This paper aims to leverage Bayesian nonlinear expectations to construct Bayesian lower and upper estimates for prices of Ether options, that is, options written on Ethereum, with conditional heteroscedasticity and model uncertainty. Specifically, a discrete-time generalized conditional autoregressive heteroscedastic (GARCH) model is used to incorporate conditional heteroscedasticity in the logarithmic returns of Ethereum, and Bayesian nonlinear expectations are adopted to introduce model uncertainty, or ambiguity, about the conditional mean and volatility of the logarithmic returns of Ethereum. Extended Girsanov’s principle is employed to change probability measures for introducing a family of alternative GARCH models and their risk-neutral counterparts. The Bayesian credible intervals for “uncertain” drift and volatility parameters obtained from conjugate priors and residuals obtained from the estimated GARCH model are used to construct Bayesian superlinear and sublinear expectations giving the Bayesian lower and upper estimates for the price of an Ether option, respectively. Empirical and simulation studies are provided using real data on Ethereum in AUD. Comparisons with a model incorporating conditional heteroscedasticity only and a model capturing ambiguity only are presented.
This paper surveys innovative protocols that enhance the programming functionality of the Bitcoin blockchain, a key part of the "Bitcoin Ecosystem." Bitcoin utilizes the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model and a stack-based script language for efficient peer-to-peer payments, but it faces limitations in programming capability and throughput. The 2021 Taproot upgrade introduced the Schnorr signature algorithm and P2TR transaction type, significantly improving Bitcoin's privacy and programming capabilities. This upgrade has led to the development of protocols like Ordinals, Atomicals, and BitVM, which enhance Bitcoin's programming functionality and enrich its ecosystem. We explore the technical aspects of the Taproot upgrade and examine Bitcoin Layer 1 protocols that leverage Taproot's features to program non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into transactions, including Ordinals and Atomicals, along with the fungible token standards BRC-20 and ARC-20. Additionally, we categorize certain Bitcoin ecosystem protocols as Layer 2 solutions similar to Ethereum's, analyzing their impact on Bitcoin's performance. By analyzing data from the Bitcoin blockchain, we gather metrics on block capacity, miner fees, and the growth of Taproot transactions. Our findings confirm the positive effects of these protocols on Bitcoin's mainnet, bridging gaps in the literature regarding Bitcoin's programming capabilities and ecosystem protocols and providing valuable insights for practitioners and researchers.
Haider Ali, Muhammad Aftab, Faheem Aslam, Paulo Ferreira
Jump dynamics in financial markets exhibit significant complexity, often resulting in increased probabilities of subsequent jumps, akin to earthquake aftershocks. This study aims to understand these complexities within a multifractal framework. To do this, we employed the high-frequency intraday data from six major cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dashcoin, EOS, and Ripple) and six major forex markets (Euro, British pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Swiss franc, and Japanese yen) between 4 August 2019 and 4 October 2023, at 5 min intervals. We began by extracting daily jumps from realized volatility using a MinRV-based approach and then applying Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) to those jumps to explore their multifractal characteristics. The results of the MFDFA—especially the fluctuation function, the varying Hurst exponent, and the Renyi exponent—confirm that all of these jump series exhibit significant multifractal properties. However, the range of the Hurst exponent values indicates that Dashcoin has the highest and Litecoin has the lowest multifractal strength. Moreover, all of the jump series show significant persistent behavior and a positive autocorrelation, indicating a higher probability of a positive/negative jump being followed by another positive/negative jump. Additionally, the findings of rolling-window MFDFA with a window length of 250 days reveal persistent behavior most of the time. These findings are useful for market participants, investors, and policymakers in developing portfolio diversification strategies and making important investment decisions, and they could enhance market efficiency and stability.
The article discusses the use of Ethereum blockchain technology in the Internet of Things (IoT) network for IT diagnostics of patients, which increases data security and user privacy. This integration is proving effective for storing and managing sensitive data of patients with neurological diseases. An integrated system architecture has been developed that combines the IoT network, the IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) file structure with the Ethereum blockchain to create a reliable data storage model. This system ensures efficient, secure and transparent data processing, optimizing the processes of data registration, authorization and verification. Using IPFS for decentralized file storage, along with the Ethereum blockchain to create tamper-proof medical records, provides increased efficiency, scalability and privacy. During the experiments, the process of creating and testing the system was implemented, including setting up the environment, connecting an IPFS node, programming Ethereum smart contracts, sampling voice data and storing their hashes.
The growing digitization of education presents significant challenges in maintaining the integrity and trustworthiness of educational content. Traditional systems often fail to ensure data authenticity and prevent unauthorized alterations, particularly in the evaluation of teachers' professional activities, where demand for transparent and secure assessment mechanisms is increasing. In this context, Blockchain technology offers a novel solution to address these issues. This paper introduces a Blockchain-enhanced framework for the Electronic Platform for Expertise of Content (EPEC), a platform used for reviewing and assessing educational materials. Our approach integrates the Polygon network, a Layer-2 solution for Ethereum, to securely store and retrieve encrypted reviews, ensuring both privacy and accountability. By leveraging Python, Flask, and Web3.py, we interact with a Solidity-based smart contract to securely link each review to a unique identifier (UID) that connects on-chain data with real-world databases. The system, containerized using Docker, facilitates easy deployment and integration through API endpoints. Our implementation demonstrates significant cost savings, with a 98\% reduction in gas fees compared to Ethereum, making it a scalable and cost-effective solution. This research contributes to the ongoing effort to implement Blockchain in educational content verification, offering a practical and secure framework that enhances trust and transparency in the digital education landscape.
In the digital information age, the traditional centralized storage model is vulnerable to security attacks, which leads to the spread of false information and difficulty in tracing. This study proposes a decentralized campus information security system using blockchain technology and builds a tamper-proof, traceable, and privacy-protected architecture through Ethereum and Inter Planetary File System (IPFS). The system uses zero-knowledge proof and homomorphic encryption technology to ensure privacy and uses IPFS as an off-chain storage mechanism to improve the scalability of the system and data access speed. Experimental results show that compared with traditional digital applications, the system performs well in ensuring the authenticity and security of information and effectively protects user privacy.
(English) The advent of the internet, marked by pivotal developments such as the launch of Arpanet and the standardization of HTTP, has irrevocably changed the fabric of modern society. Centralized platforms like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Amazon have dominated this digital landscape, offering many services ranging from cloud computing to online storage. However, the centralized nature of these services has raised significant concerns regarding user privacy, data integrity, and the potential for censorship. In response to these issues, the open-source community has explored peer-to-peer alternatives, notably in the realm of distributed file systems, ledgers, and blockchain technology. Blockchains, popularized by the emergence of Bitcoin, promote a democratized service model that challenges the centralized status quo. Yet, they are not without their own challenges, including decentralization, security, privacy, and performance. This thesis delves into the nuances of blockchain technology, focusing on Ethereum's transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) and its implications on network hardware requirements, topology, and overall performance. The development of Ethereum serves as a small-scale reflection of the broader ambitions and challenges in transitioning to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) platforms. Despite significant theoretical advancements in consensus mechanisms and scalability solutions, real-world implementations and experimental validations remain sparse. This work aims to bridge this gap by comprehensively analysing Ethereum's PoS transition by examining the interlaced relationships between software logic, hardware configurations, and network dynamics. Through novel measurement models and tools, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of how Ethereum's architectural changes impact its ecosystem and its participants' behaviours. Lastly, the research presented in this thesis illustrates the technical and operational challenges facing Ethereum and similar blockchain platforms and proposes a series of contributions that advance the field. This work empirically analyses the future enhancements in blockchain technology by exploring the implications of the network and its topology, to the viability of decentralized validation processes, and the potential for scaling solutions like Data Availability Sampling. The open-source tools and methodologies developed within the thesis scope represent the commitment to transparency and collaboration, which follows the spirit of the decentralized communities it seeks to serve. Through a mix of theoretical exploration and empirical research, this thesis aims to provide a deeper and more detailed understanding of Ethereum PoS' design choices, its capabilities and the limitations this one represents in future steps and upgrades, leading the way for more resilient, scalable, and decentralized digital infrastructures. (Català) L'arribada d'Internet, marcada per avenços fonamentals com el llançament d'Arpanet i l'estandardització de HTTP, ha canviat irrevocablement el teixit de la societat moderna. Les plataformes centralitzades com Microsoft, Google, Apple i Amazon han dominat aquest panorama digital, oferint serveis que van des de la computació al núvol fins a l'emmagatzematge en línia. No obstant això, la naturalesa centralitzada d'aquests serveis ha generat importants preocupacions pel que fa a la privacitat de l'usuari, la integritat de les dades i la possibilitat de censura. En resposta a aquests problemes, la comunitat de codi obert ha explorat alternatives d'igual a igual, especialment en l'àmbit dels sistemes d'arxius distribuïts i la tecnologia blockchain. Les blockchains, popularitzades pel sorgiment de Bitcoin, han proposat fins i tot un model de servei democratitzat que desafia l'statu quo centralitzat. No obstant això, no estan exemptes de desafiaments, incloent la descentralització, la seguretat, la privacitat i el rendiment. Aquesta tesi aprofundeix en les dinàmiques de la tecnologia blockchain, centrant-se en la transició d'Ethereum de Proof of Work (PoW) a Proof of Stake (PoS) i les seves implicacions en els requisits, la topologia de la xarxa i el rendiment general del maquinari. El desenvolupament d'Ethereum serveix com un reflex a petita escala de les ambicions i els desafiaments més amplis en la transició a plataformes de finances descentralitzades (DeFi). Malgrat els importants avenços teòrics en els mecanismes de consens i les solucions d'escalabilitat, les implementacions al món real i les validacions experimentals segueixen sent escasses. Aquesta tesi té com a objectiu tancar aquesta bretxa analitzant exhaustivament la transició PoS d'Ethereum mitjançant l'examen de les relacions entrellaçades entre la lògica del programari, les configuracions de maquinari i la dinàmica de la xarxa. A través de nous models i eines de mesura, aquesta tesi contribueix a una comprensió més profunda de com els canvis arquitectònics d'Ethereum impacten en el seu ecosistema i els comportaments dels seus participants. Per últim, la investigació presentada en aquesta tesi il·lustra els desafiaments tècnics i operatius que enfronten Ethereum i plataformes blockchain similars, i proposa una sèrie de contribucions que esperem serveixin per fer avançar el mon de les blockchains. La tesi analitza empíricament les millores futures en la tecnologia blockchain explorant les implicacions de la xarxa i la seva topologia, la viabilitat dels processos de validació descentralitzats i el potencial per escalar solucions com el mostreig de disponibilitat de dades. Les eines i metodologies de codi obert desenvolupades dins de l'abast de la tesi representen el compromís amb la transparència i la col·laboració, que segueix l'esperit de les comunitats descentralitzades a les que busquem servir. A través d'una combinació d'exploració teòrica i investigació empírica, aquesta tesi té com a objectiu proporcionar una comprensió més profunda i detallada de les opcions de disseny d'Ethereum PoS, les seves capacitats i les limitacions que això representa en futurs passos i actualitzacions, obrint el camí cap a una solució més resilient i escalable per a infraestructures digitals descentralitzades. (Español) La llegada de Internet, marcada por avances fundamentales como el lanzamiento de Arpanet y la estandarización de HTTP, ha cambiado irrevocablemente el tejido de la sociedad moderna. Plataformas centralizadas como Microsoft, Google, Apple y Amazon han dominado este panorama digital, ofreciendo servicios que van desde computación en la nube hasta almacenamiento en línea. Sin embargo, la naturaleza centralizada de estos servicios ha generado importantes preocupaciones con respecto a la privacidad del usuario, la integridad de los datos y la posibilidad de censura. En respuesta a estos problemas, la comunidad de código abierto ha explorado alternativas de igual a igual, especialmente en el ámbito de los sistemas de archivos distribuidos, los libros de contabilidad y la tecnología blockchain. Las blockchains, popularizadas por el surgimiento de Bitcoin, promueven un modelo de servicio democratizado que desafía el status quo centralizado. Sin embargo, no están exentos de desafíos, incluida la descentralización, la seguridad, la privacidad y el rendimiento. Esta tesis profundiza en los matices de la tecnología blockchain, centrándose en la transición de Ethereum de Proof of Work (PoW) a Proof of Stake (PoS) y sus implicaciones en los requisitos, la topología de la red y el rendimiento general del hardware. El desarrollo de Ethereum sirve como un reflejo a pequeña escala de las ambiciones y desafíos más amplios en la transición a plataformas de finanzas descentralizadas (DeFi). A pesar de los importantes avances teóricos en los mecanismos de consenso y las soluciones de escalabilidad, las implementaciones en el mundo real y las validaciones experimentales siguen siendo escasas. Esta tesis tiene como objetivo cerrar esta brecha analizando exhaustivamente la transición PoS de Ethereum mediante el examen de las relaciones entrelazadas entre la lógica del software, las configuraciones de hardware y la dinámica de la red. A través de novedosos modelos y herramientas de medición, esta tesis contribuye a una comprensión más profunda de cómo los cambios arquitectónicos de Ethereum impactan su ecosistema y los comportamientos de sus participantes. Por último, la investigación presentada en esta tesis ilustra los desafíos técnicos y operativos que enfrentan Ethereum y plataformas blockchain similares y propone una serie de contribuciones que hacen avanzar el campo. La tesis analiza empíricamente las mejoras futuras en la tecnología blockchain explorando las implicaciones de la red y su topología, la viabilidad de los procesos de validación descentralizados y el potencial para escalar soluciones como el muestreo de disponibilidad de datos. Las herramientas y metodologías de código abierto desarrolladas dentro del alcance de la tesis representan el compromiso con la transparencia y la colaboración, que sigue el espíritu de las comunidades descentralizadas a las que busca servir. A través de una combinación de exploración teórica e investigación empírica, esta tesis tiene como objetivo proporcionar una comprensión más profunda y detallada de las opciones de diseño de Ethereum PoS, sus capacidades y las limitaciones que esto representa en futuros pasos y actualizaciones, abriendo el camino hacia una solución más resiliente y escalable. e infraestructuras digitales descentralizadas.
Decentralized identity systems promise user-controlled identifiers and cross-domain verification without a shared identity provider, yet authentication still reduces to possession of keys or credentials once secrets are leaked, reused, or replayed. We present BioZero, a privacy-preserving biometric authentication protocol for decentralized identity that binds an enrolled identity to a biometric witness without revealing biometric templates, while enabling publicly verifiable on-chain decisions. BioZero combines Pedersen commitment-homomorphic computation, consistency spot-checks, and Groth16 zero-knowledge proofs to achieve identity-bound authentication with succinct on-chain verification. We analyze acceptance soundness, freshness, template privacy, and non-malleability under an open decentralized threat model including replay, timing, brute-force, oracle, and forgery attacks. On an Ethereum testbed, BioZero achieves up to 67.8x lower network-adjusted total authentication latency and up to 266.4x faster client-side proving than a zk-SNARK-only baseline. Verification stays in the millisecond range (28.8-41.2 ms vs. 35.4-77.6 ms). With lambda=1 spot-checking, gas grows from 336,778 to 954,066 as N increases from 2 to 128, becomes lower than the baseline from N>=16, and is 2.59x lower at N=128. LFW experiments on 128D and 512D models show accuracy loss below 1% across practical quantization ranges. These results indicate that BioZero is a practical authentication layer for decentralized biometric identity systems.
Jean Gilbert Mbula Mboma, Obed Tshimanga Tshipata, Witesyavwirwa Vianney Kambale, Mohamed Salem · 6 authors
Verifying the authenticity of documents, whether digital or physical, is a complex and crucial challenge faced by a variety of entities, including governments, regulators, financial institutions, educational establishments, and healthcare services. Rapid advances in technology have facilitated the creation of falsified or fraudulent documents, calling into question the credibility and authenticity of academic records. Most existing blockchain-based verification methods and systems focus primarily on verifying the integrity of a document, paying less attention to examining the authenticity of the document’s actual content before it is validated and registered in the system, thus opening loopholes for clever forgeries or falsifications. This paper details the design and implementation of a proof-of-concept system that combines GPT-3.5’s natural language processing prowess with the Ethereum blockchain and the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for storing and verifying documents. It explains how a Large Language Model like GPT-3.5 extracts essential information from academic documents and encrypts it before storing it in the blockchain ensuring document integrity and authenticity. The system is tested for its efficiency in handling both digital and physical documents, demonstrating increased security and reliability in academic document verification.
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has emerged as a revolutionary architecture in computer networks, offering comprehensive network control and monitoring capabilities. However, securing the east–west interface, which is crucial for communication between distributed SDN controllers, remains a significant challenge. This study proposes a novel blockchain-based security framework that integrates Ethereum technology with customized blockchain algorithms for authentication, encryption, and access control. The framework introduces decentralized mechanisms to protect against diverse attacks, including false data injection, man-in-the-middle (MitM), and unauthorized access. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this framework in securing distributed controllers while maintaining high network performance and low latency, paving the way for more resilient and trustworthy SDN infrastructures.
Electronic health records (EHRs) are increasingly replacing traditional paper-based medical records due to their speed, security, and ability to eliminate redundant data. However, challenges such as EHR interoperability and privacy concerns remain unresolved. Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology comprising connected, encrypted data blocks, presents a promising solution. This study explores how blockchain technology can revolutionize hospital EHR management. Our proposed solution securely transfers medical records between patients and doctors using the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and the Ethereum platform. Utilizing smart contracts automates data transfers, ensuring patient anonymity and reducing computational complexity while securely storing patient data on the network. Patient records are stored locally on the Ganache server, with the front end managed using HTML, CSS, ReactJS, and JavaScript, and the backend developed in Solidity. Blockchain technologies combined with Role- Based access control instead of attribute -based access control. The system's throughput increases linearly with the number of users and requests, enhancing the framework's efficiency and scalability. The minimum recorded latency is 14 ms.
Santiago Somoza, Tarun Mohandas-Daryanani, Leonardo Bautista-Gomez
Blockprint, a tool for assessing client diversity on the Ethereum beacon chain, is essential for analyzing decentralization. This paper details experiments conducted at MigaLabs to enhance Blockprint's accuracy, evaluating various configurations for the K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) classifier and exploring the Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) classifier as a proposed alternative. Findings suggest that the MLP classifier generally achieves superior accuracy with a smaller training dataset. The study revealed that clients running in different modes, especially those subscribed to all subnets, impact attestation inclusion differently, leading to proposed methods for mitigating the decline in model accuracy. Consequently, the recommendation is to employ an MLP model trained with a combined dataset of slots from both default and subscribed-to-all-subnets client configurations.
Ms. Priyanka, Ritu Makani, Associate Professor, GJUST, Hisar, 125001, Haryana, India
Blockchain technology is most commonly utilized in the digital currency industry. The distributed and decentralized nature of blockchain technology aids in resolving several problems with knowledge processing security, transparency, trust, and dependability in businesses and organizations. Blockchain is a decentralized, peer-to-peer ledger or database that can be used safely with cryptocurrencies to manage all online transactions. Every node that updates its ledger to confirm a new node before adding it to the blockchain does so by updating the ledger with any modifications made. The most recent version of this ledger is then broadcast around the network. The collection of all transactions carried out by different users is known as the blockchain ledger or database. In its most basic form, a blockchain is a distributed ledger that keeps track of individual transactions in a tamper-proof manner. Each block in the chain is linked to the others in a linked list, and each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block that provides security. This manuscript will review the many forms of blockchain, how they function, and how they support cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin
Muhammad Mahmudul Karim, Mohamed Eskandar Shah Mohd Rasid, Abu Hanifa Md. Noman, Larisa Yarovaya
This paper aims to analyze the return-volatility relationship of Bitcoin and Ethereum across different return frequencies and all conditional quantiles of implied volatility, based on a unique 6.5 million observations. We employ the newly constructed Model-Free Implied Volatility (MFIV) of Bitcoin (BitVol) and Ethereum (EthVol) and use an asymmetric Quantile Regression Model (QRM) to capture the intraday asymmetric return-volatility relationship at different quantiles of the distribution of the dependent variable. Our findings show that the estimated coefficient using daily data is significant only at medium- to high-volatility regimes, while the estimated coefficients using high-frequency data are highly significant across all volatility regimes. Moreover, our results indicate that the asymmetry varies across frequencies and quantiles, with weak asymmetric effects at low quantiles and high frequencies, and strong asymmetric effects at high quantiles and low frequencies. This study provides new insight, especially for high-frequency traders. • We analyze 6.5 million observations to unveil intraday asymmetric return-volatility dynamics in Bitcoin and Ethereum. • The Model-Free Implied Volatility, Quantile Regression Model, and Wavelet Coherence are employed. • We found that asymmetry in these relationships intensifies at lower frequencies and high quantiles. • Findings contribute to cryptocurrency literature using high-frequency data across different intervals.
This article proposes a novel method for managing usage counters within an anonymous credential system, addressing the limitation of traditional anonymous credentials in tracking repeated use. The method takes advantage of blockchain technology through Smart Contracts deployed on the Ethereum network to enforce a predetermined maximum number of uses for a given credential. Users retain control over increments by providing zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) demonstrating private key possession and agreement on the increment value. This approach prevents replay attacks and ensures transparency and security. A prototype implementation on a private Ethereum blockchain demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method, paving the way for its potential deployment in real-world applications requiring both anonymity and usage tracking.
Muhammad Muzammil, Zhengyu Wu, Lalith Harisha, Brian Kondracki · 5 authors
A Blockchain Name System (BNS) simplifies the process of sending cryptocurrencies by replacing complex cryptographic recipient addresses with human-readable names, making the transactions more convenient. Unfortunately, these names can be susceptible to typosquatting attacks, where attackers can take advantage of user typos by registering typographically similar BNS names. Unsuspecting users may accidentally mistype or misinterpret the intended name, resulting in an irreversible transfer of funds to an attacker's address instead of the intended recipient. In this work, we present the first large-scale, intra-BNS typosquatting study. To understand the prevalence of typosquatting within BNSs, we study three different services (Ethereum Name Service, Unstoppable Domains, and ADAHandles) spanning three blockchains (Ethereum, Polygon, and Cardano), collecting a total of 4.9M BNS names and 200M transactions-the largest dataset for BNSs to date. We describe the challenges involved in conducting name-squatting studies on these alternative naming systems, and then perform an in-depth quantitative analysis of our dataset. We find that typosquatters are indeed active on BNSs, registering more malicious domains with each passing year. Our analysis reveals that users have sent thousands of transactions to squatters and that squatters target both globally popular BNS domain names as well as the domains owned by popular Twitter/X users. Lastly, we document the complete lack of defenses against typosquatting in custodial and non-custodial wallets and propose straightforward countermeasures that can protect users without relying on third-party services.
Rollups have emerged as a promising approach to improving blockchains' scalability by offloading transactions execution off-chain. Existing rollup solutions either leverage complex zero-knowledge proofs or optimistically assume execution correctness unless challenged. However, these solutions suffer from high gas costs and significant withdrawal delays, hindering their adoption in decentralized applications. This paper introduces TEERollup, an efficient rollup protocol that leverages Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to achieve both low gas costs and short withdrawal delays. Sequencers (system participants) execute transactions within TEEs and upload signed execution results to the blockchain with confidential keys of TEEs. Unlike most TEE-assisted blockchain designs, TEERollup adopts a practical threat model where the integrity and availability of TEEs may be compromised. To address these issues, we first introduce a distributed system of sequencers with heterogeneous TEEs, ensuring system security even if a certain proportion of TEEs are compromised. Second, we propose a challenge mechanism to solve the redeemability issue caused by TEE unavailability. Furthermore, TEERollup incorporates Data Availability Providers (DAPs) to reduce on-chain storage overhead and uses a laziness penalty mechanism to regulate DAP behavior. We implement a prototype of TEERollup in Golang, using the Ethereum test network, Sepolia. Our experimental results indicate that TEERollup outperforms zero-knowledge rollups (ZK-rollups), reducing on-chain verification costs by approximately 86% and withdrawal delays to a few minutes.
Md. Rafid Haque, Sakibul Islam Munna, Sabbir Ahmed, Md. Tariqul Islam · 6 authors
Centralized version control systems (VCS) are vital for software development but pose risks of data loss and ownership disputes. While blockchain offers a decentralized alternative, existing solutions are often hindered by high latency, compromising the real-time collaboration essential for modern workflows. This study introduces a novel hybrid architecture combining the security of the Ethereum blockchain and the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) with two key contributions: 1) Shamir's Secret Sharing (SSS) to create a trust-minimized model for key distribution, and 2) an authoritative-first, optimistic-fallback retrieval protocol utilizing a temporary middleware to decouple the user experience from blockchain confirmation delays. We implemented a full prototype and conducted a comprehensive performance evaluation on the public Sepolia testnet. Our results demonstrate that this architecture not only provides a secure, auditable, and resilient platform for source code hosting but also achieves highly competitive user-perceived performance. Our user-perceived push time reduces submission latency by up to 49% compared to a standard git push for common repository sizes, proving that a well-designed decentralized VCS can balance the core tenets of security and decentralization with the practical need for speed and efficiency.
The grain supply chain is crucial for any nation’s self-sustainability due to its huge impact on food security, economic stability, and the livelihoods of several people. The path grain takes from farmers to consumers is opaque and complicated, due to which consumers cannot trust grain quality and its origin. Although blockchain is widely used for fair and secure transactions between farmers and buyers, issues related to transparency and traceability in the grain supply chain, such as counterfeiting and middlemen involvement, have not been adequately addressed. To tackle these issues, a blockchain-based solution is proposed that unites farmers, warehouses, government central and state agencies, transporters, and food corporations on a single platform to enhance transparency, traceability, and trust among all parties. This system involves minting a non-fungible token (NFT) corresponding to each lot of grain approved by government officials. The NFT comprises grain quality, type, temperature data from sensors, weight, and ownership information, which updates as the grain lot moves across the supply chain from central agencies to state agencies and so on. NFTs enable stakeholders to track the grain lot from cultivation to end-users, providing insights into grain conditions and quality. An Internet of Things-based circuit is designed using a Digital-output relative humidity & temperature (DHT22) sensor, which offers real-time temperature and humidity readings, and geolocation coordinates are gathered from the GPS module across the supply chain. Farmers can directly interact with warehouses to sell grains, eliminating the need for middlemen and fostering trust among all parties. The proposed four-tier framework is implemented and deployed on the Ethereum network, with smart contracts interacting with React-based web pages. Analysis and results of the proposed model illustrate that it is viable, secure, and superior to the existing grain supply chain system.
The proxy design pattern allows Ethereum smart contracts to be simultaneously immutable and upgradeable, in which an original contract is split into a proxy contract containing the data storage and a logic contract containing the implementation logic. This architecture is known to have security issues, namely function collisions and storage collisions between the proxy and logic contracts, and has been exploited in real-world incidents to steal users' millions of dollars worth of digital assets. In response to this concern, several previous works have sought to identify proxy contracts in Ethereum and detect their collisions. However, they all fell short due to their limited coverage, often restricting analysis to only contracts with available source code or past transactions. To bridge this gap, we present Proxion, an automated cross-contract analyzer that identifies all proxy smart contracts and their collisions in Ethereum. What sets Proxion apart is its ability to analyze hidden smart contracts that lack both source code and past transactions. Equipped with various techniques to enhance efficiency and accuracy, Proxion outperforms the state-of-the-art tools, notably identifying millions more proxy contracts and thousands of unreported collisions. We apply Proxion to analyze over 36 million alive contracts from 2015 to 2023, revealing that 54.2% of them are proxy contracts, and about 1.5 million contracts exhibit at least one collision issue.
Letter of Credit has been used in international transfer of money by exporters and importers for a long time. Thus, it is a very niche and important area in the international trade and banking. Within the scope of this study, 220 publications in the Web of Science database has been reached by using “letter of credit” keywords. There is only one bibliometric analysis on Islamic L/C in the literature but a wider overview is required to gain general perspective about L/C. This is where the originality of this research lies. Bibliometric analysis with VOSviewer and Tableau for these publications covering 1980-2024 has been conducted about citations, organizations, keywords, publication years, sources, fields and countries. As a result; almost half of the publications produced in USA, “Byrne James e” is the most productive author, “Journal of International Economics” is the most cited journal, USA is also leading country in terms of citation, and “Natl. Chung Hsing Univ.” is the leading organization in terms of citation. Moreover, co-occurrence analysis on keywords show that digitalization has huge effect on L/C literature. Keywords like “blockchain”, “smart contracts”, “ethereum”, “BPO” etc. emerged as new trend in the last decade.
Rasoul Amirzadeh, Dhananjay Thiruvady, Asef Nazari, Mong Shan Ee
Abstract Understanding the relationships between cryptocurrencies is important for making informed investment decisions in this financial market. Our study utilises Bayesian networks to examine the causal interrelationships among six major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Binance Coin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and Tether. Beyond understanding the connectedness, we also investigate whether these relationships evolve over time. This understanding is crucial for developing profitable investment strategies and forecasting methods. Therefore, we introduce an approach to investigate the dynamic nature of these relationships. Our observations reveal that Tether, a stablecoin, behaves distinctly compared to mining-based cryptocurrencies and stands isolated from the others. Furthermore, our findings indicate that Bitcoin and Ethereum significantly influence the price fluctuations of the other coins, except for Tether. This highlights their key roles in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Additionally, we conduct diagnostic analyses on constructed Bayesian networks, emphasising that cryptocurrencies generally follow the same market direction as extra evidence for interconnectedness. Moreover, our approach reveals the dynamic and evolving nature of these relationships over time, offering insights into the ever-changing dynamics of the cryptocurrency market.
Ljudi danas sve češće traže načine kako izaći iz svojih rutina i unijeti promjene. Svijet se dugo vremena fokusirao na dionice i obveznice, no one više nisu vrlo inovativne i postale su opterećujuće. Prije nekoliko godina pojavilo se nešto što je fasciniralo ljude diljem svijeta: kriptovalute. One su radikalno promijenile financijski krajolik. Međutim, također su pokrenule niz pitanja, poput toga kako im financijski pristupiti. Mnoge zemlje još uvijek nisu sigurne kako najbolje oporezivati i kategorizirati kriptovalute. U ovom radu se analizira trenutačno stanje i uloga kriptovaluta u financijskom sustavu Hrvatske. U radu se pruža pregled tehnoloških napredaka koji su doprinijeli razvoju i korištenju kriptovaluta poput Bitcoina i Ethereuma, kao i njihovoj sve većoj prisutnosti u privatnim i poslovnim transakcijama. Unatoč nedostatku sveobuhvatne zakonske regulacije, interes pojedinaca i poduzeća za kriptovalute raste. U istraživanju se također analizira pravno okruženje, prihvaćenost kriptovaluta među korisnicima te njihov utjecaj na financijsku industriju i cjelokupno gospodarstvo Hrvatske. Studija ispituje potencijalne propise za budući rast ovog sektora te pruža uvid u prednosti i izazove koje kriptovalute donose u hrvatski financijski sustav. Zaključno, provedeno je istraživanje koje će dati opširniji uvid u stvarno poznavanje kriptovaluta i na koji način bi se one mogle više koristit.