Blockchain Papers

A. Galdeman, M. Zignani, C. Quadri, S. Gaito

No abstract is available for this record.

Behrooz Golshan

This dissertation investigates how tokenised claims and algorithmic governance reshape interactions in Web3, with a particular focus on business-to-business (B2B) settings. Building on the insight that digital platforms and infrastructures are mutually entangled—platforms acquiring infrastructural roles and infrastructures accumulating platform logics—the study examines how this entanglement reappears in blockchain-based systems and what it means for value creation, value distribution, and institutional control. Rather than assuming decentralization as an outcome, the dissertation asks how governance is actually assembled across code, organizations, and markets, and how these assemblies channel rights, risks, and rents over time. In this sense, the thesis extends platform/infrastructure scholarship into the Web3 domain, showing how infrastructuring and platformization remain co-constitutive under new technical conditions (e.g., programmable settlement, public ledgers, composability). The research is guided by the following question: How does algorithmic governance of tokenised claims affect dynamics of value creation and distribution in Web3? The thesis addresses a gap in extant work by analysing the combined economic and governance consequences of tokenisation in commercial contexts, rather than treating governance as either purely technical (smart contracts) or purely institutional (foundations, standards, regulators). Methodologically, this research adopts a qualitative, interpretive design centred on semi-structured interviews with founders and leads of Web3 projects oriented toward commercialization and enterprise use. Interview evidence is triangulated with document analysis (white papers, governance docs, upgrade logs) to trace how decision rights are allocated, which boundary resources act as chokepoints, and how incentives and accountability are engineered. The sample focuses on projects that tokenise rights and obligations to orchestrate inter-firm exchanges (e.g., guarantees, attribution, royalties), enabling a consistent comparison of governance choices and their distributional signatures. Theoretically, the thesis contributes a layered view of Web3 governance that differentiates transaction governance (smart-contract rules that execute exchanges) from platform governance (meta-rules that structure participation, evolution, and control)—layers that are interdependent yet analytically distinct. Across cases, transaction governance supplies deterministic settlement (escrows, splits, auctions), while platform governance defines constitutional levers (eligibility schemas, listings, parameter updates, treasury policy, emergency powers). This distinction clarifies why “more on-chain” does not automatically imply “more decentralised”: instruments can be automated while decision rights remain concentrated. The framing resonates with and extends platform governance scholarship that locates governance in the ongoing division of decision rights, control mechanisms, and incentives among interdependent actors. Empirically, the thesis identifies three governance models—monocentric, moderately polycentric (P2), and highly polycentric (P1)—and analyses how each allocates rights and rents. Monocentric configurations recentre constitutional authority in a focal hub (firm, foundation, tightly bonded coalition), delivering speed, legal legibility, and coherent risk management, while concentrating surplus upstream via control of boundary resources (standards, registries, upgrade cadence, listings). Moderately polycentric arrangements disperse constitutional authority across overlapping venues (token voters, stewards, committees, standards groups), pairing automated execution at the edge with contestable meta-rules and auditable, replaceable discretion. Highly polycentric designs thin the platform layer and push coordination into markets and minimal, auditable rules (fee markets, open listings, plural oracles), improving neutrality and exit but requiring continuous work to diffuse emergent chokepoints (indices, bridges, relays). The patterns observed align with infrastructure/platform research on how control points shape innovation and value capture and with blockchain governance work emphasizing the allocation of decision and control rights. For B2B contexts, the analysis suggests a pragmatic equilibrium. Applications that demand auditability, finality, and accountable remediation (e.g., elections, trade guarantees) gravitate toward monocentric settlements; applications with heterogeneous actors and rapid iteration (e.g., creator and talent markets) benefit from moderately polycentric designs that preserve micro-level determinism with macro-level contestability. Across models, tokenisation expands what can be coordinated, but distributional outcomes hinge on who controls admission, measurement, and upgrade pathways. Accordingly, the thesis proposes design heuristics: separate transaction and platform governance, publish change logs and revocation paths, pluralise attestors at measurement junctions, time-box mandates, and keep credible exit technically and institutionally real. In sum, the dissertation advances an integrated account of Web3 as a political economy of programmable claims and layered governance. It shows how infrastructuring and platformization fold into one another under blockchain conditions, how distinct governance models redistribute rights and rents, and how B2B value propositions depend as much on constitutional design as on code. The framework equips scholars and practitioners to evaluate Web3 systems not by decentralisation rhetoric, but by the concrete allocation of decision rights, boundary resources, and incentives across layers and venues.

Ekaterina Semerikova, Egor Krivosheya, Kirill Yanishin, Dmitry Kirillov · 5 authors

The first conversations about the potential of blockchain technology began with the rise of cryptocurrencies. The first attempts at applying blockchain were focused on storing and transferring value, with cryptocurrencies being used exclusively as a means of payment. Recently the use of blockchain entered a new stage of development – the generation of Web3. The logic behind distributed ledger technologies opened up opportunities for various sectors, from financial services and DeFi to new formats of digital value – tokenization of physical assets and decentralized autonomous organizations. Web3 is a term that describes new models for building digital businesses, applications, and economic relationships between different participants based on distributed ledger technology. Where do the boundaries of Web3 lie? What role does Web3 play in the world, and what place does Russia has in it? Sber's Blockchain Laboratory, in collaboration with the SKOLKOVO School of Management, prepared an analytical report. This research aims to shed light on the basic aspects and risks of the Web3 market and predict changes that will impact existing traditional market business models.

Hardik Gajera, Akhil Reddy, Bhagath Reddy

The Web3 ecosystem is highly fragmented, making seamless integration difficult for over a billion Web2 businesses, enterprises, and AI protocols. As blockchains, rollups, and app-specific chains expand, cross-chain interactions remain inefficient, and liquidity is deeply fragmented. AI systems lack standardized blockchain access, limiting autonomous functionality. Intent-based interactions, crucial for AI-driven automation, face scalability issues due to the absence of robust execution platforms. Meanwhile, the current solver ecosystem is centralized, as liquidity rebalancing remains a challenge due to a lack of developer-friendly tools. Dojima's Omnichain Web introduces a universal framework that abstracts blockchain complexity, bridging Web2, Web3, and AI. At its core, OmniRollups facilitate scalable execution across chains, while the Omni Sequencer ensures atomic, secure intent processing. Linera microchains enable AI-driven transaction automation, seamlessly integrating with Web3 data streams. Ragno Network decentralizes L1 infrastructure, optimizing cross-chain liquidity flows, while the Proof Network enhances cryptographic security for omnichain transactions. Finally, the Builder Marketplace introduces a solver-driven execution layer, allowing developers to build and monetize intent-based applications without liquidity constraints. By fostering a composable marketplace at the intersection of Web2 and Web3, Omnichain Web enables the seamless flow of data, value, and computation. This framework mirrors the internet, bridging Web3 decentralization with Web2 scale to drive the next wave of adoption.

Alona Dobshynska

This paper aims to analyze and improve user experience (UX) in cryptocurrency applications. The study takes an interdisciplinary approach combining UX design principles, behavioral economics, and fintech innovation. Key UX challenges are identified, including cognitive complexity, security concerns, limited integration with traditional finance, and the impact of volatility. Innovative solutions are proposed with a focus on intuitive interfaces, educational elements and hybrid financial instruments. As an example, a cryptocurrency card with a line of credit function was presented. Quantitative results show a significant improvement in usability metrics: SUS scores improved, user retention rates increased, and key transaction times decreased. The study concludes that improving UX is critical for cryptocurrency adoption and integration into the global financial system. Future research directions include longitudinal studies on the impact of UX, developing standardized metrics, and exploring cultural factors of cryptocurrency interface perception.

Laura Ricci, Barbara Guidi, Andrea Michienzi, Andrea Tagarelli · 5 authors

Web3 describes the next generation of the Internet, built on top of various technologies, such as Blockchain Technology, Semantic Web, etc. Web3 proposal claims a vision of the Internet that can cut the intermediation of Big tech companies by completely decentralizing the web through blockchain technology, which enables the integration of cryptocurrencies and tokens in many social media platforms, currently referred to as Blockchain Online Social Media (BOSMs) platforms. These give the possibility both to reward users for their social actions and to define Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), digital assets representing real-world objects like art, collectibles, music, game items, videos, and even tickets creating a new form of decentralized finance, called Social Finance (SocialFi). BOSMs give users the possibility to monetize and tokenize their social influence, and they act as the common ground for the sale or transfer of NFTs. In this paper, we propose an overview of AWESOME, a framework for advanced analysis of Web3 BOSMs, specifically conceived to suit their nature based on intertwined and stratified social and economic contexts. We highlight the characteristics of the framework by describing the objectives and we present the preliminary results. Furthermore, the paper proposes a classification of current Web3 BOSMs, which improves the literature by taking into account the changes and the new applications of Web3 Social Media, which now include Virtual Worlds and Gaming platforms.

Lucian Trestioreanu, Flaviene Scheidt, Wazen M. Shbair, Jérôme François · 6 authors

With the large increase in the adoption of blockchain technologies, their underlying peer-to-peer networks must also scale with the demand. In this context, previous works highlighted the importance of ensuring efficient and resilient communication for the underlying consensus and replication mechanisms. However, they were mainly focused on mainstream, Proof-of-Work-based Distributed Ledger Technologies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. In this paper, the problem is investigated in the context of consensus-validation based blockchains, like the XRP Ledger. The latter relies on a Federated Byzantine Agreement (FBA) consensus mechanism which is proven to have a good scalability in regards to transaction throughput. However, it is known that significant increases in the size of the XRP Ledger network would be challenging to achieve. The main reason is the flooding mechanism used to disseminate the messages related to the consensus protocol, which creates many duplicates in the network. Squelching is a recent solution proposed for limiting this duplication, however, it was never evaluated quantitatively in real-life scenarios involving the XRPL production network. In this paper, our aim is to assess this mechanism using a real-life controllable testbed and the XRPL production network, to assess its benefit and compare it to alternative solutions relying on Named Data Networking and on a gossip-based approach.

Ioannis Nikolaou, Λεωνίδας Ανθόπουλος

The emergence of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) in the past decade has challenged our imagination to discover new, innovative and disruptive solutions to problems in domains ranging from finance and healthcare to supply chain and Smart Cities. However, the enormous energy consumption that has been observed in some of the most successful DLT applications raises the question of their long term sustainability. This article reviews the standardization efforts of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to provide guidelines to regulators and policy makers for making informed decisions on the applicability and sustainability of DLT architectures from the point of view of energy consumption.

A.R. Adams

This paper studies the market structure impact of cheaper and faster chains on the Uniswap v3 Protocol. The Uniswap Protocol is the largest decentralized application on Ethereum by both gas and blockspace used, and user behaviors of the protocol are very sensitive to fluctuations in gas prices and market structure due to the economic factors of the Protocol. We focus on the chains where Uniswap v3 has the most activity, giving us the best comparison to Ethereum mainnet. Because of cheaper gas and lower block times, we find evidence that the majority of swaps get better gas-adjusted execution on these chains, liquidity providers are more capital efficient, and liquidity providers have increased fee returns from more arbitrage. We also present evidence that two second block times may be too long for optimal liquidity provider returns, compared to first come, first served. We argue that many of the current drawbacks with AMMs may be due to chain dynamics and are vastly improved with cheaper and faster transactions

Joshua Tan, Max Langenkamp, Anna Weichselbraun, Ann Brody · 5 authors

The governance of online communities has been a critical issue since the first USENET groups, and a number of serious constitutions -- declarations of goals, values, and rights -- have emerged since the mid-1990s. More recently, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have begun to publish their own constitutions, manifestos, and other governance documents. There are two unique aspects to these documents: they (1) often govern significantly more resources than previously-observed online communities, and (2) are used in conjunction with smart contracts that can secure certain community rights and processes through code. In this article, we analyze 25 DAO constitutions, observe a number of common patterns, and provide a template and a set of recommendations to support the crafting and dissemination of future DAO constitutions. We conclude with a report on how our template and recommendations were then used within the actual constitutional drafting process of a major blockchain.

Collin Connors, Dilip Sarkar

Web3 provides users and service providers several benefits not found in Web2. However, despite the benefits provided, Web3 faces several obstacles that prevent the paradigm from gaining widespread adoption. Developers should understand the benefits and limitations of the technology in order to create more accessible Web3 smart applications.

David Krause

No abstract is available for this record.

Jamshed Memon, Alvin Reyes

Blockchain technology holds great potential for the gaming industry, but its inherent complexity can create significant barriers for game developers. Throughput's "Ledger as a Service" (LaaS) solution addresses this challenge, making blockchain technology and its benefits accessible to the gaming sector. By minimizing costs and technical overheads, it allows developers to prioritize building innovative and immersive game experiences. This research presents Throughput, a blockchain platform designed to excel in the gaming environment. Its groundbreaking approach employs a single process to manage multiple ledgers from different blockchains. This maximizes efficiency, reduces complexity, and significantly lowers the costs associated with running a layer 1 blockchain – critical advantages for supporting the resource-intensive nature of games. Throughput's consensus algorithm is carefully engineered to handle the demands of real-time gameplay, ensuring high throughput, minimal latency, and fast transaction confirmations. The ability for a single node to maintain multiple ledgers can be a significant breakthrough and can enable a validator to run multiple blockchains on single node with unified consensus. This efficiency boost not only saves resources but promotes exciting possibilities for interoperability, cross-game collaboration, and seamless asset exchange across different gaming blockchains. Furthermore, Throughput's validators benefit from increased block rewards by validating blocks across multiple ledgers. This unique incentive model encourages the maintenance of a robust and secure network, benefiting the entire gaming ecosystem. In conclusion, Throughput simplifies the integration of blockchain technology for game developers and offers features tailored explicitly to the needs of the gaming industry. By offloading complex node management, Throughput empowers developers to focus on their core strengths – ultimately accelerating the adoption of blockchain in gaming and driving innovation throughout the sector.

A. Christian Silva, Shen-Ning Tung, W.J. Chen

This paper presents a comprehensive statistical analysis of the Web3 ecosystem, comparing various Web3 tokens with traditional financial assets across multiple time scales. We examine probability distributions, tail behaviors, and other key stylized facts of the returns for a diverse range of tokens, including decentralized exchanges, liquidity pools, and centralized exchanges. Despite functional differences, most tokens exhibit well-established empirical facts, including unconditional probability density of returns with heavy tails gradually becoming Gaussian and volatility clustering. Furthermore, we compare assets traded on centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) exchanges, finding that DEXs exhibit similar stylized facts despite different trading mechanisms and often divergent long-term performance. We propose that this similarity is attributable to arbitrageurs striving to maintain similar centralized and decentralized prices. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of Web3 tokens and the relationship between CEX and DEX markets, with important implications for risk management, pricing models, and portfolio construction in the rapidly evolving DeFi landscape. These results add to the growing body of literature on cryptocurrency markets and provide insights that can guide the development of more accurate models for DeFi markets.

Amit Kumar Singh Yadav, Abhijeet Choudhary, Preeti Sharma

This research paper provides a concise overview of Web 3 and the technologies based on it.Web 3, the decentralized web, integrates decentralization and block chain technology into internet architectures.Key components, such as decentralized data storage, smart contracts, decentralized identity, and decentralized finance, are explored.Practical applications in data security, automation, privacy, and finance are discussed.The paper highlights challenges such as scalability and regulatory frameworks while emphasizing on-going efforts to address them.Web 3 represents a transformative shift in internet architecture, enabling enhanced user empowerment and redefining traditional online systems.

Vlad Bucur, Liviu Miclea

Web 3.0 is the basis on which the proposed metaverse, a seamless virtual world enabled by computers and interconnected devices, hopes to interact with its users, but beyond the high-level project overview of what Web 3.0 applications try to achieve, the implementation is still down to low-level coding details. This article aims to analyze the low-level implementations of key components of Web 3.0 using a variety of frameworks and tools as well as several JVM-based languages. This paper breaks down the low-level implementation of smart contracts and semantic web principles using three frameworks, Corda and Ethereum for smart contracts and Jeda for semantic web, using both Scala and Java as implementing languages all while highlighting differences and similarities between the frameworks used.

Cheol-su Jeong, Min-Ho Park, Junyoung Heo

Evaluating1 the popularity of content, developing personalized recommendation algorithms, and optimizing advertising revenue are crucial aspects of Over-the-Top (OTT) media content services. In order to achieve these goals, accurate viewership measurement of OTT content is essential. However, due to the stringent security policies of mobile platforms, it has been challenging to propose an easy and reliable method for measuring viewership. In this paper, we propose an efficient and secure viewership measurement technique for OTT content on the iOS platforms. The proposed technique utilizes audio filtering and zero-knowledge proof techniques to address the challenges. By leveraging audio filtering, the content can be quickly identified, enabling accurate viewership measurement. Additionally, the use of zero-knowledge proof ensures the protection of users' personal information, preventing indiscriminate acquisition of user data in OTT services.

Mohammad Nasar

Web 3.0, commonly referred to as the semantic web or the decentralized web.The article presents a summary of Web 3.0's current state, including its background, evolution, and important technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and decentralized apps (DApps).The evaluation of the decentralized web is also covered in the study, along with improvements to data privacy and security, the removal of middlemen, and more effective and transparent processes.The study concludes by discussing Web 3.0's future and its potential effects on several sectors, including ecommerce, social media, finance, and healthcare.The paper concludes that while there are still challenges that need to be addressed, the decentralized web is likely to continue to evolve and play an increasingly important role in the future of the internet.

Sabina Marchetti

‘Web3’ is shorthand for decentralized internet applications built on blockchains. Based on distributed ledger technology, Web3 applications seamlessly encompass value tokenization (the basis of peer-to-peer payments and many other uses) and decentralized management of information, with great emphasis on their aspiration to re-shape the digital economy. To date, Web3 initiatives have been attracting sizeable resources from venture capital firms. Nevertheless, the technological limitations at the basis of decentralized applications prevent a full understanding of the effective potential of Web3. Our work provides an essential overview of the phenomenon, with a focus on the actual incentives it offers to different economic agents as well as to individuals. We pinpoint the key drivers that may contribute to the large-scale establishment of distributed ledger technology as the new paradigm underlying internet applications, and differentiate them from the hype put forward by the crypto-community.

Guangsheng Yu, Xu Wang, Qin Wang, Tingting Bi · 8 authors

Web3 is leading a wave of the next generation of web services that even many Web2 applications are keen to ride. However, the lack of Web3 background for Web2 developers hinders easy and effective access and transition. On the other hand, Web3 applications desire for encouragement and advertisement from conventional Web2 companies and projects due to their low market shares. In this paper, we propose a seamless transition framework that transits Web2 to Web3, named WebttCom, after exploring the connotation of Web3 and the key differences between Web2 and Web3 applications. We also provide a full-stack implementation as a use case to support the proposed framework, followed by interviews with five participants that show four positive and one natural response. We confirm that the proposed framework WebttCom addresses the defined research question, and the implementation well satisfies the framework WebttCom in terms of strong necessity, usability, and completeness based on the interview results.

Khalid AlFuraih, Abdulkhaliq Albudrees

Web3 is introduced in 2014 to undo all the problems that came about in Web 2.0. This next generation of the internet is focused on shifting power away from big technology companies and towards individual users by Decentralization – instead of relying on a single centralized server, Web3 is built on top of blockchain-powered crypto networks that enable data to be stored across distributed devices worldwide. Ultimately, these distributed nodes can be anything, such as computers, laptops, or even bigger servers. They assist as the framework of the blockchain, collaborating with each other to enable the storage, spread, and safeguarding of data without the need for a trusted third party.

Matthieu Quiniou

Les promesses d’usage du web3 mobilisent de nombreux acteurs, des communautés se créent, notamment celle qui s’auto-définit comme DéGen. Génération émergente, contre-culture, mouvement artistique ou nouvelle forme d’identité numérique, les DéGens échappent encore aux discours et catégories socio-anthropologiques. Les sciences de l’information et de la communication, la sociologie des médias et l’ethnographie numérique fournissent des méthodes et outils d’analyse des usages et des codes de ces individus représentatifs de l’hypermodernité et du web3. S’il est difficile, à ce stade, de savoir si le mouvement DéGens n’est qu’un épiphénomène transitoire ou un marqueur emblématique d’une évolution sociétale de fond, les efforts déployés par les DéGens pour construire des modes d’organisation adaptés à leurs pratiques hypermodernes justifient une étude approfondie du fonctionnement de cette communauté d’un nouveau type. Cette recherche vise à documenter et éclairer de manière transdisciplinaire, à travers l’apparition de ces nouveaux acteurs, des questions centrales sur les mutations en cours liées au web3, les changements de paradigmes économiques, sociologiques, axiologiques, identitaires. Ces pratiques numériques actent le hic et nunc d’un monde hybride, le numérique n’est plus le double d’une réalité tangible, il ne reproduit pas le monde, il en devient la matrice, il ouvre sur une vision post schopenhauerienne : d’un « monde comme volonté et représentation », dont il convient de décrypter le mode de développement.

Avni Patel Thompson, Ethan Winn, George Oates, Jad Esber · 13 authors

A group of researchers, builders and activists came together to discuss platform cooperativism and the intersection with the web3 movement. We touched on some of the key takeaways from the history of cooperatives that can be applied to developing new internet platforms and protocols, as well as the challenges platform cooperatives face scaling alternative models of ownership and control. Consequently, we investigated how developers and emerging internet companies might learn from the shared history of cooperatives and how, in practice, they can construct systems that respect cooperative ideals.

Artemij Voskobojnikov, Oliver Wiese, Masoud Mehrabi Koushki, Volker Röth · 5 authors

In a corpus of 45,821 app reviews of the top five mobile cryptocurrency wallets, we identified and qualitatively analyzed 6,859 reviews pertaining to the user experience (UX) with those wallets. Our analysis suggests that both new and experienced users struggle with general and domain-specific UX issues that, aside from frustration and disengagement, might lead to dangerous errors and irreversible monetary losses. We reveal shortcomings of current wallet UX as well as users’ misconceptions, some of which can be traced back to a reliance on their understanding of conventional payment systems. For example, some users believed that transactions were free, reversible, and could be canceled anytime, which is not the case in reality. Correspondingly, these beliefs often resulted in unmet expectations. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations on how to design cryptocurrency wallets that both alleviate the identified issues and counteract some of the misconceptions in order to better support newcomers.