A blockchain is an open, decentralized ledger that provides a cryptographically secure way of \ntransacting without the need of trusted third parties. The technology has garnered a variety \nof claims and perceptions regarding the future of financial institutions. Originally introduced \nto circumvent the incumbent financial intermediaries, blockchain technology has increasingly \nattracted interest from the very institutions that it was meant to replace. \nIn this exploratory study, we seek to analyze the impact of blockchain technology on the \ncurrent market infrastructure by conducting a literature review and in-depth interviews with \nexperts and stakeholders from the financial industry. Our findings suggest that smart contracts \ncan automate and potentially decentralize a variety of transactions. Moreover, the \nintroduction of initial coin offerings has brought about a new means of peer-to-peer fundraising \nin a space previously dominated by venture capital firms, but financial intermediation \nwill likely remain to support the effective functioning of financial markets by resolving information \nasymmetry. \nFurthermore, we find that the distributed and immutable nature of blockchain technology \nprovides a robust and secure infrastructure by increasing the integrity of data. This will interconnect \ninstitutions across financial markets by streamlining settlement- and verification \nprocesses and potentially expanding global financial services in ways previously neglected. \nThe foundation of the financial system will, however, remain. We have considered various \naspects such as regulatory concerns and market designs to unfold the extent of potential \ngains and limitations provided by blockchain technology. \nWe conclude that there are yet many unknowns with respect to the extent and speed with \nwhich blockchain technology will impact financial services and intermediation. However, \nthe technology will improve efficiency in current infrastructures, as well as facilitate new \ndecentralized ways of transacting.
This paper explores the impact of blockchain on the music industry with a focus on the implications technology can have for artists. By investigating the industry's supply chain, we argue that the on-demand streaming platforms (e.g. Spotify and Apple Music) have allowed consumers to easily access music products but have introduced a level of intermediation between artists and customers leading to inefficiency of the royalty payments systems. The goal of this research is to identify blockchain applications that would enable the disintermediation of the industry, allowing artists to create and capture more value from their own products. This paper discusses some applications and concepts related to blockchain, including smart contracts, record keeping, revenue management, and metadata analysis. By presenting some examples, we assess the current state of the technology's development in the music industry, how companies are introducing this new model into the market, and some limitations these models may have.
This study aims to determine the extent to which businesses in New Zealand are aware of Bitcoin and have offered them as a payment method to their customers. This study aims to generate verifiable statistics on Bitcoin prevalence so as to help both businesses and government, formulate usage or regulation policy. An online survey will be conducted among businesses by sending the questionnaire to the owners and managers or people who constitute the executive management of the business.
Fennie Wang, Primavera De Filippi, Alexis Collomb, Klara Sok
In the blockchain space, most Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) will not be true ecosystem tokens and will therefore be well suited as securities token offerings, using registration exemptions and trading through decentralized alternative trading systems. Open-source blockchain-based ecosystems may choose to rely on fundraising practices typical of start-ups and private enterprises for the pre-production phase. Once they have established some profit centers, they may choose the use of coin offerings to fund post-production phases. Most importantly, token issuers might choose to devise creative corporate forms combining nonprofit structures, which would oversee access to shared open-source resources, with for-profit structures to develop specific business or decentralized applications.
Eduardo Salcedo, José Pineda, Karlene Cousins, Daniel G. Conway · 7 authors
Blockchain is one of the 21st centuries most impactful inventions. In addition to creating and facilitating crypto-tokens such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stellar, Ripple, etc. this technology is impacting several industries. Blockchain technology is playing an important role in decentralizing transaction based systems that were otherwise traditionally managed centrally. In addition to decentralizing transaction networks, Blockchain has been at the center of developments in the field of smart contracts, information systems such as logistic management systems, payroll management systems, human resource management systems, medical information systems and other fin-tech infrastructure. We propose this panel to engage the Information Systems Community about the current and future research trends in Blockchain based information systems.
The almost meteoric rise of Bitcoin has brought with it an investment boom in cryptocurrencies. The cryptocurrency markets however, are not functioning entirely as one would expect. Markets seem to have mispriced assets on a scale that would not happen in the stock market. Perhaps the most notable of these phenomena is the KimChi Premium or the relative overvaluing of bitcoins in Korea when compared to international markets \n \nThe aim of the study will be to establish whether or not the KimChi premium exists, what is the scale of the premium and give some clues to why the premium has come about. \n \nThe first chapter is an introduction to the subject, where the subject is outlined. \n \nThen chapters 2-4 will explain the key ideas and concepts to understand the phenomena being examined as well as giving a backdrop against which the KimChi premium can be assessed. The chapters 2,3 and 4 seek to explain the price setting mechanisms, foreign exchange policy and Bitcoin as a larger phenomenon respectively. \n \nChapters 5-6 are the research and conclusion chapters where the data collected is assessed and analyzed and conclusions are drawn.
The fintech revolution, crowdfunding, and blockchain-based funding have dramatically reduced borrowing and lending transaction costs. Many have argued that ultimately this would lead to the complete disintermediation of financing for start-ups and SMEs. However, persistent asymmetric information and moral hazard problems have led to the creation of a new class of intermediaries that play a vital role in these new innovative financing methods. The authors review the new ecosystem built around initial coin offerings (ICOs), and in particular study the role of the ICO aggregators, and listing and rating portals. Using their hand-constructed database of all ICOs from inception in 2013 to September 2017, the authors find robust statistical confirmation that extensive coverage of a particular fundraising campaign in the ICO aggregators’ lists is associated with more successful token sales. However, ratings data seem and appear to vary considerably across different ratings websites and appears to be of mediocre quality. Investors should therefore treat such ratings with caution. <b>TOPICS:</b>Currency, information providers/credit ratings, risk management
Since its initial inception, cryptocurrency has hit the world with both intrigue and skepticism. It was acting as an alternative form of currency that people could use that required no regulative authority to back it. As such, people had the option to make purchases in anonymous manners, leading to what most would consider unethical behaviours, and ultimately resulted in cryptocurrency gaining a poor reputation. However, specific trends in society have helped cryptocurrency growth to continue. A societal loss of trust in the traditional banking system and the positive perception towards the blockchain technology, which is a peer-to-peer system that cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, operate on are two such trends. Furthermore, recent years have witnessed exponential increases in the prices of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. This has led to widespread stories of people getting rich through cryptocurrency ownership, having been “wise-enough” to buy in on the cryptocurrency trend early enough to reap in the rewards of such as decision. And as a result, leading to more people wanting to be the next big success story and buying in on the cryptocurrency trend. This growing trend has also gained the attention of several multi-national companies, such as Expedia, Subway and Microsoft, who have begun accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Even though specific cases have seen this strategy implemented successfully, the volatility of cryptocurrency still poses a risk that has hindered the ability of cryptocurrency to become a widespread payment option. Given the current trend surrounding cryptocurrency, this thesis serves the purpose is to investigate another alternative option for cryptocurrency use. That option being the potential for cryptocurrency to be used as an alternative payment option in the online gambling industry. Where it has been used as a payment option in other areas, it would be interesting to identify whether there is potential for the cryptocurrency to be adopted and used in this particular industry as well. In order to investigate this phenomenon from both the consumer and industry point-of-views, this thesis used a mixed-methods study, which consisted of a qualitative study and quantitative study. Our qualitative study focused on the industry side of the phenomena. To carry it out, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with managers of a large online gambling company in order to gain deeper knowledge on their perspectives regarding their perceptions towards how cryptocurrency adoption would affect the online gambling industry. Based on the information gained from the interviews, specific themes were identified and further analyzed through a thematic analysis. Those themes included blockchain in online gambling, holding cryptocurrency, regulation and the reputation of cryptocurrency. Our results indicated that managers did not believe the industry was ready to adopt cryptocurrency due to specific regulatory factors, but that it had future potential, mainly regarding its association to blockchain. Our quantitative study focused on interpreting the perceptions of online gamblers regarding cryptocurrency use in online gambling. Specifically, identifying what would motivate them to use cryptocurrency in online gambling and if they were willing to accept it as a payment option. Based on the results obtained through a survey we distributed, we used linear regression to identify if online gamblers were willing to accept cryptocurrency. The resulting outcome was a moderate level of rejection towards cryptocurrency acceptance. The linear regression model also allowed us to interpret which predictor variables held the greatest level of importance towards predicting cryptocurrency acceptance. Those specific variables included cryptocurrency anonymity, usability, ownership, and belief in the future of cryptocurrency. When comparing the results from both studies through triangulation, we were able to conclude that both consumers and the industry were not ready to fully accept cryptocurrency usage in online gambling. However, both sides indicated positive outlooks towards its future potential as a payment method.
Today there exist no standardized payment solution for performing micropayments between Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This study was conducted to examine whether Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) could be suitable as a micropayment solution for IoT. Also, a more general demand for a scalable micropayment solution was examined, along with its potential. A qualitative study was performed by first conducting eight unstructured interviews regarding the subjects DLT and IoT, to be used as a complement to the literature research. Then, one unstructured and five semi-structured interviews were held to answer the research questions. The Bitcoin blockchain does not work as a micropayment solution, due to scalability issues. This study identified a positive outlook on the idea of Lightning Network, solving the scalability problems with off-chain transactions. However, since a fully functioning network is yet to be implemented, there exist uncertainties, for example regarding how decentralized it will really become. Also, issues considering the usage of DLT:s on small IoT devices arose, stemming from CPU and storage constraints. A demand of a sustainable micropayment solution was identified, possibly being a catalyst of the emergence of pay-per-use business models. Considering more powerful IoT devices, the Lightning Network could function as a micropayment solution. Such a technology is sought after, and its applicability will only increase as IoT devices evolve.
Perceived price volatility of cryptocurrencies may distract practitioners from further developments in the blockchain space that may generate audit and other implications. As next step applications and developments are built on top of existing blockchain programming, the potential implications for both accounting and legal practitioners may be substantive. Especially as different blockchain tools and platforms become more robust and conducive for business and transactional use, the importance of being able to attest and report on this information will move closer toward the mainstream. This article discusses the rise of blockchain applications in a manner applicable for both practitioners and academics, as well as the implications these applications will have on attestation and compliance reporting.
This paper studies the efficiency of the cryptocurrency market by looking at the distribution of bitcoin prices over time and across exchange-currency pairs. We document persistent differences in relative bitcoin prices (or discounts), with a half-life of 1 day, and a distribution which is leptokurtic, skewed to the right, with a standard deviation of 3.9%. The variability of discounts is larger in countries with tighter capital controls due to the combined effect of market segmentation and local supply and demand shocks, which we relate to location-specific mining activities and investor attention.
The implementation of smart contract technology with their plausible applications in a business to business are explored. The thesis work shows how Blockchain technology works on the concept of decentralized system which is beneficial to eliminate the need for central authority. The thesis focuses on elimination of challenges pertaining to the selected departments in an organization. The thesis resolves challenges pertaining to lack of transparency, traceability and significant time-delays while in the process of decision making. The influence of blockchain technology and smart contract technology to eliminate these challenges are discussed. Logic of the smart contract and working of the blockchain pertaining to a specific industrial case study are demonstrated. Methodology to set up a smart contract interface in a business to business setting is investigated in this thesis. An observation study has been done in order to show how transparency, traceability and time delay in decision making is achieved by using smart contract interface. This thesis also shows how the blockchain and smart contract technology tries to implement coordination theory.
Blockchain is deeply affecting finance procedures and investors behaviour. This technology is gaining momentum also in other disciplinary fields, since it allows to ensure reliability and trust in transaction operations. This paper aims at presenting how blockchain procedure could be applied to maintenance operations, ensuring a lean process and disintermediation between the agreements clauses and the implementation of the Operations Maintenance and Repair (OM&R) interventions. This can be done thanks to the application of the smart contracts to the use phase of the buildings. The research opens to a new scenario in OM&R, disintermediating OM&R contracts from the need for a contracts’ supervisor, which typically ensure the compliance with the terms of the contracts when OM&R contracts are defined. This could lead to a fairer and transparent asset management, despite some drawbacks are presented in the conclusion of the paper.
The promise of using blockchain technology in legal transactions is that it will enable smart contracts to self-execute without intermediaries and arbitrators. However, blockchain cannot access data outside of its network, so a smart contract can self-execute on its own only within the blockchain. If the contract requires a delivery of goods or a performance of services in the real world, an external agent must verify the facts and add the information to the blockchain. Blockchain can ensure that the data entered has not been subsequently modified, but it cannot guarantee that it is true. The article analyses the role of blockchain oracles - i.e. third-party services entrusted by the parties with verifying real-world data that can trigger smart contract execution. The need for legal impartiality of such agents is discussed.