Abstract Blockchain technology has become an ubiquitous phenomenon. While the topic originated in computer science, the business and economics literature was comparatively slow to pick up on it. To better understand the academic basis, current developments and future research avenues of the discourse, 9672 cited references of 467 blockchain and cryptocurrency articles from the fields of business and economics are gathered from the Web of Science Core Collection and are analyzed. Five major strands of research are identified through factor analysis. They are reviewed and their interrelation is mapped using social network analysis. Research on (I) market efficiency and economics and (II) asset pricing and valuation is relatively mature and focuses on cryptocurrencies, while research on (III) the principles and applications of blockchain technology, (IV) transactions and anonymity and (V) monetary theory and policy lacks maturity. Potential paths for future research are pointed out and in conclusion, it is assessed that this young field of research still leaves plenty of room for manoeuvre. A scientific place next to Nakamoto (2008) is still available for existing, emerging and new research streams.
Thanks to the credibility and transparency of blockchain technology, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can use self-guarantee to obtain loans from financial institutions. Unlike the well-developed supply chain finance (SCF) using guarantees provided by a core enterprise, the effectiveness of SCF with self-guarantee is unclear, especially in a multi-sided market setting. The current paper explores this effectiveness by building an analytical model involving four kinds of players: a multi-sided platform, a customer, a bank, and multiple transportation service providers. In this setting, a traditional SCF model with Platform Undertakes Guarantee (PUG) and a novel SCF strategy with self-guarantee (i.e. Customer Undertakes Guarantee (CUG)) are analysed. The results indicate that CUG can bring a Pareto improvement for the market compared to PUG. Although CUG displays higher efficiency, it is not always beneficial to the platform when the customer's opportunity cost rate is higher than the platform's. Furthermore, to mitigate credit risk caused by a low-credit customer, the platform may employ a prepayment strategy. Analytical results of this study indicate that the prepayment ratio does not affect the customer's cost, and thus, providing a high prepayment ratio but a relatively low service fee rate to low-credit customers is suggested to the platform.
Ghareeb Falazi, Andrea Lamparelli, Uwe Breitenbuecher, Florian Daniel · 5 authors
In this article, we introduce a set of technologies that lay the foundation for a service-oriented integration of smart contracts into generic software applications. In particular, we showcase the use of three specifications using a typical supply chain scenario.
There is now a consensus on the role of open innovation intermediaries, especially in relation to the transaction costs associated with open and collaborative innovation. On the other hand, since its “invention” in 2008, blockchain has been given considerable attention across various fields. A common view is that by drastically reducing transaction costs, blockchain could suppress the need of middlemen and intermediaries. With this in mind, the aim of this paper is to assess the potential impact of blockchain on the role of open innovation intermediaries, with a particular focus on crowdsourcing platforms. Following Schenk et al. (2018), the role of crowdsourcing platforms is considered along three complementary streams of literature: transaction costs theory, resource-based theory, and the theory of two-sided markets. Through its registry and smart-contract applications (which are yet to be characterized precisely), we argue that if vastly implemented, blockchain will significantly reduce the possibility of opportunistic behavior, as well as the associated transaction costs. This could in turn lead to a reconsideration of the role of open innovation intermediaries and platforms. But the role of these platforms also includes the matchmaking between seekers and solvers (which involves network effects) and the provision of resources and competences required along the open innovation process. The discussion proposed in this chapter suggests that these roles should not be altered by blockchain (at least in a foreseeable future).
The Bank of Canada has undertaken a multi-phase experimental project, called Jasper, to critically examine the value proposition of distributed ledger technology in the financial system.Unlike most technologies blockchain is not value free: it attempts to organize the world with a different conception of trust.We describe our journey, collaboration with other central banks and financial institutions, our findings and outstanding questions.Bio: Dinesh Shah is a director of Fintech research at the Bank of Canada.He leads a team that focuses on research on e-money and fintech.His research interest includes the analysis of emerging and potentially disruptive technologies with wide applications to financial market infrastructure and the financial system.He also drives the five phases of Project Jasper, which was the first project globally that involves a collaboration between a central bank and commercial banks to build a proof-of-concept interbank payment system with distributed ledgers.He joined the Bank of Canada in 2009 as an Enterprise Architect, then became a technical researcher focusing on research and analysis developments in e-money and payment systems and their impact on the Bank of Canada's mandate.
This paper proposes a connection management mechanism for IoT devices using blockchain smart contracts. In recent years, with the development of network technology, the number of devices connected to the network is increasing exponentially as the number of devices increases, the risk of attacks increases. Therefore, blockchain plays a vital role in protecting IoT systems. In this paper, we propose and discuss a decentralized connection management mechanism to eliminate the threat associated with IoT by using blockchain's smart contract. We proposed a multi-layer management mechanism to reduce the cost of smart contract processing costs due to a large number of IoT devices. We also proposed a tool to manage the connection of IoT devices using smart contracts. In the evaluation, we evaluated our proposed management scheme by applying two types of connection structure i.e., hub-based layer and sink-based layer. The novelty of this method is the implementation of a hierarchical management system for each layer. The effectiveness is the reduction of the smart contact processing cost of devices that disconnects and reconnects to the network.
Patrícia Vilain, John Mylopoulos, Hans‐Arno Jacobsen
In this work, we address the following question: "Which acceptance testing techniques are being used for representing business requirements of smart contracts?" To answer this question we performed a systematic mapping to determine whether acceptance tests for smart contracts and blockchain are being utilized to represent requirements and which acceptance testing techniques are being applied. This systematic mapping shows that, in fact, acceptance testing techniques are still not commonly used to represent the business requirements of smart contracts. We only found two studies using acceptance testing techniques with smart contracts. Moreover, only one of them uses an acceptance testing technique, the BDD (Behavior-Driven Development) notation, to represent the business requirements. In order to confirm that it is possible to represent business requirements of smart contracts, we developed an example that uses the BDD notation to represent requirements of a smart contract deployed in the Hyperledger blockchain. Preliminary results show that it is possible to use acceptance tests to represent business requirements.
The blockchain technology gets attention because of its special characteristics: safety, immutability, transparency, and no need for middlemen. However, not only cryptocurrencies are discussed. Smart contracts are considered as promising application implemented with blockchain technology. Nevertheless, smart contracts are very difficult to implement and are even challenging for experienced developers. In order to allow anyone to create smart contracts, users should be able to read and interpret them. Therefore, we created a prototype that allows to generate smart contracts, and therefore, increase the ease of use.
The rising demand for wireless services can only be met if the available spectrum is shared effectively, and spectrum underutilization is avoided. This article examines how a DLT-based spectrum authorization system may be designed considering its protocol, data, and network operational layers. Decentralization, automation, and verifiable trust achieved by this system facilitate spectrum sharing and trading, catering to business objectives in addition to the influences from regulatory and technological developments. To this end, we elaborate on the technical feasibility, scalability, and business incentives for such a system to stimulate the multiple cross-industry stakeholders to use the radio spectrum more efficiently for 5G and beyond.
Orientation: This article examines the normal tax treatment of cryptocurrency transactions performed by natural persons in South Africa. Research purpose: The aim of this article was to document the normal tax treatment of cryptocurrency transactions subsequent to the inclusion of cryptocurrency in the definition of ‘financial instrument’ in section 1(1) of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962, and to determine whether this inclusion gives rise to unanticipated issues. Motivation for the study: This investigation was necessitated by the distinguishing features of cryptocurrency that differentiate it from other financial instruments. Research approach/design and method: This article falls within the reform-orientated genre of doctrinal research. A desktop literature review was conducted to determine the normal tax treatment of cryptocurrency transactions, based on an interpretation of relevant legislation and a review of secondary commentary. Key issues identified in the normal tax treatment of cryptocurrency transactions were documented, and recommendations were made for addressing the issues identified. Main findings: A misalignment may occur between taxable incomes and economic gains of taxpayers engaged in cryptocurrency mining. Practical/managerial implications: The South African Revenue Service (SARS) should allow for a deduction equivalent to the market value of cryptocurrency acquired through cryptocurrency mining in terms of section 22(2)(a). Contribution/value-add: A risk of misalignment between taxable incomes and economic gains of taxpayers performing cryptocurrency mining has been identified and documented, which may inform legislative amendment, or the practice of the SARS.
Smart contract is a disruptive FinTech that is signed in advance and automatically executed when the goods are received. Therefore, the buyer will settle accounts without delay payment under smart contract, which benefits the supplier in B2B transactions. However, how to motivate the buyer to participate in smart contract? In this paper, we consider a supplier selling goods through retailers such as Wal-Mart in a co-opetitive supply chain, where the retailer buys and resells the supplier's goods and the supplier encroaches on the market by opening a direct channel. Without smart contract, the supplier incurs cash opportunity cost because of the retailer's delay payment (referred to as Traditional Contract scenario). With smart contract, the retailer needs to pay the supplier immediately when the goods arrive (referred to as Smart Contract scenario). We use Generalized Nash Bargaining to formulate the contract negotiation, and show that the adoption of smart contract changes the competition and cooperation between the supplier and the retailer both vertically and horizontally. We find that, when the supplier's unit cash opportunity cost is high (low), the smart contract enhances (weakens) the coordination in the reselling channel, increases (decreases) the reselling channel's market share compared to the direct-selling channel, and increases (lowers) the retailer's proportion in the reselling revenue. Interestingly, we show that, when the supplier's bargaining power is moderate or extremely low, it prefers traditional contract when the unit cash opportunity cost is moderate. We also show that, the retailer and the supplier have incentive alignment to adopt smart contract when the supplier's unit cash opportunity cost is high. We further study the impact of the supplier's merchant discount fee under traditional contract and its commission cost when the direct channel is an online store, finding that our main results are qualitatively unchanged.
O objetivo geral deste trabalho foi, a partir de um caso de estudo, criar um modelo de Sistema em blockchain e smart contracts, para gestão da tributação da prestação de serviços digitais com base no local do usuário à luz da Teoria da Agência. O trabalho foi guiado pelas diretrizes do método Design Science Research (DSR), proposto na área de Sistema de Informações. O artefato resultado deste trabalho, a partir do caso de estudo, foi um Sistema Unificado de Tributação Automática (SUTRA), como solução viável à ausência de um ambiente que integre empresas prestadoras de serviços digitais, seus usuários e entes tributantes, mitigando a assimetria informacional, existente entre estes atores, e suas consequências. A contribuição teórica deste trabalho foi no sentido de relacionar estudos relativos à teoria da agência e blockchain no ambiente tributário, especificamente no que tange à assimetria de informação, controles de tributação e mitigação de fraudes tributárias. A contribuição prática deste trabalho foi propor um artefato, baseado em blockchain e smart contracts, que integre empresas prestadoras de serviços digitais, seus usuários e entes tributantes, em um único ambiente onde possam compartilhar informações entre si.
The birth of Bitcoin ushered in the era of cryptocurrency, which has now become a financial market attracted extensive attention worldwide. The phenomenon of startups launching Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) to raise capital led to thousands of tokens being distributed on blockchains. Many studies have analyzed this phenomenon from an economic perspective. However, little is know about the characteristics of participants in the ecosystem. To fill this gap and considering over 80% of ICOs launched based on ERC20 token on Ethereum, in this paper, we conduct a systematic investigation on the whole Ethereum ERC20 token ecosystem to characterize the token creator, holder, and transfer activity. By downloading the whole blockchain and parsing the transaction records and event logs, we construct three graphs, namely token creator graph, token holder graph, and token transfer graph. We obtain many observations and findings by analyzing these graphs. Besides, we propose an algorithm to discover potential relationships between tokens and other accounts. The reported case shows that our algorithm can effectively reveal entities and the complex relationship between various accounts in the token ecosystem.
Guido Felipe Valderrama Herrera, Leonardo Garcia Sanchez
Este trabajo analiza la relación que tienen las ventas en corto, los sesgos de los agentes junto la interacción de los fundamentales de oferta y demanda respecto la formación de precios en el mercado del Bitcoin. Dentro del análisis encontramos que las tendencias aportadas en la literatura se mantienen en cuanto a las ventas en corto y sus restricciones a pesar de no encontrar evidencia estadística.
Purpose: The paper explores the differences between countries concerning perception and use of traditional and virtual money. We try to answer the question who uses virtual money for investment and building assets and who uses it just for Internet payments. The background of the analysis are significant changes that have taken place in the virtual money market in recent years in relation to changes in the global financial market. Design/methodology/approach: A pilot study was conducted in Poland, the Russian Federation, and China, which is supposed to be an introduction to the bigger and wider survey. It was conducted within December 2019 and January 2020 with 81 surveyed persons. These were students of financial studies in the chosen countries. The paper questionnaire used in the survey consisted of 26 questions connected to virtual money plus 5 demographic questions. It was provided personally by teachers in class. Findings: The findings indicated that there are differences between countries in perception and the use of traditional and virtual money. These discrepancies can have cultural or historical background. Practical Implications: The practical usefulness of the whole study is that gathered information will permit to examine the economic and financial literacy of the respondents and their preferences for the use of innovative financial instruments. Originality/value: The study is related to the very current issue – virtual money as alternative to the currently functioning fiduciary money. The result of the research as one of the first indicated that a different perception of traditional and virtual money among different countries exist. This statement might be a huge contribution to the analysis of the current and further financial system.
Cilj ovog rada je otkriti i proširiti moje znanje o distribuiranim mrežama i teoriji aukcija izradom koncept aplikacije za aukcije na Ethereum mreži koristeći pametne ugovore. Nezamjenjivi tokeni koriste se za stvaranje digitalne povjerljivosti, a prvi put bili su implementirani koristeći Ethereum ERC721 token standard. NFT-Auction-dapp je aplikacija bazirana na Ethereumu koja omogućuje korisnicima da kreiraju i sudjeluju u aukcijama NFT tokena u stvarnom vremenu, na globalnoj i distribuiranoj mreži, zadržavajući garancije plaćanja i dostave. U radu ću se služiti znanjima koja sam stekao tijekom studija na Visokom učilištu Algebra i znanjima koja sam stekao samostalno kako bih izgradio aplikaciju, objavio ju na javnu Ethereum mrežu i testirao njezinu funkcionalnost.
Despite the anticipated benefits and the numerous announcements of pilot cases, we have seen very few successful implementations of blockchain technology (BCT) solutions in supply chains. Little is empirically known about the obstacles to blockchain adoption, particularly in a supply chain's interorganizational setting. In supply chains, blockchains' benefits, for example, BCT‐based tracking and tracing, are dependent on a critical mass of supply chain actors adopting the technology. While previous research has mainly been conceptual and has lacked both theory and empirical data, we propose a theory‐based model for interorganizational adoption of BCT. We use the proposed model to analyze a unique in‐depth revelatory case study. Our case study confirms previous conceptual work and reveals a paradox as well as several tensions between drivers for and against (positive and negative determining factors, respectively) of BCT adoption that must be managed in an interorganizational setting. In this vertical context, the adoption and integration decision of one supply chain actor recursively affects the adoption and integration decisions of the other supply chain actors. This paper contributes midrange theory on BCT in supply chain management (SCM), future research directions, and managerial insights on BCT adoption in supply chains.
Blockchain technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are current hot topics\nin research and practice. However, the potentials of their combination have\nbeen studied just recently to a larger extend. While different use cases for\ncombining AI and blockchain have been discussed, the idea of enabling\nblockchain-based smart contracts to perform "smarter" decisions by using AI or\nmachine learning (ML) models has only been considered on the conceptual level\nso far. It remained open, how such AI-enabled smart contracts could be\nimplemented in a robust way for real-world applications. Therefore, in this\npaper a new, enterprise-class implementation of AI-enabled smart contracts is\npresented and first insights regarding its feasibility are discussed.\n
Rowan van Pelt, Slinger Jansen, Djuri Baars, Sietse Overbeek
In this article, we introduce a blockchain governance framework that defines the governance of a blockchain as a combination of six dimensions and three layers. An evaluation through eight expert interviews confirms the perceived usefulness and operational feasibility of the presented framework. Furthermore, the framework, is demonstrated by an application in two case studies. The introduced blockchain governance framework establishes a shared understanding and discussion surrounding the topic of blockchain governance.
Technische Universität Berlin, Chair for Information and Communication Management, Berlin, Germany, Johannes Werner, Rüdiger Zarnekow
Blockchain technology may disrupt industries by disintermediation. Hence, it challenges market-oriented platforms like Amazon or Facebook as intermediaries. In the case of blockchain-based platforms, if there may be no platform owner as an intermediary, the different sides of a platform will still need to be orchestrated by platform governance. Following this, blockchainbased platforms must also have mechanisms for orchestrating their platform sides. These mechanisms of blockchain-based platforms may differ from traditional platform governance. This research aims to enhance the understanding of governance mechanisms of blockchain-based platforms. For this purpose, a case study is conducted to analyze the governance mechanisms and their manifestations. Therefore, the initial governance mechanisms were taken from research on platforms. As a result, blockchain specific characteristics of governance mechanisms were identified.
Technische Universität München, Munich, DE, Matthias Buchinger, Dian Balta, Helmut Krcmar
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is seen as an opportunity for the banking sector with high potential to achieve complexity reduction, cost savings, and further benefits in diverse processes. These high expectations and a limited technology know-how lead to bank internal challenges during the selection of suitable use cases for DLT. We apply Design Science Research (DSR) to address this challenge by developing a method for evaluating the business needs and the feasibility of deploying DLT in a certain use case in the banking sector. Devised using the letter of credit (LC) process as reference, our results suggest that various requirements and beside bank internal also external parties should be included in the evaluation. This implicates, that a more detailed study is needed on including external stakeholders in use case evaluation. Our method can be customized and applied as a structured evaluation approach in the banking sector.