Background. Vaccine, as an irreplaceable means in herd immunization, is widely applied in prevention for communicable diseases. However, adverse impacts were frequently incurred by fake or expired vaccines in China. Given the necessity of vaccine anticounterfeiting, blockchain-based transaction platform could be practiced as a solution in addressing the issue; however, most of the available experiments focused on single-chain structured design with inventible limitations. Accordingly, exploration for the effectiveness and feasibility of mixed-chains structured platform for vaccine anticounterfeiting and tracing is essentially required. Methods. Both public chain and private chain were inserted in anticounterfeiting and tracing platform designing process, which were subsequently simulated in Ethereum environment. Results. By recording different information in public chain and private chain, partial information privacy protection requirements are realized. The transfer identification module realized the function of vaccine quality supervision and solves the problem of EPC label replication. Discussion. Compared with the traditional single-structured design, completeness information could be visited by all stakeholders in double-chain structure, including vaccine suppliers, National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), vaccine purchasers, and the vaccinated. Conclusion. Double-chain structured system for vaccine anticounterfeiting and tracing is more effective.
The fifth-generation (5G) network has special communication and security requirements including high reliability, low latency, precise automatic control, secure covert transmission, and evidence traceability. The 5G network combined with blockchain technology just meets this demand, so it is driving a rapidly growing volume of patent applications. This study proposes application scenarios, architecture diagrams, and patent analysis methods for blockchain-based 5G network technologies, beginning with a network architecture using mobile edge computing (MEC) and blockchain as independent platform components to solve MEC load pressure. In the patent analysis, a patent cluster map of blockchain-based 5G networks is proposed to analyze the intersection of technical application fields. The bottleneck period of technological development is presented for leading countries and enterprises in the technological development of blockchain-based 5G network, highlighting relative advantages and disadvantages. Specifically, to extract the core international patent classification (IPC) key technologies and their mutual interrelatedness, we use network topology analysis to establish an IPC network topology diagram through node global and local topology characteristics, thus revealing hotspots of IPC technology research and the characteristics of the technology relationship system. The findings provide a very useful reference for the formulation of government strategy to assist in the implementation and development of blockchain-based 5G network technologies for future smart cities.
In most websites, the online rating system provides the ratings of products and services to users. Lack of trust in data integrity and its manipulation has hindered fulfilling user satisfaction. Since existing online rating systems deal with a central server, all rating data is stored on the central server. Therefore, all rating data can be removed, modified, and manipulated by the system manager to change the ratings in favor of the service or product provider. In this paper, an online rating system using distributed ledger technologies has been presented as the proposed system to solve all the weaknesses of current systems. Distributed ledger technologies are completely decentralized and there is no centralization on them by any institution. Distributed ledger technologies have different variants. Among distributed ledger technologies, blockchain technology has been used in the proposed rating system because of its support for smart contracts. In the proposed online rating system, the Ethereum platform has been chosen from different blockchain platforms that have a public permission network. In this system, the raters cannot rate unless they submit a request to the system and be authorized to take part in the online product rating process. The important feature of the Ethereum platform is its support for smart contracts, which can be used to write the rating contract in the Solidity language. Also, using Proof of Authority consensus mechanisms, all rating transactions are approved by the surveyors. Since in the real Ethereum system, each rating transaction is sent to the network by the raters, some gas must be paid for each rating transaction. However, since this method is expensive, TestNet blockchain can be used in the rating system. Finally, the proposed rating system was used for rating the restaurants of a website and its features were tested.
This chapter considers the contributions that may be made to the evolution of an ethical and compassionate form of artificial general intelligence (AGI) by integrating knowledge graphs for classical economics, education, health, and space science. Classical economics offers pathways to the evolution of a form of AGI characterised as moral, ethical, and providing a capacity for building trust-based social capital of societies. Pathways that can be elucidated by applications of machine and deep learning to knowledge graphs of the fields of classical economics, ethics, and social capital. A network platform based on the application of distributed ledger technology is proposed to provide the basis for eliciting insights from interdependences between an ever expanding digital-quantum cloud hosting similarly empowered knowledge graphs for an ever increasing myriad of advancing fields. Knowledge graph sketches for education, health, space science, and other fields germane to building social capital serve to illustrate this proposed process and attendant business opportunities.
The goal of the thesis is to identify factors that drive the price of Bitcoin and the hashrate of the Bitcoin network, which represents the total computing power dedicated to Bitcoin mining, and to explore the relationship between these two variables. In the Bitcoin system, four variables were assumed to be endogenous, thus for each of them, an equation was constructed. This was the case of the Bitcoin price, the hashrate of the Bitcoin network, the total transaction fees paid, and the search volume for the term "bitcoin". The system of four equations was then simultaneously estimated, utilizing the method of Two-stage least squares. Results revealed several statistically significant explanatory variables of the price and the hashrate, including the money supply of the United States dollar or the number of unique active addresses on the Bitcoin network. The hashrate was shown to drive the price positively, however, the estimated effect of the price on the hashrate was statistically insignificant. It was argued that it might have been caused by exogenous shocks affecting multiple variables, that could not be accounted for in the data. In addition, the factors affecting the hashrate were assessed from the environmental point of view, as the high environmental impact is one of the main points in the criticism...
In view of the new technologies and the creation of digital currencies that appear as a new paradigm and constitute an independent and fast alternative to supply financial transactions, as well as their growing use, it is necessary to create new mechanisms effective in order for the public authorities to inspect and tax these movements. A challenge is presented here in the face of the social paradigm arising from the individual search for less costly and more effective means, which allow greater autonomy in the management of financial resources. Keywords: Cryptocurrency-Bitcoins - Blockchain – Regulation
The development of Internet technology has promoted the progress of all aspects of society. Under the background of Internet finance, the traditional financial model is changing, such as currency payment. With the deepening of Internet technology, the virtualization of money is deepening, and the market entry, trading and payment methods are also subverting the tradition. Bitcoin as a new means of payment began to appear in the public eye. It is a challenge to the traditional way of trading supported by Internet technology. Despite the constant controversy since its inception, Bitcoin still occupies a place with its unique advantages - Asymmetric encryption, decentralization,transparency of transaction records and so on. In the eyes of opponents, Bitcoin is more of a highly speculative asset, and as it becomes progressively more difficult to mine, the cost of mining is increasing. However, in the eyes of supporters, it is a reliable means of payment, not subject to government supervision, nor will it produce a virtual transaction record. From the regulator's point of view, it is more like a shelter for unscrupulous people to evade regulation and commit money laundering and crime. It is undeniable that in just a few years, Bitcoin has developed to a certain scale,has a certain industrial chain...
Igor Zakharov, Jonathan Anderson, Garrett Parsons, Michael D. Henschel
Data quantities are rapidly increasing in many industry sectors due to the development of new sensors, mobile and cloud technologies, advancements in IoT and AI, and growth of social and entertainment media. Many applications (e.g. in finance, healthcare, government data) have strict information security requirements for simultaneous access, record updating, and validation in an immutable manner, which can be achieved with distributed ledger technology (DLT). In this paper we review and analyze fifty-eight currently available blockchain (BC) systems and their components in context of the DLT for big data storage, provenance tracking, replication, and sharing. We also elaborate the key BC system components and architecture for major information security concerns.
Naveed ur Rehman, Max Yap, Mujaddad Afzal, Abdul Rehman · 5 authors
This paper presents a model for assessing the financial viability of cryptocurrency mining setups powered by off-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The model considers the features of mining hardware, the network attributes, the price of virtual currency and the solar potential of the installation site, to predict the payback period of the investment in months. As a case study, the feasibility of mining using various state-of-the-art Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), powered by PV installed in New Zealand has been investigated. The results show that for ASICs setups, the initial cost is very high compared to GPU setups. However, considering the best-performing cryptocurrencies, the payback period for ASICs is much shorter than for GPU setups. This work will help to improve the sustainability of cryptocurrency mining businesses by reducing their dependence on exhaustible energy resources and their impact on the environment.
Bitcoin is considered a cryptocurrency and a digital currency, the two most notable characteristics are decentralization and anonymity. Bitcoin has a variety of properties. It could play not only the currency function but also have certain commodity property. To some extent, it can also be seen as an alternative investment option. The price of Bitcoin has stayed at a high level since 2021, but with greater volatility and more obvious amplitude than before. With the risk and potential problems of Bitcoin, the possibility of whether Bitcoin would lead to a big bubble in the financial market has increased. Although the legal status of Bitcoin is varying and having unclear or constantly changing definitions in different countries, the government is strengthening supervision and regulation over digital currency and planning to issue state-controlled currency, which would narrow the space for Bitcoin. Therefore, the possibility that Bitcoin will end up in a bubble is growing. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly clear that Bitcoin would not eventually gain legal tender status, driven by a combination of government denial and a lack of real value.
Blockchain is one of the trending technology. It is a secured distributed public digital ledger that is programmed in order to record the information and keep it securely, the main purpose is to store the data securely and carry out the digital transactions safely. Blockchain technology use cryptography to achieve the security, where the data is encrypted. Blockchain is decentralized and distributed, brings the trust in the data, the data are collected in blocks and each block is connected with other block which makes it a chain hence it is known as blockchain. The main aim in Blockchain technology is to ensure the security to software used in technology, hence the testing phase plays an important role. Testing is mainly done to check block size, chain size, load, security, transaction of data, cryptographical data etc. The main objective of this paper is to ensure the importance of testing the Blockchain technology and different strategies used for testing to increase the security and trust of the technology.
Hospital Information System (HIS) is a comprehensive, homogenized information system, whereas blockchain is normally defined as blocks joined together by using cryptographic secure hash function, which forms a chain that is time-stamped. The most important features or functions of blockchain technology are decentralized, distributed ledger, immutable, private, and agent of trust instead of centralized, hidden, exclusive, and alterable architecture. The objective of the initiation of HIS is to improve the quality of public healthcare services particularly in enhancing patient satisfactions and management of record. On the other hand, through blockchain technology, confidential and verified transactions can be carried out directly among third parties by mass collaboration. In this comparative review, the type of HIS and the purpose of HIS are presented. The advantages of HIS in terms of a reduction in transcription error and duplication of information entries as well as monitoring of drug usage are also discussed. On the other hand, disadvantages of HIS in terms of fragmented health data, insufficiency of financial sources, maintenance requirement by different departments, confidentiality issues, low acceptance level, technical and infrastructure issues, and system breakdown are elucidated. Meanwhile, the history of blockchain technology, fundamental properties of blockchain technology, and types of blockchain technology are also presented. Blockchain technology was found to be useful in the real healthcare environment, mainly on the management of electronic medical records, biomedical research and education, remote patient monitoring, pharmaceutical supply chain, health insurance claims, health data analytics, and some other potential areas. The need of blockchain technology and its advantages in healthcare sector such as patient data management, payments and reimbursement, drug and medical device traceability, medical research, regulatory procedure, and clinical trials are discussed. Disadvantages of blockchain technology in healthcare sector are also presented. The loss of key which is used to access information is a real threat in blockchain technology. Key is defined as a unique series of digits and characters in blockchain technology. Other issue that may arise from the application of blockchain technology in the future might be the lack of awareness and adoption. A shallow understanding regarding the blockchain technology and its mechanism will lead to problems in the development of blockchain technology in the future. Greater operation and development costs are needed in the blockchain technology in the healthcare sector, which will be defined by the government as well as the healthcare sector. The main reasons for the implementation of blockchain technology in the healthcare sector were identified, namely, data integrity, access control, data logging, data versioning, and non-repudiation. This review makes a comparison of the functions of blockchain technology and HIS in the real healthcare environment. An overall understanding on the usability of blockchain technology as well as HIS in healthcare sector is analyzed. This study will help other researchers and practitioners to gain better understanding of blockchain technology and HIS in the healthcare sector.
A blockchain is a distributed database or ledger that maintains an ever-growing list of data records in opposition to tampering and revision. It provides immutable data storage over a distributed network and supports a large number of encrypted and coded interactions, which improves the reliability of the entire network interaction system and reduces the need for trust. Even if some nodes in the blockchain are hacked and fail, the system can run as usual. (In such a scenario, users are enabled to form a distributed peer -to peer (P2P) network in which they could interact with each other in an efficient manner without a trusted intermediary). In addition to being famous for decentralization, blockchain has shown other significant characteristics during its development, such as reliability, anonymity, transparency, auditability and programming. According to the different degree of openness and coverage, the current blockchain can be classified into three categories: public blockchain, consortium blockchain and private blockchain. In this process, the evolution of blockchain has gone through three processes: blockchain 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. Blockchain 1.0, known as digital currency stage, is strongly related with the decentralization and payment of cryptocurrencies. Blockchain 2.0, known as digital finance stage, introduces economic, financial and market applications by programming far from simple currency transactions. Among them, the most significant features of blockchain 2.0 are the introduction and application of smart contracts. Blockchain 3.0, known as digital society stage, provides decentralized solutions for a variety of industries beyond just financial scene.
Johannes Sedlmeir, Hans Ulrich Buhl, Gilbert Fridgen, Robert Keller
Zusammenfassung Der enorme Stromverbrauch von Bitcoin hat dazu geführt, dass in Wissenschaft und Praxis oft eher undifferenziert Diskussionen über die Nachhaltigkeit von Blockchain- bzw. Distributed-Ledger-Technologie allgemein geführt werden. Allerdings ist die Blockchain-Technologie bereits heute alles andere als homogen – nicht nur hinsichtlich ihrer Anwendungen, die mittlerweile weit über Kryptowährungen hinaus in Wirtschaft und öffentlichen Sektor reichen, sondern auch bezüglich ihrer technischen Charakteristika und insbesondere ihres Stromverbrauchs. Dieser Beitrag fasst den Status quo des Stromverbrauchs verschiedener Implementierungen von Blockchain-Technologie zusammen und geht dabei besonders auf das kürzlich erfolgte Bitcoin Halving sowie sogenannte ZK-Rollups ein. Wir argumentieren, dass Bitcoin und andere Proof-of-Work-Blockchains zwar in der Tat sehr viel Strom verbrauchen, aber bereits heute alternative Blockchain-Lösungen mit deutlich geringerem Stromverbrauch verfügbar sind und weitere vielversprechende Konzepte erprobt werden, die gerade den Stromverbrauch von großen Blockchain-Netzwerken in naher Zukunft noch einmal deutlich senken könnten. Daraus schließen wir, dass die Kritik am Stromverbrauch von Bitcoin zwar legitim ist, jedoch daraus nicht eine Energieproblematik von Blockchain-Technologie generell abgeleitet werden darf. In vielen Fällen, in denen mithilfe von energieeffizienteren Blockchain-Varianten Prozesse digitalisiert oder verbessert werden können, darf sogar per Saldo durchaus mit Energieeinsparungen gerechnet werden.
Abstract In this work, the issue of predicting the edge weight in Bitcoin network has been addressed by leveraging community structure that involves members who trust with each other in their transactions. The proposed model consists of two main stages; the first one is the detection of trusted Bitcoin communities by implementing Newman- Girvan algorithm. In the context, the attributes of node have been modeling in different ways to get different structure of communities each time. Secondly, prediction the missing edge weight based on the neighbors of edge-source in community. In other words, the trust values that pointed to edge-target by neighbors are averaged to represent the prediction of missing edge weight. Practically, the model has been evaluated using two real-world datasets; Bitcoin-OTC and Bitcoin-Alpha datasets. The experimental results explicate the effectiveness of the proposed model comparable with other methods, where the minimization percentage for Bitcoin-OTC dataset is 4% and 18% for all and partial edges respectively. As for Bitcoin-Alpha dataset are 0% and 30% for all and partial edges respectively.
As a decentralized network structure based on P2P network and with cryptography as its core, blockchain technology establishes trust relationship on the network by pure mathematical method without relying on intermediate platform. There are three problems in traditional digital copyright industry: difficult to confirm the rights, difficult to authorize rights and difficult to maintain rights. This paper makes a deep research on the blockchain technology of digital copyright. With the help of self-supervision, traceability and decentralization of blockchain technology, as well as the Map function, we can improve the data transmission rate in the multi-channel model and obtain accurate time complexity values. Hence the probability of all kinds of digital copyright infringement events is greatly reduced.
Big Data and Digital Economy
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
To address the frequent security incidents of token smart contracts,this paper proposes a formal modeling and verification method based on integer overflow vulnerabilities of token smart contracts.The DAO and BEC vulnerability attacks are analyzed,and on this basis the security attributes of token smart contracts are defined.Then the method introduces global variables,numeric comparison and other constraints to extend the modeling language of token smart contracts,so as to enable it to support the formal representation of various statements of smart contracts.Finally,the idea of mathematical induction is used to optimize the model verification procedure of the SmartVerif tool in order to avoid infinite traversal of state space.Experimental results show that the proposed method can successfully find out the integer overflow vulnerabilities of token smart contracts,and has strong versatility.
The emergence of blockchain has attracted many researchers from various fields to use its distinctive features to solve different problems. One of the issues that can be mitigated is network security. Blockchain is a decentralized ledger without the control of a central authority. It tracks all transactions and registers them on the digital block. These blocks are immutable, immutable and distributed. This paper introduces the challenges facing network security and the opportunities for network security using blockchain.
Big Data and Digital Economy
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Abstract Blockchain is the systematic integration innovation of distributed accounting, consensus mechanisms, point-to-point transmission, encryption algorithms, intelligent contracts and other technologies, providing a solution for information security and social trust in the Information Age. The principles, characteristics and deep thinking of Blockchain technology can promote thinking innovation and solve the existing obstacles, including the weak effectiveness of education activities, the burnout of education subjects and the lack of mutual trust in the field of ideological and political education. This paper focuses on analyzing the expanded application of Blockchain theory in ideological and political education. The fit of blockchain technology application of educational thinking innovation and value orientation is 0.928; there is a linear relationship, and after applying blockchain technology for one year, the difference between the students’ thinking tendencies and the six aspects of their performance, except for the desire for knowledge, is statistically significant (P<0.5) when compared with the situation of the students one year ago. In addition, it is emphasized that we should build Learn Ledger, promote the participation degree of education subjects, establish a new interactive trust mechanism and intensify endogenous incentives to promote the deep transformation of ideological and political education, enhance the effectiveness of educational content, expand the participation in educational activities, and strengthen the multi-subject trust-relationship reconstruction of ideological and political education.
Blockchain is a distributed shared ledger and database. Because of its unforgeable, traceable, open, and transparent, and collective maintenance features, it has laid a solid foundation of “trust”. At the same time, the blockchain also brings hidden dangers of data security. How to protect the data security of digital currency in blockchain transactions is the direction of this article. This article first analyzes the basic structure of the blockchain, and then takes Bitcoin in the digital currency as an example to introduce its technical principles and implementation process. Finally, the PBFT algorithm is proposed, which can search for the application of encryption in the blockchain consensus mechanism. The experimental data verification proves the future application prospects of blockchain-based digital currency using PBFT algorithm to protect data security.