Infrastructure is critical for enabling society to function and the economy to thrive, but there is an increasing mismatch between the need for infrastructure investments and available capital, which is in consequence of constraints on public resources and limited capacity to leverage the private sector co-financing under the current system. With the emergence of distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain-enabled tokenization, there is a significant potential to improve investment liquidity, transparency, efficiency and create new economic models to integrate non-financial values to promote sustainability and inclusiveness. This research analyzed 21 projects to investigate how tokenization is implemented in energy infrastructure projects. Exploratory case study analyses were conducted, which shows the diversity of tokenization arrangements. The state of the art, potential benefits, implications, and obstacles associated with the application of tokenization in infrastructure investment and development are discussed. The purpose of this research is to understand tokenization within the context of the energy sector but also to forecast its application in a broad spectrum of infrastructure projects (e.g., transportation, telecommunication, healthcare, education).
Conditional thank-you gifts are one of the most widely used incentives for charitable giving. Past studies explored non-monetary thank-you gifts (e.g., mugs and shirts) and monetary thank-you gifts (e.g., rebates that return some of the donations to the giver). Following the rapid growth of blockchain technology, a novel form of thank-you gifts emerged: the crypto rewards. Through two studies, we analyze crypto thank-you gifts to shed light on fundraising designs in the digital world. In Study I, we examine the Ukrainian government's crypto fundraising plea that accepts donations in both Ethereum and Bitcoin. We find that Ethereum is substantially more effective in enticing giving than Bitcoin, as the hourly donation count increased 706.07% more for Ethereum than for Bitcoin when crypto rewards are present. This is likely because the crypto rewards are more likely to be issued on Ethereum than Bitcoin. However, the decrease in contribution sizes is also more substantial in Ethereum than in Bitcoin in response to the crypto rewards. In Study II, we conducted a laboratory experiment following a dictator game design to investigate the impact of crypto rewards in a more general scenario, with the crypto rewards specified as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The crypto rewards in Study II carry no monetary value but only serve to recognize donors symbolically. As such, the NFT thank-you gifts did not effectively induce people to donate; a traditional 1:1 donation matching strictly outperforms both the condition without thank-you gifts and the condition with NFT thank-you gifts. Nevertheless, the NFT thank-you gifts effectively increased the contribution sizes, conditional on the choice to give, when the NFT's graphic design primes donor identity and encompasses the charity recipient.
In this article, we consider the roles of tokens and distributed ledgers in digital payment systems. We present a brief taxonomy of digital payment systems that use tokens, and we address the different models for how distributed ledger technology can support digital payment systems in general. We offer guidance on the salient features of digital payment systems, which we comprehend in terms of consumer privacy, token issuance, and accountability for system operators.
Federico Cernera, Massimo La Morgia, Alessandro Mei, Francesco Sassi
In this work, we perform a longitudinal analysis of the BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum blockchain from their inception to March 2022. We study the ecosystem of the tokens and liquidity pools, highlighting analogies and differences between the two blockchains. We discover that about 60% of tokens are active for less than one day. Moreover, we find that 1% of addresses create an anomalous number of tokens (between 20% and 25%). We discover that these tokens are used as disposable tokens to perform a particular type of rug pull, which we call 1-day rug pull. We quantify the presence of this operation on both blockchains discovering its prevalence on the BNB Smart Chain. We estimate that 1-day rug pulls generated $240 million in profits. Finally, we present sniper bots, a new kind of trader bot involved in these activities, and we detect their presence and quantify their activity in the rug pull operations.
Alyssa Blackburn, Christoph Huber, Yossi Eliaz, Muhammad Shahzads Shamim · 9 authors
Bitcoin is a digital currency designed to rely on a decentralized, trustless network of anonymous agents. Using a pseudonymous-address-linking procedure that achieves >99% sensitivity and >99% specificity, we reveal that between launch (January 3rd, 2009), and when the price reached $1 (February 9th, 2011), most bitcoin was mined by only sixty-four agents. This was due to the rapid emergence of Pareto distributions in bitcoin income, producing such extensive resource centralization that almost all contemporary bitcoin addresses can be connected to these top agents by a chain of six transactions. Centralization created a social dilemma. Attackers could routinely exploit bitcoin via a "51% attack", making it possible for them to repeatedly spend the same bitcoins. Yet doing so would harm the community. Strikingly, we find that potential attackers always chose to cooperate instead. We model this dilemma using an N-player Centipede game in which anonymous players can choose to exploit, and thereby undermine, an appreciating good. Combining theory and economic experiments, we show that, even when individual payoffs are unchanged, cooperation is more frequent when the game is played by an anonymous group. Although bitcoin was designed to rely on a decentralized, trustless network of anonymous agents, its early success rested instead on cooperation among a small group of altruistic founders.
The introduction of novel technology has oftentimes changed the concept of ownership. Non-fungible tokens are a recent example, as they allow a decentralized way to generate and verify proof of ownership via distributed ledger technology. Despite crucial uncertainties, these tokens have generated great enthusiasm for the future of digital property and its surrounding economy. In this regard, I think there is an untapped opportunity in applying a hypertext approach to augment such highly structured ownership-based associations. To this end, in this work I propose hyperownership, based on the premises that property is the law of lists and ledgers, and that hypertext is an apt method to inquiry such a ledger system. In spite of the significant risks and challenges to realize such a vision, I believe that it has great potential to transform the way with which we interact with digital property.
As Covid-19 remains a cause of concern, especially due to its mutations, wearing masks correctly and efficiently remains a priority in order to limit the spread of the disease. In this paper we present a wearable smart-mask prototype using concepts from Internet of Things, Control Theory and Distributed Ledger Technologies. Its purpose is to encourage people to comply with social distancing norms, through the use of incentives. The smart mask is designed to monitor Carbon Dioxide and Total Volatile Organic Compounds concentrations. The detected data is appended to a DAG-based DLT, named the IOTA Tangle. The IOTA Tangle ensures that the data is secure and immutable and acts as a communication backbone for the incentive mechanism. A hardware-in-the-loop simulation, based on indoor positioning, is developed to validate the effectiveness of the designed prototype.
The use of blockchain in regulatory ecosystems is a promising approach to address challenges of compliance among mutually untrusted entities. In this work, we consider applications of blockchain technologies in telecom regulations. In particular, we address growing concerns around Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC aka. spam) sent through text messages (SMS) and phone calls in India. Despite several regulatory measures taken to curb the menace of spam it continues to be a nuisance to subscribers while posing challenges to telecom operators and regulators alike. In this paper, we present a consortium blockchain based architecture to address the problem of UCC in India. Our solution improves subscriber experiences, improves the efficiency of regulatory processes while also positively impacting all stakeholders in the telecom ecosystem. Unlike previous approaches to the problem of UCC, which are all ex-post, our approach to adherence to the regulations is ex-ante. The proposal described in this paper is a primary contributor to the revision of regulations concerning UCC and spam by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The new regulations published in July 2018 were first of a kind in the world and amended the 2010 Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), through mandating the use of a blockchain/distributed ledgers in addressing the UCC problem. In this paper, we provide a holistic account of of the projects' evolution from (1) its design and strategy, to (2) regulatory and policy action, (3) country wide implementation and deployment, and (4) evaluation and impact of the work.
Mojtaba Eshghie, Li Quan, Gustav Andersson Kasche, Filip Jacobson · 6 authors
In a circular economy, tracking the flow of second-life components for quality control is critical. Tokenization can enhance the transparency of the flow of second-life components. However, simple tokenization does not correspond to real economic models and lacks the ability to finely manage complex business processes. In particular, existing systems have to take into account the different roles of the parties in the supply chain. Based on the Algorand blockchain, we propose a role-based token management scheme, which can achieve authentication, synthesis, circulation, and reuse of these second-life components in a trustless environment. The proposed scheme not only achieves fine-grained and scalable second-life component management, but also enables on-chain trading, subsidies, and green-bond issuance. Furthermore, we implemented and performed scalability tests for the proposed architecture on Algorand blockchain using its smart contracts and Algorand Standard Assets (ASA). The open-source implementation, tests, along with results are available on our Github page.
Technological advancements have led to significant improvements in healthcare for prevention, diagnosis, treatments, and care. While resourceful regions can capitalize on state-of-the-art healthcare technologies, there might be barriers and delays in technology-enabled healthcare availability for a low-resource region. Unique innovations guided by the constraints of low-resource regions are required to truly make healthcare technologies ubiquitous and achieve the goal of "healthcare for all". In this review, we identified several research and development works that have investigated technology-based healthcare innovations targeted at low-resource regions. We found three main pillars of work towards this end: low-cost hardware for the affordability of medical devices, use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools for scalability and operational efficiencies in healthcare services, and mobile health solutions. Several emerging technologies are also promising for healthcare in low-resource regions, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain technology. We discuss these emerging technologies too in this review.
Cryptocurrencies are gaining more popularity due to their security, making counterfeits impossible. However, these digital currencies have been criticized for creating a large carbon footprint due to their algorithmic complexity and decentralized system design for proof of work and mining. We hypothesize that the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency transactions has a higher dependency on carbon-rich fuel sources than green or renewable fuel sources. We provide a machine learning framework to model such transactions and correlate them with the electricity generation patterns to estimate and analyze their carbon cost.
Paolo Eugenio Demagistris, Sandro Petruzzi, Rodolfo Pampaloni, Milan Šmigić · 7 authors
Construction project governance relies on agreements between the actors along the construction industry value chain. The mutual obligations arising from these contracts rely on timely monetary transactions. Despite the advantages of automation in payment systems and improved access to digital progress data, several payment applications rely nonetheless on inefficient and time-consuming procedures and documentation. This study examines the present technological advancements that can lead to fix this problem. A smart contract-based approach is ideal for managing construction progress payments that support autonomous process, it fills the gap between payments and project site progress evaluations. This article offers a way for automating construction payments by formalizing smart contracts execution on a decentralized block-chain-based system.
Shreekanth M. Prabhu, Natarajan Subramanyam, Ms. Shreya P Krishnan, Ms. Brindavana Sachidananda
In India, post the demonetization exercise in 2016, digital payments have become extremely popular. Among them, the volume of transactions using Paytm wallets and UPI (Unified Payment Interface) have grown manifold. The lockdowns due to COVID-19 Pandemic have furthered this trend. Side by side, crypto-currencies such as bitcoin are also gaining traction. Many countries are considering issuing a Digital Currency via their Central Banks. In this paper, we propose a novel Decentralized Digital Currency System (DDCS) that makes use of Merkle Hash-Trees as Authenticated Data Structures. DDCS uses a Ledger-less, distributed, peer-to-peer architecture. We name the proposed currency $δ$-Money. $δ$-Money is intended as a replacement for physical currency and has in-built security features that rival crypto-currencies. Transactions using $δ$-Money happen in a disintermediated manner but with post-facto reconciliation. In place of Central Bank-issued Digital Currency (CBDC), we envisage a scenario where multiple Payment Banks issue digital currencies that have stable valuations without being subject to either volatility or perennial devaluation.
We quantify Non Fungible Token (NFT) rarity and investigate how it impacts market behaviour by analysing a dataset of 3.7M transactions collected between January 2018 and June 2022, involving 1.4M NFTs distributed across 410 collections. First, we consider the rarity of an NFT based on the set of human-readable attributes it possesses and show that most collections present heterogeneous rarity patterns, with few rare NFTs and a large number of more common ones. Then, we analyze market performance and show that, on average, rarer NFTs: (i) sell for higher prices, (ii) are traded less frequently, (iii) guarantee higher returns on investment (ROIs), and (iv) are less risky, i.e., less prone to yield negative returns. We anticipate that these findings will be of interest to researchers as well as NFT creators, collectors, and traders.
Abbas Yazdinejad, Ali Dehghantanha, Reza M. Parizi, Mohammad Hammoudeh · 6 authors
Nowadays, blockchain-based technologies are being developed in various industries to improve data security. In the context of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), a chain-based network is one of the most notable applications of blockchain technology. IIoT devices have become increasingly prevalent in our digital world, especially in support of developing smart factories. Although blockchain is a powerful tool, it is vulnerable to cyber attacks. Detecting anomalies in blockchain-based IIoT networks in smart factories is crucial in protecting networks and systems from unexpected attacks. In this paper, we use Federated Learning (FL) to build a threat hunting framework called Block Hunter to automatically hunt for attacks in blockchain-based IIoT networks. Block Hunter utilizes a cluster-based architecture for anomaly detection combined with several machine learning models in a federated environment. To the best of our knowledge, Block Hunter is the first federated threat hunting model in IIoT networks that identifies anomalous behavior while preserving privacy. Our results prove the efficiency of the Block Hunter in detecting anomalous activities with high accuracy and minimum required bandwidth.
The challenge to establish and verify human identity over the Internet in a secure and privacy-respecting way is long-standing. In this paper, we explore the blockchain trilemma of scalability, security, and decentralization in the context of the Trust Registry: a root of trust for a decentralized identity scheme that enables read and write access to shared records and is tamper-resistant. We make a case study of Hyperledger Indy -- an open-source technology bespoke for decentralized identity -- and conduct two empirical experiments to measure the latency of more than 45,000 transactions in the naturalistic environment of Amazon Web Services. We conclude that issues of Trust Registry scalability have multiple facets. While Hyperledger Indy captures data useful to underpin a decentralized identity scheme, the knock-on effect of its scalability limitations may indeed place constraints on properties of security and decentralization. The current credential verification process relies on transaction processing by a ledger with transaction processing bottlenecks, which may constrain the ideal of non-repudiation.
Huong Nguyen, Tri Nguyen, Teemu Leppänen, Juha Partala · 5 authors
Efficient Vehicle-to-Everything enabling cooperation and enhanced decision-making for autonomous vehicles is essential for optimized and safe traffic. Real-time decision-making based on vehicle sensor data, other traffic data, and environmental and contextual data becomes imperative. As a part of such Intelligent Traffic Systems, cooperation between different stakeholders needs to be facilitated rapidly, reliably, and securely. The Internet of Things provides the fabric to connect these stakeholders who share their data, refined information, and provided services with each other. However, these cloud-based systems struggle to meet the real-time requirements for smart traffic due to long distances across networks. Here, edge computing systems bring the data and services into the close proximity of fast-moving vehicles, reducing information delivery latencies and improving privacy as sensitive data is processed locally. To solve the issues of trust and latency in data sharing between these stakeholders, we propose a decentralized framework that enables smart contracts between traffic data producers and consumers based on blockchain. Autonomous vehicles connect to a local edge server, share their data, or use services based on agreements, for which the cooperating edge servers across the system provide a platform. We set up proof-of-concept experiments with Hyperledger Fabric and virtual cars to analyze the system throughput with secure unicast and multicast data transmissions. Our results show that multicast transmissions in such a scenario boost the throughput up to 2.5 times where the data packets of different sizes can be transmitted in less than one second.
We empirically study the state of three prominent DAO governance systems on the Ethereum blockchain: Compound, Uniswap and ENS. In particular, we examine how the voting power is distributed in these systems. Using a comprehensive dataset of all governance token holders, delegates, proposals and votes, we analyze who holds the voting power and how this power is being used to influence governance decisions. While we reveal that the majority of voting power is concentrated in the hands of a small number of addresses, we rarely observe these powerful entities overturning a vote by choosing a different outcome than that of the overall community and less influential voters.
Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the architecture of cyberspace by transforming the way information is stored, circulated, and exchanged in cyberspace through decentralization, transparency, and de-identification. This means that ordinary participants can simultaneously become traders, miners, retailers, and customers, thus breaking down barriers, reducing the information gap between participants in the community, and contributing to the futuristic metaverse with an open, progressive, and equal ideology. The impact of this information transformation empowered by blockchain extends to our understanding of methodology, legal governance in cyberspace, and financial and technological development. This study asks: what are the implications of the blockchain-driven information revolution for society and social sciences? In order to answer this main question, the paper focuses on four key perspectives: methodological, legal, financial, and technical. Through the analysis of these four perspectives, the paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the impact of blockchain on society, the social sciences, and technology, making a contribution to current scholarship. It finds that blockchain is not only an innovative cognition method, but also a community representative, serving as a source of trust, a governance watchdog, an enforcer of cyber laws, and an incubator for future technologies. Despite some challenges in integrating blockchain with existing social structures, this paper concludes that blockchain has the potential to play a significant role in shaping the future.
Mark C. Ballandies, Valentin Holzwarth, Barry Sunderland, Evangelos Pournaras · 5 authors
Organizations have to adjust to changes in the ecosystem, and customer feedback systems (CFS) provide important information to adapt products and services to changing customer preferences. However, current systems are limited to single-dimensional rating scales and are subject to self-selection biases. This work contributes design principles for CFS and implements a CFS that advances current systems by means of contextualized feedback according to specific organizational objectives. We apply Design Science Research (DSR) methodology and report on a longitudinal DSR journey considering multiple stakeholder values by utilizing value-sensitive design methods. We conducted expert interviews, design workshops, demonstrations, and a four-day experiment in an organizational setup, involving 132 customers of a major Swiss library. In the process, we validated the identified design principles and the implemented software artifact both qualitatively and quantitatively and drew conclusions for their efficient instantiation. In particular, we found that i) blockchain technology can afford three design principles of effective CFS. Also, ii) combining DSR with value-sensitive design methods explicitly provides rationale for design principles in the form of identified important values. Moreover, iii) utilizing this methodology makes the construction of software artifacts more efficient it terms of design time by restricting the design space of a software artefact to those options that align with stakeholder values. Hence, the findings of this work advance the knowledge on the design of CFS and provides both, for researchers a theoretical contribution to reason about design principles and a guideline to managers and decision makers for designing software artefacts efficiently.
Our study empirically predicts the bubble of non-fungible tokens (NFTs): transferable and unique digital assets on public blockchains. This topic is important because, despite their strong market growth in 2021, NFTs on a project basis have not been investigated in terms of bubble prediction. Specifically, we applied the logarithmic periodic power law (LPPL) model to time-series price data associated with four major NFT projects. The results indicate that, as of December 20, 2021, (i) NFTs, in general, are in a small bubble (a price decline is predicted), (ii) the Decentraland project is in a medium bubble (a price decline is predicted), and (iii) the Ethereum Name Service and ArtBlocks projects are in a small negative bubble (a price increase is predicted). A future work will involve a prediction refinement considering the heterogeneity of NFTs, comparison with other methods, and the use of more enriched data.
This paper examines the effects of inherent risks in the emerging technology of non-fungible tokens and proposes an actionable set of solutions for stakeholders in this ecosystem and observers. Web3 and NFTs are a fast-growing 300 billion dollar economy with some clear, highly publicized harms that came to light recently. We set out to explore the risks to understand their nature and scope, and if we could find ways to mitigate them. In due course of investigation, we recap the background of the evolution of the web from a client-server model to the rise of Web2.0 tech giants in the early 2000s. We contrast how the Web3 movement is trying to re-establish the independent style of the early web. In our research we discover a primary set of risks and harms relevant to the ecosystem, and classify them into a simple taxonomy while addressing their mitigations with solutions. We arrive at a set of solutions that are a combination of processes to be adopted, and technological changes or improvements to be incorporated into the ecosystem, to implement risk mitigations. By linking mitigations to individual risks, we are confident our recommendations will improve the security maturity of the growing Web3 ecosystem. We are not endorsing, or recommending specifically any particular product or service in our solution set. Nor are we compensated or influenced in any way by these companies to list these products in our research. The evaluations of products in our research have to simply be viewed as suggested improvements.
Blockchain-based systems have gained immense popularity as enablers of independent asset transfers and smart contract functionality. They have also, since as early as the first Bitcoin blocks, been used for storing arbitrary contents such as texts and images. On-chain data storage functionality is useful for a variety of legitimate use cases. It does, however, also pose a systematic risk. If abused, for example by posting illegal contents on a public blockchain, data storage functionality can lead to legal consequences for operators and users that need to store and distribute the blockchain, thereby threatening the operational availability of entire blockchain ecosystems. In this paper, we develop and apply a cloud-based approach for quickly discovering and classifying content on public blockchains. Our method can be adapted to different blockchain systems and offers insights into content-related usage patterns and potential cases of abuse. We apply our method on the two most prominent public blockchain systems - Bitcoin and Ethereum - and discuss our results. To the best of our knowledge, the presented study is the first to systematically analyze non-financial content stored on the Ethereum blockchain and the first to present a side-by-side comparison between different blockchains in terms of the quality and quantity of stored data.
Owen Lo, William J. Buchanan, Sarwar Sayeed, Pavlos Papadopoulos · 6 authors
E-governance is a process that aims to enhance a government's ability to simplify all the processes that may involve government, citizens, businesses, and so on. The rapid evolution of digital technologies has often created the necessity for the establishment of an e-Governance model. There is often a need for an inclusive e-governance model with integrated multiactor governance services and where a single market approach can be adopted. e-Governance often aims to minimise bureaucratic processes, while at the same time including a digital-by-default approach to public services. This aims at administrative efficiency and the reduction of bureaucratic processes. It can also improve government capabilities, and enhances trust and security, which brings confidence in governmental transactions. However, solid implementations of a distributed data sharing model within an e-governance architecture is far from a reality; hence, citizens of European countries often go through the tedious process of having their confidential information verified. This paper focuses on the sinGLe sign-on e-GovernAnce Paradigm based on a distributed file-exchange network for security, transparency, cost-effectiveness and trust (GLASS) model, which aims to ensure that a citizen can control their relationship with governmental agencies. The paper thus proposes an approach that integrates a permissioned blockchain with the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). This method demonstrates how we may encrypt and store verifiable credentials of the GLASS ecosystem, such as academic awards, ID documents and so on, within IPFS in a secure manner and thus only allow trusted users to read a blockchain record, and obtain the encryption key. This allows for the decryption of a given verifiable credential that stored on IPFS. This paper outlines the creation of a demonstrator that proves the principles of the GLASS approach.