Aditya Choudhary, Amol P. Bhagat, D. P. Kothari, Praveen Choudhary
This This paper explores the transformative potential of blockchain technology across various sectors, positioning it as a digital alchemy capable of reshaping the foundations of trust, transparency, and decentralization in the digital age. Moving beyond its initial association with cryptocurrencies, blockchain is analyzed as a multi-dimensional framework for secure, immutable, and decentralized data management. Through a synthesis of technical insights, case studies, and emerging trends, we investigate blockchain’s capacity to revolutionize domains such as finance, supply chains, governance, and healthcare. The study also critically examines the limitations, scalability challenges, and ethical considerations surrounding widespread adoption. Ultimately, this paper argues that blockchain is not merely a disruptive technology but a foundational infrastructure that could redefine how value, information, and authority are exchanged in digital ecosystems.
Construction industry often faces challenges such as payment delays, contract disputes, and a lack of transparency and administrative efficiency. Smart contract technology based on blockchain offers an innovative approach to address these issues through transparent, automated, and tamper-resistant systems. This study explores various applications of blockchain and smart contracts in construction projects, including solutions for automated progress payments, digital contract management, quality improvement, and technology-based dispute resolution, using the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method. Smart contract systems can execute payments automatically based on verified work progress, while blockchain technology ensures secure and immutable data recording. Additionally, integration with technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the Internet of Things (IoT) enhances real-time project management. Despite offering numerous benefits, the implementation of these technologies still faces challenges such as regulatory uncertainty, infrastructure readiness, and the need for standardization. This study highlights that the adoption of blockchain and smart contracts holds significant potential to drive efficiency, fairness, and digital transformation in the construction sector.
This chapter explores the relationship between blockchain technology and accounting ethics, highlighting how blockchain technology aligns with the principles of accounting ethics, which are the rules and guidelines businesses use to maintain financial integrity. This chapter used a thematic literature review to identify similarities between blockchain technology and accounting ethics, including security, transparency, integrity, fraud reduction, confidentiality, professional competence, access to financial data, reliable data, distributed ledger systems, reduced auditor dependence, and stakeholder trust. These similarities demonstrate that blockchain technology holds significant promise for handling ethical considerations in accounting. It explores the possibility of blockchain technology to enhance ethical considerations in the accounting profession. Blockchain can improve accuracy, transparency, integrity, and security in accounting records and positively impact decision-making processes. This study proves blockchain’s efficacy in advancing accounting practices and reinforcing ethical values in accounting records.
Harsh Kumar, Aijaz Ahmad Chopan, Makinder Kour, Zubair Fayaz
This paper explores the integration of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) into the Metaverse and its transformative impact on virtual economies. By examining platforms like Decentraland and Sandbox, the study highlights how DeFi protocols—such as lending, staking, and token swapping—enhance financial accessibility, user engagement, and asset liquidity. The paper also identifies key challenges including scalability, security vulnerabilities, regulatory uncertainty, and user adoption barriers. Opportunities such as decentralized ownership, financial inclusion, and cross-platform interoperability are discussed. Through a synthesis of academic and industry literature, this research underscores the potential of DeFi to reshape digital finance and virtual interactions. The study concludes by calling for further exploration of governance, behavioral trends, and regulatory frameworks to ensure a secure, inclusive, and sustainable decentralized Metaverse.
Decentralized blockchain payment infrastructures are rapidly emerging as transformative tools for reshaping financial transactions in the United States.Traditional payment systems remain heavily reliant on intermediaries such as banks, card networks, and clearinghouses, which impose significant transaction fees and introduce settlement delays.These inefficiencies disproportionately affect small businesses, underbanked populations, and cross-border remittances, where costs and time lags create barriers to broader participation in the financial ecosystem.Blockchain-based payment systems, by contrast, utilize distributed ledgers and smart contracts to enable peer-to-peer transactions with reduced reliance on intermediaries.This structural shift holds the potential to substantially lower transaction fees, streamline settlement processes to near-real-time, and enhance transparency through immutable record-keeping.From a broader economic perspective, decentralized payment solutions align with the growing demand for financial inclusion and democratized access to capital flows.They allow micro-entrepreneurs, gig workers, and rural communities to participate more effectively in economic activities by reducing entry costs and providing verifiable transaction histories.In the U.S. context, the integration of blockchain into mainstream finance could complement existing systems such as ACH, FedNow, and card-based networks, while offering alternatives that better serve marginalized groups.Narrowing the focus, evidence suggests that fintech innovators piloting blockchain platforms have already demonstrated measurable reductions in processing costs and settlement times for retail and institutional payments alike.Nonetheless, challenges persist in terms of regulatory clarity, interoperability with legacy infrastructures, and concerns over scalability and energy use.Addressing these issues through targeted policy reforms and publicprivate partnerships will be critical to ensuring that decentralized blockchain payment infrastructures can deliver on their promise of inclusive, efficient, and secure economic participation.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is among the most revolutionary blockchain technology applications that changes how financial systems operate globally by eliminating the middlemen and allowing peer-to-peer transactions via smart contracts. DeFi platforms built on decentralized networks recreate core banking services (e.g., lending, borrowing, trading, and asset management) in a transparent, borderless, and programmable setting. This paper looks at the ways in which DeFi is disrupting conventional banking and the regulation issues that have emerged due to the phenomenon. It discusses the technical foundations of DeFi, its benefits of inclusiveness, efficiency, and innovation and its risks of volatility, security, and systemic vulnerability. Among the major regulatory issues identified in the paper are jurisdictional ambiguity, anti-money laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) compliance, investor protection, and financial stability. Applications like Uniswap, Aave as well as MakerDAO example opportunities and threats. The same problem has dominated the United States, European Union and the emerging economies, as has been described in the comparison analysis of the response in regulation; tension of stimulation of innovation and protection of the financial structure. Research indicates that although DeFi has a revolutionary potential in relation to open finance, its decentralized form makes it difficult to regulate. It needs to be a middle ground between international coordination, hybrid sandboxes and technology neutral policy to not just promote resilience and consumer protection, but also creativity.
Although the P2P power transactions using the multiagent deep deterministic policy gradient (MADDPG) algorithm has been extensively studied, there are still challenges in privacy protection and training incentives. Furthermore, the stability and efficiency of the strategy decreases when dealing with nonindependent identically distribution (Non-IID) data from heterogeneous prosumers. Therefore, this article proposes a blockchain-enabled asynchronous federated learning-MADDPG (BEAFL-MADDPG) framework designed to enhance the training efficiency of heterogeneous prosumers while safeguarding data privacy. The framework includes a novel P2P energy trading model that facilitates energy trading amidst incomplete information while ensuring privacy assurances. In addition, a BEAFL-MADDPG algorithm is proposed, which accelerates training processes and enables parallel computation among agents. This algorithm enhances the efficiency of algorithm and empowers the training of diverse prosumers. Furthermore, a blockchain-enabled training mechanism and prosumer incentive scheme are proposed that not only encourage prosumer engagement in training but also ensure traceable transactions without the need for trust among participants. These mechanisms promote transparency and integrity, fostering a collaborative and secure environment for energy trading. Simulation results demonstrate that the framework achieves peak load reduction through optimized P2P trading, maintains computation efficiency across discount rates, and ensures secure transactions via blockchain-based incentives. These practical benefits support scalable and sustainable community microgrid operations.
Kriptovalute predstavljaju jednu od najvažnijih inovacija u suvremenom financijskom sustavu. Temeljene na blockchain tehnologiji, omogućuju sigurne, transparentne i decentralizirane financijske transakcije bez potrebe za posrednicima poput banaka. Cilj ovog rada je analizirati ulogu kriptovaluta u aktualnom financijskom okruženju te istražiti njihov potencijalni utjecaj na budućnost globalnog financijskog sustava. U radu se obrađuju osnovne karakteristike kriptovaluta, s posebnim naglaskom na Bitcoin i Ethereum, ali i na nove oblike digitalne imovine koji se brzo razvijaju. Posebna pažnja posvećena je prednostima i rizicima korištenja kriptovaluta, regulatornim izazovima te mogućnostima integracije ovih tehnologija u tradicionalne financijske tokove. Kroz analizu tržišnih trendova i stručnih stavova, rad nudi uravnotežen prikaz potencijala i ograničenja kriptovaluta te razmatra mogući razvoj hibridnog financijskog sustava koji bi kombinirao elemente klasičnog i decentraliziranog pristupa. Zaključno, kriptovalute imaju značajan transformativni potencijal, ali njihova budućnost ovisi o tehnološkom razvoju, regulatornim okvirima i prihvaćenosti u široj javnosti.
With the emergence of blockchain technology, many firms have approached cryptocurrency by allowing their customers to use it as a form of payment. However, little research has examined firms’ acceptance of cryptocurrency, the unique strategies that have been undertaken, or the impact on firm-level outcomes. Drawing on signaling theory, the author applies the event study methodology to learn how firm value (i.e., stock price) is impacted by firms’ announcement of cryptocurrency acceptance. The author finds that, on average, firms have lost 2.73% in firm value as a result of announcing cryptocurrency acceptance. However, a moderation analysis reveals that firms that have chosen to accept Bitcoin (as opposed to focusing exclusively on alternative cryptocurrencies) and firms that have approached cryptocurrency acceptance in more recent years experience financial gains. The geographical location (i.e., domestic or international) of cryptocurrency acceptance is not found to have a moderating impact.
This article presents a literature review of various solutions and analyses concerning the use of blockchains and/or smart contracts to manage aspects of intellectual property assets. These include proper registration to establish prior art, ownership traceability, copy control, payment automation, contract execution, and related functions. The analyses focus on the application of these technologies to copyright, industrial property, sui generis protection, and technology transfer agreements. The methodology comprised a keyword search in scientific databases, followed by a qualitative content analysis to extract the most relevant points from each document. Overall, the findings indicate that most proposed applications address copyright-related issues, followed by patent-related uses. In the majority of proposed solutions, blockchain registration is restricted to information about the asset, without necessarily storing the asset itself on the blockchain.
This article presents a bibliographic review about different solutions and analyses due to the use of blockchains and/or smart contracts to the management of some aspects regarding intellectual property assets, such as the proper register to proof of existence, tracking of ownership, copy control, payment automatization, enforcement of contracts etc. The analyses have been made considering these technologies when applied to copyright, industrial property, sui generis protection and technology transfer contracts. The methodology consists of the search for keywords on scientific bases, with further qualitative analysis about the content for extracting the most important points on each document. In general, one can observe that most of the proposed applications refers to the aspects regarding copyright, followed by applications for patents, whereas in most solutions, the registration on blockchains is limited on information about the asset, without necessarily including it on the blockchain.
Sep 4, 2025·2025 IEEE 13th International Conference on Intelligent Data Acquisition and Advanced Computing Systems: Technology and Applications (IDAACS)
The article investigates the strategic role of FinTech solutions in strengthening business resilience for climate adaptation and mitigation challenges. Based on the analysis of the Green Climate Fund projects, the authors arranged a special database on 57 climate finance projects aimed at enhancing business capacities based on digitalization. The machine learning LDA method was applied to identify key types of FinTech interventions, encompassing areas such as mobile payments, digital lending, tokenization of climate assets, and decentralized innovative finance. Statistical analysis enabled the characterization of relationships between project financing and emission reduction volumes depending on project type, public-private financing sources, regional specificities and technological applications. It systematized the main trends of FinTech integration into climate projects and developed a typology of digital instruments supporting business resilience. As a result, the LDA model provided a conceptual framework for understanding the strategic role of FinTech in enabling businesses to adapt to, mitigate, and thrive amid climate change. Analytical generalizations enabled the delineation of strategic directions for future FinTech development to further strengthen the financial and adaptive capacities of businesses within the context of climate transformation.
Qinnan Hu, Yuntao Wang, Su Zhou, Tom H. Luan · 6 authors
Due to the immutable nature of smart contracts, online contract diagnosis is the only viable approach for revealing vulnerabilities in deployed contracts. Existing online approaches face significant challenges in terms of efficiency, adaptability, and reliance on vulnerability labels. This paper proposes ConWatcher+, a new adaptive and label-efficient online contract diagnosis framework from the diffusion perspective, which is capable to detect yet unknown attacks under evolving tactics without reliance on vulnerability labels. ConWatcher+ simulates the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) tactics commonly used in yet unknown attacks by continuously applying minor perturbations to legitimate interaction behaviors. It then reversely learns the denoising process, guided by potential logic vulnerabilities (i.e., functionality dependencies), to adaptively identify stealthy anomalies and detect yet unknown attacks without needing vulnerability labels. ConWatcher+ proceeds in five steps. First,real-time data extraction. We design a cost-effective contract runtime information collector, incorporating on-demand data retrieval and event-driven data update mechanisms to reduce communication overhead in online contract diagnosis. Second,interaction behavior modeling. Via bytecode-level, account-level, revenue-level modeling, and side-channel level behavior modeling, we propose behavior-aware multivariate time series model to accurately represent long-term contract interactions with multi-faceted behaviors. Third,APT-like noise adding. We leverage the forward diffusion model to produce minor and stochastic APT-like noises with efficiency. Fourth,reverse denoising learning. To effectively guide reverse denoising using functionality dependencies, we devise an adaptive contract-level analysis engine equipped with heterogeneous control flow graph modeling and heterogeneous message passing mechanisms to extract function-level and bytecode-level functionality dependencies. Last,contract anomaly detection. We establish a label-efficient attack detector based on reconstruction error for contract anomaly detection. It combines complex dependency analysis and deterministic inference to ensure high-quality data reconstruction and low detection latency. Extensive empirical validations on a manually constructed dataset, covering both mainstream and novel vulnerabilities, demonstrate ConWatcher+’s effectiveness, adaptability, and label efficiency, with an average F1-score of 0.92 across all types of attacks without prior knowledge of corresponding vulnerabilities.
The paper explores the prospects for utilizing cryptocurrencies (digital currencies) within the context of foreign economic activity and analyzes the key legal challenges in this area. Currently, the use of digital currencies in cross-border transactions stands out as one of the most effective mechanisms for countering economic sanctions imposed by unfriendly states. In pursuit of these objectives, the Russian Federation has implemented an experimental legal framework for transactions involving cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, it has been established that cross-border settlements in cryptocurrencies were practiced prior to the initiation of this experimental regime, often in defiance of the existing prohibition on accepting digital currencies as consideration. It has been established that the state must ensure the simultaneous implementation of two public interests, which do not contradict each other: upholding legality and countering economic sanctions. This objective is to be achieved through amendments to legislation that introduce liability for violations of the aforementioned prohibition. Terminological inaccuracies within the digital currency legislation have been identified, specifically the inability to incorporate stablecoins with centralized issuers—which have become the primary instrument for cross-border settlements—into the legal concept of “digital currency.” The author substantiated the rationale for conducting a controlled experiment on the use of digital currencies in cross-border settlements.
With the growing digitalization of financial services and the exponential rise in the transfer of sensitive data across digital and decentralized networks, cybersecurity has assumed an important role in the field of financial technology (FinTech). However, conventional security paradigms are vulnerable to centralized attacks, data integrity attacks and lack of transparency in large-scale financial marketplaces. To overcome these limitations, the immediate interconnections between blockchain and security has provided a reliable solution pertaining to transaction integrity, maintaining confidentiality in the communication and the stability of the environment. We examine innovation and development of blockchain-based cybersecurity systems, cashed to be used to secure financial transactions and provide consistent data sharing. This paper presents an architecture considering the characteristics of blockchain (i.e., decentralization, immutability, cryptographic hashing, and consensus protocols), preventing unauthorized access to data or tampering of transaction data, and providing enhanced traceability and auditability to financial institutions. In addition, the paper shows how smart contracts can automate compliance and real-time anomaly detection, thereby mitigating against human error and lowering operational risk. The approach uses both qualitative and quantitative methods, and consists of the system modeling, simulation testing, and comparative analysis with a traditional system of cybersecurity. Results reveal that blockchain-based applications drastically mitigate potential threats including double-spending, man-in-the-middle and contract violation attacks. The system also has improved performance with respect to trust establishment, peer authentication, and end-to-end data security. Finally, this work helps to dialogue towards secure digital finance by introducing an effective and scalable cybersecurity countermeasure. It emphasizes the potential of blockchain technology for securing financial infrastructure and offers practical guidance for security and policy makers, developers, and organizations that are interested in adhering to the next generation of cybersecurity attributes for the decentralized finance (DeFi) environment.
This chapter explores the intersection between the deterministic execution of smart contracts and the unpredictable nature of delay, a legal phenomenon historically embedded in human discretion and normative flexibility. While smart contracts promise automated, trustless enforcement, they reveal critical vulnerabilities when confronted with unforeseen disruptions, particularly in the context of technical rigidity and legislative gaps. The discussion navigates through the architectural challenges of code literalism, the oracle dependency problem, and the doctrinal limitations of classical contract law in adjudicating delays devoid of intent or culpability. It also examines emerging hybrid legal-technical frameworks, including regulatory innovations in the EU and UK, and the conceptual development of Lex Cryptographica. Ultimately, the chapter proposes a recalibration of contract theory and practice, advocating for a pluralistic approach that integrates technical resilience with normative safeguards to manage delay in a digitally autonomous age.
The intersection of Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds the potential to revolutionize the way smart contracts are deployed and managed. Blockchain provides decentralization, immutability and transparency however its deterministic and inflexible characteristics make it challenging to adapt to dynamic and rapidly changing environments. On the other hand, AI can provide the ability to do things such as pattern recognition, predictive analytics, and intelligent decision-making, but lacks the trust and verifiability that a blockchain can provide. This article presents research on the incorporation of AI in blockchain-powered smart contracts to improve trust, operational efficacy, and execution precision. We propose a new type of architecture where AI agents run in or adjacent to smart contracts to optimally set the conditions, automatically resolve disputes, detect anomalous behavior, and validate external data using oracles and machine learning models in real-time. By illustrating AIenabled smart contracts in domains such as supply chain management and decentralized finance (DeFi), we show how the use of AI can improve the performance of smart contracts by lowering latency, eliminating fraudulent triggers of contracts and the ability for contracts to adapt based on context-aware inputs without having to sacrifice the integrity and auditability native in decentralized systems. These two aspects of performance, namely, gas cost reduction, error rate minimization, and contract adaptability, are studied across the domains, or environments, of public and permissioned blockchains. The paper further addresses hurdles considering AI interpretability, on-chain computational limits, and the necessity for uniform standards for AI-blockchain interfacing. By combining the trust layer of blockchain with the cognitive layer of AI, we unlock a new realm of smart contracts - those that are not only self-executing but also self-optimizing and contextually aware.
Srinivas. D, K. K. Rawat, Jiwanjot Kaur Hira, Sangeeta Bagga · 6 authors
The digital transformation of financial systems demands solutions that are secure, scalable, and capable of real-time processing. This paper presents an integrated framework that combines sixth-generation (6G) communication networks, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) to address the growing challenges in financial data security and integrity. The proposed architecture leverages the low-latency and high-reliability features of 6G, the immutability of blockchain, and the adaptive capabilities of AI to support secure and automated financial operations. Key components include a layered network model, AI-driven anomaly detection, and privacy-preserving techniques such as federated learning and secure multi-party computation. The study outlines practical use cases including cross-border payments, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), smart insurance, and decentralized identity verification. It also discusses limitations in scalability, regulatory compliance, and system interoperability. Future directions include quantum-resilient systems and the deployment of autonomous agents for real-time governance. The findings contribute to the design of secure and adaptive infrastructures for next-generation financial services.
Blockchain technology has rapidly emerged as a transformative force across sectors such as healthcare, supply chains, energy, and voting systems. Its decentralized, transparent, and secure architecture improves efficiency, enhances trust, and reduces costs. Among these domains, finance has experienced the greatest disruption, with blockchain reshaping banking by fostering transparency, security, and efficiency. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of blockchain in finance, mapping trends, patterns, and intellectual trajectories. The analysis explores publication growth, document types, and leading contributors, while identifying the most cited works shaping the field. Using VOSviewer, keyword co-occurrence and bibliographic coupling visualize thematic clusters and intellectual linkages. By synthesizing these findings, the study highlights blockchain’s current research landscape, identifies gaps, and proposes future directions.
Blockchain has matured from being mainly linked with cryptocurrencies to being a central technology with revolutionary potential for financial systems globally. By allowing safe, decentralized, and tamper-resistant ledgers, blockchain can cut down on the cost of transactions, enhance transparency, and raise efficiency in many areas of finance. This paper discusses the applications of blockchain in payments, cross-border remittances, capital markets, trade finance, and compliance. It includes fresh data from international organizations, central banks, and private industry reports to note both Indian and global developments. For example, close to 91% of the central banks surveyed are now investigating central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and India's pilot retail digital rupee has already signed up millions of customers. Concurrently, the World Bank also points out that the global remittance average cost still exceeds 4%, a far cry from policy levels, indicating that blockchain is able to bridge this gap. While the technology has potential for efficiency and financial inclusion, there are issues around interoperability, privacy, cyber threats, and regulatory clarity. The report concludes that the contribution of blockchain to finance will most likely be characterized not by substituting current systems, but by integrating programmability and transparency into the mainstream financial infrastructure.
Smart contracts are integral to blockchain technology, enabling decentralized and automated transactions. This study examines 1,000 smart contracts by analyzing metrics such as total transactions, unique users, total value transferred (ETH), gas consumption, and call frequency. Total transactions range from 1 to 18,902, with unique users spanning 1 to 14,839. The average total value transferred is 3,245.87 ETH, peaking at 7,850.16 ETH, while gas consumption averages 25,486,392 units with a maximum of 58,471,065 units. Strong correlations were identified between transaction volume (r = 0.78), user engagement, and gas consumption. Clustering analysis categorizes contracts into low, moderate, and high-activity groups, while anomaly detection highlights 32 contracts with unusual behaviors, indicating inefficiencies or vulnerabilities. These findings emphasize the importance of optimizing smart contract designs to improve efficiency, security, and scalability. The study provides actionable insights into operational patterns and proposes future research directions, including design optimization, real-time monitoring, cross-platform analysis, and machine learning applications for predictive modeling. By addressing these aspects, this research contributes to the ongoing development of robust and efficient decentralized systems.