Blockchain technology, at its core, promises decentralization, transparency, and self-sovereignty. Interacting with a blockchain network involves technical procedures that require specific knowledge, hardware, and ongoing maintenance. This is where providers come in. Providers form the essential infrastructure layer that connects decentralized networks with the users, applications, and developers that rely on them. They are the unsung heroes of the Web3 movement, quietly handling the complex backend operations that enable seamless blockchain interactions.
Read, Write, Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet by Chris Dixon (Cornerstone, 2024) provides a compelling intellectual foundation that helps a skeptical reader understand the potential social, commercial and technological relevance of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and related decentralized internet (“Web3”) technologies.
Internet access is a prerequisite for access to Web3. Consequently, Web3 and the benefits thereof are rendered inaccessible for those individuals who lack Internet access. Presently, rich discussion exists on the topic of a right to Internet access. The central purpose of this contribution is not to argue for the recognition of such a right. Rather, the central purpose of this contribution is to suggest that if a right to Internet access is to be recognised, then it can be grounded in Article 11 (1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Examining the potential of a right to internet access to be derived from this provision facilitates an examination of the parameters of the right to an adequate standard of living. It is suggested that the right to an adequate standard of living is not fixed or static but is instead capable of capturing technological and societal advancements. The advantages of this approach are two-fold. First, grounding a right to internet access within the right to an adequate standard of living recognises a right to internet access both as a constituent part of the right to an adequate standard of living and as an independent right. After all, independent rights have been interpreted as deriving from Article 11 (1) ICESCR. Second, anchoring a right to Internet access in Article 11 (1) ICESCR allows the established legal framework of the ICESCR to be applied to delimiting the content of a right to internet access so understood.
Ayush Agnihotri, Ashutosh Pandey, Rajat Verma, Namrata Dhanda
This abstract delves into the transformative role of smart contracts and decentralized applications in Video DRM (Digital Rights Management). As digital content protection undergoes a paradigm shift, the integration of Video DRM, smart contracts, and DApps presents a pioneering approach to content management within the confluence of cryptography, blockchain, and artificial intelligence. Smart contracts, functioning as self-executing agreements, merge seamlessly with Video DRM principles, offering a secure and transparent means to encode content access rights, licensing terms, and royalty payments. DApps, residing on decentralized blockchain networks, harness this synergy to create tamper-resistant ecosystems for content distribution and digital rights management. This abstract highlight the potential of Video DRM, facilitated by smart contracts and DApps, to empower content creators, enabling them to securely manage their intellectual property within a trustless, automated, and auditable environment. The interplay between these technologies redefines content protection in the digital landscape, guarding the rights of creators and distributors alike.
An inventive blockchain-based e-business model for the fashion industry is demonstrated in this article. Analyses of Web3 and blockchain concepts are conducted, with a particular emphasis on how blockchain affects current business structures. The research's objective is to demonstrate how current e-business models integrate with blockchain platforms, the NFT marketplace, and the Web3 environment. An example of creating a blockchain and NFT-based business model for the fashion industry is provided as a proof of concept. The suggested model should demonstrate how blockchain technology may be used to trace business transactions between every stakeholder in the fashion industry's supply chain. The Fashion NFT Marketplace’s implementation and the demonstration of the smart contract created with the Solidity programming language are given particular attention.
Андрій Олександрович Гашко, Андрій Петрович Бондарчук, Максим Петрович Трембовецький, Олександр Ілліч Чумак
The article examines an automated method for verifying the correctness of smart contracts in the Solana blockchain network. The relevance of the research is driven by the growing popularity of Web3 applications and the need to ensure their security, as even minor errors in smart contract code can lead to significant financial losses. The primary goal is to develop an automated verification methodology for smart contracts that can detect vulnerabilities such as the absence of founder rights verification, arithmetic operation errors, and missing transaction check signatures. Using static analysis techniques in the Rust programming language, the authors propose an approach that enables rapid analysis-taking less than three minutes per contract-and automatic generation of reports on identified vulnerabilities. The methodology is based on analyzing external data flows through smart contracts, allowing for the early detection of potential threats. To automate the process, Python and Bash scripts are employed, integrating with cloud services such as Amazon Web Services to scale the analysis. Testing results on real Web3 applications demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology, particularly in reducing analysis time and improving the accuracy of error detection. An important aspect of the research is the continuous updating of knowledge bases and analysis tools, enabling the consideration of new types of attacks and vulnerabilities. The article also highlights the importance of interoperability between different blockchain networks, which remains a challenging task but is a key element for the future development of Web3. The research results show that the proposed methodology is promising for scaling and adapting to new challenges in blockchain ecosystems such as Solana. Thus, the developed approach to automated smart contract verification not only enhances the security of Web3 applications but also contributes to their further development, ensuring stability and reliability in the dynamic evolution of blockchain technologies.
Election is the key process typically utilized for maintaining democracy in a given society. Recent technological advancements, such as Blockchain (BC), have been already deployed in previous works to realize non-conventional e-Voting systems. The main goal for such proposals is to provide the necessary level of security and reliability, while maintaining transparency, trust, and remote elections. However, the distributed and publicity nature of BC brought new challenges related to privacy and performance trade-off. This paper aims to address these issues by integrating smart contracts for reliability and transparency, Differential Privacy for enhancing vote anonymity, and Self-Sovereign Identities to unlock the potential of the Web3 framework for verifiable credentials and digital identities. Specifically, a novel ($k,\epsilon $)-differential privacy mechanism is developed, where a randomly selected candidate is pivoted from which retrievable votes are transferred to other candidates. Final election results are then statistically approximated. We evaluate the proposed methods for different arrival rates (10–80 TX/s), different total numbers of cast votes (10k–50k votes), and different numbers of elected candidates (2–8 candidates). To demonstrate the applicability of our proposal in real-life scenarios, we deploy our SC on a cloud-based permissioned BC network using Hyperledger Besu, with nodes set in Google’s EU and USA data centers. Our experimental results showed that BP-Vot could provide 24% enhancement in latency over state-of-the-art solutions ($\approx 1$s/TX compared to 1.24 s/TX). Additionally, using a standardized Min-Max regression mechanism, we show that BP-Vot could provide no less than 98% accuracy in votes approximation during all experiments, with a linearly increasing accuracy trend as a function of the total number of cast votes. Finally, we formally evaluate the proposed differential privacy method and prove that it is robust against reconstruction attacks.
This chapter explores the technopolitical dynamics underpinning the monopolistic rise of data-opolies—dominant tech corporations such as GAFAM—and their implications for democracy in the age of AI. Drawing on Calzada’s conceptual framework and action research, it investigates how algorithmic governance in smart cities displaces democratic deliberation, eroding civic trust and transparency. The chapter critically engages with Web3 technologies—blockchain, DAOs, and data cooperatives—as possible countermeasures to platform capitalism, while remaining attentive to their ideological tensions, especially the crypto-libertarian vision of “Network States” à la Srinivasan. By linking the governance of AI systems with Richard R. Nelson’s “Moon and Ghetto” metaphor, the chapter underscores a key paradox: technological innovation soars, yet foundational democratic deficits remain unresolved. Through a multidisciplinary lens, it interrogates how decentralized infrastructures might reclaim digital sovereignty and foster more equitable innovation systems. The chapter concludes by proposing a pluralistic governance model rooted in algorithmic transparency, data ethics by design, and multistakeholder engagement—critical steps toward re-democratizing the datafied city.
Introduction Decentralized autonomous organizations in decentralized science face unique organizational and scientific demands. This study examines core challenges encountered by DeSci DAOs and how these challenges affect governance and research practice. Methods Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with co‐founders, working‐group leads, and long‐term contributors. Transcripts were analyzed using Kuckartz’s six‐phase qualitative content analysis. Categories were developed and refined to synthesize recurrent themes across interviews. Results Nineteen sub-categories clustered into six domains: governance, financials, contribution, onboarding, operations, and science. Findings highlight tensions between token‐weighted decision making and domain expertise, labor‐intensive hybrid accounting practices, persistent talent shortages, steep Web3 onboarding curves, fragmented project coordination, and science‐specific issues that include negotiations with technology transfer offices and the tokenization of research assets. The resulting category system provides a diagnostic baseline for understanding how decentralized governance intersects with scientific rigor. Discussion DeSci DAOs progress most effectively when blockchain-enabled transparency is paired with clearly defined coordination roles, structured onboarding pathways, and credible mechanisms for scientific validation. These features help balance organizational experimentation with proven practices and support more reliable scientific workflows.
Abstract In the rapidly evolving landscape of IoT-enabled smart devices, significant challenges persist in integration to web3, security, and data reliability. This research presents the design and integration of IoT assets, particularly devices, through the Novel Decentralized Smart City of Things (DSCoT) framework. ESP32 microcontrollers serve as Ethereum clients, generating Externally Owned Accounts (EOA) for device identification and authentication. Despite resource constraints, including limited computational capabilities, essential libraries that manage tasks such as Wi-Fi module control, interaction with Ethereum-based blockchains, TCP connection management, and EEPROM operations for persistent data storage. The code is structured with functions for Wi-Fi setup, TCP API requests, and secure communication challenges. Integration involves compiling and flashing the code onto ESP32 devices, verifying EOA generation, and mapping devices, fog nodes, and users through smart contract interactions. The deployment process culminates in the generation of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) for user authentication, with transaction verification on the Goerli testnet confirming successful DSCoT edge system implementation. This research underscores the importance of secure and decentralized integration of IoT-enabled smart devices to the blockchain, enhancing performance while ensuring security and transparency.
Open access
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
This study examines security risks, emerging technologies, and cryptographic techniques in cloud-based digital currency transactions using a quantitative research approach. Data was sourced from the REKT Database, Web3 Security Report, and Elliptic Open Dataset, employing descriptive statistical analysis, regression modeling, and time-series analysis to assess security vulnerabilities, fraud reduction trends, and regulatory compliance effectiveness. Findings reveal that AI-driven security measures reduced fraud cases by 55% from 2022 to 2025, while illicit transactions declined from 12.5% in 2019 to 6.1% in 2023, demonstrating the impact of cryptographic advancements and regulatory interventions. However, cybercriminals are shifting toward high-value, precision-based attacks, necessitating an integrated security framework. This study contributes to AI-driven security, cryptographic resilience, and regulatory compliance in cloud-based digital transactions. By analyzing emerging threats and security frameworks, it offers valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and financial institutions. The findings aid in developing robust fraud detection, post-quantum cryptography, and regulatory strategies to enhance digital financial security. This research bridges technological advancements with compliance measures, ensuring a more resilient and secure cloud-based cryptocurrency ecosystem. The study recommends enhancing AI fraud detection with cryptographic security models, adopting post-quantum cryptography, strengthening regulatory compliance, and implementing zero-trust security models to ensure long-term resilience in cloud-based financial ecosystems.