Blockchain Papers

Umara Noreen, Zaheer Ahmad, Ohoud Saud Mohammed Alfirm, Nouf Ahmad Hamad Alhomoudi

No abstract is available for this record.

Varsha Agarwal

Virtual currency is a type of unregulated digital currency that is only available in electronic formThe term came into existence around 2012, when the European Central Bank (ECB) defined virtual currency to classify types of "digital money in an unregulated environment, issued and controlled by its developers and used as a payment method among members of a specific virtual community". The legality of Virtual Currency varies from country to country. Since Virtual Currency has little to no supervision from a third party jurisdiction such as a Central Bank, which is the case for regular currencies, it has not ruled in favour of many governments organisations. One of the main reasons why financial regulators are choosing not to accept Virtual Currency as a mode of transaction in their countries is because it poses certain unique threats such as terrorism funding, threat to market integrity, severe lack of consumer and investor protection, etc. which may damage financial stability.("Cryptocurrency and security", n.d.). The United States of America allows the trade of Virtual Currency, only under strict supervision and regulation by The Commodities Futures Trading Commission. The European Union has not granted Virtual Currencies the legal status of currency, nor money. It depends on the status of digital assets in the EU or a member state("list of countries where Bitcoin/ICO/Cryptocurrency is legal & Illegal", 2019). In India, The Reserve Bank of India has completely banned the usage of virtual currencies, both directly and indirectly, by the entities regulated by the RBI. However, this ruling was challenged by The Internet and Mobile Association of India, due to which the end result reflects no clarity on the aspect of cross border virtual currency trading.(NEWS & News, 2019). Cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency in a digital medium of exchange. It was launched in 2009 by an individual or group, who refer to themselves as Satoshi Nakamoto. It was created in the wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis as a way for people to control their money without relying on any company, bank or government, owing to a newfound lack of trust.("The Evolution of Cryptocurrency", n.d.). Bitcoin was the first Cryptocurrency which was created in the year 2009.Bitcoin makes up 63.8% of crypto's market value. Cryptocurrency uses cryptography which is a method to encrypt and decrypt financial data to secure communications in the presence of third-parties with ill intentions.There are currently 5,201 cryptoassets.The crypto market has a total market capitalization of over $155 billion ("Crypto in Numbers: 50+ Cryptocurrency Statistics and Facts | Finivi", 2020). Security is one of the major concerns for cryptography users and investors. While cryptographers claim that each unit of currency is encrypted with the help of highly advanced coding to ensure safety, there is no denying that there have been numerous attempts in the past wherein hackers have hacked digital wallets of investors, and partaken in crimes such as phishing, supply chain hacking, and scamming, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars. In the first quarter of 2019, the amount of losses due to hackers in the virtual currency system amounted to USD 1.2 billion, further stimulating the already existing fear of virtual currency amongst the general public. In terms of legality, in 2020, the Supreme Court of India has lifted its initial ban on cryptocurrency, thereby rendering it with a legal status in India. Cryptocurrency had been banned in 2018, and after two years of Indian enthusiasts fighting in favour of Cryptocurrencies, their case against the RBI was finally won, and the Supreme Court of India passed a judgement declaring that the trading of Cryptocurrency would now be legal in India. Despite its variations in legality, there is no denying that Cryptocurrency is fast growing in terms of popularity, with a current market evaluation of USD 1.05 billion, with a projected growth to USD 1.40 billion by 2024. This study addresses the volatility of cryptocurrency. The market itself is unpredictable in nature owing to the fact that any relatively small transaction would impact the whole currency. While this results in consumers hesitating to invest in cryptocurrencies, speculative traders, on the other hand, depend on the volatile nature of cryptocurrency to invest big, and earn bigger profits, even while risking major losses at the same time.

Gary Low, Terence Tan

Purpose To address recent cases and the applicable legal principles relating to cryptocurrency, and to contribute to legal thought in this developing area of law. Design/methodology/approach This article considers recent cryptocurrency related cases in Singapore, Canada and the United Kingdom, and then considers the implications of the developing law in relation to proper causes of action and issues of practical asset recovery relating to the enforcement of judgments. Findings The intangible and highly movable nature of cryptocurrency places a premium on decisive asset recovery. The cases also suggest that injunctions remain a useful and effective debt recovery tool, especially when coupled with quick investigative action to trace cryptocurrency payments. However, the law remains unsettled as to the most appropriate cause of action for a claim in cryptocurrency or how a debt in cryptocurrency can be subject to execution. These issues raise the fundamental question of the nature of cryptocurrency, whether it belongs to an existing category of property, or if it is sui generis. Practical implications Cryptocurrency remains relatively novel and usage is increasing but not widespread. Users of cryptocurrency and lawyers involved in transactions or disputes involving cryptocurrency would benefit from a broader understanding of the legal issues Originality/value This article provides expert analysis from experienced litigation lawyers familiar with the concepts behind cryptocurrency.

Alnoor Bhimani, Kjell Hausken, Sameen Arif

Blockchains as digitized, decentralized ledgers allow recordkeeping of peer-to-peer transactions, thus eliminating the need for intervening trusted third parties. This makes the technology useful in altering business processes and transactions not just across industrial sectors but also across economies. However, little research exists on the factors that impede and sponsor blockchain technology adoption in developed relative to developing country contexts. We highlight blockchain technology issues which sponsor/impede its adoption across developing/developed economic contexts. We focus on assessing the flow of money and land registries in these contexts in relation to the propensity to deploy blockchain systems. We then apply our analytical frame resting on real options principles to explore the decision point at which blockchain would be adopted relative to economic development.

Tyron Ncube, Nomusa Dlodlo, Alfredo Terzoli

The widespread adoption of blockchain technology has had a big impact on how people transact in the digital world. Individuals can transact in an anonymous but transparent manner. Their identities remain hidden but the records of their transactions are publicly available. This has had its benefits in certain application areas but might not be suited for transactions where it is important to know who you are dealing with and in circumstances where the data in the blockchain might be confidential. Private blockchain networks are better suited for such transactions as only authorized users can transact on the network. Sensitive data can also be stored on the blockchain as it is possible to restrict the users that can see the details of the transactions. This paper describes how to create a private blockchain network and how other users can join the network. It also details the benefits of using a private blockchain network with regards to data privacy as opposed to a public network.

Katrin Tinn

Among recent FinTech developments, new digital ledger technologies have the potential to facilitate the financing of entrepreneurial projects, as they can enable different and better financing contracts. Costly verification is arguably one of the main reasons why bank financing and debt contracts have been traditionally so prevalent, with investors not being easily assured that entrepreneurs will report accurately future cash flows generated. The adoption of digital ledger technologies can mitigate this friction, by offering a better tool to maintain a shareable history of transactions, which not only reduces verification costs but also further enables “smart contracts” which can benefit from adjusting optimally to incoming data. Such smart contracts (the optimal form of which is found to be a dynamically adjusting profit-sharing rule) dominate less flexible debt and equity contracts that do not give the right incentives for the entrepreneur to continue to try to generate sales, especially when there is learning from data. There remain unresolved issues around digital ledger technology, especially with “proof-of-work” systems, which create limitations for realizing its potential. Permissioned systems may solve some of these problems but remain at an experimental stage. Third-party platforms that collect and share information are another way to reduce the verification costs faced by individual investors, and there seems to be a close link between the evolution toward “smart” contracts and crowdfunding. The appropriate supporting regulation still needs to be established and will have to tackle issues that are quite novel compared to what banking regulations and securities markets regulations have had to address.

Manish Kumar Thukral

No abstract is available for this record.

Gil Benchlouch

With technology brazenly breaching through society’s barriers in countless diverse fields, the 21st century has revolutionized many age-old industries. One of the largest areas within society influenced by the progress of technology are the fields of finances, economy, and investment, coupled with the aspect of social influence. With this shift in society parallel to the advancement of contemporary technologies, thus becoming increasingly reliant on the tools made available, the complex yet traditional world of finance has pivoted, becoming contingent upon the use of cutting-edge technologies. This critical shift has introduced the world of Fintech, providing many innovative fiscal opportunities. The coined term, Fintech, is a general term referring to products as services for fiscal activities developed by entities unrelated to banks, insurance firms, nor online companies, providing alternatives to the traditional options available to the general public. (Gulamhuseinwala, Bull and Lewis, 2015). Resultantly of this Fintech trend, one of the largest and most promising fields of contemporary investment is recognized as that of Cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin and Ethereum being the most recognized and heavily traded currencies. Many positive traits can be used to define the novelty of this new economy, with one of the main aspects being its peer to peer (P2P) nature of its trading process. However, beyond the tremendous advancements visible within the process of Cryptocurrency production and trade, one of the most important aspects is the influencers upon the valuation of the different currencies. Similarly to the progression of the economy which has transported the financial world to a digital economy, so has the social world, advancing discourse regarding many topics to the online environment. Thus, it is critical to analyze and assess the nature of online discourse regarding Cryptocurrencies. Explicitly, the chatter preceding to sharp rises and falls with Bitcoin and Ethereum, the most recognizable coins. Additionally, it is imperative to appraise the trends in the behavior and quantity of online discourse prior to a significant drop in Ethereum & Bitcoin.Within the online arena, there are countless different outlets and platforms for people to express themselves in general, or more importantly in this instance regarding the topic of Cryptocurrencies. By using platforms that are designated for discussion regarding financial topics or general social media platforms, the public is provided a critical platform utilized by countless individuals, many of whom are increasingly involved with the aforementioned topics. These platforms stipulate a stage for these individuals, who have become critical by voicing their opinions, thoughts, and experiences. Many of these influencers are sought after for their knowledge, specifically influencing the behavior of others. However, it is critical to evaluate the importance of additional aspects beyond the superficial such as who are the influencers, rather elements such as the content or nature of what is being discussed. Resultantly to trends of content, nature, and volume of what is being discussed in the online arena., people’s behavior regarding investments, specifically within Cryptocurrencies, are very possibly subjected to the influence of others, leading to rises and falls in coin valuation.

J.D. Agarwal, Manju Agarwal, Aman Agarwal, Yamini Agarwal

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more dynamic and efficient for routine tasks than humans by the day, the question is will it replace humans in every sector. It is not true. Technology and human complement and do not compete with each other. Initially, it might create disruption in an existing ecosystem, later it helps in creating opportunities. Business must now embrace a new culture, where innovation and continuous learning are core components of the organizational culture. It sets the stage for agility, adaptability and growth. There are of course risks. AI and machine learning (ML) tools and techniques can be misused, intentionally or inadvertently. Obvious risk is misuse of AI by those intent on threatening individual’s physical, digital, financial, and emotional security. We have used worldwide real-life case scenarios to understand the importance of AI, its threats, and the role it plays in contributing toward the growth and prosperity of the society.

Giulio Caldarelli

As they have become leading topics of meetings, events and conferences, real-world blockchain applications have turned niche literature into a vast and complex plethora of books, articles and papers. Unlike digital payments, however, real-world applications are dependent on oracles, whose roles and implications are often neglected in the literature. The presence of oracles negatively affects decentralization and trustless consensus, generating faulty thinking or overly positive expectations. This paper aims to enlighten the state of the art of real-world blockchain applications through a systematic literature review, exploiting the oracle problem as a lens of analysis. The results support the view that almost 90% of the inspected literature is biased or incomplete.

Melissa Cagle

Blockchain technology has a wide scope of applicability for accounting and auditing purposes, separate from Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. However, although blockchain technology is identified as a popular topic within the field, there currently exists a lack of consensus on how it will be realistically applied. This paper aims to map the presently existing international auditing literature and offer clarity to an otherwise heterogeneous field. The mapping analysis will aid in examining the underlying theme employed within studies. Through the use of the Bibliometrix R-Package "Biblioshiny", a sample of 112 studies were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection and analyzed. This study's results show that the topic has gained increased international popularity and separated into distinct research streams; Encrypted Private and Secure Information Sharing, Distributed Ledger, Smart Contracts, Continuous Audit, Audit Trail and Tokenization. However, there still exists a research gap that must be addressed to hasten the adoption of blockchain technology in auditing.

Vladimir Yussupov, Ghareeb Falazi, Uwe Breitenbücher, Frank Leymann

Although historically the term serverless was also used in the context of peer-to-peer systems, it is more frequently associated with the architectural style for developing cloud-native applications. From the developer's perspective, serverless architectures allow reducing management efforts since applications are composed using provider-managed components, e.g., Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) and Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) offerings. Blockchains are distributed systems designed to enable collaborative scenarios involving multiple untrusted parties. It seems that the decentralized peer-to-peer nature of blockchains makes it interesting to consider them in serverless architectures, since resource allocation and management tasks are not required to be performed by users. Moreover, considering their useful properties of ensuring transaction's immutability and facilitating accountable interactions, blockchains might enhance the overall guarantees and capabilities of serverless architectures. Therefore, in this work, we analyze how the blockchain technology and smart contracts fit into the serverless picture and derive a set of scenarios in which they act as different component types in serverless architectures. Furthermore, we formulate the implementation requirements that have to be fulfilled to successfully use blockchains and smart contracts in these scenarios. Finally, we investigate which existing technologies enable these scenarios, and analyze their readiness and suitability to fulfill the formulated requirements.

Guendalina Capece, Francesco Lorenzi

Health protection has always been a primary concern for mankind. Despite its important social role, current systems for managing the health records are slow, complicated, sometimes expensive and exposed to human errors and misunderstandings. In the health sector, the Medicalchain project seems to have the potential to become a new standard for managing health records using blockchain technology as a platform. In this paper, we propose a new model consisting of a permissioned blockchain to manage and store the electronic health records (EHR) of registered patients. This system guarantees transparency and especially immutability, which are essential for secure management and storage, ensuring a system that is efficient both for doctors and patients and, hopefully, bringing about renewed trust in the public health system. Our aim is that our work may contribute to gain momentum on the application of the blockchain technology to EHR and stimulate further discussion with health institutions to fully exploit the potential of the technology.

John “Jack” Castonguay, Sean Stein Smith

ABSTRACT Unhackable. Immutable. Fraud‐proof. These terms are frequently used to describe cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that underpins them. Together, they imply that a high degree of safety accompanies cryptocurrencies and blockchain ledgers. But is this understanding supported by the facts, or is it more based on the promise and theoretical construction of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? To better answer this question, we have compiled and analyzed existing research on initial coin offerings, security offerings, blockchain hacks and thefts, and data breaches of blockchain‐based platforms and digital wallets. In contrast to the popular press, we find that in practice, blockchain and cryptocurrencies are more prone to malfeasance, fraud, and manipulation than is commonly understood. The security and trust provided by blockchain as a technology tool are only as secure as the underlying code that establishes the blockchain, and the value derived from cryptocurrencies is only as trustworthy as the entity developing the cryptocurrency. Neither are without their vulnerabilities. Skepticism and proper due diligence should be maintained for any entity looking to utilize blockchain technology or invest in cryptocurrencies.

Christian Fisch, Michele Meoli, Silvio Vismara

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) are one of the major innovations that characterize the digital revolution of financial markets. Among the expectations created by the digital revolution is the democratization of entrepreneurial finance, defined in terms of the creation of more equality regarding the access to financial resources by categories known to be underrepresented among potential entrepreneurs. Following this line of research, we investigate, through two complementary empirical studies, whether gender, ethnicity, and geography affect the choice of ICOs vs. traditional financing alternatives. Additionally, we assess whether these characteristics increase the amount of money an entrepreneur can raise. In Study I, we compare 390 ICO ventures to a sample of 1,078 VC-backed blockchain ventures, identifying a negative correlation between the choice of an ICO (vs. VC-backing) and a location in an urban area. In Study II, we compare 160 ICO ventures to 163 real estate investment trusts (REITs), reaffirming the results of Study I. The findings show significant participation and likelihood of successful campaigns for ethnical minorities in ICOs, with the latter also being able to collect, ceteris paribus, larger amounts of funding. In contrast, female entrepreneurs do not have higher chances to participate nor raise funds in ICOs.

Milla Sepliana Setyowati, Niken sila De Utami, Arfah Habib Saragih, Adang Hendrawan

The utilization of new technology in the form of blockchain technology for a Value Added Tax (VAT) acceptance system is relatively new and has not been widely encountered thus far. This research analyzes how blockchain technology can be applied to a VAT system, particularly for electronic invoices (e-Invoice). A qualitative approach was used in this study to analyze blockchain technology models that could be applied in a VAT system. The results of this study indicate that due to its characteristics, blockchain technology can only be applied to taxpayer data that do not require privacy. Data that are considered safe if distributed to nodes in the blockchain technology network include the Tax Invoice Serial Number (TISN). A TISN system based on blockchain technology will produce a faster and more efficient system. Transactions on the TISN in Indonesia can also be monitored and tracked directly by the Directorate General of Taxation (DGT). Blockchain technology can be applied in the TISN system by using a permissioned private blockchain type.

Md. Saiful Islam Bhuiyan, Abdur Razzak, Md Sadek Ferdous, Chowdhury, MJM · 6 authors

A Chatbot is a popular platform to enable users to interact with a software or website to gather information or execute actions in an automated fashion. In recent years, chatbots are being used for executing financial transactions, however, there are a number of security issues, such as secure authentication, data integrity, system availability and transparency, that must be carefully handled for their wide-scale adoption. Recently, the blockchain technology, with a number of security advantages, has emerged as one of the foundational technologies with the potential to disrupt a number of application domains, particularly in the financial sector. In this paper, we forward the idea of integrating a chatbot with blockchain technology in the view to improve the security issues in financial chatbots. More specifically, we present BONIK, a blockchain empowered chatbot for financial transactions, and discuss its architecture and design choices. Furthermore, we explore the developed Proof-of-Concept (PoC), evaluate its performance, analyse how different security and privacy issues are mitigated using BONIK.

Yunifa Miftachul Arif, Reza Putra Pradana, Hani Nurhayati, Supeno Mardi Susiki Nugroho · 5 authors

A tourism serious game requires a transaction system to handle the transaction process's visualization between players. In this paper, we propose a serious game with a blockchain-based multiplayer transaction system. To integrate the transaction system with the game engine, we use the ethereum platform. In this serious game, ethereum handles the simulation of transaction activities between several characters' choices, including tourists, ticket sellers, jeep drivers, traders, and horse rental. The experimental results show that the gas price variable affects the speed of the transaction process. Meanwhile, setting the gas limit value in this serious game affects the transaction process's success rate between players.

Neha Jain, R. R. Sedamkar

Majority of current businesses are interested in building communities by collaborating with each other for solving common business problems forming decentralized peer to peer network. International trade is one of such industries which is striving to work in collaboration. Multiple entities involved like buyer, seller, service providers and regulators want to work together but having major trust and security concerns. Such applications are distributed in nature therefore require distributed control and security mechanisms. The current practical security solutions have centralized approach, so they might be inefficient for these applications. The blockchain technology is distributed in nature. Prominent features of blockchain like distributed ledger Technology and smart contracts makes it a promising solution for decentralized and distributed cross border trade business. The aim of this paper is to provide pain points of global trade system with respect to security and trust, and to provide solution by blockchain technology considering Letter of credit as a method of trade finance. We propose a blockchain technology enabled smart contract approach for ensuring the security of and trust in the trade ecosystem.

Annisa Hakim Zamzami

The development of information technology encourages technological growth in the financial sector, namely cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies created by private parties still have many shortcomings in terms of security. So it needs an important role from the competent institution. In addition, during the Covid 19 pandemic, cash was considered a medium for spreading the virus. So one of the reasons China started releasing its own digital money was under the strict control of the People's Bank of China. Indonesia is the country with the highest number of positive indications for Covid-19 in Southeast Asia, especially in Jakarta. Therefore, this study examines the planning behavior of the people of DKI Jakarta to adopt cryptocurrency as a transaction tool, using the theory of planning behavior (TPB). 207 research samples were analyzed using covariance-based SEM method with the SmartPLS 2.0 tool. The results showed that only attitudes significantly affect individual intentions to use digital money. Meanwhile, subjective norms and behavioral control do not significantly affect individual intentions to adopt cryptocurrency

Tsan‐Ming Choi

Nowadays, supported by the blockchain technology, initial coin offering (ICO) has emerged as a way to finance projects via crowdfunding. In this article, by building stylized theoretical models, we examine the product development project financing problem under the traditional bank case (Model TBK) and ICO case (Model ICO). Under a commonly used demand function in which product quality scales the price-dependent market demand, we theoretically derive and compare the optimal pricing and quality decisions for the project under both models. We identify the feasible conditions, which govern the feasibility of each financing model. We then develop the optimal rule, in the form of an algorithm, to determine the optimal financing choice. To show the robustness of the results and test the impacts of having a different form of demand function, we examine in the extended models the case when demand function is linear-additive to both price and quality. We find that the major results derived from the main models scenario remain valid in the extended models scenario. Some interesting subtle differences between the two models are also revealed. We conclude by highlighting that the two financing modes (TBK and ICO) are very different and have a substantial impact on the optimal pricing and quality decisions as well as the start-up company's profitability.

Arpan Kumar Kar, L. Navin

No abstract is available for this record.

Maryam Niknezhad, Sajjad Shokouhyar‎, Mehrzad Minouei

Blockchain can reduce bureaucracy and increase the efficiency and performance of administrative processes through a platform possessing features and attributes such as storing and exchanging electronic messages in a decentralized environment and executing high level of security transactions and transparency, if used in government public service delivery. Many scholars believe that this distributed technology can bring new utilizations to a variety of industries and fields, including finance and banking, economics, supply chain, and authentication and increase economic productivity and efficiency dramatically by transforming many industries in the context of today's economy. The present study, presents the characteristics of the localized blockchain and e-currency conceptual model for the evolution of e-government services. It also examines the impact of the blockchain and e-currency model on the economy and electronic financial transactions as a viable, practical and constructive solution (rather than blocking and filtering of e-currency and blockchain). Ultimately designing a localized block chain and e-currency model, has played an effective role in exploit its high potential to speed up the administrative processes and reduce costs related to electronic transactions and payments in e-government and increase e-government revenues and ultimately it can speed up the customer service delivery and increase their satisfaction with the government.

Andrew Spurr, Marcel Ausloos

Abstract We study the fundamental differences that separate: Litecoin; Bitcoin Gold; Bitcoin Cash; Ethereum; and Zcash from Bitcoin, and draw some analysis to how these features are appreciated by the market, to ultimately make an inference as to how future successful cryptocurrencies may be invented and behave. We use Google Trend data, as well as price, volume and market capitalization data sourced from coinmarketcap.com to support this analysis. We find that Litecoin’s shorter block times offer benefits in commerce, but drawbacks in the mining process through orphaned blocks. Zcash holds a niche use for anonymous transactions, benefitting areas of the world lacking in economic freedom. Bitcoin Cash suffers from centralization in the mining process, while the greater decentralization of Bitcoin Gold has generally left it to stagnate. Ether’s greater functionality offers the greatest threat to Bitcoin’s dominance in the market. A coin that incorporates several of these features can be technically better than Bitcoin, but the first-to-market advantage of Bitcoin should keep its dominant position in the market.