practical integration approaches into corporate financial strategies. Methodologically, the research relies on systemic, comparative, structural-functional, and logical generalization analytical approaches. Examining green finance within sustainable development and ESG frameworks, the paper demonstrates its capacity to strengthen corporate financial, energy, regulatory, and reputational security. It specifically highlights Ukraine’s evolving institutional frameworks, national climate policies, and green bond regulations. The study categorizes key domestic green instruments–including green loans, bonds, grants, and ESG investments–substantiating their practical role in mitigating operational risks, maximizing resource efficiency, and expanding access to long-term capital. Key strategic vectors center on energy efficiency, decentralized renewable energy deployment, industrial decarbonization, and circular economy practices. However, market development remains restricted by significant wartime risks, limited capital access, and fragmented implementation mechanisms. Ultimately, green financing must be treated as a strategic priority within corporate management systems. Integrating these financial tools enhances enterprise resilience against external shocks, strengthens economic security, and actively supports post-war recovery and European integration.
Md Sakibul Islam Sheikh, Md Dipu, Maksudur Rahmand, Kazi Riadul Islam · 7 authors
In today's digital environment, secure and trustworthy identity management is critical as centralized systems remain vulnerable to data breaches, identity theft, and unauthorized access.This paper presents a blockchain-based decentralized identity verification framework that enhances data security, privacy, and user control by eliminating reliance on centralized authorities.The proposed system integrates smart contracts, decentralized identifiers (DIDs), and cryptographic security to enable tamper-resistant and transparent identity verification.Sensitive user documents are encrypted using AES-256-GCM and stored off-chain on IPFS, while only cryptographic hashes and verification records are recorded on the blockchain to preserve privacy and data integrity.Key management is strengthened through HKDF-based derivation, and users can selectively disclose identity attributes using privacy-preserving techniques.Experimental analysis indicates that the system significantly reduces identity fraud, improves verification accuracy, and enhances auditability and scalability.The solution is well-suited for applications in finance, healthcare, e-governance, and secure third-party authentication platforms.
The article investigates the theoretical and practical foundations of financing social protection at the local level under fiscal decentralization, martial law, and escalating socio-economic challenges in Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to develop theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the pragmatism of local social protection financing and to substantiate practical directions for its improvement under contemporary conditions. The methodological framework combines systemic, comparative, institutional, and statistical analysis to evaluate financial mechanisms and expenditure structures. Empirically, the study analyzes the 2025 budget of the Ternopil City Territorial Community. The findings reveal a highly socially oriented budget prioritizing education, healthcare, and welfare, though capital expenditures remain limited due to wartime uncertainty. Systemic challenges include financial capacity disparities among communities, high state transfer dependence, and displacement-driven demand for social services. To address these issues, the study advocates transitioning from an expenditure-oriented model to results-based financial management focused on measurable outcomes, digitalization, and enhanced targeted assistance. The scientific novelty lies in conceptualizing the pragmatism of social protection financing as an integrated management model that blends budgetary and extra-budgetary sources to boost community resilience. Practically, the findings offer local authorities a concrete framework to optimize budget planning, diversify funding streams, and formulate effective post-war recovery strategies grounded in financial sustainability, transparency, and cross-sector partnerships.
Nuryadin Ali Mustofa, Agus Pahrudin, Ahmad Fauzan, Laila Maharani
This study examined global research trends in the digital transformation of educational finance and school management through a bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Scopus database from 2016 to 2025. Data were collected from the Scopus database on April 14, 2026, using a structured TITLE-ABS-KEY search query. The search initially identified 1,059 documents, which were refined to 162 relevant publications through PRISMA-based inclusion and exclusion criteria. Bibliometric mapping and performance analyses were conducted using Biblioshiny (R) and VOSviewer, supported by data cleaning and standardization through OpenRefine and a thesaurus file. The results showed a significant increase in global research output on digital transformation in educational finance and school management, particularly after 2020. This trend reflects growing scholarly and institutional attention to the role of digital technologies in educational governance and financial administration. Conference proceedings remained the dominant publication source, while journal publications continued to grow. China emerged as the leading contributor, supported by strong institutional productivity and collaboration networks. Thematic analysis identified major research clusters in financial management, information systems, data-driven decision-making, artificial intelligence, e-learning, and educational technology. Recent studies also emphasized sustainability, economic analysis, blockchain, and decentralized finance. This study contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive global research map and offering policy insights to advance technology-driven, sustainable educational management practices.
Abdu A. Adamu, Kamal A. Ibrahim, Hyelhirra Adamu, Firdausi Umar-Sadiq
Abstract Under Nigeria’s 2014 National Health Act, the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) was created as a key health financing mechanism to bolster primary healthcare and promote progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The BHCPF, disbursed through four gateways, has catalyzed important health systems gains, including improved facility financing predictability and the nationwide creation of State Social Health Insurance Agencies. However, persistent bottlenecks, including weak oversight, lax fiduciary controls, poor accountability, and disparities in implementation quality, have constrained progress. These challenges precipitated a comprehensive set of reforms outlined in the 2025 BHCPF guidelines (BHCPF 2.0). These reforms introduce performance-linked disbursement, tiered direct facility financing, capitation-plus payment systems, and strengthened governance structures. Yet policy reform alone does not guarantee equitable and effective implementation, particularly in Nigeria’s complex, decentralized, and heterogeneous health system. This Commentary argues that institutionalizing implementation research in BHCPF’s governance framework offers a structured, evidence-driven pathway to bridge the gap between reform intent and real-world outcomes. Specifically, implementation research can: build theory-driven understanding of why and how reforms succeed or fail across diverse subnational contexts; monitor implementation fidelity and outcomes during rollout; distinguish necessary adaptations from fidelity drift; and test context-specific strategies to overcome barriers and promote facilitators. Ultimately, country-led, integrated implementation research is essential for fully realizing the transformative potential of BHCPF.
I Nyoman Teja Kusuma, Ika Devy Pramudiana, Nihayatus Sholichah
The enactment of Law Number 1 of 2022 concerning Financial Relations between the Central and Regional Governments (HKPD Law) introduced a pivotal shift in Indonesia’s fiscal decentralization through the Motor Vehicle Tax (PKB) "opsen" (option) mechanism. This study analyzes the impact of HKPD Law implementation on local revenue (PAD) strengthening in Probolinggo City and Regency. Utilizing a qualitative comparative case study approach, the research evaluates administrative readiness and policy impacts derived from Ministry of Finance Regulation (PMK) Number 3 of 2024. The findings reveal an asymmetrical transition, where fiscal effectiveness is highly contingent on digital infrastructure maturity and geographical constraints. Probolinggo City demonstrates successful host-to-host system integration, ensuring daily liquidity and bureaucratic efficiency. Conversely, Probolinggo Regency faces "geospatial gaps," characterized by transaction data delays and high collection costs in remote areas. This study identifies a lack of target alignment between provincial and local governments and emphasizes the necessity of "budget tagging" for road infrastructure to enhance the social contract with taxpayers. This research contributes to fiscal decentralization theory by proposing a "geographic coefficient" model for operational cost distribution in developing regions.
Cryptocurrencies have received long-term interest among investors because of the features of Bitcoin since its introduction in 2009. However, it is the same features that pose serious and diverse threats. These risks are very dangerous to the security of investors and the integrity of the market. Although their urgency is immense, there are very few systematic analyses that incorporate both regulatory and technological views. In this research, the mixed-method design is used, and an empirical investigation of high-profile security events is combined with the critical analysis of regulatory and technical literature in order to define, classify, and track the causes of the most widespread risks. The article explores the weaknesses and strengths of the existing laws and strategies that would curb identified risks that cryptocurrencies present. It also suggests practical and tangible solutions, which would make use of new technologies to minimize the damages and risks of cryptocurrencies to a greater extent. The analysis in this study proves that properly reducing risks should be performed in a two-faceted way; it should be done with the help of the regulation gaps in action and the utilization of new, protocol-infused technological limits. This study presents a moderate structure that is meant to achieve market security that does not suppress the dynamism and transparency of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This study analyzes the problem of cryptocurrency security, financial regulation, blockchain technology, risk mitigation, and decentralized finance.
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.
Terrorist financing is a major fuel for political violence and extremist operations in the world. The increasing advancement of digital technologies, cryptocurrencies, crowdfunding platforms, and social media has significantly transformed how extremist groups raise, transfer, and conceal funds, yet little has been done to examine the broader digital transformation of terrorist financing and its implications for the United States. This scoping review examined evolving trends, financing strategies, and operational challenges associated with terrorist financing networks and assessed their implications for the United States counterterrorism agenda. Following the Arksey and O’Malley guidelines for scoping reviews, relevant studies were identified through systematic database searches and screened using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Ten studies were selected and analyzed thematically. The findings underscored four major themes: the digitalization of terrorist financing, the fusion of lawful and unlawful funding mediums, administrative and institutional weaknesses, and the growing need for collaborative and intelligence-driven disruption strategies. The review found that extremist financing increasingly operates within ordinary digital and financial ecosystems, making detection more difficult for regulators, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies. The study concludes that terrorist financing has become more decentralized, adaptive, and technologically sophisticated than many existing counterterrorism frameworks are prepared to address. Hence, strengthening United States national security will require a more proactive digital financial monitoring, sophisticated regulatory systems, and stronger inter-sectoral collaborations to disrupt evolving extremist financing networks before they escalate into acts of violence.
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Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
Background: Indonesia’s simultaneous regional elections (Pilkada serentak) constitute a key component of post-Reformasi decentralization. While designed to strengthen democratic local governance, recent fiscal rationalization policies have increased central control over election financing, raising concerns about their impact on substantive democratic representation. Objectives: This study examines whether fiscal rationalization in Pilkada implementation supports or undermines constitutional principles of democratic, participatory, and accountable local government. It analyzes the constitutional framework of Pilkada, identifies key fiscal rationalization mechanisms, and evaluates their effects on local political representation. Methods: A qualitative normative empirical approach was employed. Normative analysis examined the 1945 Constitution, electoral and regional governance laws, fiscal decentralization regulations, and Constitutional Court decisions. Empirical analysis was conducted through comparative case studies of regional election budget management. Results: Four major mechanisms were identified: NPHD budget revisions, APBD burden-shifting, compressed electoral timelines, and intensified central fiscal steering under Law No. 1 of 2022. These mechanisms reduced electoral capacity, limited voter-candidate engagement, and disproportionately affected less-resourced regions. Although elections formally complied with constitutional requirements, substantive representation was weakened, creating a persistent gap between procedural legality and democratic quality. Conclusion: Fiscal rationalization has strengthened formal compliance but constrained substantive democratic representation. Greater fiscal stability and regional autonomy are needed to ensure competitive, equitable, and accountable local elections. Keywords: fiscal rationalization; Pilkada serentak; constitutional compliance; democratic representation; decentralization.
This study examines whether green finance promotes green development across Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2005 to 2019. We find a positive association between green finance and green development using panel regressions with city and year fixed effects. This result remains robust after accounting for potential endogeneity and implementing a series of robustness checks. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that this positive effect is stronger in regions characterized by high fiscal capacity and within the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Additionally, green finance drives regional green development by promoting green innovation. Environmental decentralization moderates the relationship, with a stronger positive effect at higher levels of decentralization. This study offers empirical evidence regarding how green finance shapes green development outcomes.
Privacy-preserving systems have traditionally faced a fundamental tradeoff between data utility and confidentiality. Selective Disclosure Credentials (SDCs) enable users to prove specific attributes without revealing underlying personal information, while Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) enables arbitrary computation on encrypted data without exposing plaintext. Although both technologies address critical privacy challenges, they solve different problems and are rarely integrated into a unified architecture. This paper introduces the concept of Composable Privacy, a layered framework that combines selective disclosure credentials, zero-knowledge proofs, and fully homomorphic encryption into a cohesive privacy architecture. The framework separates privacy concerns into three functional layers: an authentication layer using selective disclosure and zero-knowledge proofs, a computation layer using homomorphic encryption for confidential processing, and a verification layer that provides cryptographic assurances of computation correctness. The paper examines the cryptographic foundations of BBS+ signatures, Coconut threshold credentials, lattice-based homomorphic encryption schemes, and post-quantum security considerations. It further evaluates the practical feasibility of the architecture through applications in decentralized finance, healthcare federated learning, confidential governance systems, and blockchain-based identity infrastructure. Performance trends, scalability challenges, interoperability requirements, and future hardware acceleration pathways are also analyzed. The proposed Composable Privacy framework demonstrates how selective disclosure and encrypted computation can be combined to create privacy-preserving digital systems that maintain verifiability, confidentiality, and regulatory compliance simultaneously. The work provides a conceptual foundation for next-generation privacy architectures in blockchain, decentralized identity, and distributed computing environments.
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.