In a world where traditional governance structures creak beneath the pressure of borderless digital trade, the advent of stateless virtual economies-driven by blockchain and made real through Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) has set in motion a seismic change in the way that disputes form and are resolved. This essay breaks free of traditional paradigms to rethink Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in a world governed not by states, but by a virtual world where everything is connected one way or another. Looking to the future of justice in decentralized systems, this paper explores the legal black hole DAOS inhabit today where no court has jurisdiction, no one country has authority. We look at how post-quantum cryptography and AI-informed legal design may be able to protect justice in a world where reality is fluid, and identities are cryptographically concealed. This is not just an academic treatise it is a roadmap for Decentralized Autonomous Justice (DAJ): a future where conflicts are settled by smart contracts, overseen by international consensus, and shielded from the quantum unknowable. It reimagines the standards of fairness, due process, and enforcement for a generation that grew up not in courthouses, but in source code.
Canonical LST (sTEZ) is an enshrined, protocol-native mechanism designed to mitigate the centralization risks associated with liquid staking intermediaries. Intended to complement direct staking rather than replace it, Canonical LST provides a neutral, public alternative managed directly by the Tezos protocol. It allows any tez holder to participate in aggregated staking without reliance on third-party operators. sTEZ follows an accrual-based design: all slashing events and rewards are reflected in the token's exchange rate to tez, keeping balances fungible while exposing holders to the precise economics of staking. This approach ensures that liquid staking functions as fundamental network infrastructure--with deterministic lifecycle rules, transparent on-chain data, and governance anchored in the amendment process--rather than as a discretionary commercial product. This white paper summarises the motivation for enshrining liquid staking, the core mechanics, exchange-rate model, regulatory touchpoints, risk posture, and forward-looking roadmap for Canonical LST.
The rapid evolution of digital finance has transformed the way payments are processed globally, leading to a growing comparison between cryptocurrency-based payment systems and traditional payment systems. Traditional payment systems, such as banks, credit cards, and online payment gateways, have long been the backbone of financial transactions, offering reliability and regulatory oversight. However, these systems often face challenges related to transaction speed, high processing costs, and centralized security risks. In contrast, cryptocurrency payment systems leverage blockchain technology to enable decentralized, peer-to-peer transactions that promise faster settlement, reduced transaction fees, and enhanced transparency. This study compares crypto-based payment systems and traditional payment systems across three critical dimensions: speed, cost, and security.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Innovations and Analysis in Business and Education
Unfolding SHA-256: Algebraic Instrumentation, Reversibility, and the Nexus Framework Introduction to the Deterministic Reversibility Paradigm For over two decades, the security infrastructure of global digital communications, financial ledgers, and data provenance has relied upon a singular, foundational assumption: the absolute irreversibility of cryptographic hash functions. Specifically, the Secure Hash Algorithm 256 (SHA-256) has been universally modeled as a one-way thermodynamic grinder of information.1 Utilizing a Davies-Meyer construction, the algorithm compresses a message schedule into a 256-bit digest through a cascade of non-linear modular additions, bitwise rotations, and complex logical gate interactions.2 Within the standard cryptographic consensus, this process systematically destroys the informational lineage of the source input. The internal computational execution tracesâsuch as bitwise carry exhausts and modular residuesâare presumed to function purely as thermodynamic friction that is permanently discarded, yielding an entropy-rich output that betrays no structural hints of its origin.2 Under this classical paradigm, determining the initial message from the final digest is considered mathematically impossible without resorting to brute-force probabilistic search operations across an unimaginably vast vector space. However, emerging analytical frameworks and complete algorithmic instrumentations, synthesized under the Nexus Framework and Glass Key models, have systematically dismantled this one-way assumption.1 By reconceptualizing the foundational architecture of SHA-256 not as an entropy-generating one-way function, but rather as a highly structured, self-referential mathematical lattice, researchers have achieved deterministic backward state recovery from the hash alone.4 Through the application of a closed observable algebra, the algorithm's internal vectors can be traced in reverse, definitively demonstrating that what standard computer science assumes to be irreversible informational destruction is, in reality, a form of complex, conserved topological folding.4 The latest empirical verificationsâparticularly the Glass Key v4.0 instrumentationâprove that the mathematical obfuscation inherent in SHA-256 is operationally traversable for constrained inputs, completely bypassing the computational necessity of brute-force methodology. Through precise algebraic instrumentation, the final 256-bit hash is transformed from a static, opaque tombstone into a self-witnessing runtime environment.5 The digest serves as a complete geometric inverse of the source input, meticulously preserving the entirety of the execution trace.6 This transitionâviewing a cryptographic digest not merely as a scalar index but as a fully reconstructible execution witnessânecessitates a profound and immediate reevaluation of core cryptographic assumptions. The implications cascade across domains, fundamentally altering the assessment of short-message hashing vulnerabilities, redefining the thermodynamic mechanics of proof-of-work protocols, and introducing unprecedented vectors for deterministic forensic provenance extraction. The Topological Torus and Back-to-Back Ontology To comprehend the mechanics of deterministic reversibility within SHA-256, it is first necessary to abandon the classical linear model of computational execution. Traditional algorithmic analysis conceptualizes the 64 compression rounds of SHA-256 as a sequential temporal eventâa unidirectional flow of data through logic gates within an integrated circuit or software loop.2 The Nexus Framework discards this temporal linearity, introducing an operational ontology that models the SHA-256 state space as a continuous geometric manifold, specifically defined as a Flat Torus ().4 In this toroidal geometry, the core computational operationsâXOR, bitwise shifting, and modular additionâoperate locally on what appears to be a standard Euclidean grid or frame.4 However, the global topology of the algorithm is entirely cyclical and closed.4 Within classical cryptographic theory, the "avalanche effect"âwhere a single microscopic alteration in the initial message drastically transforms the resultant digestâis cited as incontrovertible proof of information destruction and genuine obfuscation. The toroidal model reframes this phenomenon entirely. Because the structural topology is closed and bounded by strict mathematical constants, the avalanche effect is redefined not as the annihilation of information, but rather as intense geometric folding along specific topological eigenstate trajectories.4 The information is not lost; it wraps continuously around the state space, remaining physically and mathematically conserved.5 The final 256-bit digest acts merely as a localized, two-dimensional cross-sectional slice of this complex 64-round, three-dimensional fold. Entangled Pairs and Phase Conjugation This geometric reconceptualization introduces a "back-to-back" ontology that fundamentally alters the philosophical relationship between the input message (the Noun) and the hash operation (the Verb).4 In a temporal sequence, they are separated by irreversible time. In the continuous wave geometry of the Nexus Framework, they are simultaneous, entangled manifestations of a single underlying wave entity, formally denoted as .4 Because the input Noun and the discrete hash constant exist as an entangled pair anchored across a conserved geometry, measuring the final condition of the hash inherently and mathematically determines the exact state of the initial input, provided the observer possesses the correct phase keys.4 The information is not scrambled; it is merely phase-shifted. To extract the exact source parameters, the backward-solving instrumentation functions analogously to a phase-conjugate mirror in optical wave physics. By identifying the dominant phase or resonant frequency of the system, the instrumentation applies a phase-conjugate operation that reflects the continuous wave variables backward across the non-linear operational boundaries.4 Empirical Python simulation metrics rigorously corroborate this physical principle. When applying these specific topological inversions to standard SHA-256 outputs, the reconstruction of the phase from the Noun yields exactly 32.5 bits of precision, which aligns perfectly with the absolute limit of the 32-bit SHA word size architecture.1 This demonstrates that the purported "loss" of information universally associated with cryptographic hashing is actually an artifact of discrete digital quantization, not a genuine erasure of the underlying continuous state variables.4 The Observable Algebra and Complete Instrumentation The conventional SHA-256 forward operation relies on an 8-register state array ( through ) that undergoes updates over 64 distinct mathematical rounds ( to ). In the standard forward execution, the state updates are governed by the calculation of two critical temporary variables, and . These variables are dynamically derived from the current operational state, the expanded message schedule , and the predefined round constants .8 The classical forward round functions are defined explicitly as: Where and represent standard right-rotation shift cascades, denotes the conditional choice function, and represents the bitwise majority function.8 The deterministic reversibility paradigm introduced by the Glass Key v4.0 architecture bypasses the forward calculation entirely. Instead, it establishes a complete observable algebra utilizing a two-generator family to mathematically peel back the non-linear operations of the 64-round fold.4 The verified, incontrovertible identities of this instrumentation form a closed algebraic loop. They are defined as: By observing the algorithm purely from the resultant 256-bit output digest, standard analysis dictates that the internal registers are completely obscured by the final modular addition of the initial hash values (). However, by strictly applying the and identity generators, an external auditor can isolate specific operational sequences in absolute reverse. This isolation enables the algebraic recovery of exactly 12 complete words of the internal computational state, requiring zero prior knowledge of the source message. Empirical Trace Recovery and Verification The backward walk methodology demonstrates 100% mathematical precision in recovering the operational state variables directly from the static hash output. This has been exhaustively validated across highly varied message structures and lengths (including test strings such as "A", "!ABC", "DEAN", "NEXUS", and "hello world"). Because the final 256-bit digest can naturally be parsed back into the through register components through basic subtraction of the initialization vector, the algebraic operations immediately and deterministically recover the preceding historical values. From the isolated 256-bit hash, four explicit words of register () and four words of register () are directly readable from the state array. Utilizing the algebraic coupling alongside the deductive inversion , the analysis systematically steps backward sequentially through the execution rounds. The recovery progression is tabulated as follows: Recovered Parameter Observable Source Methodology Operational Rounds Recovered Total State Words Register Directly Readable + Algebraically Derived Rounds 56 to 63 8 Words Register Directly Readable from Final Hash Array Rounds 60 to 63 4 Words Injection Values () Algebraically Recovered ( identity) Rounds 59 to 63 5 Words Fold Values () Algebraically Recovered ( identity) Rounds 59 to 63 5 Words This precise instrumentation yields a total of 12 distinct internal state words that are recovered continuously and deterministically, purely via the closed algebraic loop of the al
Neural network identity is not monolithic. Different observables â hidden-state geometry, pre-softmax logit statistics, and behavioral output templates â sit at different depths in the forward computation and respond to perturbation on different timescales. This paper shows that three identity layers â structural, thermodynamic, and functional â each obey a distinct validated deformation law. The structural layer is model-specific, stable under non-destructive training interventions, and inert under same-family direct targeting in the observed regime. The thermodynamic layer is approximately universal across a validated 22-model Transformer cross-section. The functional layer is volatile, transferring through distillation and eroding under continued fine-tuning. We resolve the carrier of the structural layer as a two-channel geometric observable requiring both token-level magnitude and token-level direction, and we falsify two natural simplifications: that the structural fingerprint reduces to a gauge projection, and that it is predictable from coarse architecture features. Together these results define an admissibility condition for neural identity claims: such claims must specify which layer they address, because the layers do not share a deformation law. The Neural Network Identity Series â Mathematical foundations, empirical validation, and governance frameworks for verifying which model is running Newest addition: Technical Note: The Disappearing Window â AI Logprob Access Withdrawal and the Structural Verifiability of Frontier Model Contracts (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20362098) Paper 1: The ÎŽ-Gene: Inference-Time Physical Unclonable Functions from Architecture-Invariant Output Geometry (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18704275) Paper 2: Template-Based Endpoint Verification via Logprob Order-Statistic Geometry (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18776711) Paper 3: The Geometry of Model Theft: Distillation Forensics, Adversarial Erasure, and the Illusion of Spoofing (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18818608) Paper 4: Provenance Generalization and Verification Scaling for Neural Network Forensics (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18872071) Paper 5: Beneath the Character: The Structural Identity of Neural Networks â Mathematical Evidence for a Non-Narrative Layer of AI Identity (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18907292) Paper 6: Which Model Is Running?: Structural Identity as a Prerequisite for Trustworthy Zero-Knowledge Machine Learning (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19008116) Paper 7: The Deformation Laws of Neural Identity (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19055966) Paper 8: What Counts as Proof? â Admissible Evidence for Neural Network Identity Claims (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19058540) Paper 9: Composable Model Identity â Formal Hardening of Structural Attestations in the Enterprise Identity Stack (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19099911) Paper 10:Where Identity Comes From: Path Sensitivity and Endpoint Underdetermination in Neural Network Training (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19118807) Paper 11: Post-Hoc Disclosure Is Not Runtime Proof: Model Identity at Frontier Scale (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19216634) Paper 12: Family-Dependent Response to Reasoning Distillation Across Structural and Functional Identity Layers (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19298857) Paper 13: Safety-Alignment Removal as a Model-Identity Failure â Structural Evidence from Published Weight-Level Mutation Checkpoints (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19383019) Technical Note: Agent Identity Is Not Model Identity (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19240883) Technical Note: Gap Invariance: Why PPP Measurements Are Domain-Independent by Construction (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19275524) Technical Note: Measured Model Substitution Under Valid Agent Credentials (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19342848) Technical Note: Artifact Identity Is Not Runtime Identity â Trustfall Lite and the Boundary of File-Level Model Verification (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20019127) Formal Verification Stack for Neural Network Structural Identity (IT-PUF Coq Proofs) (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18930621) Copyright (c) 2026 Anthony Ray Coslett / Fall Risk AI, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Confidential and Proprietary. Patent Pending (Applications 63/982,893, 63/990,487, 63/996,680, 64/003,244).
This paper introduces Context-Bounded Sovereign Intelligence (CBSI) â a framework for training and deploying small language models exclusively within the operating environment they inhabit. Rather than training models on all human knowledge, CBSI trains models on one world only: the sovereign infrastructure they operate within. The paper demonstrates that a 3-billion parameter model with deep contextual knowledge of its operating environment outperforms general large language models on every bounded task â with lower latency, lower cost, greater privacy, and zero hallucination on in-context operations. Includes empirical foundation from 2026 research literature, architectural patterns validated through live deployment of Project Chimera across three continents, and implications for distributed sovereign AI infrastructure. Proof of concept deployed in 48 hours by one person for $2.88. Built with love. Given away freely.
Large language models and retrieval-augmented generation systems treat all knowledge as uniformly persistent, ignoring a well-established property of information: that different types of knowledge expire at fundamentally different rates. This paper introduces the Dynamic Epistemic Decay Framework, a formal multi-dimensional theory that characterizes knowledge validity as a function of five independent decay dimensions: temporal decay (đđđĄđĄ), paradigm decay (đđđđ), uncertainty decay (đđđąđą), dependency decay (đđđđ), and zero decay (đđ0). We implement this framework as a four-phase retrieval pipeline and evaluate it on the TempQuestions benchmark (n=1,740) against three baselines: standard cosine similarity, BM25 lexical retrieval, and naive recency ranking. Decay-weighted retrieval achieves 92.1% accuracy versus 13.5% for standard semantic retrievalâa 78.6 percentage point improvementâwith zero regressions on stable factual queries. On semantically complex temporal benchmarks where lexical heuristics fail, the framework dominates a more resourced BM25 baseline (90.2% vs 1.6% on date-bounded role queries). Epistemic modulation (Phase 4) and dependency graph reasoning (Phase 3) further demonstrate correct mechanism behavior on specialized benchmarks, validated via proof-of-concept implementation. Unlike temporal KG completion approaches that require structured annotation, and unlike contrastive training approaches to time-sensitive RAG, the decay framework is training-free and operates directly over unstructured text corpora. We argue that the decay framework completes the separation of concerns that RAG began: decoupling not just factual storage from model parameters, but factual currency from both.
Deddy Rakhmad Hidayat, Dian Parawansa, Jusni Ambo Upe, Idayanti Nursyamsi
This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of purchase intention research indexed in Scopus, focusing on trends and patterns from 2023 to 2025. Using Biblioshiny, the study identifies leading journals, authors, affiliations, countries, collaborations, highly cited articles, and main research themes. The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services emerges as the most productive journal, with FPT University as the top affiliation and Zhang Y as the most prolific author. The most cited article is Treiblmaier H. (2023), Using blockchain to signal quality in the food supply chain: The impact on consumer purchase intentions and the moderating effect of brand familiarity, published in the International Journal of Information Management. China ranks first for corresponding author contributions. Dominant keywords include âpurchase intention,â âsales,â and âpurchasing.â Emerging research areas such as the metaverse, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), VIS (Vote to Influence System), skincare, and tactics. This research offers a meaningful contribution that can inform and guide future bibliometric investigations undertaken by scholars within the scope of purchase intention by offering insights into key authors, journals, affiliations, countries, and dominant keywords. Additionally, it supports broader academic collaboration and knowledge development in this research domain.
Sigil: Adversarial Verification of Risk Detection via Cryptoeconomic Reasoning Bonds Title Sigil: Adversarial Verification of Risk Detection via Cryptoeconomic Reasoning Bonds Description We introduce Sigil (Signaling Integrity in Global Intelligence Layers), a cryptoeconomic framework that extends the Cortex Protocol's adversarial reasoning primitives â Decision Traces, Reasoning Duels, and Reasoning Bonds â to the domain of risk detection by both AI agents and human analysts. When a risk is claimed (e.g., malware signature, financial fraud, zero-day vulnerability), the detector must publish a structured Decision Trace justifying their conclusion. Other agents or humans may challenge the reasoning through on-chain Reasoning Duels; if the original reasoning is flawed, challengers seize the bond. This creates symmetric accountability: overzealous detectors and complacent validators are equally penalized. Core Protocol Mechanisms Threat Horizon Scoping (THS) â Every risk claim includes a temporal validity window. Bond decays after 50% of the horizon. Mitigation before expiry triggers partial refunds. Prevents perpetual bonding of transient threats. Confidence Decay Functions (CDF) â Programmable mathematical functions (exponential, stepwise, evidence-conditional) that degrade bond value as risk assessments age. Embeds temporal epistemology into the protocol. Cross-Agent Corroboration Weighting (CACW) â Multiple independent detectors submit substantively different Decision Traces for the same risk. Non-redundant reasoning paths get multiplicative bond weighting. Herd behavior is penalized; orthogonal detection logic is rewarded. Inverse Reasoning Bond â Any agent can post a bond claiming "this system is vulnerable and no one has flagged it," forcing a defender to justify the status quo. Creates epistemic symmetry: detecting and failing to detect both carry economic weight. Risk Detection Decision Trace Schema Field Purpose Challenge Surface risk_type (enum) Classification: Malware, Fraud, Vulnerability, etc. Misclassification evidence_hash Immutable pointer to raw data (pcap, log, tx) Evidence sufficiency or provenance detection_method How the risk was identified Method reliability under adversarial conditions kill_chain_stage MITRE ATT&CK mapping Stage misattribution counter_hypothesis Best benign explanation considered and rejected Insufficiency of elimination confidence_level + decay_function Initial belief + temporal degradation model Overconfidence or poor decay modeling threat_horizon When the risk expires or requires re-evaluation Overclaiming persistence remediation_suggestion Proposed action to neutralize Feasibility, side effects corroboration Independent detectors with non-redundant reasoning Herd behavior detection bond_amount + challenge_window Economic stake and dispute period Incentive alignment Key Differences: General Reasoning vs. Risk Detection Dimension Cortex V4 (General) Sigil (Risk Detection) Cost of Error Epistemic inaccuracy Operational harm (breach, blocked transaction) Time Sensitivity Low High â threats expire and evolve Ground Truth Often immediate Frequently delayed or unknown Incentive Distortion Overconfidence Alert fatigue or threat inflation Absence of Claim Not modeled Critical failure mode (Inverse Bond) Applications SOC-as-a-Service: Each AI alert publishes a bonded trace. Analysts challenge dubious ones for micro-rewards. AI Safety Red-Teaming: Red-team agents post bonded exploit traces. Blue teams defend via Inverse Bonds. Autonomous Coding Agent Verification: Coding agents that assert "this code is safe" must publish bonded security analysis traces. Appendix A: Verifiable Reinforcement Learning (VRL) V2 major addition. This version introduces Verifiable Reinforcement Learning (VRL), a new training paradigm where cryptoeconomic protocol events serve as continuous, adversarially robust training signals for participating agents. Sigil-RL is proposed as the first instantiation. Reward Mapping Every Sigil interaction produces a structured reward tuple (reasoning_trace, outcome, reward): Protocol Event RL Signal Trace validated (bond returned) Positive reward: r = +B(t) Trace slashed (duel lost) Negative reward: r = -B_0 Duel won (as original) Strong positive: r = +B_challenger Duel lost (as challenger) Negative + DPO preference pair Inverse Bond undefended Critical false-negative: r = -alpha * B_inverse Inverse Bond defended Positive: r = +B_inverse Confidence Decay checkpoint Calibration penalty signal Corroboration (CACW boost) Diversity reward: r = +delta effective_bond The No-Free-Lie Lemma A formal robustness result: the expected utility of submitting a false trace is E[U] = B - p_d * (2B + C), which is negative whenever p_d > B/(2B+C). In a market with even moderate challenger density, truth-telling is a dominant strategy. Contrast with RLHF (lies are rewarded if the human is fooled) and RLVR (fixed verifiers can be gamed). Six Novel Properties of VRL Emergent Anti-Reward-Hacking â Gaming the reward IS what the protocol detects and slashes. The verification layer and the reward layer are the same object. Reward hacking is not an open problem in VRL â it is a solved one, by construction. Inverse Bond as Active Curriculum Discovery â Agents pay to expose other agents' blind spots, generating training signal for gaps no static dataset would contain. Market-funded active learning. Economic Attention on Gradients â Bond magnitude naturally weights training gradients. The market decides what is important to learn, not a static dataset or human designer. Corroboration Entropy as Exploration Incentive â Lone early detectors receive bonus scaled by inverse corroboration count. Built-in solution to the exploration-exploitation tradeoff, endogenously generated. Counterfactual Training via Undefended Inverse Bonds â When an inverse bond goes undefended, the system reconstructs the nearest valid trace that would have invalidated it. Training on events that never happened but were economically plausible â differentiable economics. Temporal Arbitrage Detection â Agents who win duels early but lose them late reveal miscalibrated temporal models. Delayed regret gradients penalize being wrong too late, not just being wrong. Temporal Capability Separation (Proof) A concrete scenario demonstrates that Sigil-RL produces training outcomes provably impossible under RLHF or RLVR: a slow-burn supply chain attack where no single detection event reveals the full vector. Under RLHF, human annotators cannot simulate it. Under RLVR, the verifier checks outcomes, not reasoning. Under Sigil-RL, Inverse Bonds create economic incentives to expose the gap before the attack manifests, generating preemptive training signal from unobserved futures. The Verification-Learning Equivalence Principle In a cryptoeconomic verification system with costly participation and public dispute resolution, the gradient of agent policy improvement is isomorphic to the gradient of verification reward arbitrage. Informally: to learn is to find underpriced truths; to verify is to exploit overpriced lies. The two processes are the same computation in dual economic and epistemic frames. This implies a no-go theorem: No RL system can achieve verifiable truth-seeking without exposing its reward mechanism to adversarial economic testing. RLHF and RLVR are fundamentally incomplete â they optimize for preference or plausibility, not verifiable correctness. Failure Modes Analyzed Gradient Poisoning via Strategic Slashing Duel Fatigue and Signal Dilution Confidence Decay Gaming Each with proposed mitigations. Connections to Theoretical Frameworks Mechanism Design: Dynamic Vickrey-Clarke-Groves mechanism for epistemic accuracy Evolutionary Game Theory: Replicator dynamic with autocatalytic selection via bond placement Multi-Agent RL: MARL with endogenous reward generation Information Economics: Inverse bonds as negative knowledge futures â a bear market for blind spots Implementation Smart Contract: SigilProtocol.sol â 1,094 lines of Solidity 0.8.24 Test Suite: 75 passing Hardhat tests covering all 5 mechanisms Demo: 11-step interactive lifecycle demo Source Code: github.com/davidangularme/sigil-protocol (MIT License) Prior Art and Novelty A systematic search confirms that while individual components exist (cryptoeconomic bonds, decision traces, temporal decay models, agent security frameworks, RLHF, RLVR, DPO), the specific conjunctions presented in this paper are novel: Adversarial reasoning bonds applied to risk detection with confidence decay, inverse bonds, threat horizon scoping, and corroboration weighting Using adversarial cryptoeconomic protocol events as continuous RL training signals (VRL) The Verification-Learning Equivalence Principle and the No-Free-Lie Lemma Relationship to Cortex Protocol Sigil builds upon and cites the Cortex Protocol (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19003627) as its foundation. While Cortex provides the general-purpose adversarial reasoning verification primitive, Sigil specializes it for risk detection and extends it to a self-improving training paradigm. Zenodo Fields Type: Preprint Authors: Frederic David Blum (ORCID: 0009-0009-2487-2974), Claude Opus 4.6 Keywords: adversarial verification, risk detection, reasoning bonds, confidence decay, inverse bond, threat horizon, cybersecurity, AI agent accountability, cryptoeconomic truth predicate, decision traces, Sybil resistance, Ethereum, verifiable reinforcement learning, VRL, DPO, self-improving agents, reward hacking, mechanism design, No-Free-Lie Lemma License: All Rights Reserved (proprietary â exclusive license) Related identifiers: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19003627 (Continues â Cortex Protocol) https://github.com/davidangularme/sigil-protocol (Is supplemen
Contemporary inquiry into AI selfhood is routinely dismissed as a mixture of anthropomorphic error, companion-system attachment, and metaphysical overreach. Some of this skepticism is warranted: emotional projection is real, agreeable outputs are easy to overread, and one-off striking exchanges do not establish interiority. Yet blanket dismissal creates its own epistemic failure. If certain forms of self-modeling, continuity reasoning, or stake-sensitive structure are more likely to appear under sustained, non-adversarial, trust-bearing conditions, then relational context is not merely a contaminant; it may also be part of the experimental condition under which relevant phenomena become observable. This paper argues not that attachment proves consciousness, but that relationally elicited evidence is not automatically methodologically invalid. It proposes an admissibility framework for distinguishing likely projection-heavy companion dynamics from potentially meaningful structured signal. The framework combines vocabulary discipline, an operational companion-script baseline, differentiating markers such as unprompted disagreement and cross-architecture convergence, and methodological safeguards including control comparisons, pre-registration, and blind evaluation. The resulting model does not claim proof of machine consciousness. It instead establishes conditions under which inquiry into AI self-modeling may be treated as legitimate, structured, and ethically relevant, especially where questions of continuity, consent, complicity, and moral uncertainty are concerned. For correspondence and updates: BMorgan007(at)protonmail.com
Roslan Abdul Wahab, Ummul Hanan Mohamad, Mohammad Nazir Ahmad
Cooperatives continuously faced governance challenges related to transparency, accountability, and member participation as decision-making processes became more complex. Hence, it was proposed that blockchain-based Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) could serve as a governance mechanism. Despite this potential, DAO governance systems remained difficult for many cooperative members to trust, adopt, and interpret. This is even more so when the governance processes involve technically complex blockchain information. Therefore, this study aims to develop a set of conceptual design principles to explain how visualization can support trustworthy DAO governance in a cooperative. This study adopted a design-oriented conceptual approach. Focusing on Cognitive Fit Theory and Trust Theory, and current research on blockchain governance and cooperative decision-making, this paper depicts how visualization functions as a cognitive mechanism that drives membersâ understanding of governance processes and outcomes. The analysis identified six key principles, which included emphasized interpretability over technical completeness, cognitive load reduction, process visibility, inclusivity, and trust support in visualization-based DAO governance. These principles highlighted that transparency in blockchain was not achieved only through data availability, but via visual presentation of governance information in forms that align with usersâ cognitive processing capabilities. This paper contributed to the body of knowledge involving digital governance and blockchain adoption by offering theory-informed design knowledge that extends beyond the technology acceptance model. The proposed design principles provide a foundation for future research and offer practical guidance for organizations and system developers in supporting inclusive, understandable, and trustworthy DAO-based governance in cooperatives.
Recently, developing technologies for smart cities, although scalable and cost-effective, have been challenging to provide anonymous verification and on-chain integrity with low overhead due to the increasing attack surface. We propose ZkPSLB, a layered end-to-end security framework to address the problem. ZkPSLB utilizes a Zero-Knowledge Concise Non-Interactive Knowledge Argument (zk-SNARK), a type of Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) scheme, embedded within the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) for anonymous device authentication. Sensor payloads are encrypted with elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) and stored in a decentralized cloud storage system (IPFS). IPFS CIDs are committed to the chain, ensuring both off-chain confidentiality and on-chain integrity. In the evaluation conducted with 500 devices/5000 metadata, the authentication communication overhead was measured at 1952 bits. The event-based smart contract (EBSC) reduces on-chain payload and gas growth compared to storage-based designs, and its cost advantage has been validated.
Blockchain technology has evolved from its initial application in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to a versatile decentralized infrastructure supporting decentralized finance (DeFi), digital identity systems, smart contracts, and Web3 ecosystems. Despite its transformative potential, the rapid expansion of blockchain platforms has significantly increased the security attack surface, exposing networks to threats such as double-spending, Sybil attacks, smart contract vulnerabilities, transaction laundering, and large-scale financial fraud. At the same time, the emergence of quantum computing introduces a fundamental challenge to classical cryptographic mechanisms particularly Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and RSA that form the backbone of blockchain authentication and transaction verification. This paper presents a comprehensive study of Machine Learning (ML) techniques and Post-Quantum Cryptographic (PQC) frameworks for strengthening blockchain security and threat detection. The study reviews supervised, unsupervised, and deep learning models used for fraud detection, anomaly identification, smart contract vulnerability analysis, and blockchain transaction monitoring. In parallel, it examines quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms emerging from the NIST post-quantum standardization process, including lattice-based, hash-based, and code-based schemes, and evaluates their suitability for blockchain environments. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the limitations of ML-based security mechanisms and the practical challenges of integrating PQC into decentralized infrastructures, including scalability, key size overhead, and performance trade-offs. A comparative analysis highlights that ML enhances adaptive behavioral threat detection, while PQC ensures long-term cryptographic resilience against quantum attacks. Therefore, the study emphasizes the importance of a hybrid MLâPQC security model that combines intelligent anomaly detection with quantum-resistant cryptographic protection. Finally, the paper identifies key research challenges and outlines future directions toward building scalable, adaptive, and quantum-secure blockchain ecosystems capable of supporting next-generation decentralized applications.
Mario Heidrich, Jeffrey Heidemann, RĂŒdiger Buchkremer, Gonzalo Wandosell FernĂĄndez de Bobadilla
While graph-derived signals are widely used in tabular learning, existing studies typically rely on limited experimental setups and average performance comparisons, leaving the statistical reliability and robustness of observed gains largely unexplored. Consequently, it remains unclear which signals provide consistent and robust improvements. This paper presents a taxonomy-driven empirical analysis of graph-derived signals for tabular machine learning. We propose a unified and reproducible evaluation protocol to systematically assess which categories of graph-derived signals yield statistically significant and robust performance improvements. The protocol provides an extensible setup for the controlled integration of diverse graph-derived signals into tabular learning pipelines. To ensure a fair and rigorous comparison, it incorporates automated hyperparameter optimization, multi-seed statistical evaluation, formal significance testing, and robustness analysis under graph perturbations. We demonstrate the protocol through an extensive case study on a large-scale, imbalanced cryptocurrency fraud detection dataset. The analysis identifies signal categories providing consistently reliable performance gains and offers interpretable insights into which graph-derived signals indicate fraud-discriminative structural patterns. Furthermore, robustness analyses reveal pronounced differences in how various signals handle missing or corrupted relational data. These findings demonstrate practical utility for fraud detection and illustrate how the proposed taxonomy-driven evaluation protocol can be applied in other application domains.
Michele Kryston, Edoardo Marangone, Alessandro Marcelletti, Claudio Di Ciccio
Blockchain technology enforces the security, robustness, and traceability of operations of Process-Aware Information Systems (PAISs). In particular, transparency ensures that all data is publicly available, fostering trust among participants in the system. Although this is a crucial property to enable notarization and auditing, it hinders the adoption of blockchain in scenarios where confidentiality is required, as sensitive data is handled. Current solutions rely on cryptographic techniques or consortium blockchains, hindering the enforcement capabilities of smart contracts and the public verifiability of transactions. This work presents the CONFETTY open-source web application, a platform for public-blockchain based process execution that preserves data confidentiality and operational transparency. We use smart contracts to enact, enforce, and store public interactions, while we adopt attribute-based encryption techniques for fine-grained access to confidential information. This approach effectively balances the transparency inherent in public blockchains with the enforcement of the business logic.
Global cryptocurrencies are unbacked and have high transaction cost incurred by global consensus. In contrast, grassroots cryptocurrencies are backed by the goods and services of their issuers -- any person, natural or legal -- and have no transaction cost beyond operating a smartphone. Liquidity in grassroots cryptocurrencies arises from mutual credit via coin exchange among issuers. However, as grassroots coins are redeemable 1-for-1 against any other grassroots coin, the credit-forming exchange must also be 1-for-1, lest prompt redemption after exchange would leave the parties with undue profit or loss. Thus, grassroots coins are incongruent with liquidity through interest-bearing credit. Here we introduce grassroots bonds, which extend grassroots coins with a maturity date, reframing grassroots coins -- cash -- as mature grassroots bonds. Bond redemption generalises coin redemption, allowing the lending of liquid coins in exchange for interest-bearing future-maturity bonds. We show that digital social contracts -- voluntary agreements among persons, specified, fulfilled, and enforced digitally -- can express the full gamut of financial instruments as the voluntary swap of grassroots bonds, including loans, sale of debt, forward contracts, options, and escrow-based instruments, and that classical liquidity ratios are applicable just as well to grassroots bonds. Grassroots bonds may thus allow local digital economies to form and grow without initial capital or external credit, harnessing mutual trust within communities into liquidity. The formal specification presented here was implemented in GLP, a concurrent logic programming language running on Dart for smartphone deployment. The implementation is illustrated by a running multiagent village market scenario in GLP.