Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) represent one of the most consequential experiments in organizational design to emerge from blockchain technology. By encoding governance rules into smart contracts and recording every vote, proposal, and treasury decision immutably on-chain, DAOs offer globally distributed communities a high degree of transparency and accountability in collective decision-making. This study examines governance design and participatory innovation across three DAOs: RARI DAO, Arbitrum DAO, and Optimism DAO. Each has taken a distinct structural approach to the problem of collective decision-making at scale. Using a qualitative comparative case study method, the research draws on governance forum discussions, proposal records, and official documentation, analyzed through thematic coding and cross-case comparison. The theoretical frame draws primarily from Ostrom’s (1990) commons governance principles, with Scott’s (1995, 2014) institutional theory and Donaldson’s (2001) contingency theory applied as supplementary analytical lenses. Across all three cases, the findings indicate the emergence of increasingly formalized governance architectures designed to balance decentralization, coordination efficiency, and operational security. Communities building governance infrastructure from scratch, iterating rapidly in response to community feedback, and developing structural solutions: delegate incentive programs, participation incentive mechanisms, bicameral legitimacy systems, constitutional frameworks, and dedicated legal entities that represent an emerging configuration of governance mechanisms. Two cross-case findings are particularly notable. First, all three DAOs independently converged on a three-body governance architecture comprising a legal foundation, a security council, and token-holder governance — suggesting that similar governance problems, encountered in similar technical and legal environments, tend to produce similar structural solutions. Second, while these architectures are structurally similar, they differ significantly in how governance processes are implemented in practice, reflecting differences in scale, formalization, and community context. These findings contribute to the literature by providing a structured cross-case analysis of DAO governance design and offering practical insights into programmable institutional design and blockchain-enabled coordination systems.
Many administrative processes, such as internship agreement processes, often rely on manual approval workflows and centralized record-keeping. This makes the process susceptible to delays and unauthorized modification while introducing limited traceability. This study presents StajChain, a permissioned blockchain-based multi-party internship management system developed using Hyperledger Fabric. The proposed system implements the complete internship agreement lifecycle through smart contracts and enforces role-based authorization using Hyperledger Fabric CA. The architecture consists of a React frontend, a NodeJS backend, an off-chain SQLite database, and the on-chain Fabric ledger. Users such as students, companies, faculty internship committee members, and the central internship unit can perform specified operations according to their role and identity. The agreement lifecycle follows predefined sequential steps, and at each step, the ledger status is updated and recorded securely. Furthermore, the system was evaluated using functional and performance tests, indicating acceptable throughput and latency for verifiable administrative workflows. This implementation demonstrates how permissioned blockchain technology can improve transparency, integrity, and accountability while preserving controlled access to institutional data and providing a working prototype that can be used in various future systems.
Blockchain technology, originally devised to support the peer-to-peer transfer of Bitcoin, has evolved into a multipurpose digital infrastructure with far-reaching implications for business and finance. This paper undertakes a conceptual and exploratory examination of how blockchain is reshaping financial services, corporate governance, and commercial transactions. Drawing upon secondary literature, industry reports, and case illustrations, the study investigates blockchain applications across banking, cross-border remittances, supply chain finance, trade finance, capital markets, insurance, and decentralized finance (DeFi). It also discusses the enabling features of blockchain — decentralization, immutability, transparency, and smart contracts — that differentiate it from conventional centralized systems. The paper highlights the strategic benefits accruing to firms that adopt blockchain, including reduced transaction costs, faster settlement, enhanced traceability, and improved trust among counterparties, while also identifying barriers such as regulatory ambiguity, scalability constraints, energy consumption, and limited interoperability. The discussion synthesizes findings from extant studies to present an integrated view of blockchain’s transformative potential and its practical limitations. The paper concludes that while blockchain is unlikely to replace traditional financial infrastructure entirely in the near term, its selective and hybrid adoption is poised to redefine business processes, financial intermediation, and value exchange across industries.
Smart-contract vulnerabilities often arise from inconsistencies between business paths that should correspond to one another, such as single and batch entry points, direct and adapter-based flows, quote and execution paths, or inverse operations such as buy and sell. Existing analyzers are effective for many local syntactic and data-flow patterns, but they provide limited support for bugs whose oracle is relational: whether two semantically paired paths preserve compatible guards, state transitions, value flows, and failure behavior. This paper introduces chiral analysis, a relational model that treats paired business paths as implicit specifications for each other. We formalize chiral relations as static analogues of metamorphic relations, derive obligations over guards, actors, state, value, ordering, failure behavior, and external interactions, and report a vulnerability when a violated obligation has security impact. We implement this idea in ChiralDetector, a Solidity prototype that extracts business paths, ranks candidate pairs with static facts, applies LLM-based semantic filtering and detection, and validates and deduplicates findings. In a preliminary evaluation on the Phi protocol, ChiralDetector reduced 3,217 statically ranked path pairs to 1,643 semantic candidates, produced 101 deduplicated finding groups, and retained 44 strict-validator positives that manually collapsed to 13 effective unique issues. These include cross-art Merkle proof reuse, fee unit mismatches, public state-tracking helpers, and refund propagation gaps. The results suggest that chiral analysis can expose business-logic bug classes that are difficult to express as single-function rules while providing a structured way to control LLM cost and validator precision.
Secure, interconnected, and compatible data sharing of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) across healthcare domains is essential for timely patient care and improved adaptability in healthcare infrastructures. Current challenges must be addressed, including centralization threats, fragmented standards, and threats from quantum computing. This paper proposes a blockchain-based EHR framework using post-quantum cryptography and HL7 FHIR standards for secure, interoperable data sharing. It employs smart contracts for patient-centric access control and HotStuff BFT consensus, achieving 928 TPS with 2.1-second finalization. Zero-knowledge proofs enable privacy-preserving authentication, and dynamic accumulators improve revocation storage efficiency by 89%. On a 20-node testbed, the system sustains 620 TPS at 500 ms latency, with under three-second access grants and 95% storage efficiency via cryptographic pointers. Compared to current systems, it offers 20× higher throughput and resists quantum threats. Multi-hop exchange across three hospitals reduced normalization efforts by 40%. Comprehensive assessment on the system outcomes reveals that our framework significantly enhances security, scalability, and interoperability for decentralized healthcare networks.
Smart contracts are programs that automatically enforce some kind of agreement between parties, without the need of a trusted third party. Since they frequently deal with large sums of money (in the form of crypto assets) it is critical that smart contracts attain precisely to their specification and do not have any unexpected behaviour. In this thesis, I will present two lines of research, one related to developing smart contract languages for the UTXO blockchain model, and the other related to the formalization of MEV attacks.
Federated Learning (FL) enables collaborative model training across decentralized participants without sharing raw data. However, existing FL systems remain vulnerable to Byzantine attacks and suffer from a lack of accountability, verifiability, and economic incentives for honest participation. We present BFL-Guard, a novel blockchain-orchestrated federated learning framework integrating: (i) zk-SNARK-based zero-knowledge gradient proofs, (ii) an on-chain Byzantine-tolerant aggregation smart contract, and (iii) a tokenized incentive protocol (FedToken). BFL-Guard stores model checkpoints as IPFS hashes anchored on Ethereum, ensuring tamper-evident auditability. Experiments on CIFAR-10 and Shakespeare benchmarks demonstrate 95.2% and 87.6% accuracy in IID and Non-IID settings, surpassing all baselines while converging 12.4% faster even under 30% Byzantine injection.
Elsir Ali Saad Mohamed, Khalid Ibrahim Abdelaziz Ishag, Omnia Salem, Ahd M. M. Abudraz · 8 authors
The convergence of blockchain technology and the Metaverse is redefining digital media ownership and distribution. Drawing on survey data from 613 digital media professionals and a qualitative synthesis of literature (2023–2026), this study examines how blockchain-based mechanisms—specifically non-fungible tokens (NFTs), smart contracts, and decentralized identity (DID) solutions—are associated with creator sovereignty and platform interoperability. Using a moderated chain mediation model within a socio-technical systems framework, the analysis shows that blockchain integration is associated with lower perceptions of platform dependency. This association is linked to a sequential pathway whereby higher decentralized governance is associated with lower intermediary control, which in turn is associated with higher creator monetization autonomy. Connectedness to decentralized protocols differentially shaped these processes: at the technical level, stronger protocol integration strengthened the negative association between blockchain adoption and intermediary dependence; however, at the governance level, a paradoxical pattern emerged, whereby stronger decentralization was associated with higher perceived governance overload in the context of algorithmic decision-making. By disentangling the technical and governance pathways, this study extends current understanding of digital media ecosystems beyond simple use-outcome associations. The findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences in digital literacy and institutional trust when designing blockchain governance frameworks. We conclude that blockchain is not merely an incremental improvement but a necessary architectural requirement for a resilient and equitable Metaverse, contingent upon addressing the risks of surveillance federalism and the digital divide.
Mohaimin Al Barat, Hexuan Yu, Shaoyu Li, Yang Xiao · 8 authors
Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) is a cornerstone of next-generation wireless systems, yet existing solutions such as Spectrum Access Systems (SAS) rely on centralized administrators that expose sensitive operational metadata and lack cryptographic transaction accountability. Though SAS administrators, such as Google, have introduced pay-as-you-go pricing models, these approaches still face significant privacy and accountability challenges as DSS evolves toward a more open and large-scale spectrum marketplace. We present SpexPay, a privacy-preserving and auditable pay-as-you-go spectrum usage framework that enforces fine-grained, usage-linked payments without revealing user identities. Spexpay integrates BBS+ verifiable credentials, unlinkable session pseudonyms, and selective-disclosure proofs to enforce privacy-preserving access authorization, while leveraging Solidity-based smart contracts to realize automated and non-repudiable escrow settlement. By recording only pseudonymous usage evidence and hash-chained metering data on-chain, the system achieves strong unlinkability while preserving verifiable accountability and auditability. A full prototype demonstrates low end-to-end latency ($\approx$150 ms) and modest on-chain cost ($\approx$603K gas or $\approx$\$0.9), showing that SpexPay is practical for real-world DSS deployments. We also evaluated the user-side cryptographic operations on a Raspberry Pi 5 to assess scalability and suitability for edge-class hardware. Our code and artifacts are publicly available at https://github.com/iambarat/SpexPay.
Tahrim Hossain, Faisal Haque Bappy, Tarannum Shaila Zaman, Tariqul Islam
Blockchain platforms have grown into an ecosystem of independent networks, and a growing class of applications now requires smart contracts on separate chains to act as one. Such operations must be atomic, yet immutability makes this fundamentally harder: a confirmed transaction cannot be reversed, so the rollback on which classical atomic commitment protocols depend is unavailable. Two challenges follow. Contract state must be held across an operation whose outcome is not yet known, and each chain's execution outcome must be established even though no chain can observe another. In response, we introduce a framework that achieves atomicity through forward-only correction, resolving incomplete operations with new on-chain transactions rather than reversal. The framework bounds how long contract state is held and confines contention to the state an operation touches, and it establishes outcomes from an on-chain record of what each chain executed, without relying on any single coordinating party. This work lays the foundation for atomic coordination of general smart contract operations across heterogeneous blockchains.
Smart contracts, by enabling the automated and transparent execution of ag-reements through blockchain technology, promise to simplify complex cross-border transactions and reduce reliance on intermediaries, possessing trans-formative potential in international trade. However, significant legal uncerta-inties remain regarding their legal nature, contract validity, applicable law, jurisdiction, and liability. This study aims to examine the legal framework of blockchain-based smart contracts in international trade and to comparatively evaluate regulatory approaches in different legal systems. The research emp-loys a methodology that combines doctrinal legal analysis with comparative regulatory review, focusing particularly on legal recognition, regulatory inst-ruments used, general regulatory approaches, and emerging key legal issues. The findings of the international legal framework review and the comparative analysis conducted in the EU, United Kingdom, USA, some Asian countries, and Türkiye show that widespread adoption of smart contracts is still limited due to legal uncertainties and unresolved doctrinal questions, while regula-tory approaches are still evolving.
Xianhao Zhang, J F Sun, Zijian Zhang, Ye Liu · 7 authors
Smart contract vulnerabilities pose severe financial risks, yet existing security tools largely stop at vulnerability detection, offering limited support for explaining whether reported flaws are exploitable, how attacks unfold, and what concrete damage they cause. To bridge this gap, we propose KASS (Knowledge-Augmented Attack Synthesis and Simulation), a multi-agent framework for executable smart contract exploit verification. KASS decomposes automated exploit generation into planning, generation, and testing stages, and integrates three complementary mechanisms: retrieval-augmented planning over real-world audit knowledge, formal generation and validation constraints that bind attack plans to executable proof-of-concept tests, and a hierarchical dual-loop refinement process that repairs code-level errors while triggering strategy-level replanning when attack assumptions fail. We evaluate KASS on 104 SmartBugs-Curated contracts across four vulnerability categories. Experimental results show that KASS successfully generates executable exploits for 94.23% of tested contracts; this rate is higher than previously reported results for REX and AdvSCanner on comparable SmartBugs-Curated subsets, and higher than our reproduced Claude Code baseline under the same evaluation protocol. On 11 real-world CVE-tagged contracts, KASS successfully validates 9 cases. Beyond exploit generation, KASS produces structured attack plans that document exploitation flows, quantify potential asset losses, and serve as semantic false positive filters for static analysis tools.
This research paper aims to investigate the applications of blockchain technology and smart contracts in managing global supply chains, as well as their financial and economic implications. The study addressed the concept of supply chain management and the technologies of blockchain and smart contracts, with a focus on their applications in validating and tracking transactions, facilitating the flow and storage of information in international trade, supporting customs, shipping, and container management operations, and increasing transparency in commercial transactions. The most prominent digital supply chain platforms based on blockchain were also presented. The results showed that the application of these technologies contributes to reducing costs and fees, improving cash management, increasing transparency and reducing risks, and enhancing the economic and operational efficiency of exporting and importing companies. It also provides administrative bodies with the ability to track and verify transactions instantly, which supports more accurate financial and strategic decision-making.
This chapter examines the dual nature of virtual currencies. It mainly focuses on Bitcoin’s role in both financial innovation and illicit finance. This chapter analyzes the core mechanisms of anonymity and decentralization that make cryptocurrencies attractive to criminal activity. It was exemplified in the landmark Silk Road darknet marketplace case. The discussion traces the evolving regulatory response, from initial enforcement actions to the development of structured frameworks such as the GENIUS Act for stablecoins and the CLARITY Act for digital asset market classification. Further analysis covers the application of traditional securities and commodities laws to decentralized finance (DeFi). The MNGO Markets illustrated its exploitation case. The discussion centers around two blockchain applications: cross-border payments and the creation of immutable smart contracts to comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This chapter concludes that cryptocurrencies exist as a dual-purpose technology. The system requires a sophisticated regulatory approach that lowers both financial crime risks and market integrity threats while preserving the potential for technological innovation.
Sai Srikanth Madugula, Peplluis Esteva De La Rosa, Daya Shankar
The rapid proliferation of Agentic Artificial Intelligence fundamentally disrupts traditional customer loyalty paradigms. As AI evolves from passive recommendation algorithms to autonomous, goal-directed agents capable of executing purchasing decisions, the conventional understanding of consumer-brand relationships requires a structural reevaluation. By synthesizing extant literature across human-machine teaming, consumer decision-making, and algorithmic trust dynamics, we demonstrate that traditional loyalty models fail to account for algorithmic bounded rationality and constructed autonomy. To address this, we introduce the Dynamic Verifiable Multi-Agent Human Agentic Loyalty Loop (DVM-HALL) model. We formalize brand choice via a softmax probability formulation where human emotional equity, agentic machine-experience utility, calibrated trust, delegated authority, and verifiable execution jointly determine selection. The model features recursive updating mechanisms to dynamically calibrate trust and delegation after each interaction. Crucially, the framework integrates a verifiable execution layer for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and tokenized loyalty settings, incorporating execution risks -- such as gas costs, slippage, MEV exposure, and smart-contract vulnerabilities -- as core predictors of agentic brand preference. Furthermore, we introduce the Net Human-Agent Score (NHAS), an auditable, risk-weighted metric designed to measure human-agent alignment using human feedback, execution logs, benchmark comparisons, and verifiable receipts. Finally, we propose a comprehensive three-stage empirical validation plan spanning controlled shopping experiments, multi-agent market simulations, and DeFi testbeds. This framework provides the foundational theory required for brands to navigate the impending transition toward machine customers.
Abstract The same infrastructures that enable decentralised finance, NFT markets, and metaverse platforms also create new spaces for para‑crime. This article extends grey criminology to Web3 by applying three mechanisms of infrastructural illegality – parasitism, normative greyness, and platform co‑production – first developed for physical cross‑border grey economies (daigou). Drawing on technical and financial crime literature, we show how smart contracts, stablecoins, and DAO governance are parasitised for money laundering and fraud; how techno‑libertarian narratives of 'code is law' and decentralisation sustain normative greyness; and how algorithmic security and DAO co‑production reshape rather than eliminate para‑crime. The analysis reveals both structural parallels with physical grey economies and domain‑specific variations – most notably, the deeper internalisation of co‑production in code‑based systems. We argue that grey criminology must extend its infrastructural turn to virtual and metaversal spaces, and that enforcement paradoxes – where suppression threatens valued infrastructures – apply as much to blockchain protocols as to customs thresholds.
Among the various problems that have persisted in global supply chains include data silos, information asymmetry, and vulnerability to fraud. In this paper, a blockchain-based intelligent management of the supply chain model has been suggested, involving distributed ledger technology, smart contracts, and Internet of Things for real-time tracking. The model features a four-tiered architecture consisting of data ingestion, blockchain network, smart contract automation, and application tiers. Tasks that include registering stakeholders, verifying the authenticity of the goods, transferring ownership, and verifying compliance can be automated through smart contracts. The solution offers the ability to process up to 200 transactions per second with an 18% reduction in gas costs as opposed to conventional solutions. Trace back time reduces from 95 seconds to 8 seconds, and the consumer trust index grows by 70%.
Blockchain technology has emerged as a foundational framework for secure, transparent, and decentralized data management. This paper presents a comprehensive examination of the underlying theory and methodology of blockchain systems. Fundamental concepts such as cryptographic hashing, distributed ledger structures, peer-to-peer networking, and consensus algorithms are reviewed to establish the theoretical basis of blockchain functionality. Methodological approaches, including protocol design, smart contract development, performance evaluation, and security analysis, are discussed to demonstrate how blockchain systems are built, validated, and optimized. The study also highlights methodological challenges related to scalability, interoperability, governance models, and system verification. By integrating theoretical principles with practical design methodologies, this work provides a holistic understanding of how blockchain systems operate and how they can be effectively engineered for diverse applications.
Mohammad Karrabi, Farkhondeh Jabari, Asghar Akbari Foroud
The rapid expansion of blockchain technology has led to a surge in patent filings, reflecting intense innovation and competition in this emerging frontier. This chapter examines the “patent boom” in blockchain, analyzing trends, drivers, and implications for technology development, commercialization, and intellectual property management. Key areas of blockchain innovation, such as consensus mechanisms, smart contracts, cryptographic methods, decentralized finance (DeFi), supply chain solutions, and digital identity, are explored in the context of patent activity. The chapter also discusses the geographic and institutional distribution of blockchain patents, highlighting leading countries, companies, and research organizations. Additionally, legal, strategic, and technological challenges associated with patenting in the blockchain space, including overlaps, standardization issues, and open-source tensions, are considered. By systematically reviewing the patent landscape, this chapter provides insights into the dynamics of blockchain innovation, potential barriers to adoption, and opportunities for researchers, developers, and policymakers.