Nida Khan, Abdelkader Lahmadi, Jérôme François, Radu State
Blockchain is an emerging foundational technology with the potential to create a novel economic and social system. The complexity of the technology poses many challenges and foremost amongst these are monitoring and management of blockchain-based decentralized applications. In this paper, we design, implement and evaluate a novel system to enable management operations in smart contracts. A key aspect of our system is that it facilitates the integration of these operations through dedicated 'managing' smart contracts to provide data filtering as per the role of the smart contract-based application user. We evaluate the overhead costs of such data filtering operations after post-deployment analyses of five categories of smart contracts on the Ethereum public testnet, Rinkeby. We also build a monitoring tool to display public blockchain data using a dashboard coupled with a notification mechanism of any changes in private data to the administrator of the monitored decentralized application.
Since the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also known as Daesh and ISIL) in 2014, antiquities have been a widely publicized source of funding for what has become one of the most technologically savvy terrorist organizations of the modern era. The globalization of technology and rise of popularity in cryptocurrencies has changed the face of black-market trade and the actors that carry out these crimes. While art and antiquities have long served as a market with susceptibilities to laundering, the emergence of Dark Web markets, identification-masking software, and untraceable cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have opened new doors to potential vulnerabilities. The anonymity that is offered by these technologies acts as a roadblock for authorities, while attracting the likes of terrorists and transnational criminals. Investigative research using cyber security platforms to identify digital artifacts connected to potential traffickers provides the opportunity to unmask the seemingly untraceable actors behind these activities. The evidence of illicit antiquities trafficking on the Dark Web displayed in this article can generate a new discussion on how and where to study black-market antiquities to gain needed insight into combating the illicit trade online and the transnational criminal groups it may finance.
Smart contracts that build up on blockchain technologies are receiving great attention in new business applications and the scientific community, because they allow untrusted parties to manifest contract terms in program code and thus eliminate the need for a trusted third party. The creation process of writing well performing and secure contracts in Ethereum, which is today's most prominent smart contract platform, is a difficult task. Research on this topic has only recently started in industry and science. Based on an analysis of collected data with Grounded Theory techniques, we have elaborated several common security patterns, which we describe in detail on the basis of Solidity, the dominating programming language for Ethereum. The presented patterns describe solutions to typical security issues and can be applied by Solidity developers to mitigate typical attack scenarios.
Over the last few years, research on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has snowballed across many disciplines: technical fields, economics, law, public policy, finance, accounting, and others. As the uses of blockchain technology behind Bitcoin expand, more disciplines will be drawn to its study and the research will greatly expand. This paper provides an assessment of the current state of the literature. From a comprehensive search of the literature that resulted in an original sample of 13,507 results, a final sample of 1,206 papers on Bitcoin are categorised and mapped across six disciplines.
Rolf van Wegberg, J.J. Oerlemans, Oskar van Deventer
Purpose -This paper aims to shed light into money laundering using bitcoin. Digital payment methods are increasingly used by criminals to launder money obtained through cybercrime. As many forms of cybercrime are motivated by profit, a solid cash-out strategy is required to ensure that crime proceeds end up with the criminals themselves without an incriminating money trail. The authors examine how cybercrime proceeds can be laundered using services that are offered on the Dark Web.
O objetivo do artigo consiste em responder ao seguinte problema de pesquisa: a falta de regulamentação específica para as criptomoedas possui relação com a expansão das modalidades criminosas? Para responder ao referido problema, é necessário abordar o conceito de criptomoedas, sua expansão, o papel das instituições de controle e os limites jurídicos que reconhecem a existência dessa nova modalidade de tecnologia. Partimos do suposto de que o advento das criptomoedas em si não consiste em uma atividade criminosa pela ausência de regulamentação pelo Banco Central, mas sim, pode vir a se encaixar em tipos penais pelo mau uso dos softwares. A abordagem é qualitativa, com suporte em revisão de literatura e análise descritiva dos fenômenos pesquisados, além da consulta sobre a legislação sobre o tema. A contribuição é relevante pelo ineditismo e pela importância do tema no contexto financeiro e jurídico das transações realizadas em modalidade virtual. Conclui-se que não é possível associar diretamente o uso de bitcoins com a expansão das modalidades criminosas, entretanto, resta evidente que há relação subjacente entre a falta de regulamentação e a especialização de práticas criminosas que usam o ciberespaço como ambiente.
The aim of this study is to review the literature growth and author productivity of Blockchain technology research from 2008 to March 2017. 801 articles were retrieved from Scopus database and analyzed with bibliometrics approach using different perspective views. The author productivity was derived using the Lotka’s law and K-S test was performed to verify the reliability. The result indicates that the number of literatures on Blockchain is still increasing. Three stages of Blockchain research change were discovered. In 2008 to 2013, the topics were related to the Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies; in 2014 to 2015, the number of Bitcoin literatures grew rapidly; after 2016, a lot of researchers are paying attention to the techniques of Blockchain and smart contract. Moreover, the distribution of author productivity meets the study of Lotka. This study presents state-of-the-art and abstract the trend of Blockchain research regarding several perspectives of bibliometrics analysis.
Cryptocurrencies are a type of digital currencies that are relying on cryptographic proofs for confirmation of transactions. Cryptocurrencies usually achieve a unique combination of three features: ensuring limited anonymity, independence from central authority and double spending attack protection. No other group of currencies, including fiat currencies, has this combination of features. We will define cryptocurrency ownership and account anonymity. We will define cryptocurrency ownership and account anonymity. We will introduce a classification of the types of approaches to regulation of cryptocurrencies by various individual countries. We will present the risks that the use of cryptocurrencies involves and the possibilities of prevention of those risks. We will present the possible use of cryptocurrencies for the benefit of the state. The conclusion addresses the implications of adoption of a cryptocurrency as a national currency.
The emergence of a cryptocurrencies in the economic circulation is a challenge for legal systems. The response of a legal system depends on social, political and international determinants. The first attempts to understand cryptocurrencies usually concerns tax law, which, however, are related to the civilian understanding of the phenomenon. In the Polish legal system, we had a lack of regulation directly related to cryptocurrencies, which caused them to be strictly qualified as an instrument whose exchange for money was not exempt from VAT as Bitcoin was not classified as money. This situation has changed as a result of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which has recognized Bitcoin as an alternative means of payment. Recently, new statutory regulations have been introduced in non-European legal systems, i.e. in Japan and Arizona, which regulate cryptocurrencies in a wider way. This allows us to propose classification of legal systems based on the relationship they have towards cryptocurrencies.
We examine blockchain technologies, especially smart contracts, as a platform for decentralized applications. By providing a basis for consensus, blockchain promises to upend business models that presuppose a central authority. However, blockchain suffers from major shortcomings arising from an over-regimented way of organizing computation that limits its prospects. We propose a sociotechnical, yet computational, perspective that avoids those shortcomings. A centerpiece of our vision is the notion of a declarative, violable contract in contradistinction to smart contracts. This new way of thinking enables flexible governance, by formalizing organizational structures; verification of correctness without obstructing autonomy; and a meaningful basis for trust.
Bitcoin and its peculiar, decentralized transaction system, have already ignited interest by professional and retail traders in search for profits and by economists and legal experts, looking for possible regulation to contain illegal uses. We instead examine the unexpected and ongoing success of Bitcoin from a sociological perspective, first questioning its unusual legitimation system, backed by the so called ‘blockchain technology’, instead of by governmental authorities. Then we collect data and elements to reconstruct Bitcoin’s history as a cryptocurrency, starting from the mysterious story surrounding its birth. We then follow its spread and development through social networks and words of mouth, together with its sudden booms and bursts, finally to suggest that both users and institutional regulators should be aware of the risks of Bitcoin and of its alleged power to challenge our very notion of money.
Traditional database with no prior security measures is becoming challenging in the era of data technology. Database storage on a central location with single point of failure and vulnerable to cyber attacks is getting exposed to big risk of being hacked with the evolution of powerful machines and modern hacking techniques. Since its commencement, the BlockChain technology has shown a promising performance for application buildup in diversed fields of life from cryptocurrency to smart contracts and decentralized applications. Although multiple studies on privacy, data confidentiality and security issues of BlockChain are performed but a systematic examination is still needs attention. In this thesis work we conduct a systematic study about the vulnerabilities of BlockChain system and review the security enhancement solutions that may point to a good future direction for further research into the area of BlockChain technology and its applications. Smart contracts are self-executable objects hosted on the 2nd generation blockchain like Ethereum, carry billions of SEK worth of cryptocoins and cannot be updated once deployed. Smart contracts are generally considered secure objects but the systematic analysis of technology and source code exposes a new class of vulnerabilities which are more likely an ethical aspect of programming than the software coding errors. Besides the literature review we empower our results with a static code analysis especially with the perspective of cyber forensics.
Cryptocurrency is a relatively new form of investment. Its concept was first introduced in 2009, and has grown ever since. To this day, there are thousands of cryptocurrencies. Just as other currencies, cryptocurrency can be related to a crime. Ever since its introduction nearly a decade ago, there have been crimes where cryptocurrency are related. According to ACIC’s crime types, cryptocurrency are related to two crime categories: cybercrime, and illicit drugs. There are also other cases where the type of crimes is not listed as a part of ACIC’s. In response to the crimes that have occurred throughout the years, several governments have moved to establish laws regarding cryptocurrency. Some governments chose to ban cryptocurrency completely, whereas others opted for regulation.
Cecilia Anthony Das, Krishna Prasad, Shibley Sadique
This paper seeks to review the current regulatory regime governing cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin, in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore, and traces the regulatory trend in those identified countries. These developments are compared to the Australian context. From the comparative analysis conducted be-tween regimes available in other jurisdictions and those in Australia, the authors conclude that the Australian regulatory regime in relation to cryptocurrency, in particular Bitcoin, are comparable in some respects and in others are much progressive. This is specifically in light of the 2017 amendments relating to anti-money laundering legislation which places Australia as a strong forerunner to legislate on Bitcoin and anti-money laundering legislation. However, to successfully achieve this, Australia must address its lag in relation to the classification of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency respectively. As such, it is concluded that the regulatory regime of cryptocurrency both internationally and at the Australian level is far from satisfactory.
This study aims to determine the extent to which businesses in New Zealand are aware of Bitcoin and have offered them as a payment method to their customers. This study aims to generate verifiable statistics on Bitcoin prevalence so as to help both businesses and government, formulate usage or regulation policy. An online survey will be conducted among businesses by sending the questionnaire to the owners and managers or people who constitute the executive management of the business.