Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are transforming how collaboration, governance, and value coordination operate in digital societies. However, most DAOs remain technically and socially fragmented, limiting their evolution beyond isolated communities. This thesis introduces the concept of the Meta-Social Blockchain DAO, a socio-technical framework that reconceptualizes DAOs as interoperable governance ecosystems rather than standalone blockchain entities. Drawing upon computer science, sociology, and organizational theory, this research identifies three DAO formation modes: engineered DAOs, emergent tokenless DAOs, and meta-social DAOs enabling cross-community coordination. Together, these modes form an evolutionary continuum explaining how decentralized organizations evolve toward interoperable socio-technical ecosystems. The research integrates literature synthesis, empirical case studies, longitudinal community analysis, and infrastructure prototyping. Through investigations of engineered and tokenless DAO communities, including the AI Developer Community DAO, the study demonstrates decentralized coordination mechanisms beyond traditional cryptoeconomic incentives. The thesis further proposes a 5D Principle Model — Debug, Decentralized, De-confrontation, De-risking, and Distributed Open-Source — explaining how decentralized communities evolve from rule-based coordination toward self-organizing meta-social ecosystems. Based on these findings, a cross-community DAO infrastructure platform is designed to support governance interoperability, persistent identity, social interaction, and scalable collective intelligence. By bridging social theory and blockchain system design, this thesis advances a socio-technical theory of DAO evolution and contributes architectural principles for next-generation decentralized human–machine collaboration systems.
Yixuan Fan, Lei Zhang, Yao Sun, Xinyi Lin · 5 authors
The development of blockchain technology and the emergence of Web3 have given rise to a new paradigm known as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), online communities jointly owned and managed by members working for the same interests. Voting is the primary decision-making method within DAOs aligning with the decentralization philosophy. However, existing DAO voting mechanisms often exhibit a strong tendency toward centralized control, contradicting DAOs’ pursuit of decentralization. In the absence of a decentralization standard, we define the decentralization coefficient as a novel metric to evaluate the overall decentralization performance of DAO voting mechanisms quantitatively by establishing the first stochastic process model for the DAO voting process. By analyzing and simulating four typical voting mechanisms, we uncover that quorum and voting power thresholds, often thought to improve voting performance, may negatively impact decentralization. Additionally, the study analyzes the impact of three main factors, including voting power distribution, participation rate, and voting process, on decentralization. The findings highlight that decentralization is shaped by the interplay between these factors, rather than merely by adopting specific voting rules. This study provides a quantitative benchmark for future research and offers practical guidance for DAO designers, emphasizing the need to prioritize inclusive participation over additional voting conditions.
Web3 startups introduce a novel paradigm of organizational design in which token-based incentive mechanisms replace or complement traditional equity-based governance structures. This paper examines how tokenomics can align or misalign the incentives of founders, investors, and users in decentralized entrepreneurial ventures. Drawing on agency theory, mechanism design, and behavioral economics, we develop a conceptual framework that explains how token distribution, vesting schedules, governance rights, and utility structures influence startup performance and sustainability. Using illustrative case analyses and synthetic data modeling, the study identifies key failure modes such as speculative overhang, governance centralization, and misaligned temporal incentives. The findings contribute to entrepreneurship literature by proposing a new theory of “programmable incentives” and offer actionable guidance for founders designing token economies. Keywords: Web3, Tokenomics, Incentive Design, Entrepreneurship, DAOs, Blockchain Governance, ICOs
In recent years, the rapid growth of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) has revolutionised traditional financial services, with approximately $120 billion in total value locked (TVL) across various protocols. However, this expansion has been accompanied by significant security challenges, including major losses from DeFi hacks alone. The absence of centralised safety nets and the technical complexity of smart contract auditing have created substantial barriers to mainstream DeFi adoption, particularly among risk- averse users who lack the expertise to assess protocol vulnerabilities independently. This report presents the design and implementation of a decentralised insurance protocol that addresses these critical risk management challenges through an innovative tokenisation model. The proposed system introduces Insurance Tokens (ITs) and Principal Tokens (PTs) as the core mechanisms for providing insurance coverage against smart contract exploits and protocol failures in DeFi. ITs represent units of insurance coverage that can be freely traded on decentralised exchanges (DEXs) until expiration, enabling a liquid secondary market for DeFi insurance. PTs represent ownership stakes in the coverage fund, allowing underwriters to provide capital while maintaining the flexibility to exit positions through token sales or redemption at maturity. The protocol hopes to create a more accessible DeFi ecosystem by providing transparent, efficient and accessible insurance coverage, ultimately contributing to broader DeFi adoption and establishing a trustworthy framework for on-chain risk management.
In decentralized digital economics era, consumer engagement has transitioned from platform-based loyalty to tokenized participation and co-creation. In Web2 brand communities, gamification often produce short-term loyalty due its reliance on external, platform regulated incentives (Deterding et al., 2011). The development of Web3 technologies has integrated verified ownership, tokenized incentives and decentralized governance, providing fresh pathways for sustained consumer engagement (Tapscott & Tapscott, 2016). This study introduces the Tokenized Co-Creation (TCC) Framework, which combines Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000) and Service-Dominant logic Theory (SDL) (Vargo & Lusch, 2004) to explain how Web3 powered gamification mechanics (NFTs, Token utilities and DAOs), satisfy intrinsic motivational needs and drive brand value co-creation (Hollebeek et al., 2019). This study contributes to the emerging literature of technological possibilities and human motivation under a overarching Tokenized Co-Creation(TCC) Framework, thus providing both theoretical advancement and managerial direction for developing a trust-based, participatory brand communities in decentralized setting.
Traditional lucky draw systems often face trust issues due to a lack of transparency and potential for manipulation. This study addresses these challenges by developing and evaluating a blockchain-based lucky draw prototype named "LuckyDraw." A mixed-method approach was employed, combining an applied research method with the Agile Scrum framework for system development, and a quantitative survey to evaluate user acceptance. The quantitative analysis, using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique on data from 100 respondents, confirmed the instrument's validity and reliability. The results showed that Perceived Usefulness (PU) was the strongest predictor of Behavioral Intention (BIU), followed by Trust (TRT). Furthermore, Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) had a significant positive effect on PU. These findings indicate that a transparent, trustworthy, and easy-to-use system is highly accepted by users, offering a viable solution to the shortcomings of traditional systems.
How may digital platforms be redesigned to better serve the interests of the artists whose creative work gives them value? An artist- and user-owned streaming platform is proposed that would decentralize control and redistribute revenue from corporations to creators. Using Web3 infrastructure, the model enables direct artist payment through blockchain-based transactions that scale based on user consumption, minimizing fees and ensuring transparency. The design also emphasizes community governance and localized music discovery to encourage the regrowth of music culture. By reducing reliance on profit-driven intermediaries, the system aims to create a sustainable environment where independent artists can thrive. Spotify exemplifies how a platform’s designed-in incentives can perpetuate exploitation. The social construction of technology framework suggests that Spotify’s ownership model, pro- rata payment system, and algorithmic design prioritize shareholder value over fairness. Spotify’s supposed mission to “unlock the potential of human creativity” is undermined by its own architecture, which locks artists into dependency. Together, these projects show that achieving fairness in a digital music economy requires not only reforming compensation models but rethinking the infrastructures that define creative labor itself.
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have emerged as significant governance models, prioritizing transparency and community participation. However, there remains a knowledge gap regarding the impact of online discussions on the decision-making processes within these organizations. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the relationships between engagement metrics and proposal approval rates. We find a strong coherence between the most discussed topics in each DAO’s forums and their stated missions. Our analysis also reveals a nuanced but noticeable correlation between community engagement and voting outcomes. Furthermore, our paper explores the complexities of community coordination and collective governance within DAOs, highlighting existing challenges and providing design recommendations.
A Arquitetura Pós-Institucional do Estado Online: Criptomoeda de Inovação e o Empresário dos Empreendedores Preprint de Anterioridade Autor: Claudio Roberto Cutrim Carvalho, PhD. Email: drclaudiocutrim@gmail.com , drcutrimcarvalho@gmail.com Resumo A economia digital ampliou o acesso à informação, mas não resolveu a dependência estrutural de intermediários políticos, burocráticos e corporativos na coordenação da atividade inovadora. Mesmo experiências avançadas de governo digital preservam estruturas hierárquicas (LESSIG, 1999; O’REILLY, 2011), enquanto ecossistemas de inovação continuam baseados em organizações formais, clusters territoriais e marcos regulatórios rígidos (CHESBROUGH, 2003; PORTER, 1998). Por outro lado, a criptoeconomia inaugurada por Nakamoto (2008) introduziu descentralização técnica, mas permanece ainda baseada em incentivos energéticos e financeiros incapazes de converter impacto humano em valor monetário estável (BUTERIN, 2014; TAPSCOTT; TAPSCOTT, 2016). Este artigo propõe um modelo alternativo composto por três elementos integrados: o Estado Online, uma infraestrutura pós-institucional que substitui mecanismos hierárquicos por coordenação distribuída; o Empresário dos Empreendedores, agente articulador capaz de transformar talentos dispersos em inovação contínua; e a criptomoeda de Prova de Inovação, que converte impacto de inovação ou autonomia humana verificável em emissão monetária, oferecendo uma base econômica distinta de modelos energéticos ou de staking. O arcabouço sugerido preenche lacunas deixadas pelas teorias existentes — de Schumpeter (1934) a Ostrom (1990) — ao propor um sistema operável sem Estado territorial. A contribuição reside em estabelecer uma arquitetura teórica para economias pós-institucionais, na qual governança, valor e distribuição emergem de processos distribuídos de validação e reconhecimento. Palavras-chave: Estado Online; Prova de Inovação; Criptoeconomia; Governança Distribuída; Tokens de Impacto; Inovação; Economia Digital. Abstract The digital economy has expanded access to information but has not resolved the structural dependence on political, bureaucratic, and corporate intermediaries in the coordination of innovative activity. Even advanced forms of digital government retain hierarchical architectures (LESSIG, 1999; O’REILLY, 2011), while innovation ecosystems remain constrained by formal organizations, territorial clusters, and rigid regulatory frameworks (CHESBROUGH, 2003; PORTER, 1998). Conversely, the cryptoeconomic model inaugurated by Nakamoto (2008) introduced technical decentralization, yet it still relies on energy- and finance-based incentives that fail to convert human impact into stable monetary value (BUTERIN, 2014; TAPSCOTT; TAPSCOTT, 2016). This article proposes an alternative model composed of three integrated elements: the Online State, a post-institutional infrastructure that replaces hierarchical coordination with distributed processes; the Entrepreneur of Entrepreneurs, an articulating agent capable of transforming dispersed talent into continuous innovation; and the Proof-of-Innovation cryptocurrency, which converts verifiable innovation impact or human autonomy into monetary issuance, offering an economic basis distinct from energy- or staking-driven systems. The proposed framework fills gaps left by existing theories—from Schumpeter (1934) to Ostrom (1990)—by outlining a system capable of operating without territorial state structures. Its contribution lies in establishing a theoretical architecture for post-institutional economies in which governance, value, and distribution emerge from distributed processes of validation and recognition. Keywords: Online State; Proof of Innovation; Cryptoeconomics; Distributed Governance; Impact Tokens; Human Autonomy; Post-institutional Economy; Innovation Systems; Decentralized Coordination.
Krzysztof Lorenz, Piotr Gutowski, Ewelina Gutowska, Anna Drab-Kurowska
Digital transformation is reshaping innovation processes and capital allocation models, fostering the emergence of alternative financing mechanisms such as crowdfunding platforms. This study investigates the spatial determinants of digital innovation development using Kickstarter campaigns in the United States as a case study. Empirical data were preprocessed and classified into digital and traditional categories. Advanced AI methods, including Deep Autoencoders and Self-Organizing Maps (SOM), revealed spatial clusters of digital innovation in crowdfunding. Cluster visualizations exposed geographic concentration patterns and links to local infrastructure. AI uncovered latent ties between campaign structure and regional context, underscoring the role of AI and crowdfunding in decentralized, localized digital transformation.
Jinghan Sun, H. L. Wang, Yusuf Shakhpaz, Junyu Zhang · 6 authors
Amid the rapid expansion of the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market, X (formerly Twitter) has emerged as a crucial channel for communication between project creators and their communities. This study investigates the short-term effects of NFT project tweets on trading behaviors and price dynamics. Guided by Media Richness Theory (MRT), we con-ducted a quantitative analysis of tweets from nine leading NFT projects, categorizing them into three distinct clusters. Our findings reveal heterogeneous correlations between tweet content, NFT categories, and price fluctuations. The differing roles and functions of NFTs across categories shape both the distribution of tweets and their short-term pricing impacts. Furthermore, we employed three machine learning models using media richness as a predictive feature, achieving approximately 60 % accuracy in forecasting NFT price movements. Overall, this research highlights the predictive potential of social media for NFT price trends and its contribution to the NFT ecosystems sustainability.
Fabrício Barbosa Viegas, Murilo Costa Salem, Tatiana Aires Tavares
Digital messaging plays a central role in modern society, but it is currently dominated by centralized platforms that compromise user privacy and control. This position paper argues that decentralized messaging systems, based on open protocols and free software, can serve as public communication infrastructure and exemplify Web3 as a digital common good. We discuss the limitations of current services (identity lock-in, user fragmentation, data exposure) and present decentralized approaches (peer-to-peer, federated, blockchain-based) according to recent literature. We relate these models to the concept of public digital infrastructure, essential communication systems managed in a non-exclusive manner, and the notions of digital commons. As illustrative cases, we cite open protocols like Matrix and Web3 initiatives that adopt blockchain-based identity (e.g., XMTP), showing that such systems exhibit the characteristics of common resources: public specification, collective governance, and open-source software.
Open collaboration business models (OCBMs) and software have existed since the 1950s but have been plagued by work ethic and financial bottleneck due to inadequate monetization schemes. OCBMs provide a range of advantages, primarily in accelerating problem solving & innovation, reducing costs, and enhancing security and transparency. Companies could establish sustainable revenue streams while benefitting from broad tech or platform adoption. However, fair revshare and credit attribution have been persistent problems with OCBMs. Businesses such as Diaspora, Soul Force, Sun Microsystems' Open Solaris, and others have experienced unsustainable OCBM initiatives, especially in the open-source software area. Web3 ethos-based business models and blockchain technologies provide an opportunity to correct and enforce many of the monetization strains associated with open collaboration. By decentralizing operational and governance control, free markets nested within companies that run themselves can be realized. The basic philosophy for a meritocratic monetization system with fair credibility-revshare automation is discussed.
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, ensuring trust, transparency, and security in online collaborations remains a significant challenge, particularly for innovators and experts engaged in knowledge exchange. The proposed SPARK-IT platform leverages blockchain, AI-driven matchmaking, decentralized identity management, and tokenomics to foster a secure innovation ecosystem. By utilizing a permissioned blockchain, smart contracts, and decentralized storage, SPARK-IT ensures intellectual property protection, traceability of contributions, and non-repudiation in mentor-innovator engagements.This paper presents the technical architecture of the platform, demonstrating how distributed ledger technology and AI-driven methodologies can establish a human-centered, sustainable and trustworthy online innovation ecosystem. By bridging academia, startups, and industry, SPARK-IT redefines digital trust and collaboration in the innovation economy.
Web3 is a fundamental change from a centralized, platform-centric internet to a decentralized, user-owned ecosystem powered by an open-source technology called Blockchain. This shift is not just a technological evolution, but also changes significantly how value is created, delivered, and captured. It enables new products, innovations, and business models. These products are often powered by tokens, whose value is described by their underlying tokenomics. They are designed to engage the community and incentivize the people who interact with the project. The users of Web3 often come together in decentralized autonomous organizations and democratically decide on the next steps and essential developments of the organization. The business models that are now possible because of the capabilities of a decentralized web have different success factors and reasons why they fail. This thesis conducts a systematic literature review and qualitative expert interviews to identify the success factors of Web3 business models. It first lists and categorizes the prevalent Web3 business models, their structures, and revenue models, and then highlights the success factors for Web3 business models. The findings reveal the difference between Web2 and Web3 business models, highlighting the importance of community, decentralization, governance, and robust token economics.
With the globalization of the software industry, requirements traceability has become increasingly critical in the software development process. However, the development of large-scale, complex software systems by cross-organizational research teams often faces challenges due to diverse organizational backgrounds, multi-site environments, conflicting objectives, and organizational boundaries. These factors can lead to trust issues, complicating the implementation of requirements traceability. To address these challenges, this study proposes a Smart Contract-Based Requirements Traceability (SCRT) framework. Smart contracts, which are executable code deployed on a blockchain, exhibit properties such as enforceability, tamper resistance, and verifiability. These characteristics empower the SCRT framework to enhance collaboration, communication, and trust among stakeholders while potentially improving the efficiency and quality of software development. Within the SCRT framework, a novel Requirements Traceability Information Model (RTIM) is introduced, which categorizes the links between new and existing artifacts. This model serves as a guide for the smart contract module, delineating which software artifacts to trace and the relationships to establish.
The rapid emergence of decentralized finance (DeFi) has challenged traditional regulatory paradigms by eliminating central intermediaries and introducing borderless, autonomous financial transactions. As regulatory bodies struggle to enforce compliance in these fluid environments, current centralized RegTech solutions reveal inherent limitations in scalability, trust, and fault tolerance. This paper proposes a novel, real-time compliance verification framework using a decentralized multiagent system integrated with blockchain infrastructure. The system models regulatory rules using formal logic and distributes them across autonomous agents capable of real-time decisionmaking, trust-weighted consensus, and privacy-preserving validation through cryptographic techniques. Smart contracts ensure immutable auditability, while agent roles—validator, regulatory, and observer—coordinate seamlessly using FIPA-compliant communication protocols. Experimental evaluation demonstrates over 98 % compliance accuracy under normal conditions, sub200 ms verification latency, and resilience to agent dropouts and adversarial attacks. By removing single points of failure and enabling scalable, cross-jurisdictional rule enforcement, this framework offers a robust and transparent compliance solution for the next generation of decentralized financial systems. The approach sets a new benchmark in embedding regulatory intelligence within blockchain-based fintech, aligning technical scalability with legal accountability.
In smart contract development, practitioners frequently reuse code to reduce development effort and avoid reinventing the wheel. This reused code, whether identical or similar to its original source, is referred to as a code clone. Unintentional code cloning can propagate flaws and vulnerabilities, potentially undermining the reliability and maintainability of software systems. Previous studies have identified a significant prevalence of code clones in Solidity smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. To mitigate the risks posed by code clones, clone detection has emerged as an active field of research and practice in software engineering. Recent studies have extended existing techniques or proposed novel techniques tailored to the unique syntactic and semantic features of Solidity. Nonetheless, the evaluations of existing techniques, whether conducted by their original authors or independent researchers, involve codebases in various programming languages and utilize different versions of the corresponding tools. The resulting inconsistency makes direct comparisons of the evaluation results impractical, and hinders the ability to derive meaningful conclusions across the evaluations. There remains a lack of clarity regarding the effectiveness of these techniques in detecting smart contract clones, and whether it is feasible to combine different techniques to achieve scalable yet accurate detection of code clones in smart contracts. To address this gap, we conduct a comprehensive empirical study that evaluates the effectiveness and scalability of five representative clone detection techniques on 33,073 verified Solidity smart contracts, along with a benchmark we curate, in which we manually label 72,010 pairs of Solidity smart contracts with clone tags. Moreover, we explore the potential of combining different techniques to achieve optimal performance of code clone detection for smart contracts, and propose SourceREClone, a framework designed for the refined integration of different techniques, which achieves a 36.9% improvement in F1 score compared to a straightforward combination of the state of the art. Based on our findings, we discuss implications, provide recommendations for practitioners, and outline directions for future research.
Mihai Duguleană, Andreea Raluca Duguleană, Cristina Tănăsescu, Florin Gîrbacia
In the contemporary robotics landscape, decentralized governance mechanisms offer promising avenues for democratizing control over robotic activities. This paper introduces a new framework integrating crowd-choice mechanisms inspired by Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) with robotic control systems. Our framework enables any stakeholder (individuals, companies, public institutions, NGOs and so on) to collectively determine robot activities through transparent and auditable decision-making processes. By leveraging blockchain technology, users can participate in prioritizing and executing robot actions, similar to DAO voting. We outline the architecture, implementation guidelines, and potential applications of the framework across diverse domains such as industrial automation, healthcare, and disaster response. Furthermore, we discuss the governance model, security considerations, and future research directions in advancing decentralized robotics governance. Through this framework, we envision a paradigm shift towards inclusive, transparent, and efficient multi-user robot control.
Το Διαδίκτυο των Πραγμάτων (Internet of Things – IoT), όπου φυσικές συσκευές προσπελαύνονται μέσω του Διαδικτύου, επικοινωνούν μεταξύ τους και λειτουργούν αυτόνομα και χωρίς επίβλεψη, διαμορφώνει εκ νέου την κατάσταση του σύγχρονου Διαδικτύου και πολλών από τους υποκείμενους μηχανισμούς του. Το IoT αποτελεί ένα χαρακτηριστικό παράδειγμα που δέχεται αυξανόμενη προσοχή από την ερευνητική κοινότητα, λόγω του μεγάλου πλήθους σημαντικών και συχνά ευαίσθητων υπηρεσιών που παρέχει σε διάφορους τομείς. Ωστόσο, η εξάπλωση χρήσης του ΙοΤ, αυξάνει ραγδαία τον αριθμό των ΙοΤ συσκευών και εφαρμογών που απαιτούν συνεργασία μεταξύ ετερογενών συσκευών. Επίσης, αυξάνεται η ανταλλαγή (συχνά ευαίσθητων) πληροφοριών μεταξύ πολλαπλών οντοτήτων, που δεν εμπιστεύονται μεταξύ τους. Οπότε η ανάγκη για απρόσκοπτη διαλειτουργικότητα, ενισχυμένη εγγενή ασφάλεια, αποκέντρωση, καθώς και για αποτελεσματικό, αποκεντρωμένο και ευέλικτο έλεγχο πρόσβασης αυξάνεται. Επομένως, παρόλο που θεωρητικά το ΙοΤ φαίνεται να προσφέρει πολυάριθμα οφέλη, στην πράξη δημιουργούνται πολλά ζητήματα. Συγκεκριμένα, μία από τις πιο κρίσιμες προκλήσεις που καλείται να αντιμετωπίσει το IoT είναι η προστασία των συσκευών και των δεδομένων που παράγονται εντός αυτών των συστημάτων. Ωστόσο, οι περισσότερες συμβατικές λύσεις ελέγχου πρόσβασης, οι οποίες είναι σχεδιασμένες για κεντρικοποιημένα, λιγότερο δυναμικά περιβάλλοντα και για συσκευές χωρίς περιορισμούς πόρων, έχουν αποδειχθεί αναποτελεσματικές και ανεπαρκείς για τις απαιτήσεις και τις ιδιαιτερότητες του IoT. Καθίσταται, επομένως, σαφές ότι οι υπάρχουσες λύσεις για το ΙοΤ πρέπει να επανεκτιμηθούν και να αναπτυχθούν νέες λύσεις ελέγχου πρόσβασης. Η παρούσα διατριβή υποστηρίζει ότι οι τεχνολογίες των Αλυσίδων Καταχωρήσεων (Distributed Ledger Technologies – DLTs) μπορούν να ικανοποιήσουν τις απαιτήσεις για τον έλεγχο πρόσβασης στο ΙοΤ, αλλά και των ΙοΤ συστημάτων γενικότερα. Η συνεισφορά μας προς αυτή την κατεύθυνση είναι διττή. Αρχικά, αναλύουμε τη σχετική βιβλιογραφία και εντοπίζουμε βασικές απαιτήσεις που πρέπει να πληρούν οι μηχανισμοί ελέγχου πρόσβασης στο IoT. Με βάση αυτές, προτείνουμε καινοτόμες λύσεις ελέγχου πρόσβασης, βασισμένες σε Αλυσίδες Καταχωρήσεων, οι οποίες αξιοποιούν τα έξυπνα συμβόλαια (smart contracts) για την έκδοση και διαχείριση τεκμηρίων ελέγχου πρόσβασης (Access Control Tokens – ACTs). Επίσης, χρησιμοποιούμε τα έξυπνα συμβόλαια ως αποκεντρωμένα σημεία λήψης αποφάσεων (Policy Decision Points – PDPs) για τον έλεγχο πρόσβασης, προσφέροντας έτσι ισχυρά χαρακτηριστικά ασφάλειας. Για την επίδειξη της εφικτότητας των προτεινόμενων λύσεων, τις ενσωματώνουμε στο πρωτόκολλο OAuth 2.0. Επιπλέον, εξετάζουμε πως ο μηχανισμός συναίνεσης (consensus mechanism) του Hyperledger Fabric μπορεί να λειτουργήσεις ως σημείο λήψης απόφασης για έλεγχο πρόσβασης σε συνεργατικά ΙοΤ συστήματα. Στη συνέχεια, παρουσιάζουμε πώς η τεχνολογία των Αλυσίδων Καταχωρήσεων μπορεί να ενσωματωθεί σε συστήματα και αρχιτεκτονικές IoT, αναδεικνύοντας τα πλεονεκτήματά της σε περιπτώσεις, όπως τα ΙοΤ παιχνίδια και τα ψηφιακά δίδυμα (digital twins) συσκευών. Τέλος, δείχνουμε πώς αυτή η ενσωμάτωση, σε συνδυασμό με την αξιοποίηση του Ιστού των Πραγμάτων (Web of Things – WoT), μπορεί να ενισχύσει σημαντικά τα ΙοΤ συστήματα και τις εφαρμογές, ιδιαίτερα όσον αφορά την ασφάλεια και τη διαλειτουργικότητα.
Background: Solidity is the primary programming language used for developing smart contracts on Ethereum, representing a new generation of programming languages developed entirely in open environments. Objective: This longitudinal case study examines contribution patterns and emotional dynamics within the Solidity GitHub repository over a ten-year period (2014-2024). Method: We developed a contribution index combining metrics from developer activities (commits, pull requests, comments, and temporal engagement) and applied emotion detection to study communication patterns in a decade-long dataset of developer interactions. Results: The top 1 % of contributors are responsible for around 85 % of project contributions, yet the project exhibits dual paths to prominence: early contributors established technical foundations through code, while later contributors achieved influence through reviews and discussions. Emotional patterns show transitions from initial curiosity and confusion to eventual approval and gratitude. Conclusion: The project's recognition of diverse contribution types and evolving emotional dynamics enables sustainable growth despite concentrated contributions, demonstrating how open-source languages can evolve while maintaining both technical rigor and community engagement.
Francesco Salzano, Lodovica Marchesi, Cosmo Kevin Antenucci, Simone Scalabrino · 7 authors
Abstract In this paper, we investigate the strategies adopted by Solidity developers to fix security vulnerabilities in smart contracts. Vulnerabilities are categorized using the DASP TOP 10 taxonomy, and fixing strategies are extracted from 364 commits collected from open-source Solidity projects on GitHub. Each commit was selected through a two-phase process: an initial filter using natural language processing techniques, followed by manual validation. We assessed whether these fixes adhere to established academic guidelines. Our analysis shows that 60.55% of the commits aligned with at least one literature-based recommendation, particularly for well-documented vulnerability types such as Reentrancy and Arithmetic. However, adherence dropped significantly for categories like Denial of Service, Time Manipulation, and Bad Randomness, highlighting gaps between academic best practices and real-world developer behavior. From the remaining 143 non-aligned commits, we identified 27 novel fixing strategies not previously discussed in the literature. To evaluate their quality, we conducted a structured questionnaire involving 9 experts from both academia and industry. Their feedback indicated high perceived effectiveness of the new fixes, especially for vulnerabilities like Reentrancy and Unchecked Return Values. Generalizability received more varied responses, suggesting context-specific applicability. Finally, we performed a post-fix evolution analysis on over 6700 subsequent commits to assess the long-term stability of the fixes. Most patches remained unchanged, confirming their persistence in production code. Our findings offer practical insights into how vulnerabilities are fixed in smart contracts today, reveal promising emerging patterns, and help bridge the gap between academic guidelines and developer practices.