This paper explores the intersection of decentralized governance, blockchain technology, and the digital commons through the lens of Elinor Ostrom’s principles. It examines how Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and tokenization models present both opportunities and risks for managing digital resources in transparent, community‐driven ways. The authors assess how token‐based, reputation‐based, and hybrid governance mechanisms—ranging from quadratic voting to Soulbound Tokens—can enhance democratic participation and accountability within blockchain ecosystems, while also recognizing their susceptibility to plutocracy, voter apathy, and collusion. Drawing on case studies such as MakerDAO, MolochDAO, Commons Stack, and Aragon, the paper critically analyzes real‐world implementations of decentralized governance and the extent to which they adhere to—or deviate from—Ostrom’s design principles for common‐pool resource management. It highlights structural limitations in governance design, especially in the presence of unequal voting power and centralized control disguised as decentralization. The paper also critiques the socio-economic implications of blockchain’s global expansion, noting how digital governance can replicate neo-colonial dynamics in the Global South and amplify state surveillance in authoritarian contexts. Further, it underscores the environmental costs of blockchain infrastructure and introduces DAOs like KlimaDAO and Regen Network as emerging experiments to align decentralized finance with sustainability goals. Ultimately, the authors propose a “dual imperative”: to develop context‐sensitive, inclusive governance architectures within DAOs, while pursuing international legal recognition and standards. The conclusion calls for communitarian models that fuse algorithmic rule enforcement with human-centered deliberation to protect the emancipatory potential of blockchain governance. Whether blockchain becomes a force for democratization or digital enclosure, the authors argue, will depend on how its governing architectures are designed, contested, and evolved by the communities that steward them.
ABSTRACT This manuscript presents an exhaustive review of blockchain‐based mixing services, aiming to fill the existing gap between academic innovations and real‐world implementations. Starting with an identification of the core functionalities and techniques employed by mixing services, the paper delves into detailed explanations of these operational mechanisms. It further outlines an evaluation framework tailored for a rigorous assessment, highlighting the key vulnerabilities and strengths of various solutions. In addition, the study identifies potential attack vectors that compromise these services. The paper explores the dual nature of mixing services: while they contribute to the preservation of privacy—a cornerstone of blockchain technologies—they can also facilitate illicit activities. By addressing key research questions, this study not only offers a comprehensive overview of the current state of mixing services but also sets the stage for future academic discourse in this evolving field.
Christian Delgado‐von‐Eitzen, Manuel J. Fernández Iglesias, Luis Anido, Martín Llamas Nistal
This paper introduces a novel access control architecture based on a dual-blockchain model that separates access management from data storage to enhance security and scalability. The system enables users to submit access requests to a primary blockchain, where smart contracts dynamically verify permissions before retrieving data from a secondary, isolated blockchain. This design enforces fine-grained, account-level access control while preventing direct exposure of sensitive data. A proof of concept was implemented using Hyperledger YUI to interconnect Ethereum-based blockchains, demonstrating secure inter-chain communication and dynamic permission enforcement. The proposed solution addresses key limitations in existing blockchain infrastructures and offers a flexible, decentralized framework suitable for applications requiring robust data governance and regulatory compliance.
As blockchain technology evolves to support a wide range of Web3 services, seamless interoperability between heterogeneous blockchain platforms has emerged as a key technical challenge. Existing studies mainly address interoperability in homogeneous environments, often neglecting critical platform-specific factors such as consensus mechanisms, asset models, and block generation parameters. Additionally, current standards by ISO and ITU-T define architectural frameworks but fall short in offering practical guidance for real-world implementation. This paper introduces a practical gateway-based interoperability framework designed to support dynamic and policy-driven interactions across diverse blockchain networks. The proposed architecture decouples interoperability logic from blockchain-specific interfaces, enabling modular scalability and flexible integration. Interoperability policies are defined with respect to consensus trust levels, transaction types, and asset compatibility to ensure atomicity and consistency in cross-chain operations. To validate the approach, we implemented a cross-chain asset transfer scenario between Hyperledger Fabric and Hyperledger Besu (Private Ethereum). The case study demonstrates high success rates, low latency, and consistent data integrity, confirming the framework’s practical applicability in Web3 environments. Future work will explore enhanced support for asynchronous execution, trust-based transaction control, and regulatory compliance in cross-jurisdiction blockchain interactions.
This article investigates how Web3 decentralization unfolds in practice and asks two guiding questions: (i) How democratic are decentralized governance systems in practice? (ii) Under what institutional conditions can technological decentralization translate into social inclusion? Based on multi-year ethnographic fieldwork (2022–2025) across Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., Europe, and the Global South, this study draws on participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and comparative analysis of seven ecosystems—Ethereum, MakerDAO, Uniswap, Mastodon, Celo, Grassroots Economics, and GoodDollar. The findings show that participation asymmetries are structural: token-based governance is dominated by a small group of technically skilled or capital-rich actors, while voter turnout often remains below ten percent. Intermediaries such as foundations, developers, NGOs, and cooperatives are indispensable for coordination, contradicting the idea of hierarchy-free decentralization. In contrast, projects that institutionalize clear membership, monitoring, and accountability—particularly in cooperative and federated settings—display stronger democratic resilience. Comparative evidence also reveals oligarchic consolidation in Global North ecosystems and infrastructural exclusion in the Global South. These results substantiate what Richard R. Nelson termed “the Moon and the Ghetto” paradox: extraordinary technical innovation without corresponding social progress. Interpreted through innovation systems theory, the study concludes that advancing decentralized technologies requires parallel investment in mission-oriented institutions that ensure participation, equity, and accountability in digital infrastructures.
Burhan Ul Islam Khan, Khang Wen Goh, Abdul Raouf Khan, Megat F. Zuhairi · 5 authors
A typical Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) defines the usage of static sensors; however, the growing focus on smart cities has led to a rise in the adoption of mobile sensors to meet the varied demands of Internet of Things (IoT) applications. This results in significantly increasing dependencies towards secure storage and effective resource management. One way to address this issue is to harness the immutability property of the Ethereum blockchain. However, the existing challenges in IoT communication using blockchain are noted to eventually lead to symmetry issues in the network dynamics of Ethereum. The key issues related to this symmetry are scalability, resource disparities, and centralization risk, which offer sub-optimal opportunities for nodes to gain benefits, influence, or participate in the processes in the blockchain network. Therefore, this paper presents a novel blockchain-based computation model for optimizing resource utilization and offering secure data exchange during active communication among mobile sensors. An empirical method of trust computation was carried out to identify the degree of legitimacy of mobile sensor participation in the network. Finally, a novel cost model has been presented for cost estimation and to enhance the users’ quality of experience. With the aid of a simulation study, the benchmarked outcome of the study exhibited that the proposed scheme achieved a 40% reduced validation time, 28% reduced latency, 23% improved throughput, 38% minimized overhead, 27% reduced cost, and 38% reduced processing time, in contrast to the existing blockchain-based solutions reported in the literature. This outcome prominently exhibits fairer symmetry in the network dynamics of Ethereum presented in the proposed system.
Duc Tran, Filisia Melissari, Samuel Le Féon, Andreas Papadakis · 9 authors
• The blockchain traceability system caused inconsiderate environmental impacts. • Using blockchain system is profitable if consumers pay more for traceable products. • Blockchain-based traceability systems can be applied to different production scale. • Energy consumption for a mixed (private and public) blockchain is not high. The implementation of blockchain (BC) technology in food traceability has attracted the attention of both scholars and practitioners because this technology enhances transparency and efficiency. While previous studies have attempted to assess the technical performance of BC-based applications, comprehensive economic and environmental assessments of BC-based food traceability systems are lacking. This study performs a technical, environmental and economic assessment of BC-based food traceability using a private BC (Quorum) and a public BC (Ethereum). The case study is the production of protected designation of origin feta cheese in Greece. The proposed BC-based system was found to have insignificant environmental impacts when compared to the existing impacts of feta production. Furthermore, the implementation of BC-based food traceability was found to be profitable for dairy producers when consumers’ willingness to pay a price premium for BC-based traceable products is taken into account. Sensitivity analyses under different scaling-up scenarios, from a purely technical perspective (i.e. increase in transaction volume and frequency) to scaling production, emphasised the potential benefits of BC-based food traceability from a scalability perspective.
Abstract This study explores the interplay between blockchain-based smart contracts and big data analytics for the supply chain value creation of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). We implement our Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) procedure with the ganache blockchain, and addresses generated by the Metamask wallet. Each supply chain player in the blockchain is assigned a wallet address to observe the hashes created when data is added to the blockchain. Our findings unfold that supply chain value creation emphasises traceability, transparency, security, and profit maximisation interlocked with how effectively companies utilise big data collected through blockchain-based smart contracts. This subsequentially assists managers in using data types and a variety of analytics, spanning from descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive to cognitive analytics. This synergy between the blockchain and the types of analytics provides opportunities to identify new interactions and directions for future research.
Blockchain transformative technology that enables secure, decentralized, and immutable transaction recording through a network of cryptographic blocks, enhancing transparency and trust without the need for a central authority or intermediaries. The Ethereum platform builds upon this foundation by facilitating the development of decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts, which automate processes and improve operational efficiency. In higher education, the Student Activity Credit Unit (SACU) system exemplifies the application of blockchain by managing both academic and non-academic achievements, thus promoting a holistic approach to student development and enhancing essential soft skills like leadership and teamwork. By leveraging a decentralized system built on Hyperledger Besu, the SACU ensures that student records are secure, transparent, and scalable, while providing real-time monitoring and verification of achievements. This paper evaluates the decentralized student’s achevements record model, demonstrating its improvements in transparency, security, and efficiency over existing systems, ultimately preparing graduates for professional success and fostering trust in the recognition of their qualifications.
Digital currencies, including Bitcoins, Ethereum, and others, are an established alternative asset class opted by individual and institutional investors worldwide. However, this digital asset class carries several inherent risks. This study investigates the influence of three key risks, including liquidity risk, cyber risk, and regulatory risk, on the reinvestment intentions of investors. Data was collected from global crypto investors via a questionnaire and analyzed using PLS structural equation modeling. The study further used Investors' risk tolerance as a moderating variable. The findings of the study reveal that a significant and negative relationship exists between liquidity risk, cyber risk, regulatory risk, and investors' reinvestment intentions. Interestingly, investors with high-risk tolerance levels seem less affected by cyber security concerns, as they are more capable of absorbing or overlooking such risks. On the other hand, liquidity and regulatory risks appear to affect all types of investors irrespective of their risk tolerance level. This study bridges an important research gap by providing clear evidence on how these specific risks influence reinvestment decisions in the growing crypto market. It highlights the critical need for effective risk management strategies and stronger regulatory frameworks to address cyber vulnerabilities, tackle liquidity issues, and offer regulatory clarity. Taking these steps are essential for boosting investor confidence and encouraging their sustained involvement in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Amir M. Ebrahimi, Bram Adams, Gustavo A. Oliva, Ahmed E. Hassan
Software applications that run on a blockchain platform are known as DApps. DApps are built using smart contracts, which are immutable after deployment. Just like any real-world software system, DApps need to receive new features and bug fixes over time in order to remain useful and secure. However, Ethereum lacks native solutions for post-deployment smart contract maintenance, requiring developers to devise their own methods. A popular method is known as the upgradeability proxy contract (UPC), which involves implementing the proxy design pattern (as defined by the Gang of Four). In this method, client calls first hit a proxy contract, which then delegates calls to a certain implementation contract. Most importantly, the proxy contract can be reconfigured during runtime to delegate calls to another implementation contract, effectively enabling application upgrades. For researchers, the accurate detection of UPCs is a strong requirement in the understanding of how exactly real-world DApps are maintained over time. For practitioners, the accurate detection of UPCs is crucial for providing application behavior transparency and enabling auditing. In this paper, we introduce UPC Sentinel, a novel three-layer algorithm that utilizes both static and dynamic analysis of smart contract bytecode to accurately detect active UPCs. We evaluated UPC Sentinel using two distinct ground truth datasets. In the first dataset, our method demonstrated a near-perfect accuracy of 99%. The evaluation on the second dataset further established our method's efficacy, showing a perfect precision rate of 100% and a near-perfect recall of 99.3%, outperforming the state of the art. Finally, we discuss the potential value of UPC Sentinel in advancing future research efforts.
Elie Bouri, Amin Sokhanvar, Harald Kinateder, Serhan Çiftçioğlu
• Reveals significant positive predictability in the stock market–cryptocurrency nexus. • U.S. tech and semiconductor stocks and Nvidia predict cryptocurrency returns and vice versa. • Mutual returns predictability is significant across several quantiles and lags. • It generally holds when controlling for the U.S. dollar index and treasury market. • A trading strategy based on the cross-quantilogram outperforms a benchmark strategy. This study examines the directional return predictability between the technology sector of U.S. stock market and three major cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin). Using daily data from August 7, 2015, to February 8, 2024, and the cross-quantilogram approach in both static and dynamic settings, the results reveal significant positive predictability in the stock market–cryptocurrency nexus. The technology sector, semiconductors subsector, and Nvidia Corporation exert predictive power over cryptocurrency returns and vice versa across several quantiles and lags. When controlling for the impact of other financial variables, namely, U.S. dollar and U.S. treasury markets, the return predictability holds, especially for the two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, which reflects their importance and tighter connections with the U.S. technology sector. A trading strategy based on the results of the cross-quantilograms outperforms a benchmark strategy (i.e., always long position in either stocks or cryptocurrency), which underlines the practical implications of our main findings, particularly in terms of the significant return interactions between U.S. technology/semiconductors stocks and large cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency has seen tremendous growth and has gone through its periods of ups and downs. Using cryptocurrency, users can perform secure transactions thanks to the power of blockchain technology. Additionally, cryptocurrency has also seen increasing growth as a choice for investment, securing high level of return. Usually, the cryptocurrencies which are used as investments are the ones with better reputations and larger market capitalizations such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Even so, cryptocurrency still faces challenges in mass adoption in its usage and investment. This study looks to determine whether the factors of risk, regulation, social influence, effort expectancy and financial literacy have a significant impact in the behavioural intention of a Malaysian young adult’s consideration to invest in cryptocurrency. A sample of 253 Malaysian respondents has been gathered. Risk, effort expectancy, social influence and financial literacy are found to have a significant relationship with a Malaysian young adult’s intention to invest in cryptocurrency. Regulation on the other hand, is the sole factor that has no impact on a Malaysian young adult’s consideration to invest in cryptocurrency. The certainty of regulatory stability may be one explanation for the lack of influence of regulatory factors on young adults' consideration of investing in cryptocurrency.
Due to the inherent immutability of blockchain technology, smart contract updates require their deployment at new addresses rather than modifying existing ones, thus fragmenting version histories and creating critical blind spots for analyses. Indeed, for example, this fragmentation severely hinders security researchers ability to track vulnerability lifecycles across contract versions. While platforms like Etherscan provide detailed information about Ethereum smart contracts, they lack crucial functionality to trace predecessor-successor relationships within smart contract lineages, preventing systematic analysis of how vulnerabilities emerge, propagate, and potentially remain unresolved across versions.To address the challenge of tracing smart contract lineages, we adopt a Design Science Research (DSR) approach and introduce ContractTrace, an automated infrastructure that accurately identifies and links versions of smart contracts into coherent lineages. This tool enables the construction of lineageSet, an up-to-date, open-source dataset specifically designed to support security research on vulnerability, defect or any other property evolution patterns in smart contracts. Through a security-focused case study we demonstrate how ContractTrace reveals previously obscured vulnerability life-cycles within smart contract lineages, tracking whether critical security flaws persist or get resolved across versions. This capability is essential for understanding vulnerability propagation patterns and evaluating the effectiveness of security patches in blockchain environments. In the evaluation phase of our DSR approach, we validated our lineage detection methodology against an alternative approach using Locality-Sensitive Hashing (LSH) to cluster contract versions, confirming the security relevance and accuracy of our technique.
The study examines the influence of public announcements, regulatory actions, and significant events on the price movements of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Dogecoin, focusing on market volatility and stability. Historical exchange rate data, covering the period from 03 June 2017 to 27 October 2024, with over 2700 daily price observations, were analyzed. The primary aim was to explore how these events shape cryptocurrency price reactions, uncover patterns in market behavior, and assess market sentiment. The findings reveal that volatile assets like Dogecoin experience more pronounced and longer-lasting price changes in response to positive announcements, while more stable cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum show relatively brief price shifts. Negative events, especially those involving regulatory actions or market disruptions, tend to have a prolonged and detrimental effect on cryptocurrency prices. Additionally, the study highlights the growing stability of the cryptocurrency market, driven by an expanding user base. Bitcoin and Ethereum exhibit moderate volatility, while Dogecoin and Ripple show higher volatility. The research also identifies correlations between cryptocurrencies, such as the strong relationship between Bitcoin and Ethereum, suggesting potential for price manipulation between correlated assets. Investor sentiment plays a crucial role in amplifying the effects of both positive and negative events, with favorable sentiment driving price increases and negative sentiment contributing to market declines. The research provides valuable insights for investors, enabling them to navigate cryptocurrency market volatility and make more informed investment decisions.
Blockchain technology has become a disruptive breakthrough in the digital age, altering how information is maintained and exchanged. However, traditional intellectual property systems face several challenges, such as centralized data repositories, dependability issues, performance bottlenecks, and opaque processes. These problems necessitate a novel strategy, and blockchain enables safe, open, and unchangeable record-keeping via a connected chain of blocks. A new age of tamper-proof digital collaboration is introduced owing to this distributed structure, which eliminates intermediaries and permits trustless peer-to-peer transactions. Furthermore, conventional approaches to securing intellectual property rights are no longer relevant due to the growing digitization of information. Our system integrates blockchain technology, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) to revolutionize patent administration. Our work aims to provide a cutting-edge platform for patent registration, trade, and management by utilizing blockchain technology's decentralization, transparency, immutability, the distinctiveness of NFTs, and the strength of IPFS. Our framework modernizes the intellectual property landscape by bolstering rights and encouraging a more creative and collaborative atmosphere. It handles essential issues such as data transparency, ownership identification, secure storage, and transaction efficiency.
The e-voting system, which is based on blockchain technology, greatly improves the security, transparency, and integrity of electronic voting. This is achieved by using a decentralized ledger system that distributes the recording of votes, allows for public verification, and maintains voter anonymity through cryptographic methods. This resilient method guarantees that once a vote is submitted, it is securely recorded and cannot be changed without the agreement of network members, thereby protecting the integrity of elections. Built on the private Go Ethereum (Geth) network, this study implements an e-voting system that features validator nodes for transaction verification, user-friendly mobile applications for voter interaction, and comprehensive smart contract capabilities that define the voting process rules. The mobile application guides users from launching the app and authenticating their identity to selecting candidates and securely recording their votes, ensuring seamless connectivity to the blockchain and incorporating essential verification steps. Furthermore, the implementation process includes meticulous setup of Ethereum nodes, smart contract development, and thorough testing for functionality, performance, and security. The evaluation focuses on aspects like maintaining data transparency, user authentication, and resilience against unauthorized access, demonstrating high user satisfaction with the app's performance. Ultimately, this blockchain-based system addresses modern electoral challenges, ensuring a secure, transparent, and reliable voting experience that fosters trust among all stakeholders involved.
The rapid development of blockchain technologies creates a new paradigm of economic relations, requiring a rethinking of traditional approaches to management and business organization. The relevance of Ethereum research is due to its significant potential for creating new forms of economic coordination that go beyond existing institutional structures. With the growing complexity of global economic systems, Ethereum offers a unique approach to solving trust, transparency, and transaction efficiency problems. The purpose of the work is to substantiate the role of blockchain as a new management technology using the example of the Ethereum platform, as well as to reveal the mechanisms for projecting imaginary autonomy in the process of its design and institutionalization through the activities of various actors. The study focuses on the formation of alternative modes of economic coordination of entrepreneurial structures and social organization.Key characteristics of the “governance through transactions” implemented in Ethereum are identified, including the focus on exchange and association relationships, the epistemological gap between the calculation and meaning of transactions, and the specific processes of forming and articulating these transactions. The process of institutionalization of the autonomy of cryptoassets is analyzed, demonstrating the complex interaction of various actors, technologies and social practices. A conceptual model of the evolution of digital economy management has been developed, reflecting the development trajectory from fragility to antifragility using the example of Ethereum. The transformational potential of Ethereum for existing economic and social structures is substantiated. This platform is considered an alternative proposal for managing the digital economy, capable of changing the fundamental principles of organizing economic activity. Problems and limitations associated with the implementation of decentralized systems are also identified, including technical challenges of scalability, difficulties of coordination, and risks of excessive algorithmization of social relations.
Abstract: A decentralized voting system utilizing blockchain technology offers a transformative approach to traditional election processes. This innovative method addresses several challenges, including low voter turnout, security vulnerabilities, lack of transparency, potential vote tampering, and delays in result processing. This paper focuses on the design and development of a smart contract-based online voting system, leveraging the Ethereum blockchain as its foundation. The proposed system eliminates the necessity for intermediaries by utilizing blockchain's immutable and distributed ledger, thereby securing votes and facilitating a fully auditable voting process. Smart contracts are employed to automate voter registration, ballot generation, and vote counting, which helps minimize errors and enhance operational efficiency. Furthermore, the Ethereum network enforces a one-vote-per-voter policy through the Gas token mechanism, effectively preventing duplicate voting and ensuring the integrity of elections. A proof-of-concept application is presented and tested with simulated voting data, demonstrating the system's capability to maintain anonymity while ensuring the integrity of the voting process. This research highlights the potential of blockchain technology to bolster voter confidence, increase participation, and reduce election costs.
CrimRxiv, our flagship project, is dedicated to increasing the quantity, quality, and usage of "open criminology" resources.It's a hub and repository.For example, we publish and reshare open-access articles, books, data, code, and instructional resources.This initiative enhances the scientific rigor and impact of criminological research by ensuring free access for everyone. MOTIVATION & GOALSOpen access to criminological research can significantly improve public safety and justice systems globally.With this proposal, we aim to advance open criminology by onboarding our Members into DeFi, leveraging blockchain technology to enhance transparency and efficiency in research funding and dissemination.
B. Sujatha, Yarrampati Ganesh, N. Leelavathy, R. Tamilkodi · 7 authors
Objectives: A blockchain-based E-Voting system shall be designed to secure and make transparent voting through biometric and facial recognition for voter authentication with the help of smart contracts to automate electoral processes. Methods: The research used the Ethereum blockchain technology with smart contracts to automatically schedule elections, register voters, and declare election results. Volunteers controlled information relating to the voter, which included name, email address, phone number, biometrics, and facial images. All this was available for authenticated access. The IPFS contained all this for decentralized and immutable record-keeping. Findings: This E-Voting system is therefore proposed based on enhancing the security as well as the transparency brought about in the electoral processes. Using smart contracts that are developed with Ethereum prevents manipulation and provides integrity regarding data. Studies show the IPFS storage system leads to complete decentralization together with immutability-a critical flaw seen in systems of traditional voting. One can ensure the participation will be done by only voters who are verified, much improvement compared to the level of reliability as well as integrity offered through the various methods applied within the current electoral processes. These study results reinforce blockchain's effectiveness in ensuring that voting applications are secure as well as tamper-proof. Novelty: A blockchain and IPFS-based secure, decentralized voting solution to maintain data integrity and transparency. Keywords: Blockchain, E-Voting, Secure Voter Authentication, Smart Contracts, Online Voting, Election Automation
A diploma is a document or certificate given to someone who has completed formal education. Diplomas are generally used as a benchmark for someone to get a job and identity in the eyes of the social environment. Many people think that a diploma is something meaningful or essential, so diplomas are often faked which violates legal norms and violates someone's Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). To anticipate counterfeiting, in Indonesia, there is currently a National Diploma Numbering (PIN) system and an Online Diploma Verification System (SIVIL), but unfortunately, the diploma database storage is still centralized which still allows illegal hacking to occur. On this basis, this research was created to able to provide a safer and more reliable diploma recording system solution, by utilizing Blockchain technology it is possible that every diploma issued can also be turned into a digital asset in the form of an NFT diploma, which is easy to track without having to face traditional bureaucratic obstacles. The NFT diploma functions as a representation of ownership, academic credentials, or identity as a sign of a student's educational history. This research aims to determine the performance of the Blockchain storage system on the Polygon network using smart contracts and IPFS. Apart from that, this research will compare the performance with previous research that used Polygon's layer-1, namely Ethereum. In smart contract cost testing, it was found that each Polygon transaction fee only requires 2.26% of the Ethereum transaction fee. Meanwhile, Quality of Service testing resulted in a throughput of 48.6-49.6 Kbps, packet loss of 0%, and latency of 42.07-44.13 m/s. The results show the potential for better cost efficiency and performance on the Polygon network compared to Ethereum.
The increasing demand for sustainability and compliance with global carbon regulations has posed significant challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper proposes a blockchain-based decentralized carbon credit trading platform tailored for SMEs in Taiwan, aiming to simplify the complex carbon trading process and lower market entry barriers. Drawing upon the Diffusion of Innovations theory and transaction cost economics, we illustrate how blockchain technology can reduce informational asymmetry and intermediary costs in carbon markets. By integrating Ethereum-based smart contracts, the platform automates transactions, enhances transparency, and reduces administrative burdens - addressing key obstacles such as technical complexity and market risks. A controlled experimental design was conducted to compare the proposed system with a conventional centralized carbon trading platform. Statistical analysis confirms its effectiveness in minimizing time and expenses while ensuring compliance with the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the Clean Competition Act (CCA). User satisfaction was measured using the Kano model, with the results identifying essential features and prioritizing future enhancements. This study contributes a more comprehensive solution for SMEs seeking to achieve carbon neutrality, underscoring the transformative potential of blockchain technology in global carbon markets.