Erdhi Widyarto Nugroho, R. Rizal Isnanto, Luhur Bayuaji
The Federated Byzantine Agreement (FBA) achieves rapid consensus by relying on overlapping quorum slices. But this architecture leads to a high dependence on the availability of validators when about one fourth of validators go down, the classical FBA can lose liveness or fail to reach agreement. We thus come up with an Adaptive FBA architecture that can reconfigure quorum slices intelligently based on real time validator reputation to overcome this drawback. Our model includes trust scores computed from EigenTrust and a sliding window behavioral assessment to determine the reliability of validators. We have built the intelligent adaptive FBA model and conducted tests in a Stellar based setting. Results of real life experiments reveal that the system is stable enough to keep consensus when more than half of the validators (up to 62 percent) are disconnected, which is a great extension of the failure threshold of a classical FBA. A fallback mode allows the network to be functional with as few as three validators, thus showing a significant robustness enhancement. Besides, a comparative study with the existing consensus protocols shows that Adaptive FBA can be an excellent choice for the next generation of blockchain systems, especially for constructing a resilient blockchain infrastructure.
Money laundering in Bitcoin networks threatens social stability and undermines global economic security, making its detection a top priority for governments and relevant sectors. However, existing detection methods often struggle to extract critical transaction information due to the inherent heterogeneity and massive noise in Bitcoin networks, resulting in low detection performance. To address this challenge, we propose a novel suspicious subgraph-enhanced method to identify covert money laundering activities in Bitcoin networks. Our core innovation is a semantic-driven subgraph analysis strategy, realized as a proactive financial purification mechanism. This strategy fundamentally reframes the problem by focusing on semantic relevance over mere topology, thereby achieving active denoising and functional isolation. Crucially, it successfully mitigates the inherent feature dilution problem in Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) by providing a semantically pure, signal-rich subgraph input. Experiments on large-scale Bitcoin transaction data confirm the practical superiority of our approach, demonstrating a significant 20% increase in recall compared to traditional Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) models, with high overall accuracy (96%) and recall (98%), thus meeting stringent regulatory requirements.
Este boletim quinzenal gratuito visa analisar o comportamento do Bitcoin, um ativo financeiro digital, oferecendo notícias, análises gráficas e informações sobre as mais recentes novidades, softwares e aplicativos relacionados a essa criptomoeda. Nosso objetivo é enriquecer as discussões em torno da cultura do Bitcoin, colaborando com a Amauta, uma instituição de economia criativa que busca disseminar conhecimento sobre inovação, educação e finanças na comunidade acadêmica e empresarial. Esperamos que este trabalho represente uma contribuição valiosa para o debate. Reconhecemos a importância do Bitcoin e seu impacto na economia global, motivo pelo qual nos dedicamos a fornecer informações atualizadas aos nossos leitores. Acreditamos que ao promover discussões e compreensão sobre o Bitcoin, podemos incentivar a adoção e o uso responsável dessa tecnologia disruptiva. Para além das análises e informações sobre o Bitcoin, incentivamos ativamente nossos leitores a se educarem sobre finanças pessoais e investimentos. Acreditamos que, munidos do conhecimento adequado, todos podem tomar decisões financeiras inteligentes e bem informadas. Comprometemo-nos a fornecer informações de alta qualidade e precisas, esforçando-nos para manter nossos leitores atualizados sobre as últimas tendências e desenvolvimentos no mundo do Bitcoin. Esperamos que este relatório seja do seu agrado e contribua para uma compreensão mais aprofundada do Bitcoin e das finanças pessoais em geral.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is not merely a new competing technology as it challenges the core principle of traditional banking by eliminating the bank's role as an intermediary in financial services. This thesis establishes a foundation by examining DeFi technology and analyzing the specific areas of banking where its disruptive impact is most significant. Through a literature review and case examples, the study examines the strategic responses traditional banks have developed to address the disruption caused by DeFi technology. The research indicates that the threat of banks being displaced is unfounded; rather, the most likely scenario is strategic adaptation. Banks have responded to the DeFi challenge in various ways, including developing their own private blockchain-based platforms and tokenizing assets (Real-World Asset tokenization). Meanwhile, central banks have begun researching and developing the launch of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Additionally, regulatory authorities have responded to DeFi disruption by tightening the associated regulatory environment. The thesis concludes that banks are not competing directly with open DeFi; instead, they are integrating its technological benefits, such as automation and efficiency, into their regulated operations. The future financial system appears as a model of coexistence that combines the technological innovation of DeFi with the institutional trust of banks.
Xiangke Zhang, Chunxiao Ye, Ning Wang, Jelly Gan · 5 authors
With the growth of Ethereum, smart contracts have become a core component of blockchain platforms. However, the widespread adoption of smart contracts raises security concerns, as their immutability and interaction with digital assets make them attractive targets for attackers. Existing detection methods often struggle to address emerging, complex attack vectors and to accurately identify specific vulnerability types. We present SimSecLLM, an auditing framework grounded in code similarity that anchors LLM reasoning to vetted secure code snippets. The framework first builds a reference corpus containing more than 35,000 distinct security-vetted functions collected from 150 widely used libraries. For each smart contract under audit, it analyzes internal functions and their call relationships, establishes a detection order via topological sorting, and incorporates callee context. It then retrieves the closest secure exemplar from the curated reference corpus, extracts code-level modifications through comparison, and leverages a fine-tuned LLM in the detection stage to reason over these changes in order to assess whether they introduce vulnerabilities and to identify their potential types. SimSecLLM was evaluated on the DAppSCAN-source dataset with 3,527 function-level samples across seven types of vulnerabilities, demonstrating superior performance over existing methods with an accuracy of 93.1 % and an F1score of 87.1 %. A case study on the Redacted Cartel vulnerability illustrates that similarity-guided analysis effectively reveals security-critical code modifications, thereby supporting the identification of vulnerability root causes.
We present the Y.I.N. Mazari Architecture, an 8-pillar privacy-preserving federated learning system built around a novel cryptographic ordering: DP→ZK→HE (Differential Privacy →Zero-Knowledge Proof →Homomorphic Encryption) applied to federated learning gradients. The name Y.I.N. honors Yanis, Ilyan, and Neylia Mazari, while embodying the core principle that Your Information Never leaves your control.We identify a fundamental barrier in privacy-preserving federated learning: the inability to verify that participants correctly applied differential privacy noise while maintainin computational efficiency. The Y.I.N. Mazari Ordering resolves this barrier through a specific sequencing of cryptographic operations.This paper extends the classical architecture into the quantum domain through the QFED-MAZARI system,introducing the Mazari Quantum Ordering: QDP→MUA→DQEM(Quantum Differential Privacy →Manifold Unitary Aggregation →Distributed Quantum Error Mitigation). Experimental results demonstrate 99.37% model accuracy with 223× speed improvement in classical systems, while the quantum extension achieves 91.9% accuracy with 40–50% communication reduction. Together, the classical and quantum architectures establish a comprehensive 30-year intellectual property runway.
Electronic voting is crucial for contemporary democratic processes. However, conventional systems often struggle with a single point of failure and insufficient support for intricate voting semantics, especially in ranked-choice elections requiring distinct ranking constraints. Although blockchain technology enhances fault tolerance and auditability, existing blockchainbased solutions primarily focus on simpler voting schemes, encountering difficulties in effectively verifying privacy-preserving ranked ballots. To address this gap, we propose AranVoting, an innovative blockchain-based ranked-choice voting scheme designed to ensure anonymity and fairness through homomorphic encryption. AranVoting employs a structured matrix ballot format alongside zero-knowledge proof to ensure the correctness of the ballot format. Furthermore, we introduce a smart contractdriven counting mechanism that facilitates the availability and transparency of ballot tallying through gradient incentive and committee election algorithms. Our security and performance evaluations demonstrate that AranVoting provides secure rankedchoice voting, effectively guaranteeing essential security properties such as anonymity, correctness, and verifiability while maintaining practicality and reasonable computational overhead throughout the voting process.
Code-based group signatures are a promising candidate for post-quantum cryptography, but existing code-based group signature schemes struggle with the challenges of large signature sizes caused by zero-knowledge proofs. To address this issue, we propose a novel and practical code-based group signature scheme built upon the Schnorr-Lyubashevsky paradigm. Our construction achieves constant-size signatures and public keys, independent of the group cardinality, and its security is formally proven in the random oracle model under the hardness assumptions of the Syndrome Decoding (SD) and Decoding One Out of Many (DOOM) problems. To alleviate the performance bottleneck of rejection sampling, we design and implement a batch processing optimization for the signing algorithm, which significantly accelerates signature generation by applying vectorization to the most computationally intensive operations. Experimental results show that the optimization renders signing practical. Our scheme features the most compact signature size among existing codebased group signature schemes. All related code is open-sourced and available at https://github.com/Latters/CodeBasedGroupSig/.
Petronela Alice Grigorescu, Alexandru Cătălin Neagu, Cătălin Alexandru, Marius Dan Coman
In an era of rising digitalization, terms focused on blockchain, smart contracts, and artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly prominent both theoretically and practically in financial markets and implicitly in the performance of businesses. Considered the second blockchain in the world, smart contracts are designed to automate the agreement between the contract creator and recipient in a time-efficient manner for both participants. The purpose of this article is to present the benefits of using smart contracts in blockchain applications. The research methodology will thus involve a qualitative analysis of specialized publications, specifically a review that examines the effects of using smart contracts from 2015 to 2024. The results obtained from the research illustrate the benefits generated by using this type of blockchain and build support for professionals as well as for companies.
Accounting is undergoing a radical transformation due to the integration of traditional information systems with blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. Openness, automation, and smart decision-making will all become a reality via this connection. However, traditional SAIS are typically centralized and do not inherently include blockchain or AI. In this study, Smart Accounting Information System (SAIS) technologies are redefined through the integration of these technologies to enhance transparency, automation, and real-time assurance. Blockchain technology's immutability, traceability, and AI's ability to recognize abnormalities and predict provide a more intelligent and secure auditing process. Conventional accounting methods have several issues, including delayed audits, lack of transparency, fraud, and human mistakes. Existing systems fail to provide intelligent anomaly detection and real-time transaction traceability. Financial reporting and audits need immutable records and proactive analytics. There is an urgent need for a single framework to ensure this requirement and its quick implementation. This study proposes the collaborative blockchain-AI audit trails method (CBAATM) for Smart Accounting Information Systems. This is done due to the difficulties mentioned. AI-powered modules utilize fuzzy inference to dynamically analyze audit risks and Random Forest classifiers to detect real-time fraud. This research project utilizes zero-knowledge proofs and homomorphic encryption to simultaneously handle data aggregation, privacy, and independent audits. Using middleware application programming interfaces makes integration with ERP and AIS systems easy. Throughout the testing process, the model outperforms conventional audits. The methodology, according to statistical research, ensures the detection accuracy ratio of 95%, integrity of the blockchain 99.2% of the time, identifies abnormalities 94.1% of the time, satisfies compliance standards 95.4% of the time, and reduces audit latency by 41.5% compared to other existing models.
In recent years, the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) has spread rapidly in various fields, enhancing technology and facilitating human life. To improve operational efficiency, user experience, and predictive maintenance of IoT applications, dynamic device recruitment and service provisioning are adopted instead of manual and fixed architectures. This raises challenges in adaptability, trust, and security, especially in heterogeneous environments such as smart cities. This paper utilizes blockchain and smart contracts to automate the process of IoT device recruitment and service provisioning. It proposes a decentralized architecture including a trust authority component for authentication, a smart contract generation component, and a negotiation component for dynamic contract refinement. This ensures a seamless and secure communication between the service provider and requester without reliance on third-party and manual intervention. The architecture components are presented in detail, and the full process from registration and authorization to dynamic contract generation and negotiation is then explained. It shows how manual intervention is reduced while ensuring trust and adaptability. Future work includes model formalization, prototype implementation, and performance evaluation.
Ethereum's swift development has elevated phishing scams to primary security concerns within blockchain networks. Current detection methods face three key challenges: insufficient hierarchical temporal modeling, inadequate pattern-aware structural recognition, and the lack of effective mechanisms to integrate multi-modal information. This paper presents an innovative approach for phishing detection using Multi-modal Hierarchical Temporal Graph Representation (MHTGR). Our method analyzes phishing behaviors by jointly considering temporal dynamics and structural topology of transaction data. First, we construct Hierarchical Transaction Graph Network (HTGN) to organize raw transaction records into structured graph representations. Then, multiple feature modalities are extracted through a Parallel Feature Extraction (PFE) module. Finally, these features are integrated via a Multi-modal Fusion (MMF) module for comprehensive phishing detection. Empirical evaluations conducted across multiple datasets from Ethereum demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing methods, providing effective solutions towards blockchain security.
Inter-local cooperation (ILC) has long served as a pragmatic governance response in the Philippines, enabling local government units (LGUs) to address policy challenges that transcend administrative boundaries. Yet national experience under Section 33 of the 1991 Local Government Code shows that cooperation has often remained voluntary, procedurally thin, and dependent on Memoranda of Agreement rather than on institutionalized legal personality, pooled fiscal authority, and durable governance systems (Republic of the Philippines 1991; DILG, NEDA, and GIZ 2010; Miels and Mayer 2025). This article examines the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as a case of subnational legal innovation following the enactment of the Bangsamoro Local Governance Code (BLGC) in 2023 (BAA 49, 2023). Drawing on documentary analysis and national ILC experience, the study analyzes how the BLGC reconfigures statutory authority for inter‑LGU cooperation and why BLGC‑aligned institutions have not yet consolidated in routine practice. The findings show that the BLGC provides one of the most explicit statutory foundations to date for horizontal cooperation – authorizing joint organizations, shared authority, and multi‑stakeholder participation – yet inter‑local cooperation in BARMM remains largely MOA‑based at present, reflecting an early, pre‑institutionalization stage (BAA 49, 2023; Miels and Mayer 2025). Interpreting this as reform sequencing rather than policy failure, the article demonstrates that rules‑in‑form are in place while the rules‑in‑use required for implementation – procedural clarity, pooled fiscal systems, organizational capacity, and integration into regional governance – are still being developed (Ostrom 1990; Pierson 2000; Mahoney and Thelen 2010). In doing so, the study reframes early implementation gaps as expected features of institutional transition and highlights the BLGC’s broader contribution to modernizing the legal foundations of inter‑local cooperation beyond Section 33, offering insights relevant to decentralization reform and intergovernmental governance in the Philippines.
Decentralization is a critical security property for blockchain systems. Ethereum adopts a protocol design with multiple incentive mechanisms to encourage validators to contribute to decentralization. However, little empirical evidence exists on the actual effectiveness of Ethereum's incentive mechanism. In this paper, we collect and analyze data on validator rewards from Ethereum's consensus and execution layers, examining both the distribution of rewards and the degree of decentralization in the current network. Our findings show that Ethereum's reward allocation exhibits a relatively balanced distribution, with neither staking pools nor exchanges earning disproportionately higher returns simply due to their larger stake. These findings reveal the effectiveness of Ethereum's incentive design and the current state of decentralization, providing a foundation for future improvements in mechanism design and exploration.
A zero-knowledge proof demonstrates that a fact (like that a Sudoku puzzle has a solution) is true while, counterintuitively, revealing nothing else (like what the solution actually is). This remarkable guarantee is extremely useful in cryptographic applications, but it comes at a cost. A classical impossibility result by Goldreich and Oren [J. Cryptol. ‘94] shows that zeroknowledge proofs must necessarily sacrifice basic properties of traditional mathematical proofs - namely perfect soundness (that no proof of a false statement exists) and non-interactivity (that a proof can be transmitted in a single message). Contrary to this impossibility, we show that zero-knowledge with perfect soundness and no interaction is effectively possible. We do so by defining and constructing a powerful new relaxation of zero-knowledge. Intuitively, while the classical zero-knowledge definition requires that an object called a simulator actually exists, our new definition only requires that one cannot rule out that a simulator exists (in a particular logical sense). Using this, we show that every falsifiable security property of (classical) zero-knowledge can be achieved with no interaction, no setup, and perfect soundness. This enables us to remove interaction and setup from (classical) zero-knowledge in essentially all of its applications in the literature, at the relatively mild cost that such applications now have security that is “game-based” instead of “simulation-based.” Our construction builds on the work of Kuykendall and Zhandry [TCC ‘20] and relies on two central, longstanding, and well-studied assumptions that we show are also necessary. The first is the existence of non-interactive witness indistinguishable proofs, which follows from standard assumptions in cryptography. The second is Krajíček and Pudlák’s 1989 conjecture that no optimal proof system exists. This is one of the main conjectures in the field of proof complexity and is the natural finitistic analogue of the impossibility of Hilbert’s second problem (and, hence, also Gödel’s incompleteness theorem). Our highlevel idea is to use these assumptions to construct a prover and verifier where no simulator exists, but the non-existence of a simulator is independent (in the logical sense of unprovability) of an arbitrarily strong logical system. One such logical system is the standard axioms of mathematics: ZFC.
Materi Crypto Assets dalam Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ini disampaikan dalam Rapat Pleno Majelis Tarjih dan Tajdid Pimpinan Pusat Muhammadiyah yang diselenggarakan di Yogyakarta pada 14 Desember 2025. Paparan ini bertujuan memberikan landasan konseptual dan analitis yang jernih mengenai aset kripto dalam perspektif teknologi, ekonomi, dan hukum, sebagai bahan pertimbangan ilmiah dalam proses tarjih dan ijtihad institusional. Pembahasan difokuskan pada klarifikasi kedudukan aset kripto sebagai aset digital, bukan sebagai alat pembayaran yang diterbitkan negara, serta penjelasan mengenai mekanisme kerja blockchain dan smart contract sebagai fondasi utama ekosistem DeFi. Materi ini menyoroti bagaimana aset kripto memperoleh nilai dari fungsi, manfaat, kelangkaan, dan kepercayaan pengguna, sekaligus membedakannya dari praktik spekulatif murni yang tidak memiliki underlying value. Selain itu, disampaikan pula pemetaan jenis-jenis aset kripto—termasuk cryptocurrency, stablecoin, utility token, security token, governance token, NFT, dan Real World Asset (RWA) token—beserta contoh penerapan nyatanya dalam sektor keuangan, industri kreatif, dan layanan publik. Paparan ini juga mengkaji risiko inheren aset kripto, seperti volatilitas, risiko teknologi, dan potensi penyalahgunaan, sehingga menegaskan pentingnya prinsip kehati-hatian, literasi, dan tata kelola. Materi ini mengaitkan perkembangan aset kripto dengan kerangka regulasi nasional, khususnya Peraturan Otoritas Jasa Keuangan Nomor 27 Tahun 2024, untuk menunjukkan bahwa aset kripto telah berada dalam rezim pengaturan resmi. Dengan demikian, materi ini diharapkan menjadi rujukan objektif dan proporsional bagi Majelis Tarjih dan Tajdid dalam merumuskan sikap, pandangan keagamaan, dan rekomendasi kebijakan yang berbasis ilmu pengetahuan serta kemaslahatan umat.
Perkembangan teknologi blockchain telah melahirkan aset kripto sebagai bentuk aset digital baru yang semakin banyak dimanfaatkan dalam berbagai aktivitas ekonomi, khususnya melalui sistem Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Namun, masih terdapat berbagai kesalahpahaman di masyarakat yang memandang aset kripto semata-mata sebagai alat spekulasi, perjudian, atau bahkan disamakan dengan uang. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk memberikan pemahaman yang komprehensif mengenai konsep aset kripto, karakteristiknya sebagai aset digital, serta perannya dalam ekosistem DeFi. Pembahasan diawali dengan penjelasan mengenai teknologi blockchain sebagai fondasi utama, dilanjutkan dengan klasifikasi aset kripto, fungsi ekonomi, serta mekanisme pemanfaatannya dalam layanan keuangan terdesentralisasi seperti pertukaran aset, pinjam-meminjam, dan tata kelola berbasis token. Selain itu, kajian ini juga menyoroti sumber nilai aset kripto, risiko yang melekat, serta pentingnya regulasi dan tata kelola yang baik, khususnya dalam konteks kebijakan di Indonesia. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahwa aset kripto memiliki nilai dan manfaat nyata sebagai aset keuangan digital, meskipun tetap mengandung risiko yang memerlukan literasi, edukasi, dan pengawasan yang memadai.
With the advent of machine learning and quantum computing, the 21st century has gone from a place of relative algorithmic security, to one of speculative unease and possibly, cyber catastrophe. Modern algorithms like Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) are the bastion of current cryptographic security protocols that form the backbone of consumer protection ranging from Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) in the modern internet browser, to cryptographic financial instruments like Bitcoin. And there's been very little work put into testing the strength of these ciphers. Practically the only study that I could find was on side-channel recognition, a joint paper from the University of Milan, Italy and King's College, London\cite{battistello2025ecc}. These algorithms are already considered bulletproof by many consumers, but exploits already exist for them, and with computing power and distributed, federated compute on the rise, it's only a matter of time before these current bastions fade away into obscurity, and it's on all of us to stand up when we notice something is amiss, lest we see such passages claim victims in that process. In this paper, we seek to explore the use of modern language model architecture in cracking the association between a known public key, and its associated private key, by intuitively learning to reverse engineer the public keypair generation process, effectively solving the curve. Additonally, we attempt to ascertain modern machine learning's ability to memorize public-private secp256r1 keypairs, and to then test their ability to reverse engineer the public keypair generation process. It is my belief that proof-for would be equally valuable as proof-against in either of these categories. Finally, we'll conclude with some number crunching on where we see this particular field heading in the future.
The continuous growth of interconnected systems, cloud services, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices has expanded the attack surface and intensified modern cyber risks, revealing significant weaknesses in centralized security architectures. Blockchain technology, characterized by decentralized control, immutable record-keeping, and cryptographic verification, offers a robust alternative for strengthening cybersecurity across multiple operational domains. This review analyzes the core technical components of blockchain such as distributed ledgers, consensus mechanisms, and network models and explains their relevance to enhancing security functions. It further examines practical applications in network protection, identity and access management, IoT device security, cloud data governance, and software supply-chain assurance. It highlights emerging research directions, including lightweight blockchain solutions for constrained IoT environments, cross-chain security architectures, artificial intelligence-based blockchain threat analytics, and quantum-resilient cryptographic infrastructures.
This is a derivative of the German version that you can find here. Many modifications and improvements have been made in this version. The Gaia Economy – The VisionThis new economic and monetary system is a project for structural balance. It addresses the feelings and incentives of the wealthy, the middle class, and the poor alike. Critically, this new economic and monetary system makes it significantly easier to establish genuine social-democratic systems. Instead of allowing inequality to develop unchecked – which must then be corrected by taxing the rich – the Gaia Economy preventatively stops the accumulation and hoarding of wealth from the start. A central mechanism is demurrage (a circulation-maintenance fee): money does not need to be “recaptured” through taxes; instead, a continuous stream of funds is created by the natural decay of idle balances. Technically, this means: Treasury Accrual: Idle balances pay a small fee (e.g., 0.5% per month) into a transparent Treasury. Operations & Impact: This Treasury funds system operations (security, audits) and the Impact Layer. Separation: The Impact Layer decides allocations based on transparent, verifiable criteria, but it never gates or controls the Payment Layer. Status & ImplementationThis manuscript represents the first half of the complete work; further chapters detailing advanced implementations and global scaling are forthcoming. However, we are not waiting for the text to be finished to act. The Payment Layer and Impact Layer have already been programmed. They are fully functional and ready to use as an application. This app will be released officially alongside the implementation of the first pilot project. The Gaia Economy is conceived as a learning system – errors are data that can be changed through a rigorous governance process. We invite you to build, test, and improve with us. Collaboration requests, constructive criticism, and questions are highly welcome. Contact: info@dzydent.com Abstract: The Gaia Economy (U.S. Edition) The DiagnosisThe current monetary system contains a structural flaw: positive interest and compound interest automatically shift wealth upward, generating permanent pressure for growth and rationalization. This "invisible vacuum cleaner" siphons purchasing power from the real economy into financial asset hoards. The Solution: Two Separated Modules The Gaia Economy introduces a new economic infrastructure consisting of two deliberately separated layers: Payment Layer (Gaia Coin): A neutral, non-speculative payment rail. It anchors a light circulation pressure (demurrage) in code. This ensures money keeps flowing, making hoarding unattractive. It serves as a medium of exchange, not a wealth storage vehicle. It is non-custodial and privacy-preserving (no on-chain PII), utilizing zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to validate transactions without disclosing personal details. Impact Layer (Voluntary Incentives): An optional layer that rewards verifiable contributions to the common good (e.g., ecological repair, care work, education). It operates on a cash-basis: rewards (Vouchers) are paid out of realized Treasury inflows, ensuring the system never creates debt or inflation. It evaluates entities, not individuals, preventing "social credit" surveillance. Governance & SafeguardsTo prevent capture, the Gaia Economy utilizes common-good councils and a multi-quorum governance system. Changes to core parameters require a supermajority and a mandatory timelock (delay), ensuring no rule changes happen overnight. Implementation StrategyIntroduction proceeds via closed-loop pilots (municipalities, universities, merchant associations) that run in parallel with the U.S. Dollar. The Gaia Economy is positioned as complementary infrastructure – compatible across political camps – secured through clear legal frameworks (e.g., 501(c)(3) stewardship, licensed partners for fiat ramps). Executive Summary (For Decision-Makers) Starting Point & GoalThe Gaia Economy responds to structural mis-incentives in the existing monetary system (hoarding, wealth concentration, growth pressure) with a practical, legally grounded alternative that runs voluntarily in parallel to the USD. Core Solution Gaia Coin (Payment Layer): A digital cash replacement with embedded demurrage to stimulate local circulation. Architecture: Energy-efficient consensus, pseudonymous wallets, open-source code. Neutrality: Payments are never gated by behavior or AI. Impact Layer (Incentives): A voluntary layer that rewards verifiable outcomes. Mechanism: Impact Vouchers are minted for verified actions and redeemed for Gaia Coin. Pacing: Payouts are strictly paced by the Budget_k (realized treasury inflow) to ensure solvency. Verification: Relies on off-chain evidence and Human-in-the-Loop review; AI is assistive only. Governance & Compliance (U.S. Context) Immutable Core: The separation of Payment/Impact and the prohibition of positive interest are unchangeable. Parameter Registry: Adjustable parameters (e.g., demurrage rate) require Supermajority + Timelock. Compliance: Pilots start as non-custodial closed loops. Any custody or fiat interaction is handled exclusively by licensed partners (banks/MTLs), ensuring compliance with U.S. regulations without burdening the protocol. Introduction & Scaling Phase 1 (Pilot): Private, closed-loop implementation with anchor merchants and a local nonprofit. Phase 2 (Regional): Integration with municipal services and licensed on/off-ramps. Phase 3 (Network): Inter-regional connection. Benefits Short term: Faster local circulation (Velocity), reduced merchant transaction costs, transparent funding for local projects. Mid term: Measurable strengthening of care, education, and environmental protection through the Impact Layer. Long term: A socially stable, ecologically compatible economy that relies on incentives rather than coercion. Immediate Next Steps The software and the blockchain currency are ready. The path forward is execution: Sign non-controlling MOUs with pilot partners (City/University). Define the Impact Catalog v1 (verifiable metrics for local needs). Deploy the Protocol v1.0 App (Wallet + POS + Treasury Dashboard). Establish Governance (GIP process, Council selection). Deploy Monitoring (Public Dashboards for Treasury and Impact KPIs). Keywords: Gaia Economy, Demurrage, Dual-Module Economic Architecture, Cash-Basis Budgeting, Impact Vouchers, Non-Custodial, DAO Governance, Social Democracy, Justice, Fair, Anti-Hoarding, Common Good, Sustainable Development.Work to be done next:Part X – Technical Blueprint & Pilot-to-Scale Roadmap (expanded, detailed, integration-ready) Part XI – The Mathematics of GAIA (Balance Equations) (10-point micro-structure per subsection) Part XII – Environment, Animals, Public Health (Special Topics) (10-point micro-structure per subsection) Part XIII – Practice: U.S. Case Studies (10-point micro-structure per subsection)
This study examines the growth trends of cryptocurrencies and their associated taxation policies, focusing on the unique technological advancements and regulatory frameworks shaping the market. Utilizing a systematic literature review methodology, this study synthesizes findings from academic and institutional sources to explore cryptocurrency growth and global taxation policies, the research investigates the adoption metrics of major cryptocurrencies and the comparative taxation policies across various jurisdictions. Findings reveal a substantial increase in cryptocurrency adoption driven by institutional investments and technological innovations. However, taxation policies vary widely, impacting investor behavior and market dynamics. This research contributes to understanding the interplay between cryptocurrency growth and taxation, providing insights for investors and policymakers.
This research undertakes a comparative analysis of Thailand’s anti-money laundering (“AML”) regulatory framework in relation to the most recent recommendations issued by the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) concerning money laundering risks associated with Security Token Offerings (“STOs”) conducted via blockchain technology. The objective is to identify potential regulatory gaps and areas for improvement in Thailand’s existing AML measures, particularly in the areas of regulatory oversight, licensing requirements, customer due diligence (“CDD”), recordkeeping obligations, and the reporting of suspicious transactions by virtual asset service providers (“VASPs”). The methodological basis of the research is the comparative analysis method, examining Thailand’s applicable AML laws and regulations alongside FATF guidelines, relevant literature, and case law. The research found that Thailand’s applicable AML laws, including the relevant regulations, are inadequacies and inefficiencies in the regulatory oversight of securities offerings that utilize emerging technologies. Specifically, the current regulatory framework is insufficient in effectively preventing or mitigating risks related to money laundering and the financing of terrorism for investors. As a result, it does not adequately ensure the security and integrity of investments in decentralized systems, therefore, it fails to provide sufficient safeguards to protect investors from inadvertently becoming involved in unlawful activities. These shortcomings indicate a lack of alignment with international standards issued by the FATF. This research is useful to legislative authorities, lawyers, law students, and regulatory bodies, especially in Thailand, and only limited to the regulation of money laundering in Thailand and does not provide empirical research.
Fintech plays an instrumental role in advancing global ESG objectives, leveraging a more inclusive, transparent, and accountable financial system. Our paper explores the occurrence of dynamic linkages between Fintech and ESG across various dimensions, examining how the strength of their interconnectedness drives the energy transition towards clean technology. Using daily data from 31st May 2018 to 1st August 2024, we apply a time-varying parameter robust Granger causality method coupled with quantile technique to provide the first attempt in the literature on the dynamic causal patterns between the strength of Fintech-ESG connection and Cleantech energy transition risk (CETR). We find asymmetry in the connectedness across different quantiles, with Fintech sectors acting primarily as shock transmitters, while most ESG indexes are receivers. The 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict reduces the connectedness between Fintech and ESG, with minimal effects on spillover direction. Our results show a heterogeneous response to shocks in developed markets, while developing ones tend to react more homogeneously. Additionally, we find strong evidence of a time-varying causal relationship between Fintech-ESG connectedness and CETR, with the conflict exacerbating asymmetry, especially at the lower quantile. Recent trends suggest a modest resurgence in this connection, signalling a re-emergence of the Fintech-ESG connection influence on CETR. The impact of extreme events tends to taper-off over time, suggesting that the prolonged conflict-driven market environment may have stabilized sufficiently to restore Fintech's role in promoting ESG initiatives, thereby supporting the ongoing transition to clean technology. • Fintech sectors except Distributed Ledger transmit shocks, while most ESG stocks are receivers. • Developed ESG markets heterogeneously respond to shocks, unlike developing ones. • The 2022 Russia-Ukraine military conflict reduces connectedness between Fintech and ESG. • Strength of Fintech-ESG connection impacts CETR heterogeneously across the distribution. • Time-varying causality between Fintech-ESG connectedness and CETR under different market conditions.