This study aims to map the intellectual structure and research trends in MSME financing through a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications indexed in the Scopus database. Using VOSviewer as the primary analytical tool, this research examines keyword co-occurrence, overlay visualization, density mapping, co-authorship networks, institutional collaboration, and country collaboration patterns to identify dominant themes and emerging research directions. The findings indicate that MSMEs remain the central focus within the financing literature, closely associated with financial inclusion, financial literacy, digital transformation, and entrepreneurial finance. The evolution of research shows a transition from traditional microfinance and banking perspectives toward digitally enabled and innovation-driven financing ecosystems. Density analysis highlights financial inclusion as a highly concentrated research area, while themes such as decentralized finance and risk management appear as emerging opportunities for future studies. Collaboration patterns reveal strong interconnectedness among authors and institutions, with significant contributions from Asian countries, particularly India, China, and the Philippines, reflecting the importance of MSMEs in developing economies. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the development, structure, and future research agenda of MSME financing literature, offering valuable insights for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to strengthen inclusive and sustainable financial systems for MSMEs.
This paper analyzes the opportunities and obstacles to introducing smart contracts into the Iraqi legal framework, focusing on the doctrinal and practical aspects. Smart contracts are self-executing transactions based on blockchain networks, lacking the involvement of intermediaries, and contest the concepts of consent, lawful subject matter, and cause of action in traditional civil-law regimes, as embodied in the Iraqi Civil Contracts Law No. 40 of 1951. Using a descriptive-analytical and comparative research approach, the study assesses Iraqi laws, as well as the experience of other countries, specifically the United States, the European Union, and the United Arab Emirates, in relation to legal recognition, assigning liability, consumer protection, and automated implementation. The conclusions show that the current legal system in Iraq lacks express clauses addressing smart contracts, leading to confusion about the identification of parties, their binding relationships, and penalties for programming errors. A comparative analysis shows that effective regulatory models are characterized by clear legal definitions, judicial capacity-building, regulatory sandboxes, and consumer rights protection. The analysis also draws on Islamic normative concepts (maqāṣid al-sharīʿah), such as ḥifẓ al-māl (wealth preservation), al-ʿadl (justice), and darʾ al-mafsid (hitting back), to support ethical governance, algorithmic responsibility, and risk avoidance. On this basis, the study suggests a balanced legislative framework for Iraq that would uphold classical principles of contract keeping and empower digital innovation by introducing statutory treatment of smart contracts, well-structured liability rules, consumer protection, and institutional reforms. Such a framework promotes the responsible adoption of automated contracts in sectors including e-commerce and financial services, enhances legal predictability, aligns domestic law with cross-border digital practices, and ensures normative legitimacy within an Islamic and international legal context.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has successfully rebuilt the plumbing of Wall Street (Trading, Lending, Derivatives) but has failed to replicate its engine: Credit. Currently, all DeFi lending is Over-Collateralized. To borrow $1.00, a user must deposit $1.50 in assets. This is not "Credit"; it is merely "Liquidity Swapping." It restricts DeFi to wealthy speculators and excludes 99% of global borrowers who need capital precisely because they do not have assets to pledge. The Klyrox Sovereign Credit Protocol introduces the first scalable framework for Under-Collateralized Lending on-chain. By transforming the Klyrox Identity Token (Epistemic Capital) into a programmable "Credit Score," we allow users to pledge their History instead of their Assets. This paper outlines the mathematical risk models that allow lenders to safely issue loans with 50% or even 0% collateral, unlocking a trillion-dollar market for on-chain personal finance.
This study examined the role of blockchain technology and decentralized finance (DeFi) in the growth of fintech startups within emerging markets, while also exploring challenges hindering blockchain adoption. Guided by two objectives, to assess blockchain and DeFi’s contributions to fintech development and to identify adoption barriers, the research employed a systematic literature review of 46 peer-reviewed articles published in English within the last decade. Sources were drawn from reputable databases. A quality assessment checklist ensured the validity and relevance of selected studies, and thematic analysis aligned findings with the research questions. Results revealed five key benefits of blockchain and DeFi for fintech startups: fostering innovative business models, reducing transaction costs, and expanding access to capital through tokenization. However, several challenges persist, including regulatory uncertainty, technological and cost barriers, privacy and data security concerns, limited inter-organizational trust, resistance to change, and scalability issues. This study contributes to the finance and banking literature by synthesizing evidence on blockchain’s potential to transform fintech ecosystems in emerging markets. The findings suggest that clear regulatory frameworks and strengthened technological infrastructure are critical to facilitating blockchain adoption. Limitations include the study’s cross-sectional design and focus on emerging markets, indicating the need for further empirical research. JEL classification numbers: G20, G23, O16, O33. Keywords: Blockchain technology, decentralized finance (DeFi), fintech startups, emerging markets, adoption challenges, tokenization, transaction costs, transparency, innovation.
Daniel Rabitha, Novi Dwi Nugroho, Ismail, Marpuah · 10 authors
This study explores the strategic shift in terrorist financing methods employed by the Mujahidin Indonesia Timur (MIT) network, specifically the transition from decentralized crowdfunding to centralized single-donor mechanisms. Using a qualitative case study grounded in Fraud Diamond Theory, this research investigates how foreign philanthropic channels are manipulated to support militant operations. The findings reveal that single donors possess the technical sophistication to exploit transnational financial systems, specifically through the manipulation of Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) and informal charity networks. Consequently, this study proposes an enhanced risk-profiling framework for Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) that prioritizes individual behavioral patterns and ideological alignments over mere transactional volumes, offering critical insights for anticipatory counter-terrorism financing measures
Open access
Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance
Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
This paper examines the dynamic spillovers between the VIX stock sentiment index, the Cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index, and the returns of leading high-tech firms from 2018 through 2024. We quantify the direction and magnitude of spillovers between these variables by applying the Quantile Vector Autoregression (Q-VAR) model across lower, middle, and upper quantiles. Results indicate a stronger connection between technology firms and the VIX, with tech stocks being more influenced by cryptocurrency fear during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings highlight the growing influence of technology firms upon financial markets, particularly during periods of heightened uncertainty in traditional markets and increased volatility in digital assets, reflecting their continually growing role in the evolving digital financial landscape. • Examines the influence of cryptocurrency fear on major tech firms from 2018 to 2024. • Applies Quantile-VAR model to analyse sentiment-driven volatility spillovers. • Highlights stronger spillovers from traditional stock fear than cryptocurrency fear. • Reveals tech stocks’ resilience during periods of high market and crypto volatility. • Identifies technology firms as key intermediaries in evolving digital financial markets.
Walter Hernandez Cruz, Peter Devine, Nikhil Vadgama, Paolo Tasca · 5 authors
We introduce DLT-Corpus, the largest domain-specific text collection for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) research to date: 2.98 billion tokens from 22.12 million documents spanning scientific literature (37,440 publications), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patents (49,023 filings), and social media (22 million posts). Existing Natural Language Processing (NLP) resources for DLT focus narrowly on cryptocurrency price prediction and smart contracts, leaving domain-specific language underexplored despite the sector's ~$3 trillion market capitalization and rapid technological evolution. We demonstrate DLT-Corpus' utility by analyzing patterns of technology emergence and market-innovation correlations. Findings reveal that technologies first appear in our scientific literature subset before reaching patents and social media, following traditional technology transfer patterns. While social media sentiment remains overwhelmingly bullish even during crypto winters, scientific and patent activity grows less tied to short-term sentiment, tracking overall market expansion in a virtuous cycle in which research precedes and enables economic growth that, in turn, funds further innovation. We release the DLT-Corpus and companion artifacts: LedgerBERT (+23% over BERT-base on DLT-specific Named Entity Recognition (NER) task), a sentiment analysis dataset of 23,301 crypto news headlines and descriptions, tools, and code.
Materi ini membahas aspek praktis investasi dan trading aset kripto dengan pendekatan literasi risiko dan kehati-hatian, khususnya untuk membantu peserta memahami bahwa kripto pada dasarnya merupakan aset, sehingga interaksinya harus dianalisis sebagaimana interaksi pada ekosistem aset pada umumnya. Pembahasan dimulai dari kerangka besar ekosistem kripto yang menempatkan pengguna (aktor), platform (venue), dan aset (goods) sebagai tiga elemen utama pembentuk risiko, kemudian dilanjutkan dengan pengenalan spektrum aset kripto (coin, token, dan NFT), mekanisme kustodi (custodial vs non-custodial), serta pentingnya pengamanan private key dan seed phrase. Materi juga menguraikan mekanisme transaksi pada pasar spot di CEX (order book) dan DEX (AMM), termasuk peran liquidity provider, arbitrage, slippage, dan risiko likuiditas. Selain itu, dijelaskan berbagai aktivitas dalam ekosistem Web3 seperti staking, lending-borrowing DeFi, strategi long/short berbasis jaminan, hingga bahaya derivatif dan leverage yang dapat memicu likuidasi cepat. Selanjutnya, materi menekankan pentingnya analisis fundamental (tokenomics, aktivitas developer, metrik finansial, dan data on-chain), serta memberikan pengantar mengenai aset dunia nyata yang ditokenisasi (RWA), metaverse, dan NFT beserta parameter evaluasinya (provenance, kolektibilitas, utilitas, finansial, roadmap, dan komunitas). Pada sisi mitigasi risiko, materi memetakan bahaya utama di ekosistem kripto—mulai dari risiko CEX, token, DeFi, hingga interaksi sosial (phishing, social engineering, pig butchering, dan FOMO)—serta menawarkan kerangka due diligence 6D (Define, Document, Diversify, Detect, Defend, Discipline) sebagai panduan pengambilan keputusan yang lebih rasional. Kesimpulan utama materi ini menegaskan bahwa risiko utama dalam kripto bukan hanya terletak pada instrumennya, tetapi juga pada kualitas riset, pengendalian diri, dan kemampuan menjaga diri pengguna saat berinteraksi dengan ekosistem digital.
This paper explores the intersection of blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and the Metaverse, offering a strategic assessment of their impact on global economic governance within a geopolitical context marked by fragmentation and uncertainty. Grounded in a critical review of the academic literature (2016–2024), the research investigates how decentralized digital infrastructures challenge traditional paradigms of institutional control, monetary sovereignty, and financial regulation. By analyzing key technological mechanisms—distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), smart contracts, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)—the paper proposes an integrated "risks–opportunities" framework, relevant to innovation, regulation, and strategic governance. Identified risks include regulatory asymmetries, technical vulnerabilities, and the concentration of power within systems that claim to be decentralized. At the same time, new opportunities emerge through participatory governance models, cross-border financial inclusion, and the possibility of reimagining global economic coordination beyond traditional intermediaries. The paper argues that the convergence of blockchain-based technologies within immersive environments such as the Metaverse can serve both as a catalyst for systemic transformation and as an experimental space for designing future economic architectures—decentralized, programmable, and globally interconnected. In conclusion, it advocates for the recalibration of management and governance models to respond to emerging digital realities, in a balanced approach that integrates openness, innovation, resilience, and institutional accountability.
The article explores one of the main trends in modern financial transformation, namely the impact of decentralized finance (DeFi) on the banking sector. The author goes beyond conventional discussions about banks’ responses to DeFi and proposes a different vision for their role and function in the digital economy and Web 3.0. The aim of the study is to identify and analyze changes brought about by the rise of DeFi, as well as to propose possible strategies for banks to adopt in light of technological advancements. Unlike traditional approaches that focus on the conflict between banks and DeFi platforms, this work emphasizes the analysis of future models of financial intermediation. Concepts such as «5.0 banks», «metabanks», and autonomous digital ecosystems are explored, where banking functions are implemented in a more programmable manner. The research methods include a comparative analysis of the structural and functional differences between the traditional banking system and decentralized finance (DeFi), an analytical review of recent scientific publications, and an assessment of potential future developments for banks in the face of decentralized technology. Based on this research, we found that banks remain an important part of the financial system, despite increasing pressure from decentralized finance. However, banks must adapt to technological change in order to maintain their relevance. We identified three possible paths for the future of banking: the integration of DeFi features into existing banking products, the creation of hybrid models that combine DeFi and traditional banking, and the transition to fully autonomous algorithmic systems powered by smart contracts and artificial intelligence. While all three scenarios are possible, we believe that the hybrid model that combines DeFi innovation with customer protection and regulation is the most likely to succeed in the long term. The novelty of this work lies in its conceptual approach to how banks can adapt to decentralized technologies and forecast their future evolution within the context of Web3. Its practical significance lies in the potential for using these findings to develop digital transformation strategies for banks.
Crypto currency has emerged as a transformative innovation in the global financial ecosystem, offering decentralized, borderless, and technology-driven alternatives to traditional monetary systems. Built on block chain technology, crypto currencies provide opportunities such as faster cross-border transactions, reduced transaction costs, enhanced financial inclusion, and new investment avenues. They also promote transparency and security through distributed ledger systems. However, alongside these benefits, crypto currencies pose significant regulatory and legal challenges. Issues such as price volatility, lack of investor protection, cyber security risks, money laundering, tax evasion, and the absence of a unified global regulatory framework create uncertainty for governments and financial institutions. Policymakers across countries face difficulties in balancing innovation with financial stability and consumer protection. This study explores both the opportunities presented by crypto currency adoption and the major regulatory challenges that hinder its integration into the mainstream financial system. The paper highlights the need for coordinated international regulations, technological safeguards, and policy measures to ensure sustainable and secure growth of the crypto currency market
Shashikumar Bhambhani Shailak Jani, ,Anju Gakhar, Purvi Dipen Derashri, Hiren Harsora Younis Malik
Blockchain and smart contracts are bringing a technological transformation to banking and financial service industry. This scholarly article evaluates the revolutionary nature of smart contracts in reinventing the concepts of trust, efficiency, and automation in transactions of diverse financial sectors. By using a qualitative and explorative methodology that uses secondary resources, the research integrates the know-how of academic publications, white papers, policy-related pieces, and case studies published since the year 2020. The results show that smart contracts are increasingly being used in trade finance, cross border payment, insurance claim settlement, credit release as well as compliance with regulations. Such applications have resulted in cost efficiency, transparency, auditability, and speed of operation being strengthened tremendously. Nevertheless, the paper also reveals some of the existing problems such as the lack of legal clarity, weaknesses in the coding of contracts, scalability of the blockchain technology used, regulatory compliance, and privacy. In practice, being used by institutions like JPMorgan and Santander and in DeFi platforms like Aave and Compound, smart contracts are increasingly becoming institutionally friendly. Also, legal and compliance agencies in different jurisdictions, such as European Union, India and United States, are developing infantile legal regimes that plan to control such innovations. This paper provides the conclusion that smart contracts have a potential to become the backbone of an automated, decentralized, and trusted financial world. To achieve successful integration, there must be a coordination between regulators, technologists, the financial institutions, and policymakers. The paper adds value to the academic discussion by offering a clear, detailed, practice-oriented view on the topic of how smart contract is changing future of banking and finance.
This chapter analyses how the tokenization of decisional power – enabled by blockchainbased governance tokens – offers new governance models while simultaneously revealing structural, technological, and legal limits. After illustrating how electronic voting and tokenbased identification address challenges such as deepfakes, the chapter examines the functioning of DAOs, their governance procedures, and the informal community dynamics that shape decision-making. It then discusses the conceptual difficulties surrounding ‘decentralization,’ reviews existing metrics, and proposes alternative normative criteria, including minimum independent decision centres and the ‘mutualistic symbiosis’ between protocol, users, and developers. The final section evaluates legal obstacles under Italian law, showing the limited feasibility of tokenizing corporate participations and the centralizing effects introduced by the Fintech Decree. The chapter concludes that regulators must develop a coherent legal definition of decentralization and simplify regulatory frameworks for tokenized equity instruments. Keywords: Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), tokenized governance, decentralization metrics, Blockchain-based voting, CorpTech regulation, Fintech Decree (Italy).
Over the last few years, the advent of the DLT technology led to the spread of new business models within the financial market, which gave rise to two different applications. Initially, new distributed registers were used to create (at least apparently) ways of offering assets, such as so-called Initial Coin Offerings, and financial services in an innovative way, that is, more decentralized and without the intermediation of traditional intermediaries. More recently, these technologies, also as a result of the intervention of the regulator oriented towards the principle of technological neutrality, began to be employed to recreate a mere alternative to the traditional financial market both with reference to the supply of tokens – e.g. the supply of Securities Tokens Offering, and of services which continue to maintain centralization characteristics and still require the presence of an intermediary. Keywords: decentralized finance, distributed ledger technologies, smart contracts, disintermediation.
The growing popularity, the exponentially expanding market size, and the volatility of Cryptocurrency are gaining the attention of all, whether it is investors, policymakers, miners, or academicians. So, this paper has used Bibliometric analysis to explore the existing works of literature in the area of Business, Finance, and Economics. We have reviewed and analysed 1344 articles extracted from the Web of Science core collection, Clarivate Analytics of the period from 2011 to mid-2022 using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny (Biblimetrix: R package) analytical tools. This paper has presented citations, publications, and the impact of sources, documents, authors, organizations, countries, etc., along with their relationships with the help of tables, charts, and network diagrams. The analysis shows exponential growth in the last 4-5 years. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency (or Cryptocurrencies) are the most frequent keywords. With many ups and downs, cryptocurrency is maintaining its pace with a gradual increase in its acceptability worldwide.
Although blockchain technology has demonstrated promise in various application fields, its technical intricacy, usability challenges and substantial onboarding obstacles impede broad mainstream acceptance. Earlier studies have primarily concentrated on protocol scalability, security and financial applications with less emphasis, on user adoption strategies. In response this paper aims to examine how these challenges are tackled and mass involvement is facilitated through gamified and mobile-centric Web3 ecosystems. The research conducts an evaluation of key Web3 platforms encompassing gamified tap-, to-earn frameworks, mobile-centric blockchain involvement approaches and social media-integrated mini-applications assessed through onboarding challenges, engagement strategies, network impact, token allocation and scalability metrics. The findings reveal that streamlined interaction designs, mobile compatibility and social connectivity have greatly lowered participation obstacles while maintaining user involvement and exponential expansion. Based on this, the paper therefore advances the GMS framework, which abstracts the adoption of blockchain as the additive influence of gamification, mobile-first design, and social-platform integration. The framework shifts the emphasis from infrastructure-centric optimization to user-centered system design and contributes to blockchain adoption research by providing insights relevant to the development of inclusive and scalable Web3 ecosystems.
Purpose Do individuals take more financial risks when faced with a health crisis? This study examines the impact of COVID-19 on individuals' propensity to invest in cryptocurrencies. Design/methodology/approach We applied a probit model to the restricted version of 2021 data from the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS). We then combined propensity score matching (PSM) with an instrumental variable (IV) approach to address potential endogeneity concerns. Findings We found that individuals experiencing a health crisis, proxied by COVID-19 infection, demonstrate a significant tendency to take financial risks, proxied by investment in cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the established link between exposure to a health risk and investing in high-risk financial products is more pronounced among individuals without financial education. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this investigation is the first to show how consumer health status affects the propensity to invest in cryptocurrency. We provide timely insights into how external mortality reminders drive risky financial decisions. Our main finding runs contrary to the traditional economic literature, which suggests that people maintain a certain level of risk tolerance and therefore adjust their financial investment strategies to mitigate, not exacerbate, increased risk.
Wansen Wang, P. F. Zhang, Renjie Ji, Wenchao Huang · 8 authors
Some smart contracts violate decentralization principles by defining privileged accounts that manage other users' assets without permission, introducing centralized risks that have caused financial losses. Existing methods, however, face challenges in accurately detecting diverse centralized risks due to their dependence on predefined behavior patterns. In this paper, we propose JANUS, an automated analyzer for Solidity smart contracts that detects financial centralized risks independently of their specific behaviors. JANUS identifies differences between states reached by privileged and ordinary accounts, and analyzes whether these differences are finance-related. Focusing on the impact of risks rather than behaviors, JANUS achieves improved accuracy compared to existing tools and can uncover centralized risks with unknown patterns. To evaluate JANUS's performance, we compare it with other tools using a dataset of 540 contracts. Our evaluation demonstrates that JANUS outperforms representative tools in terms of detection accuracy for financial centralized risks. Additionally, we evaluate JANUS on a real-world dataset of 33,151 contracts, successfully identifying two types of risks that other tools fail to detect. We also prove that the state traversal method and variable summaries, which are used in JANUS to reduce the number of states to be compared, do not introduce false alarms or omissions in detection.
Abstract Blockchain technology has the potential to significantly advance financial inclusion, by providing decentralized financial solutions, such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi) platforms, which can ultimately be beneficial to the unbanked and underbanked populations across the globe. The decentralized nature of blockchain is a beacon of hope for bridging the financial access gap in developing and emerging economies where the traditional banking infrastructure is limited, or even non-existent. This is a conceptual paper that compiles a collection of literature around blockchain technology and financial inclusion. This paper discusses the potential to lower the barriers to financial services and transaction costs as well as increase financial literacy enabled by blockchain-based solutions (i.e. cryptocurrencies, smart contracts and digital wallets) through a systematic review of key studies, market reports and case examples identified from various regions. The state of the art paper which builds on the relevant literature on blockchain and fintech for financial inclusion. Focusing on cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, and digital wallets, this paper analyses the extent to which blockchain-based solutions may minimize financial service barriers, service transaction costs and improve financial literacy, through a review key study, market reports and case examples across different regions. It emphasizes how blockchain technology has the potential to empower these disadvantaged communities with affordable, secure, and accessible financial products. However, it does also stress the importance of guidelines to help ensure the safe and effective implementation of blockchain solutions. The objective of this paper is to offer a conceptual framework that connects the motivations for financial inclusion and the role of blockchain solutions with the ultimate objective of enabling policymakers, financial institutions, and technology developers to adopt and tailor blockchain solutions aligned to the global financial systems of developing economies. Keywords: Blockchain Technology, Financial Inclusion, Decentralized Finance, DeFi, Cryptocurrencies, Smart Contracts, Peer-to-Peer Lending, Financial Services, Emerging Markets
Hybrid Finance (HyFi) is a research and implementation initiative focused on establishing an operational framework that enables legally interpretable financial relationships to be settled using decentralized execution mechanisms. Historically, Traditional Finance (TradFi) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) developed as mutually incompatible systems. TradFi ensures regulatory compliance, identity accountability, and institutional trust but suffers from latency and geographic constraints. DeFi enables transparent, borderless, and automated settlement but lacks enforceable responsibility mapping in real-world contractual contexts. The HyFi framework introduces a translation architecture that separates relationship governance from value execution. Institutional structures define responsibility and legal context, while decentralized networks perform settlement. A certification layer binds cryptographic execution to real-world intent, producing auditable and compliance-compatible financial records. This community archives research papers, technical disclosures, implementation references, diagrams, and supporting documentation related to: Hybrid financial operational models Compliance-aware blockchain settlement Certified digital asset transactions Programmable accountability frameworks Institutional adoption methodologies Educational and operational standards for blockchain integration The objective of this repository is to document the emergence of a third financial paradigm — not a replacement of TradFi or DeFi, but a structured convergence enabling borderless yet compliant financial activity.
Purpose : This study examined year-over-year (YoY) structural growth dynamics across four major cryptocurrency classes—Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), stablecoins, and altcoins, for the period of 2020–2024. Research Methodology : A quantitative approach was employed to analyze YoY market capitalization trends across BTC, ETH, stablecoins, and altcoins, from 2020 to 2024, by using data from CoinMarketCap, by analyzing growth patterns through percentage and absolute market capitalization changes, supported by trend visualizations. A multiple linear regression model assessed the effect of time and asset type, with BTC as the reference category. The analyses were conducted using SPSS version 27. Findings : The findings revealed that 2023 was the period in which none of the cryptocurrency variants performed well due to factors such as regulatory pressure and a global economic slowdown. In contrast, 2024 marked a period of market correction, during which BTC and altcoins experienced a strong resurgence, followed by stablecoins. ETH remained robust throughout the period, supported by decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Practical Implications : The results indicated that the cryptocurrency market functioned as a network of fragmented yet interconnected components, and continued to develop under a highly volatile and competitive environment. These findings provided important implications for investors, regulators, and scholars interested in the cryptocurrency market structure, risk behavior, and long-run predictability of cryptocurrencies. Originality/Value : This study presented a new application for a venue-specific market cap analysis in cryptocurrency spanning over five years. By leveraging YoY analysis, it provided insights into growth variances, market recovery, resilience, and increasing maturity of the crypto market in response to evolving rules and regulations.
Ahmad Khalifah Zamrud, Usman Jafar, Abdul Wahid Haddade
IntroductionThe rapid expansion of cryptocurrency has generated significant debate within Islamic economic discourse. Bitcoin, as the first decentralized digital currency, offers technological advantages such as transparency, efficiency, and global accessibility. However, it also raises concerns regarding price volatility, speculative trading behavior, and the absence of intrinsic value. These issues have prompted Islamic scholars and regulatory institutions to evaluate cryptocurrency from the perspective of Islamic law and financial ethics. In Indonesia, the Indonesian Ulema Council issued a religious ruling declaring Bitcoin impermissible due to elements of uncertainty, speculation, and potential economic harm. This ruling has stimulated ongoing discussion about the compatibility of cryptocurrency innovation with Islamic economic principles.ObjectivesThis study aims to critically analyze the religious ruling on Bitcoin issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council by examining its legal reasoning, its relationship with Islamic economic principles, and its implications for the governance of digital financial innovation. The research also seeks to explore whether cryptocurrency can be accommodated within an Islamic economic framework under certain regulatory and ethical conditions.MethodThe study employs a qualitative research design using a transdisciplinary analytical approach that integrates perspectives from Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic economics, financial regulation, and digital financial technology. Data were collected through documentation of religious rulings, regulatory policies, and scholarly literature related to cryptocurrency and Islamic finance. The data were analyzed through thematic and comparative analysis to identify the legal reasoning underlying the prohibition of Bitcoin and to evaluate alternative scholarly interpretations regarding the status of digital assets in Islamic economics.ResultsThe findings indicate that the prohibition of Bitcoin is primarily based on concerns about excessive uncertainty, speculative trading behavior, and potential economic harm associated with cryptocurrency markets. Nevertheless, the analysis also reveals that cryptocurrency may be considered permissible when these elements are mitigated through transparent governance, regulatory oversight, and the development of asset-backed digital financial instruments.ImplicationsThe study highlights the importance of developing regulatory and institutional frameworks that reconcile financial innovation with Islamic ethical principles. Such frameworks can provide clearer guidance for Muslim investors while supporting responsible digital financial development.Originality or NoveltyThis research contributes to the growing literature on cryptocurrency in Islamic economics by offering a critical analysis of religious rulings within the broader context of digital financial transformation and regulatory governance.
M. Ángeles López-Cabarcos, Isaac González López, Aurora Pérez-Pérez, Juan Piñeiro Chousa
Purpose The classification of cryptocurrencies remains an open challenge to make valid decisions due to their diverse technical structures, financial applications and evolving use cases. The scientific literature does not provide a simple technical categorization that facilitates asset comparison, enhances risk measurement, provides a structured approach to understanding the dependencies between different crypto-assets and facilitates decision-making processes among a wide range of stakeholders. This study proposes a technical categorization framework that classifies cryptocurrencies based on their underlying blockchain infrastructure or smart contract functionalities. Design/methodology/approach The authors designed the categories and classify the top 100 market cap cryptocurrencies with them. To validate the proposal, the same task was executed by using multiple large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini; with zero-shot classification approach. Findings The results indicate that, when prompted with predefined categories, LLMs achieve substantial agreement with human classification, with ChatGPT demonstrating the best results. Moreover, categorization without any guidance is inconsistent across models, often defaulting to use-case- based groupings. Notably, providing additional information about cryptocurrencies or detailed definitions of categories does not significantly alter classification outcomes, suggesting that LLMs rely predominantly on their internal knowledge base. Research limitations/implications Future research should focus on refining empirical measures for decentralization, expanding classification testing with human participants and leveraging advancements in LLMs for improved categorization accuracy. Originality/value This study highlights the potential of LLMs as tools for the systematic classification of cryptocurrencies, a key part of an important organizational decision-making process. It is remarked that the importance of having structured categories of cryptocurrencies is for all kinds of decision-makers, including investors, industry stakeholders, fund managers and regulators. Future research should focus on refining empirical measures for decentralization, expanding classification testing with human participants and leveraging advancements in LLMs for improved categorization accuracy. Highlights
The past decade has witnessed the burgeoning and continuous development of blockchain and its applications. Besides various cryptocurrencies, an industry that has quickly embraced this trend is gaming. Thanks to the support of blockchain, games have started to incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that can enable a new gaming model, play-to-earn (P2E), which incentivizes users to participate and play. While recent studies looked at several NFT games qualitatively and individually, an in-depth understanding is still missing, particularly on how the P2E model has transformed traditional games. In this work, we set to conduct a measurement study of NFT games, aiming to gain a comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of P2E in practice. For this purpose, we collect and analyze relevant NFT transaction data from the underlying blockchain (e.g., Ethereum) of 12 games, supplemented with various data scraped from their websites. Our study shows that (1) a few top wallets control unproportionally high percentage of NFTs, and the majority of wallets own only one or two NFTs and do not actively trade; (2) promotion events do boost the trade amount and the NFT price for some games, but their effect does not sustain; and (3) few players actually earned a profit, and players in 9 out of 12 games who traded NFTs have a negative profit on average. Motivated by these findings, we further investigate effective incentive mechanisms based on game theory to improve the trading profits that players can earn from these NFT games. Both modeling and simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed incentive mechanism.