As Web3 matures, decentralized naming and storage systems, such as ENS, Unstoppable Domains, and IPFS, offer new paradigms for publishing and accessing web content without relying on centralized infrastructure.However, the process of retrieving content in such an environment remains fragmented, often dependent on vulnerable public gateways or centralized APIs.This paper investigates the resilience of content retrieval in decentralized systems, using Web3Compass as a case study.The system integrates real-time registry monitoring, onchain name resolution, and direct access to decentralized storage via self-hosted IPFS nodes.By avoiding reliance on third-party resolution services and fallback gateways except when necessary, Web3Compass provides a robust method for discovering and rendering Web3 websites.We detail the system's architecture, including resolver logic, node infrastructure, and content validation policies, and evaluate its robustness against gateway failure, incomplete pinning, and resolution inconsistencies.Our findings indicate that proactive pinning, resolver-specific logic, and local node infrastructure significantly improve access reliability, even under constrained network conditions.
The rapid growth of decentralized web technologies, such as IPFS, ENS, and Arweave, has enabled the creation and hosting of censorship-resistant, open-access websites.However, these systems suffer from a fundamental usability problem: decentralized websites are effectively invisible to the average user due to the absence of an indexing and discovery infrastructure.This paper introduces Web3 Compass, a search engine purpose-built for the decentralized internet.Unlike traditional search engines that rely on centralized servers and behavioral tracking, Web3 Compass discovers and indexes content from decentralized domains through real-time blockchain monitoring, resolver contract interactions, and a custom IPFS infrastructure.It outlines the visibility problem, examines failed or insufficient past solutions, and presents the architectural design of a hybrid, privacy-preserving search tool optimized for the decentralized web.The contribution aims to address the core bottleneck in Web3 usability by making decentralized content discoverable and accessible.
Cryptocurrencies and Web3 applications based on blockchain technology have flourished in the blockchain research field. Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, due to its unique architectural designs in consensus mechanisms, resource management, and throughput, TRON has developed a more distinctive ecosystem and application scenarios centered around stablecoins. Although it is popular in areas like stablecoin payments and settlement, research on analyzing on-chain data from the TRON blockchain is remarkably scarce. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a comprehensive data extraction and exploration framework for the TRON blockchain. An innovative high-performance ETL system aims to efficiently extract raw on-chain data from TRON, including blocks, transactions, smart contracts, and receipts, establishing a research dataset. An in-depth analysis of the extracted dataset reveals insights into TRON's block generation, transaction trends, the dominance of exchanges, the resource delegation market, smart contract usage patterns, and the central role of the USDT stablecoin. The prominence of gambling applications and potential illicit activities related to USDT is emphasized. The paper discusses opportunities for future research leveraging this dataset, including analysis of delegate services, gambling scenarios, stablecoin activities, and illicit transaction detection. These contributions enhance blockchain data management capabilities and understanding of the rapidly evolving TRON ecosystem.
This paper proposes a hybrid access control system that integrates the usability of Web2 authentication (Google Login) with the transparency and integrity of Web3 technologies (blockchain and smart contracts). The system enables users to authenticate via their existing Google accounts without managing crypto wallets or private keys, while access permissions are securely recorded on-chain through smart contracts. To ensure cryptographic key security without relying on a centralized authority, the design incorporates Distributed Key Management (DKM). This approach addresses the challenge of balancing usability with verifiability in data access control. By embedding decentralized guarantees within a centralized web service interface, the system enables practical and transparent access control. The proposed architecture demonstrates the potential for a general-purpose, auditable module that facilitates user-consented data sharing with third parties.
Web3 has attracted considerable attention in fields including DeFi, DApps, and NFTs due to its decentralization, enhanced privacy, and user-centricity. However, interoperability and scalability challenges hinder its widespread adoption. While deploying anonymous credentials across Web3 networks to enable cross-network service access is a potential solution to these challenges, existing credential systems remain limited by centralized management, high energy consumption, and credential abuse, making them unsuitable for Web3 environments. To overcome these limitations, we propose a decentralized anonymous functional credential (DAFC) scheme that is efficient, privacy-preserving, and linkable. Unlike existing schemes, DAFC enables users to generate a single proof embedding attributes$x$for requesting services under different access policies. Each provider can use the functional key$sk_{F}$associated with their respective access policy$F$to extract$F(x)$for attribute verification. This significantly reduces authentication computational overhead. Furthermore, DAFC's linkability effectively mitigates credential abuse risks. As an additional contribution, we propose a novel construction of non-interactive zero-knowledge functional proof (fNIZK) based on one-out-of-many proofs and functional encryption for inner products, which is the building block of DAFC. Security analysis demonstrates that DAFC achieves anonymity, unforgeability, and linkability. Performance evaluation shows that DAFC outperforms prior schemes in both computational and communication overhead when requesting at least 6 services with distinct access policies.
Escrow trust is a foundational requirement for high-value campaign execution in Web3 marketing marketplaces. When campaign budgets exceed USD 50,000 and settlement is enforced on-chain, the security properties of the escrow contract and its surrounding settlement architecture determine whether the platform can be trusted by enterprise brands. Naive escrow designs — single-key deployment, monolithic contract logic, and implicit state transitions — expose platforms to fund loss through key compromise, smart contract exploit, and fraudulent dispute resolution. This paper presents SESA (Secure Escrow and Settlement Architecture), a formal engineering framework for Web3 campaign escrow that integrates multi-signature approval policies, strict role segregation between campaign management and fund release authority, control-plane and data-plane separation with hardware-backed signing, and explicit finite-state machine governance of all escrow lifecycle transitions including dispute resolution. SESA is grounded in a formal threat model that enumerates eleven attack vectors specific to Web3 escrow systems and maps each to a corresponding architectural control. A formal verification of the escrow state machine using the TLA+ specification language demonstrates the absence of deadlock, fund loss, and unauthorised release under all reachable states. A gas cost analysis of the reference Solidity implementation demonstrates that SESA's security controls add a mean overhead of 23% in gas cost relative to a naive single-key escrow — a trade-off that enterprise buyers consistently accept in exchange for verifiable security assurances. SESA enables campaign budgets that would be commercially unviable under insecure escrow designs to flow safely through the platform, directly expanding the addressable market for high-value brand partnerships.
Blockchain technology has emerged as a transformative force across a multitude of sectors, offering decentralized, transparent, and tamper-proof solutions to conventional problems in data management, finance, supply chain, healthcare, and beyond.Initially popularized through cryptocurrencies, blockchain has since evolved into a broader infrastructure supporting smart contracts, decentralized applications (dApps), and Web3 ecosystems.This survey provides a comprehensive overview of blockchain technology, outlining its fundamental principles including distributed ledgers, consensus mechanisms, cryptographic security, and decentralization.We critically examine various blockchain architectures such as public, private, and consortium blockchains, and explore their relative strengths and limitations.The paper further delves into current trends, emerging use cases, scalability challenges, interoperability issues, and security concerns.By synthesizing recent academic and industry developments, this survey aims to provide researchers and practitioners with a holistic understanding of blockchain's capabilities, current limitations, and future directions.
Web3 applications require execution platforms that maintain confidentiality and integrity without relying on centralized trust authorities. While Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) offer promising capabilities for confidential computing, current implementations face significant limitations when applied to Web3 contexts, particularly in security reliability, censorship resistance, and vendor independence. This paper presents dstack, a comprehensive framework that transforms raw TEE technology into a true Zero Trust platform. We introduce three key innovations: (1) Portable Confidential Containers that enable seamless workload migration across heterogeneous TEE environments while maintaining security guarantees, (2) Decentralized Code Management that leverages smart contracts for transparent governance of TEE applications, and (3) Verifiable Domain Management that ensures secure and verifiable application identity without centralized authorities. These innovations are implemented through three core components: dstack-OS, dstack-KMS, and dstack-Gateway. Together, they demonstrate how to achieve both the performance advantages of VM-level TEE solutions and the trustless guarantees required by Web3 applications. Our evaluation shows that dstack provides comprehensive security guarantees while maintaining practical usability for real-world applications.
Muhammad Haroon Tariq, Uswa Ihsan, Zaenal Alamsyah
Ownership rights related to land and property represent a highly contentious matter in areas across Pakistan because female inheritors struggle to assert their property rights due to cultural practices along with unclear procedures and traditional document systems. The present government-controlled systems demonstrate inadequate proficiency along with safety protocols to execute fair inheritance distribution, mainly impacting marginalized populations. This research introduces a blockchain system known as the Land Registration and Inheritance Automation System (LRIAS) which prioritizes the female protection of inheritance privileges. The proposed system includes digitalizing the traditional paper-based land registration and inheritance process. The system ensures blockchain security through the implementation of MetaMask together with Web3.js for Ethereum transactions. The blockchain system distributes inheritances through programmed agreements which follow Shariah validation rules. The LRIAS establishes permanent and free-version records that show who owns land and who the legal heirs are. The system enables women to access their inheritance records through verifiable reliable data which cannot be altered. Through the system, authorities can verify inheritance claims and execute them without bureaucratic interference, which minimizes both legal disputes and family conflicts. Experimental tests show that the LRIAS succeeds in safeguarding women’s land inheritance claims and increasing confidence in legal inheritance procedures.
This study discusses the behavior of decentralized decision-making of investment in Web3 environment, and the primary factors affecting the decision of investors, including governance with transparence and fair process, opinion of the community, fluctuations of markets, and trends of social networks. From DeFi platforms and markets of NFT, this study finds the inclination of investors towards governance with transparence and fair process when selecting projects, and decisive impacts of opinion of the community on decision. This study also finds significant impacts of social network and fluctuations of markets on short-term investment, and greater risk appetite of investors under more fluctuations of markets. This study verifies the impacts of these factors on the Web3 environment of investment with data simulation under a virtual environment, provides in-depth understanding of behavior of investment under decentralized finance and markets of NFT, and provides valuable references for related projects' design and operation.
Permasalahan manipulasi data dalam sistem presensi konvensional, seperti presensi fiktif dan pengubahan waktu kehadiran, masih sering terjadi di berbagai organisasi, termasuk Asosiasi Planters Muda Indonesia (APMI). Sistem manual tidak dapat menjamin keakuratan maupun keamanan data. Oleh karena itu, dibutuhkan pendekatan baru yang lebih andal dalam autentikasi dan pencatatan kehadiran. Autentikasi biometrik berbasis face recognition menjadi alternatif menjanjikan karena mampu mengenali identitas secara otomatis. Namun, untuk menjaga integritas data, diperlukan teknologi blockchain guna mencatat informasi secara aman dan tidak dapat dimodifikasi. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengembangkan sistem presensi berbasis face recognition yang terintegrasi dengan blockchain guna menghadirkan solusi yang praktis serta meningkatkan keamanan dan privasi data presensi. Sistem dibangun menggunakan Python dengan library utama face_recognition dan OpenCV untuk deteksi wajah, serta Flask sebagai backend web. Data presensi disimpan pada database lokal (XAMPP) dan dicatat dalam bentuk hash ke blockchain lokal (Ganache) berbasis Ethereum melalui smart contract dan Web3. Pengujian dilakukan terhadap aspek fungsionalitas, akurasi pengenalan wajah pada berbagai kondisi, serta validasi hash untuk mendeteksi manipulasi data. Hasil menunjukkan sistem mampu mengenali wajah secara akurat, mencatat hash secara permanen di blockchain, dan mendeteksi perubahan data di database lokal. Penelitian ini membuktikan bahwa integrasi face recognition dan blockchain memberikan solusi presensi yang praktis serta meningkatkan keamanan dan privasi data.
Carlo Beltracchi, Ahmed Elmaraghy, Pierpaolo Ruttico, S. Maccagnan
This contribution proposes a way to broaden access to computational design by combining: (1) an agentic workflow where AI micro-agents translate natural-language prompts into executable, self-verified parametric graphs; (2) a data-driven economy in which each reuse of logic triggers automatic micropayments; and (3) a decentralised network that stores versions, rights and transactions on-chain. Assessor, provider and validator agents assemble, check and publish sub-graphs serialised as semi-fungible tokens; a blockchain ledger tracks lineage and redistributes royalties. The platform merges open-source principles with Web3 incentives: newcomers gain ready-to-use solutions, experienced designers monetise know-how, and the community governs parameters via on-chain voting. Supported by robotic 3D-printing partners, the framework targets XR adoption: tokenised parametric graphs power virtual configurators for (1:1) design alternatives; users and curators vary parameters within constraints and record reuse on-chain, supporting an inclusive creator economy across the generative process.
Abstract This article focuses on the Network State movement as embodying the venture capital (VC) logic of exit. Exit constitutes both a strategy for lucrative returns and an ideology seeking out new territories for financial and technological speculation. This movement has emerged around Balaji Srinivasan and the technologies of Web3 that encode the imperatives of exit. In the construction of liberated zones for the Network State, VC operates through a territorial logic, under the leadership of the founder‐philosopher and with the affordances of the American state. These logics evince the discursive power at the heart of the political economy of VC. The desires of the VC class shape “future social necessity” (Howard 2024; Finance and Society 10) and are “imprinted” (Cooiman 2024; Environment and Planning A 56) upon the social and technological networks of the Network State. The valorisation through exit seeks to produce “hyperstitious” (Lynch and Muñoz‐Viso 2023; Progress in Human Geography 48) value creation in which VC is the fount of civilisation.
U okviru ovog diplomskog rada razvijen je pametni ugovor za održavanje e-glasanja na institucijskim razinama. Pametni ugovor je postavljen na lokalnu inačicu blockchaina te povezan na web3 aplikaciju putem Next.js frontend rješenja. Osoba koja postavlja pametni ugovor na blockchain dobiva status predsjedajuće osobe (chairperson) te dobiva mogućnost davanja prava glasanja ostalim sudionicima na blockchainu kao i pokretanja glasanja te biranja duljine trajanja glasanja. Registracija u sustav obavlja se putem MetaMask ekstenzije za preglednike koja spaja korisnikov kripto novčanik s frontend dijelom aplikacije. Lokalna inačica blockchaina napravljena je i pokrenuta pomoću Ganache alata, dok je za implementaciju sustava u produkciji sugeriran Layer-2 blockchain pristup. Dodatno, analizirane su potencijalne mane i nedostatci ovog sustava, koja uključuju potencijalan manjak anonimnosti glasača, potrebu za sigurnom pohranom privatnih ključeva, kao I težinu implementacije ovakvog sustava te navedena moguća rješenja tih problema.
Ovaj rad predstavlja razvoj prototipa decentralizirane društvene mreže temeljene na tehnologijama Web3. S obzirom na sve veće nepovjerenje korisnika prema tradicionalnim, centraliziranim društvenim mrežama, cilj je izraditi rješenje koje korisnicima omogućuje privatnost, sigurnost i vlasništvo nad vlastitim podacima. Aplikacija koristi blockchain Ethereum za upravljanje identitetom i interakcijama korisnika i Metamask za autentikaciju. Sadržaj se pohranjuje distribuirano putem sustava IPFS i mreže istorazinskih dionika Gun. Implementirane su funkcionalnosti poput objavljivanja sadržaja, spremanje objava, označavanje objava sa "sviđa mi se", komentiranja, slanja zahtjeva za prijateljstvo i drugih interakcija. Uz sve navedeno, aplikacija uključuje izravni (peer-to-peer) chat, te sustav za nagrađivanje korisnika putem ERC-20 tokena za aktivnosti, interakciju i kvalitetan sadržaj. Sustav je implementiran lokalno pomoću IPFS i GUN čvorova na dva uređaja. Postavljen je temelj za daljnju optimizaciju i širenje funkcionalnosti, kako bi se ostvarila stvarna, sigurna i decentralizirana mreža.
Nicolò Romandini, Carlo Mazzocca, Kai Otsuki, Rebecca Montanari
Blockchain and smart contracts have garnered significant interest in recent years as the foundation of a decentralized, trustless digital ecosystem, thereby eliminating the need for traditional centralized authorities. Despite their central role in powering Web3, their complexity still presents significant barriers for non-expert users. To bridge this gap, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based agents have emerged as valuable tools for interacting with blockchain environments, supporting a range of tasks, from analyzing on-chain data and optimizing transaction strategies to detecting vulnerabilities within smart contracts. While interest in applying AI to blockchain is growing, the literature still lacks a comprehensive survey that focuses specifically on the intersection with AI agents. Most of the related work only provides general considerations, without focusing on any specific domain. This paper addresses this gap by presenting the first Systematization of Knowledge dedicated to AI-driven systems for blockchain, with a special focus on their security and privacy dimensions, shedding light on their applications, limitations, and future research directions.
The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) has been successfully established as the de facto standard for decentralized data storage in the emerging Web3. Despite its decentralized nature, IPFS nodes, as well as IPFS content providers, have converged to centralization in large public clouds. Centralization introduces BGP routing-based attacks, such as passive interception and BGP hijacking, as potential threats. Although this attack vector has been investigated for many other Web3 protocols, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, to the best of our knowledge, it has not been analyzed for the IPFS network. In our work, we bridge this gap and demonstrate that BGP routing attacks can be effectively leveraged to censor content in IPFS. For the analysis, we collected 3,000 content blocks called CIDs and conducted a simulation of BGP hijacking and passive interception against them. We find that a single malicious AS can censor 75% of the IPFS content for more than 57% of all requester nodes. Furthermore, we show that even with a small set of only 62 hijacked prefixes, 70% of the full attack effectiveness can already be reached. We further propose and validate countermeasures based on global collaborative content replication among all nodes in the IPFS network, together with additional robust backup content provider nodes that are well-hardened against BGP hijacking. We hope this work raises awareness about the threat BGP routing-based attacks pose to IPFS and triggers further efforts to harden the live IPFS network against them.
The incorporation of the Internet of Things (IoT) into daily life has brought about challenges related to security and privacy. Smart home security systems using physical locks connected to the internet continue to be susceptible to unrecognized key duplication and unauthorized entry. To overcome this challenge, this work proposes a decentralized smart lock system using the blockchain technology as a means of providing improved access control and security in smart homes. The proposed system integrates the coupling of an IoT device with a keypad entry and a Solidity-based smart contract logic on the IOTA Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) test network. A webbased frontend using Node.js enables homeowners to grant access permissions remotely, where Web3.py ensures safe blockchain interactions. The initiative eliminates the vulnerability that comes with physical keys, facilitates secure remote access control, and improves the safety using hashed access codes, time-limited procedures, and non-repudiation of transactions. Experimental results further show that the proposed IOTA-based smart lock system keeps the usage of resources lower compared to existing Ethereum-based solutions.
The energy sector faces inefficiencies, fraud, and lack of transparency, while the traditional peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading market faces challenges of trust, interoperability, and flexibility. This paper proposes an innovative solution leveraging blockchain technology to address these issues. By representing energy units as unique, verifiable Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), our aim is to create a transparent, secure, and efficient energy marketplace. Our architecture integrates a Web3 marketplace with smart contracts to manage trading transactions, NFTs to visualize energy, and a sophisticated loyalty program to incentivize user participation. Furthermore, the platform improves user accessibility through cross-chain token bridging via the Across Protocol, enabling seamless fund transfers from Layer 1 or other Layer 2 networks to the Base network. These features collectively reduce entry barriers and expand market participation. Using blockchain technology, our solution addresses the limitations of traditional systems, offering enhanced security, user engagement, improved efficiency, and simplified access to the energy marketplace.
В статье рассматриваются основы технологии нулевых доказательств знания (Zero-Knowledge Proofs, ZK), её значение для развития криптовалютных систем и децентрализованных финансов. Особое внимание уделено механизмам zk-SNARK и zk-STARK, а также их практическому применению в проектах Zcash, Ethereum, Polygon и zkSync. Проведен анализ проблем масштабируемости, вычислительной сложности и регуляторных рисков, связанных с использованием ZK-технологий. Отмечаются перспективы интеграции в архитектуру цифровых валют центральных банков и развитие инфраструктуры Web3 на базе ZK-решений
Privacy-preserving reputation systems are critical for decentralized Web3 environments, where trust must be managed without centralized authorities. This paper presents a blockchain-based protocol leveraging Subjective Logic (SL) and Hybrid Homomorphic Encryption (HHE) to securely aggregate reputation scores while preserving user privacy. Subjective Logic enables modeling trust with quantified u ncertainty, a llowing for m ore fl exible tr ust enforcement across decentralized identity systems, marketplaces, and DAOs. To enhance performance and confidentiality, we integrate the PASTA symmetric cipher for efficient encryption of auxiliary data. Our protocol enables encrypted reputation aggregation, smart contract-based trust enforcement, and selective disclosure via zero-knowledge proofs. The proposed design balances efficiency, scalability, and privacy, making it well-suited for dynamic Web3 ecosystems requiring decentralized, privacy-preserving trust mechanisms.
Mohamad Sheikho Al Jasem, Trevor De Clark, Ajay Kumar Shrestha
The convergence of decentralized artificial intelligence (DAI), blockchain technology, and smart contracts is reshaping the design and governance of intelligent systems. As these technologies rapidly evolve, addressing privacy within their architecture, usage models, and associated risks has become increasingly critical. This systematic literature review examines architectural patterns, governance frameworks, real-world applications, and persistent challenges in DAI systems. It identifies prevailing designs such as federated learning integrated with consensus protocols, smart contract-based incentive mechanisms, and decentralized verification methods. Drawing from a diverse body of recent literature, the review highlights implementations across sectors, including healthcare, finance, IoT, autonomous systems, and intelligent infrastructure, each demonstrating significant contributions to privacy, security, and collaborative innovation. Despite these advancements, DAI systems face ongoing obstacles such as scalability limitations, privacy trade-offs, and difficulties with regulatory compliance. The review emphasizes the need for integrative governance approaches that balance transparency, accountability, incentive alignment, and ethical oversight. These elements are proposed as co-evolving pillars essential to establishing trustworthiness in decentralized AI ecosystems. This work offers a comprehensive review for understanding the current landscape and guiding the development of responsible and effective DAI systems in the Web3 era.