Ram Kumar Solanki, Ganesh R. Pathak, Amit Gadekar, Abhishek Dhore · 6 authors
The spread of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) beyond its roots in cryptocurrency has led to a proliferation of blockchain frameworks with differing architectural philosophies, performance attributes, and applications in mind. This non-uniformity poses a significant problem for enterprises and developers who aim to find the best platform that suits them. The paper is based on a rigorous, multi-dimensional comparison of the four most crucial blockchain frameworks that encompass the breadth of the current DLT: Ethereum as an early smart contracts and decentralized application pioneer, Hyperledger Fabric for permissioned blocks designed to work in enterprise consortia, R3 Corda as a privacy-oriented ledger that is suitable to regulated industries, and Solana as a high-performance public blockchain that was developed to support web-scale applications. The paper breaks down the major architectural building blocks of each framework, including their permissioning models, data models, consensus models, and execution environments for smart contracts. Next, it compares their scalability and performance by combining the findings of notable benchmark experiments with relevant performance metrics (throughput and latency). Moreover, the paper investigates practical adoption by examining notable examples in financial services, supply chain management, and the fundamental growth of the Web3 economy. The most valuable output of this study is a synthesized framework selection matrix, which aligns platform abilities with the particular business and technical requirements as an evidence-based (observed in the field) guide that practitioners can use; at the same time, it will serve as a well-structured point of departure in future academic studies and research on the topic of distributed systems.
Kristin M. Kostick, Marcelo Corrales Compagnucci, Mateo Aboy, Timo Minssen
Federated Learning (FL) promises to enhance data-driven health research by enabling collaborative machine learning across distributed datasets without direct data exchange. However, current FL implementations primarily reflect the data-sharing interests of institutional controllers rather than those of individual patients whose data are at stake. Existing consent mechanisms-like broad consent under HIPAA or explicit consent under the GDPR-fail to provide patients with control over how their data is used. This article explores the integration of smart contracts (SCs) into FL as a mechanism for automating, enforcing, and documenting consent in data transactions. SCs, encoded in decentralized ledger technologies, can ensure that FL processes align with patient preferences by providing an immutable, and dynamically updatable consent architecture. Integrating SCs into FL and swarm learning (SL) frameworks can mitigate ethico-legal concerns related to patient autonomy, data re-identification, and data use. This approach addresses persistent principle-agent asymmetries in biomedical data sharing by ensuring that patients, rather than data controllers alone, can specify the terms of access to insights derived from their health data. We discuss the implications of this model for regulatory compliance, data governance, and patient engagement, emphasizing its potential to foster public trust in health data ecosystems.
Rim Ben Fekih, Mariam Lahami, Salma Bradai, Mohamed Jmaïel
Defined as an agreement between multiple parties and systematically executed by a computer code, smart contracts enable trust-less execution without a third party. Despite the trusted implementations that smart contracts offer, including those based on standards, different security problems and vulnerabilities arise during their development and execution. To address these issues, multiple studies have proposed potential solutions, focusing particularly on the verification of smart contracts and considering the standard-based ones using formal verification techniques. However, the sheer amount of research makes it difficult to accurately articulate the state-of-the-art. To tackle this challenge, we propose a systematic literature review that deals with formal verification of ERC-based smart contracts. ERC (Ethereum Request for Comments) standards enable a range of functionalities, such as the creation and management of tokens. Thus, our review provides an overview of ERC standards and examines their related potential issues. Furthermore, we investigate existing solutions presented in 19 relevant studies published between 2019 and July 2023. We analyze and classify approaches to formal modeling, properties’ specification and techniques used in the verification of smart contracts. Finally, we discuss the research challenges and suggest some promising future directions to stir research efforts into this area.
The shift from a linear economy to a Circular Economy (CE) is crucial for achieving sustainability and reducing environmental impact However, large-scale CE implementation faces challenges such as a lack of transparency
With the advent of E-Commerce 3.0, a decentralized, blockchain-driven model that completely reimagines how online marketplaces function, e-commerce has entered a transformative phase. In contrast to its predecessors, E-Commerce 3.0 eliminates middlemen, builds trust, and empowers users by utilizing distributed ledger technologies, smart contracts, and token-based governance systems. The fundamental transition from conventional centralized platforms to decentralized marketplaces is examined in this paper, with an emphasis on the new paradigm's technological, financial, and regulatory ramifications. The study looks at popular blockchain-based marketplaces like OpenBazaar, Origin Protocol, and Boson Protocol using a mixed-methods approach that incorporates theoretical modeling, case study analysis, and platform data. According to the research, smart contracts enable peerto-peer trade without the need for third-party custodians, automate dispute resolution, and drastically lower transaction friction. Decentralized identity and payment systems also provide users with greater data sovereignty, reduced costs, and enhanced privacy. However, there are significant obstacles to E-Commerce 3.0 adoption. Some of these include token volatility, scalability problems on some blockchains, limited user accessibility because of technical complexity, and changing legal frameworks pertaining to digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi). The article also explores how decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) will oversee future commerce platforms, offering perspectives on open and community-driven models of decision-making. This study shows that even though E-Commerce 3.0 is still in its infancy, it has the potential to democratize online trade through stakeholder incentive alignment, control decentralization, and increased transparency. The final section describes the policies, design concepts, and technological preconditions needed to construct safe, encompassing, and scalable decentralized marketplaces.
N Sherrin Sophia, Prisha Gupta, M Sharma, Mohona Ghosh · 5 authors
The transformation of fundraising through the use of crowdfunding platforms has come with obstacles such as fraud, verification and misuse of funds, and lack of transparency. The use of smart contracts in conjunction with Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) of er advanced privacy and security through the validation of identity concealment during participant contributions. This privacy enhances trustworthiness and motivates user engagement. The model provides adequate allocation of funds which improves overall transparency. The solution provides a better distribution of challenges that are posed in mainstream models of crowdfunding by integrating enhanced security, eficiency, and accountability while performing fundraising through the examined approach.
Introduction:The study examined blockchain technology as a pillar of Web3, highlighting its principles of immutability, transparency, and decentralization. It analyzed the paradox that these same virtues could become disadvantages when it was necessary to correct errors, delete data, or deal with malicious uses, generating legal and ethical tensions.Development:Cases and studies were reviewed that showed how immutability guaranteed integrity and resistance to censorship but was incompatible with rights such as the “right to be forgotten” under the GDPR. Situations were also documented in which decentralization empowered both legitimate actors and criminals, eliminating consumer protection mechanisms. Faced with these dilemmas, solutions such as off-chain storage, updatable smart contracts, decentralized identity, and zero-knowledge proofs were evaluated. The proposal for double validation was highlighted, which incorporated a layer of smart contract verification to authenticate the origin and legitimacy of information before it was recorded. The validation of sensitive content by the people involved was also proposed as a strategy to prevent defamation, misinformation, or the dissemination of illegal material.Conclusion:The paper concluded that the potential of blockchain lay in its integration within an ethical, legal, and social framework. The implementation of mandatory verification and validation mechanisms strengthened accountability and individual protection, transforming blockchain into a tool that is not only secure and transparent, but also fair and socially responsible.
In 2016, the World Economic Forum recognized blockchain technology as one of the ten most important emerging technologies. Prior to this recognition, The Economist published articles about the "trust machine," introducing this remarkable technology to a wider audience. In order to understand the progress of blockchain technology and its current state, it is essential for countries to research these issues in relation to their economies. It is important to distinguish between theoretical blockchain applications and their commercial applications to assess the potential disruption of existing business models by blockchain technology. This article presents the European initiative in applying this technology and estimates the Moldovan economy's preparedness in this regard. To achieve this, we have set the following objectives: describing the principles and directions of the EU Blockchain/Web3 Strategy; conducting a comparative analysis of the level of innovation in the Moldovan economy with two EU member states; estimating the potential for future use of these technologies, and outlining the necessary skills and abilities. This research is relevant because it identifies the actions that the Moldovan economy must take to achieve a level of innovation and economic progress on par with the EU.
Fátima de Souza Freire, Nilton Oliveira da Silva, Júlia Pinheiro Andrade Viana
Este trabalho tem como objetivo realizar uma análise bibliométrica da interseção entre Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), negócios e contabilidade. Os NFTs são ativos digitais únicos usados para representar bens digitais, como obras de arte e músicas. A falta de regulamentação e normas contábeis apropriadas para os NFTs levanta preocupações sobre segurança, transparência e conformidade nesse mercado em crescimento. Para compreender melhor essa interseção, foi utilizada a base de dados da Scopus e a ferramenta VOSviewer para análise bibliométrica. Eventos relevantes, como a tokenização de memes populares e valorizações significativas em leilões, foram destacados. A implementação de uma estrutura regulatória e contábil robusta é essencial para mitigar riscos como lavagem de dinheiro e garantir a segurança dos participantes do mercado. Alguns pesquisadores defendem a criação de uma lei global para os NFTs. Compreender essa interseção é crucial para desenvolver diretrizes contábeis adequadas e informações confiáveis para os usuários das demonstrações financeiras. A análise bibliométrica proposta identifica tendências e direções futuras nesse campo em constante evolução. O trabalho busca contribuir para o avanço do conhecimento sobre a contabilidade dos NFTs, fornecendo insights valiosos para pesquisadores, profissionais contábeis e interessados nessa área, enfatizando a importância de uma estrutura regulatória adequada para promover um ambiente confiável e sustentável para o setor.
Abstract Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), like blockchains, were expected to revolutionize the economy by solving the principal–agent problem in the corporate form. Yet, the very first DAO (“The DAO”) suffered a catastrophic hack that led to the Ethereum blockchain’s forking. Despite this failure, and the 2022 crypto markets collapse, enthusiasm for DAOs as corporate alternatives persists in crypto circles. Nine years on, however, DAOs remain a niche structure with little traction outside crypto projects. This chapter posits that this is due to fundamental flaws in the case for DAOs as corporate replacements. Crypto proponents often dismiss centralization and opacity as wholly undesirable, overlooking their functional value in business organizations. They also fail to recognize that blockchain’s security, transparency, and predictability are narrowly bound and come at a cost, rendering DAOs poorly equipped to handle the risks organizations face in the real world. These trade-offs explain why DAOs are less a revolution, more naïve wishful thinking.
Environmental concerns may influence cryptocurrency prices. Investors' information acquisition regarding environmental issues linked to cryptocurrency mining plays an important role in the pricing of cryptocurrencies. The volume of Google searches for environmental issues related to cryptocurrency mining significantly and negatively affects future cryptocurrency returns. This impact is more pronounced for Proof-of-Work (PoW) cryptocurrencies, which are known for their high energy consumption, compared to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrencies. This study provides important insights into how environmental awareness influences cryptocurrency markets, offering a novel perspective on market prices in the context of sustainability.
Previous research has investigated how certain strategies can influence people's decisions in simple, everyday choices, such as selecting a loaf of bread or purchasing a book online. The objective of this study was to further the understanding on choice architecture elements of default opt-ins and social proof tags, which are interface elements that signal the use of a product by other individuals. We analyzed their effect in an e-commerce context, specifically exploring high-stake economic decision-making that is characterized by high economic cost (financial or opportunity cost) and high decision importance. We achieved this through investigating the effect of default opt-ins on test ride bookings for an automobile, as well as the influence of social proof tags on click-through rates and ‘bookings’, which involve a payment of ~5% of the vehicle price made by customers to reserve a place for them on the purchase waitlist. We hypothesized that a default opt-in in the test ride form would have a significant positive influence on the conversion rate. Our findings supported our hypothesis. We further hypothesized that the addition of social proof tags on choices within a set of alternatives would result in a significant increase in the consideration of those choices for purchase. Though the results were inconclusive, our comparative analysis showed the potential importance of both the default options and social proof tags on consumer decision-making, creating an opportunity for further research into the effective use of the combination of defaults and social proof tags in an e-commerce context.
Paulo Caetano da Silva, Djalma Oliveira Costa Filho, Daniel Jose Diaz, José Alan da Silva Teixeira
Blockchain has received a lot of attention for multiple use cases and applications since the first works emerged about 15 years ago, with its use targeting cryptocurrencies. During this period, a wide variety of platforms (e.g. Ethereum, Hyperledger, and others web3 Blockchain platforms), tools, programming languages and other resources such as smart contracts were proposed. With the aim of better understanding the use of smart contracts in Blockchain-based systems, this article presents a systematic review of the literature on Blockchain application architectures that make use of smart contracts, applied in different areas. It is expected to bring together approaches for the design and implementation of smart contracts on the Blockchain.
Joshua Ellul, Gordon J. Pace, Ryan Falzon, Matthew Scerri
Blockchain and smart contracts promise to increase transparency and provide guarantees for supply chains, yet existing process modeling languages either impose unnecessary complexity or lack the primitives needed to capture attestation-centric workflows that are simpler in nature. This paper introduces Attestation-Flow Diagrams (AFDs), a domain-specific graph-based notation that focuses exclusively on how attestations are issued along a supply chain. We first formalize AFD syntax and trace-based operational semantics. To demonstrate practical viability, we provide an implementation of the semantics in EVM-based smart contracts by generating three implementations that span across the decentralization spectrum: (i) logging-only contracts that immutably store attestations; (ii) hybrid contracts that record both attestations and off-chain–computed state transitions; and (iii) fully on-chain contracts that execute the entire verification logic in Solidity. A detailed gas-cost study on a representative viticulture use case shows that event-based logging reduces deployment and per-transaction costs by up to an order of magnitude, while full on-chain verification offers maximal trust guarantees at the highest cost. The resulting framework enables designers to tune cost, transparency and computational load according to application needs, and lays a formal foundation for further research on optimizing and verifying attestation-driven supply-chain processes.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) represents not merely a technological evolution but a fundamental reconfiguration of financial governance-shifting authority from hierarchical intermediaries to self-executing code. Drawing on institutional economics and legal theory, this article argues that DeFi enacts a new governance paradigm wherein trust is no longer vested in persons or institutions but encoded into deterministic protocols. Through analysis of the four core DeFi primitives-decentralized exchanges, lending platforms, programmable derivatives, and automated financial processes-we demonstrate how programmable rules disintermediate traditional fiduciary and enforcement functions. A focused illustration of Compound's governance evolution reveals both the promise of efficiency gains and the emergence of novel accountability deficits. We identify a central tension: while automated rule enforcement reduces transaction costs and principal-agent frictions, it simultaneously attenuates contestability, adaptability, and redress-features essential to resilient financial systems. The article concludes by proposing a framework for hybrid governance that preserves code-based efficiency while reintroducing deliberative safeguards, offering pathways for regulators, protocol designers, and scholars to navigate the institutional re-embedding of finance in the post-intermediary era.