Blockchain Papers

Luka Milković

Ovim radom opisuje se i analizira nastanak, okruženje te trendovi vezani za kriptovalute, najznačajniju valutu Bitcoin. Analiziraju se povijesne značajke i korištenje te valute danas.

Josip Marinčić

Bitcoin je digitalna, decentralizirana , anonimna valuta koju ne izdaje središnja banka i iza te valute ne stoji ni jedna država. Temelji se na peer-to peer mreži i kriptografiji. Njeni zagovornici tvrde da Bitcoin ima karakteristike da zamjeni tradicionalne načine plaćanja. Bitcoin donosi revolucionarne promjene u financijski svijet poput decentralizacije, kriptografske zaštite, minimalnih naknada, mikro transakcija, otpornosti inflaciji i sl., što ga čini superiornijim u odnosu na druge novčane sustave. Ipak, Bitcoin predstavlja svojevrsni ekonomski eksperiment i ako mu mnogi predviđaju uspješnu budućnost, ona nema garancije i ovisiti će prije svega o povjerenju i snazi Bitcoin zajednice. Za razliku od potpuno anonimnih transakcija, pri plaćanju Bitcoinima ostaje trag zabilježen i dostupan javnosti. Međutim, učesnici u transakciji ne moraju da posluju pod svojim imenima, već mogu da se prijavljuju preko pseudonima. Bitcoin nudi korisnicima niže troškove transakcije, povećanu privatnost i na duže vrijeme zaštitu kupovne moći od inflacije. Međutim, Bitcoin još uvijek nema dovoljno učesnika i financijsku bazu da bi omogućio stabilnost pa cijena Bitcoina značajno oscilira. Još uvijek među korisnicima postoji neizvjesnost o sigurnosti na krađu i prevare.

Siddharth Misra, Vishal Kashyap, Poonacha K.B., Arjun Mukund · 5 authors

Tema ovog rada su kriptovalute. Budući da većina ljudi nije pravodobno upoznata s ovom temom, ovaj rad prikazuje i opisuje kriptovalute te način na koji se upotrjebljuju u svakodnevnom životu. Kriptovalute (eng. cryptocurrency) digitalne su valute dizajnirane kao sredstvo razmjene. Poznate su po tome što su državne agencije i banke isključene iz procesa razmjene. Kriptovalute omogućuju jednostavnu, jeftinu i brzu transakciju na području cijeloga svijeta. Trenutno najisplativije kriptovalute su Bitcoin i Ethereum, a u radu je opisana njihova korisnost, prednosti i mane. Budući da se Bitcoinu predviđa uspješna budućnost i sve je prisutniji i prihvatljiviji na tržištu, u radu su navedeni primjeri iz Hrvatske koji to potvrđuju. Sve veći broj poduzetnika odlučuje se za uvođenje kriptovaluta. U primjerima je obuhvaćen širok spektar djelatnosti, od frizerskih usluga, preko raznih tvrtki koji se bave prodajom računalne opreme, ugostiteljskih usluga preko mogućnosti brzog i lakog podizana gotovine na kripto bankomatima pa sve do plaćanja komunalnih usluga, pa čak i humanitarno djelovanje. Mnogi smatraju da su kriptovalute samo sinonim za prijevare i pranje novca, no programeri tvrde da su kriptovalute samo jedna vrsta tehnologije, alat koji sam po sebi ne može biti ni dobar ni loš, ovisno o tome za što se koristi. Autor ovoga rada proveo je istraživanje o tome kako se može besplatno započeti trgovanje kriptovalutama te je anketom ispitao stavove ispitanika o implementaciji kriptovaluta u društvu.

Xun Yi, Xuechao Yang, Andrei Kelarev, Kwok‐Yan Lam · 5 authors

Kriptovalute su digitalni novac utemeljen na kriptografiji i decentraliziranom sustavu. Postoje samo u elektroničkom obliku kao jedinstveni digitalni novčići ("tokeni"). Iza njih ne stoji autoritet države niti ih je moguće svojevoljno proizvesti. Rad se fokusira na značajkama, postavkama, razvoju i svim međuodnosima važnih ekonomskih faktora koji utječu na kriptovalute. U prvom poglavlju navedena su obilježja kriptovaluta. Drugo poglavlje daje primjere i govori o primjeni kriptovaluta u svakodnevnom životu. U trećem poglavlju je raspravljano o trenutnim i budućim regulacijama najmoćnijih zemalja svijeta (G20) , kao i njihovoj zajedničkoj suradnji u želji za jedinstvenim i standardiziranim pravilima, a sve u svrhu što kvalitetnijeg nadzora nad kriptovalutama kako bi se spriječile malverzacije i zaštitili potrošači. Četvrto poglavlje govori o inicijalnoj ponudi kovanica, a peto poglavlje je namijenjeno sigurnosti kriptovaluta. Cilj istraživanja je utvrditi koliko je studentska populacija upoznata i usmjerena prema novim oblicima digitalnog novca, koje značajke kriptovaluta smatraju pozitivnima, a koje negativnima i u kojoj su mjeri investirali ili su spremni investirati dio svojih ulaganja u kriptovalute i sl. Metode istraživanja korištene u radu su kompilacija na temelju proučavanja postojeće literature o temi rada, prikupljanje i analiza podataka vezanih uz kriptovalute, ponajprije podataka vezanih uz cijene i tržišnu kapitalizaciju, anketiranje studenata Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci i metoda dedukcije putem koje su pokazane sve važne karakteristike i obilježja kriptovaluta. Na temelju provedene ankete u kojoj je sudjelovalo 90 studenata Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci zaključak toga dijela istraživanja je da je mlada populacija dobro upoznata s kriptovalutama i njenim glavnim značajkama, ali i određenim nedostatkom informiranosti o tehnologiji (trećina studenata nije čula za pojam "blockchain") i nedovoljnoj odlučnosti oko investiranja i trgovanja u kriptovalute. Povrh toga, dokazan je i negativan utjecaj hakerskih napada i određenih kriminalnih radnji, kao i nestabilnost tržišne cijene na povjerenje studenata, ali i ukupne populacije vezane uz globalni financijski sustav u kriptovalute. Ishod istraživanja omogućio je da zaključimo kako su kriptovalute trenutno u ranoj fazi razvoja i nisu se dovoljno implementirale za široku primjenu u trgovini roba i usluga ili općenito kao sredstvo razmjene. Faktor koji je uključen u istraživanje kako bi opisao veličinu, odnosno obujam neke kriptovalute je tržišna kapitalizacija u dolarima. Temeljna ideja ovog rada je informirati čitatelja o pozitivnim i negativnim značajkama koje se se vežu uz kriptovalute. Na taj način čitatelji će biti bolje informirani i educirani o potencijalnom riziku ulaganja u kriptovalute, kao i većoj razini zaštite prilikom posjedovanja neke digitalne valute.

Feroz Ahmad Ahmad, Prashant Kumar, Gulshan Shrivastava, Med Salim Bouhlel

ON 12 JANUARY 2009 a pseudonymous entity signed a transaction that instructed a distributed network to transfer a small amount of digital currency to Hal Finney, one ofthe key figures of the cypherpunk movement. After a few minutes, the transaction was recorded on a distributed public ledger, permanently updating the balance ofbothparties. This transaction— the first Bitcoin transaction—marked the beginning of a new era of decentralized payment systems, ushering in a variety of financial Services that do not depend on any centralized clearinghouse or other financial middleman. Bitcoin is regarded by many as a powerful technological innovation that could disrupt many sectors, in the realm of finance and beyond. But the underlying technology on which the network operates, the Bitcoin blockchain can do much more than that. Just as the internet did in the early-1990s, blockchain technology carries with it a whole new range of promises concerning how decentralization can support and promote individual freedoms and autonomy. Blockchain proponents believe that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency platforms will revolutionize mechanisms of value exchange in the same way that the internet transformed information sharing, by providing a platform for people to exchange digital resources, in a secure and decentralized manner without the need to rely on any intermediary or trusted authority. But this revolutionary potential also carries with it serious implications for censorship, intellectual property, and the regulated flow of information. A blockchain is a decentralized database of transactions maintained by a distributed network of computers, which all contribute to the verification and the validation of transactions. Once accepted, these transactions are recorded inside a “block” of transactions, which incorporates a reference to previous blocks. This creates a long chain of blocks—a “blockchain”—that stores the history of all transactions in a chronological order. Every block contains information about a particular set of transactions, a reference to the preceding block in the blockchain, and the answer to a complex mathematical puzzle that is used to validate the data associated with that block. A copy of the blockchain is stored on every computer in the network, making it virtually impossible for anyone unilaterally to modify the data stored on this decentralized database: if anyone tries to modify any transaction the fraud will be immediately detected by all other network participants.

Jakov Kanaet

Porastom broja korisnika kriptovaluta pojavila se potreba za burzama, na kojima bi se moglo na jednostavan i siguran način razmjenjivat valute. Cijene kriptovaluta temeljene su na trenutnoj ponudi i potražnji. U sklopu diplomskog rada razvijena je web aplikacija za trgovanje kriptovalutama. Burze funkcioniraju na principu slanja kupovnih i prodajnih narudžbi, u kojima su naznačene valute kojima se trguje, te cijena i količina. Glavna zadaća burze je uparivanje tih ponuda. Za razvoj aplikacije korišten je programski jezik C#, ASP.NET MVC, Entity Framework i SQL baza podataka. Za dizajn korisničkog sučelja korišteni su HTML i CSS, te Javascript za periodičko osvježavanje podataka prikazanih na burzi.

George Abuselidze

On the current stage, an important direction towards completion fiscal regulation is to regionalise economic and social processes, decentralize an important part of state functions on the local authorities. Herewith, to finance the expenditure by attaching appropriate income sources which will strengthen the role of local finances and assist the prosperity of regional economy. At the contemporary stage local budgets country, its separate regions development one of the most powerful leverage. Without them it is impossible political stability as in whole country, as in its separate regions. Local budget funds, social infrastructure forming are one of the major sources. Developed countries local budgets, density spare of social expenditures are higher than the state budgets. Local budget expenditures, especially on social provision spent funds promote in society social conflict softening that in contemporary conditions of each county’s sustainable development stipulating factor.

Ivan Krešimir Lukić, Branka Martic, Berislav Bolfek

Republic of Croatia belongs in group of signifi cantly centralized countries. That means authority to make public decisions including financing system of local self government units (LSGU) is in the hands of the central government. Decentralization process began in year 2001 but central government still procures majority of state revenue and spends the most of the public expenditure. Various aspect research and analysis of fiscal capacities produces data pointing out the problem of inadequate fiscal capacity for providing equal level of public services in all of the local communities as lay down by law. Planning process in LSGU is hampered by absence of legal acts regulating practical role of the local government and administration. Unstable affl uence of finance resources presents significant bottleneck in successful management while uncertainty of financial assets availability prevents many of local governments in detailed planning and execution of any of development measures, within medium-term plan. Within many local units basis of local revenue is too weak for local government to independently carry out development measures.

Veronika Eretová

The thesis "The use of maps to depict real estate tax coefficient" deals with maps as an alternative instrument of depicting data and information. Its objective is to demonstrate maps as a possible and appropriate tool to present information on management of municipalities. At first, the thesis is focused on creation of maps and their advantages of the depiction of information. The second part of the thesis deals with the importance of decentralization of government and the sense of municipalities. The thesis also debates income of municipalities, especially the real estate tax and its local coefficient, which is an important component of financial independence of municipalities. The thesis also examines the influence of depicting information in maps on the transparency of public finance. Finally, the use of maps is presented on two examples -- depiction of municipalities applying local real estate tax coefficient and testing the theory of yard stick competition by depicting information of neighbouring municipalities applying local real estate tax coefficient.

Ana Gavrilović, Aleksandar Jugović

Population should be in the central focus of local community institutions and the local community may constitute its population policy which will supplement state population policy measures, considering the local specific various traditions, values and models of living. The paper's basic goal is to critically perceive the characteristics, significance and role of local self-governments in the current population policy of Serbia. Social situation and social policy characteristics in Serbia are analyzed in the context of the population policy. It is pointed out that poverty, unemployment, the economic crisis, the process of privatization, the issue of system decentralization and social expectations of the population, as current expressions of transition, all have a consequence on the demographic development and population policy. A critical estimation of the activities in the field of population policies which are carried out by local and provincial self-governments in Serbia in the last decade are brought into focus, with a special review to the activities of provincial and local governments in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. As a result of the analysis it is pointed out that the population and social policy measures have been separated since the year 2000 and that they have been directed only to stimulating births and not child raising and that solutions regarding maternity leave brought improvements, however shortened maternity leave for the third child. The new conception of the population policy brought a whole series of restrictions such as: suspension of aid for newborn essentials; discontinuance of the right to maternity allowance; abolishing of compensation for preschool expenses for the third child; children?s allowance lost its population measures character along with considerable tightening of the census and decreasing of amount; the activities of preschool facilities have been reduced only to an educational function, and the terms for realizing rights to preschool education for children without parents and children with special needs have been tightened. The authors point out to the values and principles on which a contemporary population policy of local self-governments in Serbia should be established, such as: stability of established measures, a clear message on the needs of society, compatibility and not uniformity with measures of other bodies, compassion and uniformity with aspirations of couples and individuals, respect for the rights and freedom of man, information availability, equality of birth and raising children in measures. The establishment of population policy municipality funds is suggested and that local population policy measures are both material and non-material type, as well as in the form of organizational measures which could use the existing resources in a better way. The municipal assembly should create organizational suppositions by appointing a Population Policy Commission as its permanent body. The Commission would propose to the Municipal Assembly to adopt a strategic document - the Population Policy Strategy in the municipality. The Municipality Assembly should adopt the Action Plan for carrying out of the population policy every year, which would define the measures, bearers, terms and methods of evaluating measures with a plan for the following year. The population policy of the local self-government should be a constant process which manages, follows and evaluates, which is public and which understands the engagement of competent people, participation of citizens-volunteers and civil organizations.

Bin Li

This study firstly analyzes the strategy orientation of India's economic security strategy which is thought to be defensive,and its form which is believed to be in a decentralized and embedded style.Secondly,it considers the content of strategy which includes strategy background,objections,focuses and measures.The focuses of India's economic security strategy at the present stage include: food security,energy security,finance security,technologyinformation security and foreign investment security.Thirdly,it observes the operating process of India's economic security strategy,which is composed of formulating,implementing and evaluating.Finally,the research results may use as reference for constructing China's economy security strategy.

Snezana Hristova

This paper examines the financial crisis in light of the local economic development and sets out some policy recommendations. Local economic development is a process in which the local authorities cooperate with the public sector, business community, and NGOs, in order to create more appropriate environment for economic development and for unemployment decreasing. The last months saw the world economy facing to the worst financial crisis in history, causing unprecedented drop in demand and sales and record‐breaking unemployment levels worldwide. No country can escape certain economic and social consequences from the global financial crisis. The main research question is the following: How does the gobal crisis affect local governments? The local governements are facing several problems such as: higher unemployment and social needs at the community level, pressure for increased spending, difficulties of investment financing, need of deferring maintenance. Then, the paper sets some policy recommendations adressed to the following aspect‐ what should and can local governments do? The crisis offers some chances for change in the context of strengthening the role of local governments.The central government will rely on local governments to bring policies rapidly to bear on the economy. This could and should intensify the intergovernmentaldialogue and it could also lead to strengthening fiscal autonomy of municipalities. Improving the competitiveness at the local level and developing a strong local economy can help the country cope with the effects of the global economic slowdown. Local government units should improve their competitiveness to attract more investments and to develop their local economy. Given that the responsibility of assisting the national government in mitigating the impact of the crisis through stimulation of the local economy are given to local governments, this paper aims to discuss issues related to enhancing local economic development and fiscal decentralization as a means of improving overall service delivery in the country, in the context of global economic and financial crisis. Local governments may also be succesful in the promoting productivity locally in order to enhance the country’s competitiveness in anticipation of a greater role in global trade during the recovery in the next few years. The special focus of this paper has been given to the case of local economic development in the Republic of Macedonia.

Desislava Stoilova

The process of gradual administrative and political decentralization in Bulgaria started in 1991 with the adoption of the Local Self-Government and Local Administration Act, but the real financial decentralization process started in the beginning of 2003 with the adoption of a comparatively clear expenditure assignment and introduction of a transparent and predictable intergovernmental transfer system. Basically, a key issue in the design of fiscal federalism is the financing of subnational governments. Because of the advantages of taxation at the central level and spending at the decentralized level during the transition period Bulgaria has often ended up with vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances. In most of the fiscal years the decentralization of expenditures was not accompanied by equivalent revenue-raising responsibilities and the taxable base was unevenly distributed within the country territory. The purpose of this paper is to study and critically analyze the financial decentralization reform in Bulgaria, outlining the key achievements and basic weaknesses of the local taxation and the intergovernmental fiscal relations. Key words: financial decentralization, local finance, intergovernmental fiscal relations, local

Boško Mijatović

The paper has two parts: in the first one, economic aspect of regionalization is considered, in the second a financial one. Regionalization, like every type of decentralization, represents a serious reform of a state and brings upon several expected as well as unexpected although significant effects on political, social, and economic life. Its goal is an improvement of political, social, and economic functions of a state, not their deterioration. Unfortunately, experience of other countries does not support overwhelming optimism. Most frequently, regionalization is done due to political considerations; economic considerations are of secondary importance or even neglected. Such a dominance of political reasoning neglects fundamental principles and arguments of the economic science, standards of rational approach to decentralization, and even economic efficiency and equality between citizens. Because of that, the emphasis in this paper is on economic and financial aspects of regionalization in Serbia. In the first part the author explores economic aspects of regionalization; four state functions (regulation, stabilization, redistribution, and allocation) in decentralized setting; relations between regionalization, deregulation, and privatization; vertical distribution of functions (exclusive functions by the state, exclusive functions by regions, shared functions). After that he explores advantages of the selected model of creating regions and distribution of authorities in Serbia, particularly economic authorities of regions (1. land planning, urban land use, housing; 2. development and maintenance of infrastructure of regional importance and coordination of public utilities in municipalities; 3. agriculture; 4. tourism; 5. forestry 6. hunting and fishing; 7. vocational training and employment; 8. ecology; 9. public works). Separate section is devoted to social protection (financial transfers and institutions). In the second part of the paper (Financing the Regions) the author first examines certain issues in principle (fiscal revenues, vertical and horizontal balance, debts and moral hazard) and then considers topics of financing regions in Serbia, such as revenues subsidies, and debts.

Michael Pearlman

No abstract is available for this record.