Blockchain Papers

Aleksander Essex, Shin’ichiro Matsuo, Oksana Kulyk, Lewis Gudgeon · 9 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Shubham Singh, Ajai Gaur, Deeksha Singh

Abstract Blockchain has emerged as a key Industry 4.0 technology, enabling novel forms of governance and coordination mechanism among organizations and markets. However, extant literature has largely focused on the technical aspects of blockchain, with limited attention to the behavioural and institutional aspects. In this paper, we argue that blockchain‐based smart contracts and decentralized autonomous organizations represent the potential for a radical departure from traditional forms of contractual governance and hierarchy, carrying profound implications for the design and governance of economic transaction and organizational structures. We elucidate how blockchain technologies, characterized by transparency, immutability, programmability and decentralization, reduce transaction costs and establish an industrialized and trustless transactional governance system. Finally, we present an agenda for future research, highlighting the need for new theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence to understand the impact of blockchain on organizational design and forms.

Amna Kanwal, Muhammad Tayyab, Sadia Idrees

Financial technology and continuous digital growth are having an influence on financial inclusion which has significant ramifications for the faith-based financial paradigm. The objective of this research is to investigate the relationships and effects of financial technologies in Islamic financing inside financial institutions within the framework of digital transformation and blockchain technology. The use of these advancements will significantly affect Sharia-compliant Islamic finance. This paper critically investigates the historical and current implications of Financial Technologies, financial inclusion, and Blockchain in Islamic Finance worldwide with a focus on banking, investing, and compliance with regulations. Using a comprehensive review of the literature, indexing journals, and empirical case studies, this research seeks to provide significant new insights on the development and status of several areas within the Islamic financial industry. In order to make Sharia compatible, it also examines how digitalization has altered the landscape. Furthermore, before they can considerably promote financial inclusion in many countries, the Islamic financial services industry and the junction of technology and Islamic finance still have a ways to go due to the scale necessary. The study's findings may serve as a guide for financial institutions, decision-makers, and other interested parties in order to maximise the potential of blockchain technology and other financial innovations in Islamic finance across a range of Islamic nations. Long-term, equitable economic growth will result from this.

Aarohi Bhand, Rahi Bhand, Manisha Mali

Today, digital asset ownership records are stored in a decentralized, distributed database on the basis of blockchain technology. It is no longer possible to modify any stored information on a Blockchain, which makes this technology a legitimate disruptor for sectors such as payments, cybersecurity and healthcare. Considering the increasing implementation of blockchain technology in various fields, this paper aims at focusing its application as a basic gaming experience to newbies, who wish to step into the world of blockchain gaming. Firstly, this paper presents the conceptual design and implementation of blockchain gaming in the framework of a 2D game hosted. This game highlights the incorporation of Fungible and Non-fungible tokens (NFT), which represent the rewards collected by the player. The collected reward bonus in the form of NFT is published on the player’s OpenSea account, connected to MetaMask. The Game flow includes the development of a user-friendly, theme-based interface supported by Solidity as a technological support for building smart contracts using ERC20 and ERC1155 token standards. IPFS (Inter planetary-file system) is used for decentralized storage of metadata and token images, and Hardhat and Alchemy for deployment and overall execution. This game demonstrates a basic implementation of blockchain in gaming and unveils its broader scope through its incorporation in even simple children’s games. This game carries pedagogical significance which can be utilized by the professors to demonstrate the practical usage of fundamental elements of blockchain to the students.

I Putu Kisnu Gupta, Parul Jain

The anticipated impact of decentralization through blockchain-based technologies is poised to bring transformative changes across various domains. By leveraging the inherent features of blockchain, such as transparency, security, and decentralization, the financial landscape is expected to witness increased inclusivity. Blockchain's ability to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions globally, without the need for traditional banking intermediaries, holds the promise of reducing transaction costs and enhancing financial accessibility, particularly for the unbanked and underbanked populations. The implementation of smart contracts, self-executing agreements governed by code, is expected to automate and streamline complex financial processes, reducing the reliance on centralized authorities. Furthermore, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) could revolutionize governance structures, allowing for more democratic decision-making processes. Global access to capital is likely to expand through decentralized fundraising mechanisms, democratizing investment opportunities and fostering innovation on a global scale. The focus on privacy and data ownership in blockchain-based systems is expected to empower individuals with greater control over their personal information, challenging the conventional model of centralized data control. Additionally, the resilience and immutability of blockchain contribute to the integrity and reliability of financial records. As decentralized technologies continue to evolve, their impact is not limited to the financial sector but extends to various industries, promoting economic empowerment and reshaping traditional business models. While the potential benefits are substantial, addressing regulatory challenges and ensuring user education will be critical for the successful integration of decentralized technologies into mainstream practices.

Satish Kumar, Riya Sureka, Brian M. Lucey, Michael Dowling · 6 authors

As digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) rapidly evolve, the integration between financial systems and virtual worlds—increasingly known as the metaverse—is expected to gain momentum. The metaverse promise to be a critical use-case for DeFi—a financial field that has so far struggled to find convincing use-cases. Digital finance, in return, offers a means of financing, developing, and incentivizing metaverse citizens, especially at a time when virtual worlds are struggling to convince the public of a compelling case for their existence. In this study, we review existing research on financial applications within the metaverse, including virtual financial services, instruments, intermediaries, and markets. Building upon this foundation, we introduce a conceptual design for the integration of financial systems with the metaverse. Through this study, we highlight emergent areas and provide valuable insights to guide future academic and practical endeavors in the financial and virtual space.

Inamdjanova Elnora Elbekovna

This article explores the essence of international experience in digital imaging, the need to regulate different types of assets, approaches to legal regulation, prospects for the legal regulation of assets in the digital economy of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The strategy for this growth must be determined by the private sector, directed by the government, analyzed by civil society and academia through the lens of private international law. The main purpose of the article is to expose the unclear jurisdictions, conflicting laws, and fragmented oversight that create barriers to the accountable management of traditional cross-border finance that are missing in decentralized networks. The authority to regulate stock trading remains contested among national and subnational regulators, resulting in duplicative compliance efforts that are estimated to cost investors large sums of money.

Nnamdi Nwulu, Uyikumhe Damisa

In this chapter, with a focus on the Ethereum blockchain, different development tools and environments are presented. The component functions of a sample Ethereum token standard are also discussed. This chapter closes with a discussion of different decentralized application architectures.

Karol Krajčo, Nikolai Siniak

In the last 10 years the blockchain technology has become mainstream research topic because of its features that offers, as: decentralized system, peer to peer (P2P) transaction, distributed consensus, and anonymity properties. Also, the blockchain technology overshadows regulatory problem and technical challenges and one of the opportunities that offers the blockchain technology is the 'smart contract'. A smart contract is a set of programs that can be much better from the traditional contracts for some features which are self-verifying, self-executing and tamper resistant. Also, smart contract with the integration of blockchain technology without which cannot function, is capable of doing a task in real time with very low cost and provide a greater degree of high security level. The aim of this paper is to explain the concept of the smart contract and its components and function. The paper is aimed at presenting the issue of smart contract, blockchain technology. The specific focus was on the application of smart contracts in real estate.

Esmaeel Hafezi, Reza Najarzadeh, Hassan Heydari, Seyed Shamseddin Hosseini

In international trade and financial exchanges, global cryptocurrencies have a prominent and effective role.In this paper, using the KOF index, the structure of financial globalization is extracted and the effect of the expansion of global cryptocurrencies is examined in the two components: Foreign Direct Investment and Portfolio Investment.The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model has been used separately for 2020, 2021, and 2022 to analyze the results of the expansion of global cryptocurrencies in the foreign direct investment component.Also, the price changes of Bitcoin and Ethereum from March 10, 2016, to the end of December 2022 have been used to investigate the effect of global cryptocurrencies in portfolio investment by applying Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT).Also, according to the availability of data in research sources, the data of 111 countries have been used.OLS estimated results suggest that the adoption and expansion of global cryptocurrencies has no significant relationship with Foreign Direct Investment.Also, using MPT, the results of portfolio optimization suggest that global cryptocurrencies improve the effectiveness of the selected portfolios, and with the same corresponding returns, the risk of the portfolios including global cryptocurrencies decreases as well.Therefore, the results emphasize the role of global cryptocurrencies in financial globalization only as crypto-assets.

Georgiana Iulia LAZEA, Ovidiu-Constantin Bunget, Anca Diana SUMANARU

This article aims to provide a comparative analysis of cryptocurrencies and fiat money, in the context in which the former might be considered an alternative to the latter. Mainly, we perform a literature review and qualitative analysis of 64 articles from Web of Science Core Collection, published between 2017 and 2023, using as keywords “cryptocurrencies” and “fiat money”. The information processing methodology involved presenting the data and information concisely, in order to gain a point of view on how crypto assets can be perceived in comparison with other financial assets. The results present the authors’ conclusions regarding the economic differences and similarities between cryptocurrencies and traditional money. It also includes the limitations of the research and offers future directions for study.

Vera Gerasimova, Gunnar Prause, Thomas Hoffmann

A smart contract is an electronic transaction protocol intended to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the execution of the terms of underlying legal agreements. Thus, by following the traditional perception, smart contracts target reducing transaction costs, including arbitration and enforcement costs, by realizing trackable and irreversible transactions using blockchain technology for distributed databases. However, the potential of smart contracts goes far beyond cost reductions by facilitating the entrepreneurial collaboration of cross-organizational business processes. Industry 4.0 aims to create smart supply chains. Smart contracts and Non-Fungible Token (NFT) solutions can realize new smart business models in the circular economy. The recent case study from the automobile industry demonstrates how using NFT technology in the form of a digital certificate can become an integral part of smart product lifecycle management in the frame of a circular economy integrating innovative business models with smart service design concepts. By doing so, the use of NFT paves the way for dynamic and adaptable supply chains, evolving needs of stakeholders towards a sustainable and circular economy. The authors participated in research projects related to smart supply chains and circular economy. Thus, the paper discusses the question of how and to what extent smart contracting, blockchain technology, NFT solutions, and Service Design can facilitate the implementation of smart business models in the context of the circular economy. The research is based on expert interviews, surveys, and case studies from EU projects focusing on the Baltic Sea Region.

Egon Mattis Frank

This paper explores the transformative impact of blockchain technology on the European banking sector, with a specific focus on the dynamics of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Beginning with an overview of the emergence and evolution of blockchain, the study delves into the integration of blockchain in European banking, examining its current landscape, opportunities, and challenges. A comprehensive exploration of DeFi principles, smart contracts, and cryptocurrency significance follows, highlighting European banking initiatives in this realm through case studies. The paper assesses the broader impact of blockchain and DeFi on financial services, emphasizing transparency, security enhancements, cost reduction, and advancements in financial inclusion. The regulatory framework and legal considerations in Europe provide a crucial backdrop, with a detailed analysis of smart contract legality and the delicate balance required for consumer protection and privacy in the DeFi landscape. A case study evaluates the implementation of DeFi in selected European banks, scrutinizing blockchain integration, impact assessment, and strategies to overcome challenges. The journey concludes with a comprehensive examination of the interconnected elements, emphasizing the transformative potential of blockchain and DeFi in reshaping the financial landscape.

Kehan Su

Blockchain is a technology that operates on a decentralized and distributed ledger system. It has garnered significant interest for its potential to revolutionize numerous industries, particularly banking. This study employs literature review and analysis methods to examine the utilization of blockchain technology in the realm of financial services. The primary objective is to identify and analyze significant domains within financial services where blockchain can be effectively implemented. These domains include trade financing and asset management, remittances, cross-border payments, securities issuance and trading, interbank clearing and settlement, credit and lending. Additionally, the study aims to explore how blockchain can enhance transparency and regulation in financial markets. The paper additionally examines the benefits and obstacles associated with the integration of blockchain technology into the banking industry. The findings of the study suggest that blockchain technology possesses the capacity to enhance operational effectiveness, diminish expenses, enhance transparency, and foster creativity within conventional financial procedures. Nevertheless, the proper execution of this endeavor is still hindered by various obstacles pertaining to technology, regulations, and privacy that necessitate resolution.

Chao Fu, Shize Zhang, Chao Peng, Meng Sun · 7 authors

Smart supply chain services rely on the utilization of massive amount of data collected by sensor networks deployed in different enterprises. Sensing as a Service (S2aaS) is a promising Internet of Things (IoT) business model pattern for data exchange. The current centralized IoT S2aaS models are not suitable for IoT big data exchange due to the issues on privacy disclosure, single point of failure, data security, performance, etc. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based decentralized framework for IoT S2aaS for smart supply chain, which can ensure the IoT solution owners have full control of their data and securely exchange data with data consumers without intermediaries. We introduce the system model and the layered architecture of our proposed framework, based on which we give a concrete scheme, smart contract is used to perform the whole process of IoT S2aaS. We implement a software prototype on Ethereum. Experiment results show the validity and effectiveness of our proposed solution.

Javier Sandoval Archila

Este artículo explora los desafíos de la gobernanza algorítmica utilizando el estudio de caso de The DAO, una efímera tentativa de crear una organización autónoma descentralizada en la plataforma de blockchain Ethereum. A pesar de su breve existencia y la significativa pérdida de inversión debido a una explotación de seguridad, The DAO ofrece ideas críticas sobre las formas emergentes de autoridad algorítmica, la gobernanza práctica de sistemas autónomos y descentralizados, y las posibles fallas en el diseño de incentivos y la modelización de acciones. El artículo también profundiza en el problema de agencia en economía y la gobernanza corporativa, ilustrando cómo estos conceptos se entrelazan con la gobernanza algorítmica.

Sharad Agarwal, Gilberto Atondo Siu, Marilyne Ordekian, Alice Hutchings · 6 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

M. Ciantar

DAOs, decentralised autonomous organisations, you have the power, right? Well, like most other matters now-a-days, it depends. Oftentimes, the relationship between NFTs and DAOs is intertwined as a DAO may be set up with the purpose of creating NFTs or else, one may buy an NFT to become a DAO member. Both DAOs and NFTs make use of smart contracts on a blockchain. Thepurpose of this paper is to answer the following questions:How decentralised is a DAO? What is the role of NFTs within a DAO?How can NFTs enhance the workings of a truly decentralised autonomous organisation? The author believes that decentralisation should stop being used as a hype word in the blockchain sphere and discussesaboutcertain problems regardingcentralised and decentralised points in a DAO, whether theyrealised or not. Both the Maltese Innovative Technology Arrangement and Services Act and the Wyoming Decentralized Autonomous Organizations Supplement will serve as focus as theselaws directly regulate DAOs and in turn serve as a means to protect the member and the client of the DAO, and their NFTs.

Kalpesh Barde

The rise of Web 3.0, which is based on independent technologies like blockchain and smart contracts, marks a big change in the financial technology field. This research looks at all the different ways that Web 3.0 can be used in FinTech by looking at real-life examples from Ethereum, Betterment, Wealthfront, DeversiFi, Synthetix, Kyber Network, and Curve Finance. By combining ideas from McKinsey's research, the study shows that Web3 lending sites are growing quickly. In 2021 alone, they gave out over $200 billion in loans. The study shows how Ethereum can be used for smart contracts, how Betterment and Wealthfront's robo-advisory services use AI and machine learning, how DeversiFi's decentralized exchange handles privacy issues, how Synthetix creates on-chain digital assets, how Kyber Network's blockchain-based liquidity protocol is put into use, and how Curve Finance's decentralized platform handles stablecoin transactions. Although there has been success, integrating these technologies is still very hard. The main problems are unclear regulations and technical issues with security, scalability, and interoperability. The final success of Web 3.0 in FinTech will depend on how well these problems are solved, which will help find a good balance between fast technological progress and strong risk management.

Yunkai Tang

Decentralised finance (DeFi) is a decentralised peer-to-peer system based on blockchain technology that facilitates lending and borrowing through smart contract code and lending protocols replacing traditional financial activities that typically require trusted intermediaries such as brokers or banks. In this essay, the four factors of collateral presentation, borrowing rate, lending relationship, and subject of legal connection are compared between decentralized and centralized financial lending models. This paper illustrates the entire DeFi lending model using Compound as a real-world example. The borrowing interest rate is decided in real time by Compound's smart contract according to the supply and demand of funds in the market, so the borrower does not need to bargain with the lender. The smart contract will automatically match the money market. Additionally introduced are the DeFi innovation's concept and features. The paper concludes by discussing the advantages of DeFi lending and borrowing, the hazards associated with doing so, and providing an outlook on the future path of DeFi research.

Vadims Zilnieks, Ingars Eriņš

Despite standardisation initiatives, the modern financial landscape continues to be characterised by heterogeneous payment systems. This issue persists even with the emergence of distributed ledger technology in the market. Independent groups of developers are producing their own permissioned blockchain solutions without clear directions for standardisation that could be associated to the lack of a clear position from central banks and regulatory organisations regarding these technologies. The unresolved problem of transaction finality in distributed ledgers adds to the difficulty of reconciling separate distributed platforms. One potential solution is the implementation of cross-chain bridges, which can establish connections between platforms and potentially enable seamless experiences for end users and applications. The paper discusses the advantages and issues associated with these bridges.

Jan-Gero Hannemann

This paper explores the potential of DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) built on blockchain technology, which are expected to revolutionize our computing and transaction infrastructuresThis paper will focus on the legal classification of DAOs, with an emphasis on the mechanisms of raising capital through ICOs and NFTs as alternative financing options for easier access to capital. The potential of linking DAOs and AI is also briefly addressed. Corporate law must keep pace with this rapid change, and the question arises whether it is "sufficiently flexible to make room for the new technical possibilities" and to cover completely "new forms of organization" based on software code that may be inadequately reflected in existing regulations. Overall, this paper highlights the potential of DAOs and their impact on the future of business models, organizational structures, and financing options.

Xihan Xiong, Zhipeng Wang, Tianxiang Cui, William J. Knottenbelt · 5 authors

Technological advancement drives financial innovation, reshaping the traditional finance landscape and redefining user-market interactions. The rise of blockchain and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) underscores this intertwined evolution of technology and finance. While DeFi has introduced exciting opportunities, it has also exposed the ecosystem to new forms of market misconduct. This paper aims to bridge the academic and regulatory gaps by addressing key research questions about market misconduct in DeFi. We begin by discussing how blockchain technology can potentially enable the emergence of novel forms of market misconduct. We then offer a comprehensive definition and taxonomy for understanding DeFi market misconduct. Through comparative analysis and empirical measurements, we examine the novel forms of misconduct in DeFi, shedding light on their characteristics and social impact. Subsequently, we investigate the challenges of building a tailored regulatory framework for DeFi. We identify key areas where existing regulatory frameworks may need enhancement. Finally, we discuss potential approaches that bring DeFi into the regulatory perimeter.

Chuan Qin, Hong Yi-tian

Due to information asymmetry, finance, transportation and warehouse financing gives rise to the issue of repeated pledge, which amplifies the risk of the loan business of financial institutions. In tandem with advancements in fintech, blockchain technology plays a significant role in the supply chain finance realm, primarily because of its core characteristics of being difficult to tamper with and decentralized. Therefore, this study constructed an evolutionary game model involving financial institutions, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and third-party logistics enterprises under a blockchain-enabled model and scrutinized the repeated pledge of financing entities in the finance, transportation and warehouse financing sector from the perspective of blockchain empowerment. The results show that the platform access fee being lower than the cost of conducting a financing business and the immutable characteristics of blockchain are important reasons to promote financial institutions to choose access to blockchain. The permanent retention of performance records owing to immutable performance under the blockchain model intensifies the consequences of dishonest behavior of small- and medium-sized enterprises and third-party logistics enterprises, thus encouraging the adoption of positive financing strategies. Additionally, the additional income obtained by third-party logistics enterprises’ covering behavior surpasses the additional income obtained by the repeated pledge behavior of small- and medium-sized enterprises, which will dismantle collusion between them. This study serves as a valuable reference for decision makers in the development of supply chain finance empowered by fintech.