Blockchain Papers

Evgeny Lyandres

No abstract is available for this record.

A Sowmiya, Kavitha Muthukumaran, V Jhansi, Jesus Milton Rousseau S. · 6 authors

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) represents a transformative shift in the financial landscape by using blockchain technology to enable peer-to-peer services without traditional intermediaries. This study adopts a socio-cultural lens to examine the key factors that influence individuals’ intentions to adopt DeFi technologies. In particular, we explore how performance expectancy (perceived usefulness), effort expectancy (perceived ease of use), social influence, and innovativeness drive user adoption, and how these relationships are moderated by demographic factors such as age, gender, education, and income. Drawing on survey data (N = 425) collected in India (an emerging market context), the research employs Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the proposed framework. Results indicate that perceived usefulness and ease of use are significant positive predictors of DeFi adoption. Social influence and individual innovativeness also encourage adoption, especially among younger and more educated users. Moreover, demographic characteristics shape the strength of these effects: for instance, younger users find DeFi more useful and easier to use, women are more impacted by social recommendations, and higher-income individuals are more inclined to adopt innovative financial solutions. These findings underscore that DeFi adoption is not just a technical or economic process, but a culturally situated phenomenon influenced by social dynamics and user diversity. The paper discusses implications for improving digital financial inclusion and strategies for stakeholders to foster broader DeFi acceptance across different social groups

Jihoon Goh, Giho Jeong

No abstract is available for this record.

Nimmi choudhary, Ram Pravesh

Crowdfunding for social goods has become a transformative force in India's development ecosystem, emerging as a crucial citizen-driven financing model for healthcare assistance, educational support, social welfare, environmental conservation, and community development projects.As India progresses toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the importance of innovative, decentralized, and participatory funding mechanisms has grown significantly.Traditional sources of funding-government schemes, philanthropic donations, CSR initiatives, and institutional grants-are often insufficient to meet the enormous financial needs of low-income and marginalized communities.In this context, digital crowdfunding platforms such as Ketto, Milaap, ImpactGuru, Donatekart, and GiveIndia offer flexible, inclusive, and accessible channels for mobilizing public contributions.Unlike commercial crowdfunding, donation-based crowdfunding provides no financial returns to donors.Therefore, donors' decisions are fundamentally shaped by behavioural finance factors rather than economic incentives.This research adopts a behavioural finance perspective to examine the psychological, emotional, cognitive, and social determinants that influence campaign success for SDG-aligned social crowdfunding projects in India.The study investigates how donor motivations-including altruism, empathy, moral obligation, warm-glow effect, identity-driven giving, and social influence-interact with campaign design elements, platform architecture, and trust signals to determine fundraising outcomes.Findings from prior research and platform-level data indicate that trust remains the strongest driver of donation intention.Indian donors tend to be risk-averse due to concerns about fraud, misrepresentation, and misuse of funds.As a result, trust-building mechanisms-such as verified fundraisers, authentic documentation, medical proof, transparent financial breakdowns, institutional endorsements, and frequent campaign updates-significantly increase credibility and donor confidence.Emotional storytelling is another powerful determinant; campaigns featuring identifiable beneficiaries, vivid visuals, personal narratives, and urgent medical needs evoke stronger empathy and are more likely to attract support.Social proof and herding behaviour also play a critical role.Donors frequently look to the actions of others to validate campaign legitimacy, especially when information is limited.High engagement metrics-number of donors, comments, shares, early contributions-signal popularity and urgency, triggering positive herding effects that accelerate the fundraising process.Campaigns that achieve early momentum typically experience higher visibility, stronger network effects, and higher conversion rates.In India, where community networks, family ties, religious identity, and regional affiliations are strong, such social cues significantly enhance campaign reach:

Abdul Basit Mawloud, Mustafa T. Saleh

The rapid changes under modern technology have had a significant impact on the business and investment sector, with the emergence of new businesses and investments in these businesses beginning to be leveraged by investors and specialized companies to generate significant profits.Therefore, virtual assets have emerged and spread, representing new, modern, and highly advanced digital tools. Specialized and appropriate legislation has been developed by a number of countries, with millions of dollars allocated to them. Individuals and investors have begun trading in them through specialized digital platforms, which are characterized by high security and guarantees.Virtual assets vary in several types, including cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and virtual land.From the above, the emergence of virtual assets has provided a distinct qualitative leap, thus necessitating the establishment of a specialized authority to monitor virtual assets traded and invested in across various platforms. This will achieve significant security for those engaged in these activities. Furthermore, there is a clear and significant legislative deficiency in the treatment of virtual assets at the Arab level in many countries, which constitutes a significant challenge in this regard. Furthermore, there is the problem of providing guarantees for the emerging technologies in various financial and commercial transactions. It is noteworthy that the Emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates was the first to do so, under the Virtual Assets Law issued in 2022, the Yemeni Virtual Assets Draft Law of 1445 AH, and the Jordanian Virtual Assets Law, which was passed in May 2025.

Marufjon Yoqubjonov

Decentralized finance (DeFi) represents a novel financial ecosystem built on open blockchain networks and smart contracts, enabling the provision of financial services without traditional intermediaries. This article examines the conceptual foundations of DeFi, its legal nature, associated risks, and regulatory challenges through a comparative analysis of international practice and the emerging legal framework of Uzbekistan. Particular attention is paid to the composability of DeFi protocols, the legal uncertainty surrounding smart contracts, and the difficulty of identifying responsible parties in decentralized systems. The study analyzes scholarly perspectives, including those of Schär and Zetzsche, and reviews regulatory responses in the United States and the European Union, with a focus on enforcement actions and AML/CFT concerns. It further evaluates risks such as cyberattacks, fraud, money laundering, and consumer harm, highlighting the systemic vulnerabilities of DeFi infrastructures. The article argues that while DeFi offers transparency and innovation, effective regulation requires balancing technological neutrality with robust consumer protection and compliance mechanisms. The findings suggest that Uzbekistan may adopt a cautious, technology-integrated regulatory approach to harness DeFi’s potential while mitigating legal and financial risks.

Michele Pasqua, Sofia Mari, Ferdinando Santoro, Mariano Ceccato

With Ethereum’s rise as the leading platform for decentralized applications, securing Ethereum smart contracts, very often having a financial impact, becomes paramount. Existing research lacks a comprehensive overview of Ethereum defects (and the terminology is often inconsistent), making it difficult for researchers, developers, and industry professionals to navigate this nowadays critical topic. This necessitates a unified source of information detailing defects affecting Ethereum and its smart contracts, along with their root causes, impact, and mitigation strategies. In this paper, we propose a knowledge base of defects , encompassing security vulnerabilities and code flaws found in the Ethereum blockchain and its smart contracts. We started by performing a systematic literature review to identify the currently known defects and then created a hierarchical tag system to classify them. This system was then used to build an ontology allowing users to easily search and learn about Ethereum defects. We also implemented EDOV, a tool to graphically navigate and explore the ontology, perform search queries, and visualize defect details, such as examples of defective/fixed code. As new defects may appear in the future, the ontology and the tool are built with extensibility in mind. We believe this research is a valuable contribution to helping developers and practitioners avoid common mistakes, improving the overall security and reliability of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Mohammad Fardad, Elham Mohammadzadeh Mianji, Maryam Basereh, Fiona Delaney · 7 authors

Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) represent a paradigm shift in digital record-keeping and transaction processing, offering unprecedented levels of transparency, security, and immutability. These technologies, which underpin cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and innovative applications across various sectors, are rapidly evolving. However, their widespread adoption and integration into mainstream economic and social systems are contingent upon the establishment of robust standardization and regulatory frameworks. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the current landscape of blockchain and DLT standardization and regulation. We examine the critical role of key standardization bodies, including ISO, ITU-T, IEEE, and W3C, analyzing their contributions, published standards, and ongoing initiatives. We also examine the existing regulatory approaches across various regions and evaluate international harmonization efforts. Furthermore, this survey identifies and discusses the overlaps, gaps, and conflicts in current standards development, as well as the technical, legal, and governance challenges inherent in this field. Finally, we highlight opportunities for enhancing interoperability, coordinating global efforts, and promoting inclusivity in standardization, offering recommendations for future directions to establish a harmonized and secure global blockchain ecosystem.

Rashid Hamed Al-Balushi, Zaeem Nasser Al-Shuaibi

Abstract Blockchain technology is emerging as one of the most profound and cutting-edge innovations of the twenty-first century, providing a decentralized, immutable system for recording transactions. It has enabled the tokenization of distinctive digital assets, including art, music and real estate, through non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs enable asset transfers by operating on pseudonymous blockchain networks, thereby preventing the disclosure of the owner’s real-world identity. While it enhances user privacy and innovation, it also creates significant anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing challenges. Fraudsters and other bad-faith actors can use these assets to obfuscate dirty money and illicit financial transactions, given lax or non-existent regulations on NFTs and extremely lax Know-Your-Customer compliance. In light of the above, the authors explore the nexus between NFTs and financial crime (with a particular focus on the legal frameworks of the Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom) in this article. The paper aims to evaluate how each jurisdiction’s response to NFT-related abuse has evolved and been effective in practice. This will be done through a review of existing laws, enforcement, regulations and regulatory gaps. The article ends with specific policy recommendations to enhance regulatory certainty, enforcement effectiveness and international cooperation, supporting an innovation-first approach to the NFT space tempered by necessary measures to prevent criminal abuse.

Amirreza Kazemikhasragh

No abstract is available for this record.

Imam Mabrur, Ahadiah Agustina

The rapid growth of financial technology (fintech) has transformed the global economic landscape, including the Islamic finance sector, which seeks to align innovation with Shariah principles. This study aims to analyze the opportunities and challenges of applying blockchain technology and smart contracts in the Islamic fintech ecosystem, particularly in the context of strengthening Islamic financial principles in the digital era. It employs a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach combined with qualitative descriptive analysis of fifteen scientific articles indexed in Scopus, ScienceDirect, Garuda, and Sinta, covering the period from 2020 to 2025. The data was analyzed thematically to identify patterns of findings, research gaps, and academic and practical implications. The results indicate that blockchain technology and smart contracts have the potential to enhance transparency, efficiency, and accountability in Islamic financial transactions. Their implementation also opens opportunities for product innovation, such as smart sukuk and Islamic crowdfunding, which foster Shariah-based financial inclusion. However, challenges remain, including unclear Shariah digital regulations, technological complexity, low digital literacy, and issues of ethics and data security. The synthesis of findings highlights the need for collaboration among regulators, technology experts, and scholars to develop adaptive and Shariah-compliant fintech standards.

Loso Judijanto, Usup Usup

This study does a bibliometric analysis of financial inclusion research within the framework of a sustainable economy, utilizing papers indexed in a prominent scientific database from 2000 to 2025. The study utilizes performance analysis and scientific mapping methodologies through VOSviewer and Bibliometrix to investigate publication patterns, prominent authors, institutions, countries, and networks of keyword co-occurrence. The findings indicate that financial inclusion and sustainable development form the primary conceptual core, intricately linked to economic growth, financial development, and sustainability. Contemporary research is mostly focused on digital issues, including fintech, digital financial inclusion, and decentralized finance, which progressively associate inclusive finance with environmental performance, green innovation, and the reduction of carbon emissions. Networks of international collaboration indicate that emerging economies, notably China, India, Pakistan, and South Africa, assume a prominent role, but such collaboration is predominantly localized rather than entirely global. The study elucidates the structure and history of this interdisciplinary domain, identifies significant research clusters and deficiencies, and delineates avenues for further exploration of inclusive and sustainable financial systems.

Yuexin Xiang, Qishuang Fu, Yuquan Li, Qin Wang · 6 authors

Memecoins, emerging from internet culture and community-driven narratives, have rapidly evolved into a unique class of crypto assets. Unlike technology-driven cryptocurrencies, their market dynamics are primarily shaped by viral social media diffusion, celebrity influence, and speculative capital inflows. To capture the distinctive vulnerabilities of these ecosystems, we present the first Memecoin Ecosystem Fragility Framework (ME2F). ME2F formalizes memecoin risks in three dimensions: i) Volatility Dynamics Score capturing persistent and extreme price swings together with spillover from base chains; ii) Whale Dominance Score quantifying ownership concentration among top holders; and iii) Sentiment Amplification Score measuring the impact of attention-driven shocks on market stability. We apply ME2F to representative tokens (over 65% market share) and show that fragility is not evenly distributed across the ecosystem. Politically themed tokens such as TRUMP, MELANIA, and LIBRA concentrate the highest risks, combining volatility, ownership concentration, and sensitivity to sentiment shocks. Established memecoins such as DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE fall into an intermediate range. Benchmark tokens ETH and SOL remain consistently resilient due to deeper liquidity and institutional participation. Our findings provide the first ecosystem-level evidence of memecoin fragility and highlight governance implications for enhancing market resilience in the Web3 era.

Nunes, Felipe

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) faces a "Capital Inefficiency Trilemma," relying on overcollateralization due to a lack of off-chain financial identity. This paper introduces Zolvency, the Zero-Knowledge Solvency Layer—a cryptographic infrastructure bridging this gap. By utilizing zkTLS for authenticated data extraction from Web2 sources (e.g., tax portals, banking apps) and zkVMs (SP1) for verifiable computation, Zolvency issues privacy-preserving Soulbound Tokens (SBTs) that attest to financial solvency. This enables under-collateralized lending for Real World Assets (RWA) in emerging markets, unlocking liquidity while preserving user privacy and data sovereignty.

Deepak Gupta, Rambhateri, Tulsi Rani

No abstract is available for this record.

Swati Sachan, Dale S. Fickett

This research introduces the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) TrustBoost Framework, which combines blockchain technology and Explainable AI to address challenges faced by lenders underwriting small business loan applications from low-wealth households. The framework is designed with a strong emphasis on fulfilling four crucial requirements of blockchain and AI systems: confidentiality, compliance with data protection laws, resistance to adversarial attacks, and compliance with regulatory audits. It presents a technique for tamper-proof auditing of automated AI decisions and a strategy for on-chain (inside-blockchain) and off-chain data storage to facilitate collaboration within and across financial organizations.

Syed Redzuan Syed Yusuf, Nadhirah Nordin

The evolution of the global digital financial system is generating two main forms of digital currencies: a centralized currency system, such as Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and a decentralized cryptocurrency system, like Bitcoin and Ether. This study aims to analyze the conceptual differences between the centralized (CBDC) and decentralized (Bitcoin and Ether) models and each operating mechanism. The study also examines how both models impact the stability of the economy and adherence to Shariah principles. Using the qualitative approach and exploratory design, the study examines materials on CBDC, Bitcoin, and Ether. The study collects data from central bank reports, monetary policy documents, academic articles, and technical papers published by relevant institutions. The content analysis method should identify similarities and differences between the currencies in terms of system architecture, infrastructure, technological efficiency, energy, governance and compatibility with Shariah principles. According to the study, CBDC, Bitcoin and Ether represent three distinct paradigms: Bitcoin's decentralized system, through proof-of-work, produces rather limited functionality to emphasise individual freedom and privacy, while Ether innovates the system via a switch to proof-of-stake and smart contracts, which leads to greater functionality. CBDC, on the other hand, maintains a centralized system to ensure monetary stability, but with a compromise on users' privacy. Hence, while maintaining the value of blockchain transparency and traceability without sacrificing economic stability, the study proposes a hybrid approach in order to improve transaction efficiency. The study suggests implementing a regulatory sandbox involving authorities, economists and Shariah experts as an initial test measure of this innovation to ensure security for users and compliance with the principles of Shariah in the development of a healthier digital financial ecosystem.

Nilaish, Farhatnida Unnisa, Bhupendra Bahadur Tiwari

Blockchain and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) are transforming the financial world by redefining how financial transactions and services operate. This paper explores the convergence of these technologies, emphasizing their potential to disintermediate traditional banking, enhance financial inclusivity, and increase transparency and efficiency. While these innovations hold significant promise, they are also met with challenges, including regulatory uncertainty, security vulnerabilities, and technological limitations. This study analyzes the underlying technologies, key platforms, and comparative frameworks that highlight how DeFi is challenging conventional financial systems, while suggesting avenues for sustainable adoption and global impact

Supiati Supiati

The rapid expansion of Indonesia’s digital financial ecosystem has significantly advanced financial inclusion and innovation through the growth of fintech platforms, digital payments, and crypto-asset adoption. However, this transformation introduces multifaceted risks, including cyber threats, data breaches, digital fraud, regulatory uncertainty, and money-laundering vulnerabilities associated with crypto-assets and decentralized finance. This study employs a systematic literature review to examine the challenges and innovations in digital financial risk control within Indonesia’s fintech and digital asset sectors. Findings indicate that effective risk mitigation relies heavily on regulatory coordination, advanced supervisory technology, consumer digital literacy, and robust data protection practices. RegTech and SupTech innovations powered by artificial intelligence support real-time risk monitoring and enhance compliance with global standards such as FATF recommendations. Nevertheless, successful digital financial governance also requires algorithmic accountability and ethical technology deployment. This study underscores that safeguarding stability, trust, and consumer protection is essential to achieving a secure and inclusive digital financial system while enabling responsible innovation.

Tushara Kottayi, Akshay Kasare, Bhawna Sharma

The rapid growth of fintech start-ups has led to a drastic change in the financial ecosystem in India, but at the same time, they are under scrutiny from various regulatory bodies because of the volume of risk associated with digital finance (specifically financial fraud, data security, and transaction risk) associated with digital finance. While compliance with the various regulations has historically been a lengthy manual process that involved multiple compliance departments and therefore had a high level of inherent error risk, with the introduction of blockchain technology, there is now the potential to develop compliance systems that use automated and tamper-proof processes that allow for an increased amount of transparency, auditability, and operational efficiencies. Thus, the main focus of this research paper is to evaluate how a blockchain-based system for regulatory compliance might impact fintech start-ups. A case study was conducted on CryptoShield Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a Mumbai-based RegTech company specializing in distributed ledger–based compliance platforms. The data was collected during the internship through observation, workflow analysis, discussions with professionals, and review of anonymized compliance records.The findings indicate that fintech firms adopting blockchain compliance tools have observed 35–45% reduction in manual reporting hours, improved accuracy, faster audit completion cycles, and stronger trust among investors and regulators. However, awareness remains shallow due to skill gaps, cost perception, and lack of standardized guidelines. The final recommendations of the study on stronger digital adoption efforts, awareness programs, and capacity-building initiatives will significantly accelerate the pace of blockchain-enabled compliance transformation in India.

Armaan Sundaramurthy

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has emerged as a transformative force in global finance, offering trustless, blockchain-based alternatives to traditional intermediated systems. This paper examines how DeFi innovations — such as tokenized assets, decentralized exchanges (DEXs), and automated smart contracts — are reshaping corporate fundraising. It analyzes the efficiency, accessibility, and regulatory implications of using decentralized protocols for capital raising, comparing DeFi mechanisms (e.g., IDOs, security token offerings, DAOs) with traditional equity and debt issuance models. Using case studies and data from leading DeFi ecosystems (Ethereum, Polygon, Solana) and corporate blockchain pilots, we evaluate DeFi’s impact on fundraising costs, investor reach, and transparency. The findings suggest that while DeFi offers reduced friction and democratized access to capital, challenges in regulation, governance, and investor protection must be resolved before large-scale corporate adoption.

Henry Segun Uwabor, Igba Emmanuel, Onuh Matthew Ijiga

The emergence of decentralized finance (DeFi) has transformed global financial ecosystems by enabling transparent, permissionless, and automated investment systems. However, the inherent volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and data complexity within DeFi ecosystems pose significant challenges for risk modeling and compliance assurance. This review explores the integration of AI-powered predictive frameworks to enhance risk assessment, fraud detection, and regulatory compliance in decentralized finance investment systems. By leveraging machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and natural language processing (NLP) models, the study examines how predictive analytics can proactively identify anomalous transactions, assess smart contract vulnerabilities, and optimize portfolio risk exposure. The paper also evaluates how AI-driven systems can align DeFi operations with emerging regulatory frameworks, including KYC/AML protocols, data protection standards, and algorithmic auditing requirements. Additionally, the review highlights the role of explainable AI (XAI) in promoting transparency, interpretability, and trust among regulators and investors. Through a synthesis of existing literature and real-world applications, this paper presents a comprehensive framework illustrating how predictive AI technologies can bridge the gap between financial innovation and regulatory governance in DeFi. The findings underscore the potential of intelligent, adaptive, and compliant DeFi systems capable of ensuring sustainable growth, investor protection, and systemic stability in the evolving digital financial landscape.

Padraig Corcoran, Anqi Liu, Jing Chen, ‪Irena Spasić

Abstract We present a spatial analysis of Bitcoin-accepting merchants using BTC Map, a global crowdsourced dataset built on OpenStreetMap, to provide ground-level evidence on Bitcoin’s payment ecosystem. While prior research emphasizes macroeconomic drivers, our analysis of approximately 11,000 merchants shows that local adoption is more strongly shaped by community dynamics and sectoral niches. Acknowledging quality variance in crowdsourced data, we focus on verified regional clusters. We find a global concentration of adoption in the hospitality sector, localised clusters driven by grassroots initiatives rather than national policy and significant presence in alternative healthcare and IT services. These findings highlight the limits of top-down interventions such as El Salvador’s legal tender law and underscore the role of social networks in sustaining adoption. By contrasting spatial micro-level evidence with national studies, this work positions merchant data as a key lens for understanding Bitcoin’s evolving role as a medium of exchange.

Anand Singh Rajawat

<p>Existing financial systems are bloated with inefficiencies in their operation, lack of transparency and are characterized by and fallible and fragile accumulation points, whereas emerging decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms lack intelligent risk management, self-adaptive governance and provable security assurances. This paper proposes the Intelligent, Verifiable Financial Ledger (IVFL), a novel framework that harmoniously converts both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain to counteract their core drawbacks. AI-based smart contracts of a formally verifiable character that allows the intelligent, secure and auditable automated execution of complex financial transactions an agile and informed governance system, which is represented by the use of AI enhancements to the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). Simulation analysis shows that the IVFL framework enables substantial enhancements compared to baseline models, such as detecting anomalies with over 95% accuracy, decreasing operational overhead by 40 percent and becoming less vulnerable to coordinated network attacks. Coming back to provable security and adaptive intelligence, the IVFL framework represents a credible way of creating financial systems.</p>