The financial world is at the crossroads, and digital monies, decentralized privacy, and asset tokens recreate centuries-old constructs. Blockchain options are challenging conventional clearing houses as never before, by operating outside of the set parameters. This article examines the complex interaction of old-world clearing systems with new-fangled, crypto settlement mechanisms, deconstructs prickly issues and precious opportunities facing Central Counterparty Clearing Houses. The cryptocurrency environment has developed different settlement methods, but advanced investors are eager to have safe and regulated access to digital assets. Its essence is that blockchain promises to render bypassing middlemen through direct transactions a reality, but, in the meantime, it poses a threat to current systems and presents a new way to envision clearing. This article shows how new clearing corporations can help solve the problem of finance, and even support better market performance and transparency along with stability alongside key protections because innovative hybrid enterprise models can actually become a bridge between old-fashioned finance and digital networks and even increase their reliability, integrity, and stability in the long-term future.
In order to attain Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 - Access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy for all, and the energy-related SDGs (SDGs 9 and 13), innovative financing mechanisms are needed to attract a range of actors and sources of finance at scale. This paper examines the disruptive potential of fintech on the renewable energy investment model. In particular, it explores how fintechs underpinned by blockchain, crowdfunding, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), and decentralized finance (DeFi) can unlock capital access, streamline transactions, and build transparency in clean energy financing ecosystems. Drawing on an integrative review approach and complemented by country case studies from Nigeria, Kenya, and India, the article highlights patterns of how fintech apps facilitate access to inclusive, distributed, and ESG-compliant renewable energy solutions. Key findings indicate that fintech significantly widens access to energy finance and fosters local stakeholders, but regulation, cybersecurity, and digital exclusion present scaling challenges. The paper is rooted in Financial Intermediation Theory and Sustainable Investment Theory, providing a conceptual model to explore how digital innovations and policy environments interact with sustainable energy outcomes. It concludes with policy suggestions for developing enabling regulatory frameworks, strengthening digital infrastructure, and promoting cross-sector collaboration to scale up fintech-facilitated energy transitions. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on digital sustainability and offers practical guidance for policymakers and other stakeholders on connecting financial innovation with global clean energy objectives.
P. Preethy Jemima, P. Privietha, Sylvia Grace J, Srideivanai Nagarajan · 5 authors
Smart contracts, which are implemented on decentralized blockchain systems to provide transparency, security, and immutability, are self-executing contracts with terms directly encoded into software. By removing middlemen and increasing efficiency and trust, these contracts automatically carry out predetermined activities once criteria are satisfied. Finance, supply chain management, real estate, and gaming are among the key uses. Notwithstanding their potential, smart contracts have some serious drawbacks, the most significant of which being security flaws. Incidents like the DAO hack on Ethereum provide as examples of how bugs, re-entrancy attacks, and unrestricted external calls have resulted in large financial losses. Widespread use requires addressing these issues. Developers should do thorough testing, including unit, integration, and edge case tests, and adhere to published recommendations such as Ethereum Smart Contract Security Best Practices in order to address security vulnerabilities in smart contracts. Thorough audits of both internal and external code are crucial, as are post-audit corrections. While proper management of external interactions, such as avoiding external calls and validating return values, lowers risks, security tools like Certora, MythX, and Slither can assist in identifying vulnerabilities. Security is further improved by employing multi-signature wallets for high-stakes transactions, using Checks-Effects-Interactions patterns and mutex locks to mitigate reentrancy attacks, and using Flashbots to stop transaction front-running. Additional protections include fallback procedures for recovering from unforeseen failures, monitoring solutions, and reusable contracts for emergency halts. When combined, these steps provide a strong foundation for risk reduction, enhanced security, and guaranteeing the dependability of smart contracts in practical implementations.
The adoption of distributed energy resources (e.g., solar panels) is reshaping the energy landscape by enabling participants to trade energy efficiently. Electric vehicles (EVs) further improve this ecosystem by acting as mobile energy storage units that are capable of supplying power back to the grid. However, existing energy transaction systems heavily rely on centralized intermediaries which may lead to insecure trading transactions and limited transparency. To address these challenges, this study proposes a blockchain-based Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading system that uses smart contracts for secure and automated transactions between participants. In this system, the blockchain ensures tamper-proof records, while smart contracts automate key processes such as verifying energy availability, executing payments, and enforcing agreements by eliminating trusted intermediaries. Furthermore, we introduce a penalty mechanism to prevent fraudulent claims and ensure sellers meet their commitments. We evaluated the scalability, security, and economic feasibility of the proposed system for decentralized energy trading using the Ethereum local blockchain network.
This report presents strategic recommendations for the development of Aruba's fintech sector with a focus on leveraging artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technologies. It evaluates Aruba's readiness in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector and the financial sector, comparing key indicators against counterparts in the region, including Curaçao, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The report highlights strenaths, such as stable democratic traditions, high education levels and a robust banking sector, and weaknesses, such as small market size and regulatory gaps in ICT. The report advocates regulatory modernization, including comprehensive telecommunications sector liberalization, the establishment of regulatory sandboxes and targeted government interventions to support fintech development and encourage innovation. The report also emphasizes the importance of ethical artificial intelligence use and proposes a roadmap for implementing a central bank digital currency. Appendices provide a summary of necessary preconditions and recommended actions to accelerate fintech sector development in Aruba. Ultimately, the report underscores Aruba's potential to become a digital financial hub through collaboration between policymakers, industry stakeholders and international partners.
This interim report assesses Aruba's potential to leverage fintech, distributed ledger technology and artificial intelligence, by examining the current state of digital regulation on the island. It provides an in-depth overview of the fintech regulatory environment in Aruba, assessing key legislative and institutional frameworks that support digital financial services. In particular, it reviews the regulatory frameworks related to telecommunications, banking, finance and competition management, highlighting the impact of these regulations on business sentiment and investment appetite. The results of the analysis underscore gaps in Aruba's existing regulations, particularly in areas such as universal service, digital inclusion and oversight of electronic commerce and privacy protections. The report includes findings from stakeholder consultations held in February 2025 that emphasize the need for a supportive environment to develop trust in digital services. Ultimately, the report calls for a more comprehensive approach to regulatory frameworks, with a focus on enhanced oversight, market incentives and strategic reforms to encourage financial innovation, and suggests that addressing regulatory gaps and fostering competition would create a more conducive environment for fintech expansion and financial sector modernization in Aruba.
The rapid digitalization of finance has exposed a critical gap in the ownership and governance of digital infrastructure. Many essential digital platforms are privately owned, leading to underinvestment and monopolistic control. This paper explores SwissLedger as an innovative public good solution for digital banking infrastructure promoted by the City of Lugano. SwissLedger is a permissioned distributed ledger initiative, where the Proof of Work has been replaced with a Proof of Authority mechanism. We expand upon the SwissLedger concept by situating it in the context of open banking reforms and the evolution of digital infrastructures. We provide an analysis of comparisons between centralized and distributed models, the impact of open banking (in Switzerland and abroad), and an examination of technical, economic, and regulatory challenges. Our methodology involves a design-driven case study of SwissLedger’s development and a comparative policy analysis. Results from initial SwissLedger deployments demonstrate how SwissLedger can serve as a digital commons infrastructure, complementing open banking by providing a shared and secure ledger for financial services and identifying challenges and requirements for broader adoptions. We aim to show that SwissLedger represents a paradigm shift towards collaborative digital infrastructure in finance, mitigating market failures of purely private platforms and setting the stage for a new era of secure and inclusive innovation in banking. Index Terms-digital commons, open banking, distributed ledger, permissioned blockchain, digital market failure, Proof of Authority, public digital infrastructure
This study investigates behavioral factors that shape the intention to reinvest in cryptocurrency among young investors in Jakarta, Indonesia. The research adopts a conceptual framework based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior (TIB), combining rational variables such as financial literacy and financial influencer with emotional variables including swift benefit and cognitive biases. A total of 528 valid responses were collected through an online survey and analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results indicate that positive sentiment (β = 0.477) and control belief (β = 0.331) have a significant impact on reinvestment intention. Emotional factors show stronger indirect effects through these mediators compared to rational factors. In addition, perceived technological advancement plays a moderating role by significantly enhancing the effect of control belief on reinvestment intention (β = 0.208), while reducing the influence of positive sentiment (β = -0.458). These findings suggest that emotional responses are more dominant than rational evaluations in guiding reinvestment decisions in volatile digital markets. The integration of TPB and TIB provides a theoretical contribution to the field of behavioral finance and offers practical recommendations for improving investor literacy, platform engagement strategies, and regulatory support in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Eleonóra Bassi, Michael Lustenberger, Srebrenka Letina
This research examines the structure of blockchain-based voluntary carbon market (VCM) and the factors shaping their formation. Conducted as part of the 2023–2025 Innosuisse project 104.664 IP-EE, it aims to provide insights to support participants in strategic positioning within the network. To our knowledge, this is one of the first empirical attempts to map the blockchain-enabled VCM ecosystem with social-network analysis, thereby extending digital-transition research into the climate-finance domain. Specifically, the study focuses on three exploratory aims: identifying the network position of key participants, evaluating the influence of blockchain platform affiliation on collaboration, and analyzing the relationship between standardization methods and network positioning. Using network analysis, the study categorizes participants like project owners, certification bodies, blockchain platforms, and carbon credit marketplace into distinct roles such as key hubs, strategic bridges, local connectors, and peripheral nodes. Participants using the same blockchain platform exhibit a moderate clustering tendency, suggesting shared infrastructure plays a role in fostering partnerships. Additionally, the choice of standardization methods for carbon credits correlates with specific network positions. These findings offer a structure-based view of how technical design choices may redistribute influence across the market–an issue of growing interest as regulators and standards bodies debate digital registry architectures. By uncovering these dynamics, the study emphasizes the importance of strategic positioning within blockchain-based VCMs. Native tokenization strategies are shown to simplify supply chains, while the decentralized ecosystem fosters diverse approaches to collaboration. The conceptual framework may be transferable to other emerging green-finance networks, providing a springboard for comparative and longitudinal analyses.
Kristián Košťál, Lukas Mastilak, Dušan Morháč, Adam Valach
This paper presents a decentralized short-term rental platform based on Ethereum and IOTA. The proposed framework aims to improve the privacy, security, and decentralization of the rental market by incorporating decentralized identity, reputation mechanisms, and escrow services. Specifically, the proposed framework utilizes Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) to facilitate the creation of property listings and the secure exchange of funds between renters and tenants. Moreover, it employs an open-source smart contract to enhance trust between users and developers while preventing unilateral alterations to contract logic or platform fee structures. Ultimately, the presented prototype illustrates the viability of deploying a blockchain-enabled short-term rental platform by effectively incorporating essential functionalities, such as the creation and exchange of renters’ funds. This research underscores the transformative potential of blockchain technology in the accommodation rental industry. As blockchain technology continues to evolve, further advancements in decentralized governance and smart contract scalability will be instrumental in driving mainstream adoption.
Abstract This article presents an innovative contract framework to improve Quality-of-Service (QoS) within the CoreDAO blockchain, focusing on the 9NFTMania token. The research is driven by the need for reliable, decentralized processes that improve data security and transaction efficacy inside CoreDAO. The proposed Solidity-based smart contract incorporates easy reflection, liquidity provision, fee processing, and secure token transfers. The development process included criteria definition, research, contract design, platform selection, coding, rigorous testing, and real-time maintenance to ensure functionality and security. The enhancements to the ERC20 token standard improved liquidity, token exchange, and ownership management. A Dividend Token contract introduced governance mechanisms, fee structures, liquidity availability, and tax settings. Comparative analysis demonstrates the framework’s superior accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score performance compared to conventional mechanisms. Quantitative metrics highlight significant improvements in data security, transaction efficiency, and blockchain scalability, particularly in healthcare applications. By using PoS systems, the suggested structure essentially improves CoreDAO’s quality of service—especially for the 9NFT Mania token. It adds to a safe, scalable, and effective blockchain ecosystem by surpassing the transaction efficiency and scalability of conventional Proof-of-Work methods.
The financial services industry has experienced a fundamental transformation through the strategic adoption of distributed systems architecture, fundamentally altering how institutions design, deploy, and scale their product offerings. Traditional banking infrastructure, characterized by monolithic architectures and centralized processing systems, increasingly struggles to meet contemporary demands for real-time processing, continuous availability, and seamless scalability. Distributed systems address these challenges through horizontal scaling capabilities, enabling institutions to accommodate exponential growth in transaction volumes without proportional infrastructure cost increases. The implementation of distributed computing has enabled comprehensive portfolios of digital-first financial products, including mobile banking platforms, real-time transaction processing systems, AI-driven financial advisory services, intelligent customer support solutions, and advanced fraud detection mechanisms. These systems demonstrate superior resilience through redundancy and fault isolation, achieving exceptional availability levels through multi-region deployment strategies. Future developments in distributed financial systems encompass blockchain integration, decentralized finance protocols, advanced artificial intelligence capabilities, and edge computing with IoT integration. However, implementation presents complex technical challenges, including data consistency maintenance, security considerations, regulatory compliance across multiple jurisdictions, operational complexity, and performance optimization requirements that institutions must carefully navigate to realize distributed computing benefits effectively.
This interim report explores the transformative impact of fintech on global financial markets. It delves into the evolution of fintech from its early stages to the present day, highlighting key innovations such as digital banking, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence-driven financial services. The report provides an in-depth analysis of international best practices, regulatory frameworks and the role of government and private sector partnerships in fostering a thriving fintech ecosystem. In particular, the report underscores the importance of regulatory frameworks addressing foreign exchange control, consumer protection, data privacy, cybersecurity and competition management. With case studies from countries including Estonia, Luxembourg, Mexico and the United Kingdom, the report offers valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities in fintech development. It also discusses the Caribbean experience with fintech and distributed ledger technologies, emphasizing the importance of regulatory sandboxes and digital asset frameworks. Ultimately, the report concludes that a balanced regulatory approach fosters financial innovation while mitigating risks, and that effective collaboration between the public and private sectors is crucial for sustainable fintech development.
This interim report provides a comprehensive overview of stakeholder perspectives on the opportunities and risks associated with the development and administration of fintech, distributed ledger technology and artificial intelligence in Aruba. The Government of Aruba aims to diversify its economy away from its reliance on tourism by developing its information and communications technology (ICT) sector. The report is based on consultations with stakeholders from the public and private sectors, civil society and academia, conducted during an on-site mission in February 2025. Key findings highlight the potential for Aruba to become a base for export-oriented ICT services, leveraging its strong infrastructure and well-trained labour force. However, challenges have also been identified, including regulatory and institutional constraints, limited job opportunities and the risk of brain drain. The report emphasizes the need for a supportive regulatory environment and targeted initiatives to foster innovation and competition in the ICT sector, ultimately contributing to Aruba's economic diversification and resilience.
This chapter, titled Regulatory Frameworks for Inclusive FinTech Ecosystems, explores the critical role of regulation in fostering financial inclusion, enabling innovation, and addressing emerging risks within the rapidly evolving financial technology (FinTech) landscape. FinTech has revolutionized access to financial services, offering opportunities for underserved populations to participate in the global economy. However, this transformation is accompanied by challenges such as regulatory gaps, data privacy concerns, cybersecurity risks, and disparities in access to technological infrastructure. The chapter examines the foundational principles of effective FinTech regulation, including adaptability, transparency, proportionality, and a focus on inclusivity. It analyzes how these principles can be applied to promote innovation while safeguarding consumers and addressing systemic risks. Key themes include the regulation of decentralized finance (DeFi), cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence-driven financial tools.
As the financial technology (FinTech) landscape evolves, two transformative forces are emerging: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain. These technologies are reshaping how businesses operate, enhancing transparency, and optimizing customer experiences. AI algorithms analyze vast data sets to predict market trends, streamline operations, and personalize services, enabling firms to make data-driven decisions swiftly. On the other hand, Blockchain technology offers a decentralized and secure method for conducting transactions. By eliminating intermediaries, Blockchain not only increases the speed and security of transactions but also provides an immutable ledger that enhances accountability. Together, these technologies are fostering financial inclusivity, allowing underserved communities access to banking services through decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. Looking ahead, the integration of AI and Blockchain will enable the creation of a more efficient, secure, and user-friendly financial ecosystem.
This chapter examines how blockchain technology might help achieve environmental objectives and promote financial inclusiveness. For marginalized groups, especially those in low-income and rural locations, who encounter major obstacles when attempting to use traditional banking institutions, blockchain's decentralized nature presents a possible answer. Blockchain opens up new financial participation opportunities by facilitating safe, affordable financial services like smart contracts, cryptocurrency, and decentralized finance (DeFi). While smart contracts improve transparency and efficiency in lending, insurance, and microfinance, cryptocurrencies enable peer-to-peer transactions without the need for middlemen. DeFi platforms promote economic empowerment by democratizing access to investment, credit, and savings options.
Inocêncio Avelino Padilha, Katyusco de Farias Santos
As Moedas Sociais emergem como uma ferramenta econômica regional inovadora, impulsionando o desenvolvimento e a inclusão social em áreas com limitado progresso econômico e social, ampliando o acesso ao crédito nessas regiões. Através da tecnologia Blockchain, a implementação de Moedas Sociais Digitais (MSD) se torna viável, promovendo a digitalização sustentável das iniciativas de Moedas Sociais no Brasil. Neste trabalho detalha-se a concepção da plataforma de gestão das MSDs, integrado a tecnologia blockchain através de uma rede pública denominada MDMCOIN que utiliza o protocolo de consenso Leased Proof of Stake (LPoS), apresentada por meio de diagramas BPMN, com foco na criação de uma plataforma web destinada à integração de projetos de Moedas Sociais, evidenciando a solidez e a inovação da plataforma proposta.
Cryptocurrencies, introduced by Nakamoto (2008), have emerged as transformative financial instruments. In India, retail investors are increasingly drawn to crypto assets, despite persistent regulatory uncertainty (Reserve Bank of India, 2019). Research suggests that perceived high returns (Tapscott & Tapscott, 2016) and technological appeal (Narayanan et al., 2016) drive adoption, while lack of clarity in regulation (OECD, 2020) and low financial literacy (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2014) act as key deterrents. This study examines the influence of demographic factors, awareness, and regulatory perceptions on adoption behavior among 120 Indian retail investors. Using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and Pearson correlation, the study finds a significant association between awareness and adoption, with regulatory concerns and fraud fears cited as major barriers. The findings underscore the urgent need for a structured regulatory framework and targeted investor education.
The rapid growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem has given rise to flash loan, a type of uncollateralized loan service that enables users to easily borrow substantial amounts of funds. However, this has prompted attackers to conduct malicious arbitrage within DeFi protocols, known as notorious flash loan attacks, resulting in significant asset losses. Existing works primarily focus on investigating price oracle manipulation, a common tactic in flash loan attacks, but lack a comprehensive understanding regarding the entire process of flash loan attacks and the diverse range of attack methods. In this paper, we empirically study 155 real-world flash loan attack incidents, representing the largest-scale study to date. We first categorize these incidents into five types based on their root causes and compile statistics on their distribution, then elucidate the vulnerable code and finance mechanisms exploited in each category. Subsequently, we identify the symptoms of codebased vulnerabilities and summarize the abstract attack models for the entire process. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of state-of-the-art off-chain tools in detecting code-based vulnerabilities within their scope of capabilities. We find that Slither performs the best in detecting 22 % of temporal reentrancy vulnerabilities, and DeFiTainter has a 52% false negative rate in detecting price oracle manipulation, mainly attributed to three limitations.
Neeraj Kumar, Mohammad S. Obaidat, Rifaqat Ali, Balqies Sadoun
The real estate sector significantly impacts a country’s GDP and government revenue through stamp duties during transactions. However, it is prone to fraudulent activities like forgery, necessitating effective reforms. Distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain, offers a promising solution. Unlike traditional proof-of-work methods, blockchain-based systems enable faster and more efficient transactions, reducing overhead by about 50%. This is particularly vital for countries like India, where land disputes are common due to flaws in traditional registration systems. To address these issues, we propose a blockchain-based authentication model for land registration. This model digitizes and automates land records, ensuring transparency, efficiency, and reliability. Real estate transactions are securely recorded in tamper-evident blocks on the blockchain, facilitating authentication and verification. Additionally, smart contracts streamline transactions, reducing costs and improving efficiency. By eliminating intermediaries and incorporating timestamp and authentication mechanisms, our model significantly enhances the resilience and validity of real estate transactions. Embracing blockchain technology can revolutionize the land registration process, making it more efficient, secure, and transparent. This transformative advancement is poised to play a crucial role in future real estate investments, effectively addressing challenges inherent in traditional registration systems.
Smart cities use advanced infrastructure and technology to improve the quality of life for their citizens. Collaborative services in smart cities are making the smart city ecosystem more reliable. These services are required to enhance the operation of interoperable systems, such as smart transportation services that share their data with smart safety services to execute emergency response, surveillance, and criminal prevention measures. However, an important issue in this ecosystem is data security, which involves the protection of sensitive data exchange during the interoperability of heterogeneous smart services. Researchers have addressed these issues through blockchain integration and the implementation of smart contracts, where collaborative applications can enhance both the efficiency and security of the smart city ecosystem. Despite these facts, complexity is an issue in smart contracts since complex coding associated with their deployment might influence the performance and scalability of collaborative applications in interconnected systems. These challenges underscore the need to optimize smart contract code to ensure efficient and scalable solutions in the smart city ecosystem. In this article, we propose a new framework that integrates generative AI with blockchain in order to eliminate the limitations of smart contracts. We make use of models such as GPT-2, GPT-3, and GPT4, which natively can write and optimize code in an efficient manner and support multiple programming languages, including Python 3.12.x and Solidity. To validate our proposed framework, we integrate these models with already existing frameworks for collaborative smart services to optimize smart contract code, reducing resource-intensive processes while maintaining security and efficiency. Our findings demonstrate that GPT-4-based optimized smart contracts outperform other optimized and non-optimized approaches. This integration reduces smart contract execution overhead, enhances security, and improves scalability, paving the way for a more robust and efficient smart contract ecosystem in smart city applications.
Proposes are offered Decentralized Ledger Journalism (DLJ) as a distinct and timely subfield within data journalism, emerging at the intersection of technological innovation and investigative practice. Drawing on the unique affordances of blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies (DLT), this approach positions public, immutable records not merely as supplementary datasets, but as primary sources for journalistic inquiry. From financial transactions and smart contract events to decentralized governance and identity systems, distributed ledgers offer a new evidentiary terrain - structured, transparent, and resistant to alteration. Beyond their utility as data sources, these systems provide native mechanisms for content authentication, including cryptographic timestamping, verifiable provenance, and censorship-resistant publication infrastructures. Such tools enable new methods of verification and preservation, allowing journalists to secure both the integrity of their sources and the durability of their outputs. By exploring the methodological and epistemological implications of blockchain-based journalism, this study outlines how decentralized ledgers can serve both as subject and substrate of inquiry. DLJ, we argue, offers a novel framework for enhancing journalistic integrity in a digital environment increasingly shaped by opacity, manipulation, and central control.