We explore the adoption of graph representation learning (GRL) algorithms to investigate similarities across services offered by Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols. Following existing literature, we use Ethereum transaction data to identify the DeFi building blocks. These are sets of protocol-specific smart contracts that, similarly to “financial LEGO bricks”, are utilized in combination within single transactions and encapsulate the logic to conduct specific financial services such as swapping or lending cryptoassets. We propose a method to categorize these blocks into clusters based on their smart contract attributes and the graph structure of their smart contract calls. We employ GRL to create embedding vectors from building blocks and agglomerative models for clustering them. To evaluate whether they are effectively grouped in clusters of similar functionalities, we associate them with eight financial functionality categories and use this information as the target label. We find that in the best-case scenario purity reaches .888. We use additional information to associate the building blocks with protocol-specific target labels, obtaining comparable purity (.864) but higher V-Measure (.571) and discuss plausible explanations for this difference. In summary, this method helps categorize existing financial products offered by DeFi protocols, and can effectively automatize the detection of similar DeFi services, especially within protocols.
This paper aims to assess the current state of research landscape of the role of FinTech in the digitalization of financial services through a bibliometric analysis using scientometric software (VosViewer). We analyzed a dataset of 585 documents as indexed by Scopus, published between 2015 and 2025 to generate network maps and identify emerging trends in the field. The bibliometric analysis delves into various key areas within financial services, including digital transformation, decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology. The results revealed a notable rise in the publication volume throughout the years, reflecting the role of modern technologies in transforming financial systems and enhancing user experiences. Geographically, certain countries represent the highest number of publications in the field of FinTech and the digitalization of financial services such as India, China and the United States. These findings provide a foundation for researchers to foster blockchain, artificial intelligence, and decentralized finance, to drive the development and transformation of financial services.
As 6G networks evolve, inter-provider agreements become crucial for dynamic resource sharing and network slicing across multiple domains, requiring on-demand capacity provisioning while enabling trustworthy interaction among diverse operators. To address these challenges, we propose a blockchain-based Decentralized Application (DApp) on Ethereum that introduces four smart contracts, organized into a Preliminary Agreement Phase and an Enforcement Phase, and measures their gas usage, thereby establishing an open marketplace where service providers can list, lease, and enforce resource sharing. We present an empirical evaluation of how gas price, block size, and transaction count affect transaction processing time on the live Sepolia Ethereum testnet in a realistic setting, focusing on these distinct smart-contract phases with varying computational complexities. We first examine transaction latency as the number of users (batch size) increases, observing median latencies from 12.5 s to 23.9 s in the Preliminary Agreement Phase and 10.9 s to 24.7 s in the Enforcement Phase. Building on these initial measurements, we perform a comprehensive Kruskal-Wallis test (p < 0.001) to compare latency distributions across quintiles of gas price, block size, and transaction count. The post-hoc analyses reveal that high-volume blocks overshadow fee variations when transaction logic is more complex (effect sizes up to 0.43), whereas gas price exerts a stronger influence when the computation is lighter (effect sizes up to 0.36). Overall, 86% of transactions finalize within 30 seconds, underscoring that while designing decentralized applications, there must be a balance between contract complexity and fee strategies. The implementation of this work is publicly accessible online.
This paper first documents a novel herding for Altcoin, i.e., herding towards Bitcoin. Besides, constructing the proxies for flight to Bitcoin (in)attention with Google Trends and Twitter, the results reveal that flight to Bitcoin inattention strengthens the herding and flight to Bitcoin attention attenuates the herding. Subperiod analysis further reveals that the finding is more pronounced during the period before the introduction of Bitcoin futures, and the period before the outbreak of COVID-19.
This article conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 182 papers to trace the progression of research on cryptocurrency taxation. The study highlights prevailing patterns, influential contributors, and collaborative networks by utilising data from Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection from 2002 to 2023. The findings underscore an interdisciplinary character, encompassing studies in legal frameworks, fiscal policy, economics, and technology. By employing analytical tools such as VOSviewer 1.6.20, Bibliometrix 4.0 and Microsoft Excel, the study identifies key themes and concepts focused on four main themes: international tax frameworks and regulatory variations, classification and reporting of crypto-related income, tax implications for emerging crypto segments, and issues surrounding compliance and enforcement. Tax treatment differs based on jurisdiction. Direct taxation may be levied as capital gains, income, or profit tax. Although cryptocurrency exchanges are not subject to value-added tax, intermediary services offered by platforms might incur this indirect tax. The insights generated are valuable for policymakers, scholars, and professionals aiming to comprehend the relationship between cryptocurrency and tax regulation. A limitation of the study is its exclusion of sources beyond the established timeframe. Given the fast-paced changes in cryptocurrency tax regulation, ongoing updates are crucial to capturing the full scope of this evolving field.
Abstract Pricing dynamics and volatility are accelerating the adoption of global cryptocurrency. Despite challenges, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are gaining widespread acceptance, particularly in countries with unbanked populations, the lack of bank controls, and inflation. This study investigates the global patterns of cryptocurrency adoption using Generalized Linear Models and Spatial Autoregressive Models. This research introduces a novel perspective on global cryptocurrency adoption using spatial models. Our findings reveal that cryptocurrency adoption is significantly influenced by economic instability, infrastructure availability, and spatial dynamics, with higher adoption rates in countries with limited access to traditional financial systems.
This study examines how rapidly advancing technology, digital transformation, and changing customer demands are causing revolutionary changes in the fields of health technology, education technology, fin technology, and Agri-technology.These sectors are going through major transformations that improve accessibility, efficiency, and personalization, which will ultimately raise economic development and general quality of life.By improving accessibility, cutting costs, and facilitating proactive health management, wearable technology, telemedicine, and AI-driven diagnostics are transforming patient care in the health technology sector.Personalized medicine, electronic health records (EHRs), and remote monitoring are all contributing to better treatment results.The integration of blockchain in healthcare is also enhancing data security and interoperability.EdTech is reshaping education through online platforms, adaptive learning technologies, and AI-driven tutoring systems.Education is becoming more dynamic, inclusive, and captivating with the emergence of digital classrooms, virtual reality (VR), and gamification strategies.For students around the world, especially in isolated and underprivileged places, these developments are reducing learning gaps and increasing chances.The financial ecosystem is changing as a result of FinTech developments including decentralized finance (DeFi), blockchain, digital payments, and Robo-advisors.Financial inclusion, security, and transparency are being improved via digital banking, mobile wallets, and AI-powered fraud detection systems.Lending and investing habits are also changing as a result of the rise of cryptocurrencies and peer-to-peer lending platforms.Agri-Tech, on the other hand, is using biotechnology, smart irrigation systems, and precision agriculture to address issues related to food security and sustainability.Drones, Internet of Things sensors, and AI-powered analytics are being used to maximize resource use, enhance crop resilience, and boost total agricultural output.This essay explores the effects of these disruptions, emphasizing the advantages and disadvantages for companies, customers, and legislators.By analyzing case studies and emerging trends, this research aims to provide insights into how these sectors can continue evolving to create a more equitable, efficient, and sustainable future.
The rapid development of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) is causing a significant upheaval in the banking sector.These technological advancements are boosting client experiences, increasing financial efficiency, and altering the way banks function.With an emphasis on topics like fraud detection, risk management, customer service (think chatbots and virtual assistants), personalized banking, and automating repetitive processes, this study examines how banks are presently utilizing AI and automation.While highlighting the major advantages-such as reducing expenses, reducing mistakes, and expediting decision-making-it also addresses the drawbacks, including concerns about data privacy, maintaining regulatory compliance, and the effect on employment.According to the study, further integration of technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning, and natural language processing is anticipated in the future, which will increase the intelligence and adaptability of banking systems.Also, it looks at new developments that have the potential to drastically change the sector, such as open banking, decentralized finance (DeFi), and AI-powered predictive analytics.As the report concludes, banks must carefully consider ethical issues, make investments in staff upskilling, and figure out how humans and computers can collaborate efficiently, even though AI and automation present enormous prospects for innovation and expansion.Although the banking industry has a bright future, maximizing the potential of new technologies will require careful planning.
The article considers financial literacy as an important factor of sustainable socio-economic development in the context of global digital transformation. The rapid development of financial technologies, platform economy, artificial intelligence, blockchain technologies, and decentralized finance (DeFi) has significantly changed the architecture of financial markets and consumer financial behavior models. In these circumstances, the ability of the population to effectively and safely use digital financial instruments is becoming a key condition for the financial stability of households and the stability of the financial system. According to the OECD/INFE (2023), only about 29% of the adult population achieve a minimum level of digital financial literacy, which indicates that there is a significant gap between the technological development of the financial sector and the level of financial competence of users. The study systematizes modern theoretical approaches to understanding financial literacy and analyzes its evolution under the influence of fintech innovations, artificial intelligence technologies and digital assets. Special attention is paid to new competencies necessary for secure interaction with cryptocurrencies, robo-consultants, embedded finance systems and open banking tools. It is proved that the development of digital financial literacy helps to reduce the financial vulnerability of the population, expand access to financial services and form an inclusive digital economy. The results of the study show that investments in the development of digital financial competencies of the population form a multiplier effect for economic growth and improving the financial well-being of society.
The research examines the increased popularity of electronic currencies as well as the radical change towards a digital economy.In the last decade, the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and newly formed central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) has gained momentum, capturing extraordinary shifts in financial frameworks as well as in global economic models.The study examines the factors driving the growing adoption of digital currencies, noting their advantages including decentralization, improved security, lower transaction costs, and the capacity to enable cross-border payments.Aside from analysing the economic and technological drivers of digital currency adoption, the research looks at the general implications of digital finance on the existing banking systems, monetary policy, and regulatory regimes.The research also discusses the potential role of digital currencies in promoting financial inclusion, especially in areas with limited access to mainstream banking services.In addition, the research examines how the growth of the digital economy, typified by the convergence of digital currencies, blockchain technology, and decentralized finance (DeFi), is changing business models and consumer behaviours in various industries.The research, conducted through a mixture of surveys, case studies, and interviews with experts, cites major challenges including volatility, regulatory ambiguity, and security risks that may affect future stability and development of digital currencies. REVIEW OF LITERATUREDevlin (2019) -An Analysis of main and subsidiary credit card holding and spending.This research aims to investigate why the majority of multiple credit card holders hold a "main" card (i.e., one that is more frequently used than the others) and "subsidiary" cards (i.e., ones used less frequently or in an emergency situation) and the spending behaviour on main and subsidiary cards.
Rahul Mulukanuri, P. B. Lavanya, Vara Lakshmi Thavva
Today's world is experiencing an increasing global emphasis on sustainable finance, which brings with it new solutions to enhance trust, adoption and accountability in the financial transaction systems.Most of the time, these traditional financial systems fail as they are mainly challenged by facts like data manipulations, lack of transparency, greenwashing and also lack of tracking about the sustainable investments.The decentralized and immutable nature of blockchain helps in enhancing ESG compliance, preventing fraud, and automating reporting through smart contracts.Blockchain technology can build an ecosystem of transparency, thus restoring investors' trust and compliance with regulations, making sustainable investments credible.This paper examines blockchain's role in promoting sustainability by improving financial integrity, regulatory compliance, and the credibility of ESG-driven investments.Amalgamation of blockchain will provide long-term economic and environmental advantages, resulting in a more responsible and transparent financial ecosystem.
The term Blockchain is a very popular and new technology today. Blockchain first emerged to verify file timestamp information and later became very popular with virtual currencies called Bitcoin. Blockchain technology has become so popular because it provides security, is not connected to a central system, its information is unchangeable, has a wide range of usage and offers a transparent structure. This technology is frequently used actively in many areas such as financial structures, healthcare services, buying and selling transactions, education, real estate transactions, smart cities and voting systems. One of the structures actively used on Blockchain is the smart contract structure. The smart contract which enables the contracts determined by the users to run automatically, is executed on a Blockchain network and automatically executes the desired transactions in a secure manner. Smart contracts can be used integrated into many areas and Blockchain structures. With the developing technology smart contract and Blockchain technology have begun to be used frequently in smart city projects. In particular they can be used in a variety of processes such as energy management, logistics, waste management, transportation, real estate, healthcare, utilities and administration. In this study a waste management example based on smart contracts was implemented using Blockchain technology. Because waste management is very important for smart cities. Waste management has an important role in many issues such as health, hygiene, environmental efficiency and resource management. For this purpose a smart contract-based waste management example has been developed. The developed sample contract includes the recycling process based on the collection of waste. With this contract, the amount of recycled waste is controlled and the user is rewarded. A recycling project that can be used in smart city projects is aimed to make the process automatic and safer by combining it with smart contract and Blockchain technology.
Deploying smart contracts and invoking their functions on block-chains incur gas costs, which depend on the operations executed by those functions. This makes optimizing the gas cost of smart contract functions a rewarding goal. However, existing approaches to gas cost optimization of smart contracts mainly involve rule-based optimization or automatic optimization for specific types of patterns. In this paper, we discuss a novel approach to automatically retrieving optimized versions of Solidity functions from a repository of smart contracts. The system identifies and suggests gas-efficient alternatives that maintain functional equivalence by comparing the opcode sequences of individual functions. We evaluate this approach on a dataset of 16,529 functions from real-world contracts, demonstrating substantial gas savings, as high as 34% on average when considering the most similar functions.
ABSTRACT: Cryptocurrencies have emerged as a significant innovation in the field of finance, offering potential solutions to various challenges in traditional financial systems. This manuscript investigates the factors influencing cryptocurrency adoption in South Africa by the South African Reserve Bank, using thematic analysis derived from qualitative data. That is why the understanding of these factors is crucial for policymakers, businesses, and researchers seeking to navigate the landscape of cryptocurrency adoption in South Africa and beyond. The data collection was achieved through interviews conducted with the regulatory industry experts using the semi-structured interview approach. By drawing from a diverse range of literature and research findings, this study explores the cultural, regulatory, and technological factors that stand as challenges for cryptocurrency adoption in South Africa. The findings reveal amongst others a lack of cryptocurrency-tailored regulatory frameworks, a lack of enhanced awareness, and South Africa's dire technological infrastructure influencing the requirement of proper regulations of cryptocurrencies by the South African Reserve Bank. The findings reveal key issues that need to be addressed to facilitate the adoption of cryptocurrencies by the South African Reserve Bank. The identified manner of addressing these issues includes collaboration with international bodies, regulatory innovation, and infrastructure development which is crucial for the South African Reserve Bank to manage the risks and harness the benefits of cryptocurrencies. Understanding these factors leads to recommendations that address these regulatory challenges through a collaboration effort with other countries that have successfully adopted cryptocurrencies and employ a culture of continuous learning and adaptation.
The study analyzes the global regulatory landscape for blockchain assets, particularly cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, focusing on the motivations behind policymaker actions, the diversity of regulatory approaches, the challenges posed by decentralized technologies and provide future regulatory pathways. The study uses a conceptual and mixed-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative content analysis of 59 peer-reviewed articles selected through the PRISMA framework. Findings reveal that regulation is primarily driven by concerns over consumer protection, financial stability, anti-money laundering, taxation, and environmental sustainability. Regulatory responses vary widely, ranging from the harmonized MiCA framework in the EU to the fragmented enforcement model in the U.S., along with diverse strategies across Asia. Stablecoins, DeFi, and CBDCs emerge as major regulatory frontiers. The study recommends adopting regulatory sandboxes, promoting international coordination, enforcing environmental standards, and building regulatory capacity in emerging economies to balance innovation with risk mitigation. It also highlights the importance of industry self-regulation and technology-assisted compliance in decentralized finance. The limitation of this study is that it relies solely on secondary data sources, which may limit the accuracy of real-time policy impact assessments. Future research should focus on empirical validation and dynamic policy modeling to enhance global governance of digital assets.
In the modern era of digitalization, integration with blockchain and machine learning (ML) technologies is most important for improving applications in healthcare management and secure prediction analysis of health data. This research aims to develop a novel methodology for securely storing patient medical data and analyzing it for PCOS prediction. The main goals are to leverage Hyperledger Fabric for immutable, private data and to integrate Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques to enhance transparency in decision-making. The innovation of this study is the unique integration of blockchain technology with ML and XAI, solving critical issues of data security and model interpretability in healthcare. With the Caliper tool, the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain's performance is evaluated and enhanced. The suggested Explainable AI-based blockchain system for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome detection (EAIBS-PCOS) system demonstrates outstanding performance and records 98% accuracy, 100% precision, 98.04% recall, and a resultant F1-score of 99.01%. Such quantitative measures ensure the success of the proposed methodology in delivering dependable and intelligible predictions for PCOS diagnosis, therefore making a great addition to the literature while serving as a solid solution for healthcare applications in the near future.
Open access
Impact of AI and Big Data on Business and Society
FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
A Smart Contract (SC) is a digital negotiation process between two or more anonymized participants without trusted middlemen. It is an autonomous SC manifested as software code. SC operates on the blockchain (BC). The program and the SC are immutable and preserved on a decentralized public registry. Many potential applications for SC exist within the digital economy, encompassing financial services, administration, medical care, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Ethereum and Hyperledger constitute the most prevalent open-source advanced cross-industry BC systems for cross-border collaboration. Significant technological concerns, including security, privacy, accuracy, and verifiability, remain unresolved and require further maturation in BC. This study thoroughly examines SC. The research provides a case study on a university test system characterized by a heterogeneous data structure. This implementation provides an in-depth comprehension of the SC architecture and has been utilized to identify and evaluate the deficiencies in the current state of SC technology.
This comprehensive study examines the integration of smart contracts into civil law systems and analyzes the associated regulatory challenges. The research investigates the fundamental nature of smart contracts as technological tools and legal instruments, their compatibility with existing civil law frameworks, and the emerging regulatory approaches across different jurisdictions. Through systematic analysis of legislative developments, case law, and scholarly discourse, this study identifies key legal issues including contract formation, performance, enforcement, and dispute resolution in the context of smart contracts. The findings reveal significant gaps in current regulatory frameworks and propose solutions for harmonizing smart contract implementation with established civil law principles. This research contributes to the ongoing academic discourse on legal technology integration and provides practical recommendations for legislators, legal practitioners, and technology developers.
Since the introduction of Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, virtual currencies have become a topic of increasing public concern. Bitcoin trading is highly speculative and involves significant risks, as its value can fluctuate dramatically over time, with no single party held accountable for these changes. This study focuses on the protection of investors engaged in Bitcoin transactions on exchange platforms in Indonesia under positive law. The research employs a normative juridical approach, with both primary and secondary data sourced from legal texts, regulations, and relevant literature. The findings indicate that Bitcoin transactions in Indonesia primarily involve the sale of commodity assets through exchange platforms, which function as physical traders of crypto assets. Regulatory frameworks established by futures regulatory bodies play a crucial role in preventing fraud and safeguarding legal rights. According to Indonesian Contract Law, as outlined in the Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW), Bitcoin transactions are considered “legal” when they fulfill the contractual conditions specified in Article 1320. Consequently, investors are legally protected from both criminal and civil liabilities due to the validity of these transactions.
While traditional behavioral finance theories such as the TRA, TPB, and TAM have provided substantial insights, their application to the rapidly evolving digital finance sector, particularly cryptocurrency markets , has been limited. Addressing this gap, our study integrates Digital Trust Theory (DTT) with these frameworks to examine the role of government support in Crypto Adoption (CA) within Vietnam's dynamic but unregulated market, a prominent emerging market in global crypto trading. Utilizing Structural Equation Modeling , we processed data collected from 255 participants using SmartPLS 4.0 to explore complex relationships among User Characteristics (UC), Technology Characteristics (TC), External Environment (EX), and their impacts on Crypto Trust (CT) and Crypto Adoption CA. This dataset, comprising responses from a diverse array of participants including tech-savvy youths, business professionals, and financial experts across various regions of Vietnam, provides a robust basis for understanding the nuanced influences on cryptocurrency behaviors. Our findings underscore the significant mediating roles of Crypto Trust and governmental regulation, highlighting the crucial influence of External Environment factors on trust dynamics. These insights not only contribute to academic discourse by refining traditional behavioral finance theories for the digital era but also offer practical guidance for fostering a sustainable cryptocurrency market, thereby supporting economic development and financial security in Vietnam.
The emerging markets are fast gaining relevance in the revolution of digital finance. With the continued growth of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) technologies, governments in these jurisdictions are confronted by a reality crisis, namely, how they can implement tax regimes that are both revenue-generating and innovation-friendly without toxicizing the regulatory landscape. In the paper, the complex issues of taxation of crypto assets and DeFi activity in emerging economies are discussed, structural, technological, and institutional barriers to the conventional tax framework are presented and complicate the taxation of cryptocurrency and related activities. A mixed methods strategy (applying qualitative stakeholder information to quantitative modelling and comparative policy research) helps to reveal how current tax regimes, in most cases, fall behind market development, which results in loss of revenue, enforcement gaps as well as non-intended incentives to informal economic responses. We suggest that effective policy frameworks should strike the right balance between revenue collection and fairness, enforceability and respect of decentralized spirit of DeFi. We identify practical solutions, including adaptive regulatory sandboxes, blockchain-based reporting solutions, and collaborative international standards that can all help build a resilient but adaptable tax regime by reviewing country case studies and the best practices of other countries. The results of our findings indicate that the emerging markets can use technology and cross sector partnership to make their tax systems engines of compliance and innovation. Finally, the study offers a roadmap to policymakers in an attempt to have fair, efficient, and progressive cryptocurrency taxation of crypto assets and decentralized finance.
Social media has become an indispensable part of modern life, promoting information dissemination, interpersonal communication, brand promotion, and profoundly influencing people’s social habits and ways of obtaining information. In the rapidly developing technology field, social network platforms have gradually evolved into an important part of the social structure. On the other hand, with the rise and expansion of-blockchain technology from decentralized and distributed ledger technology to many fields, its inherent advantages have also begun to be valued. This study deeply analyzes the current situation and problems encountered in the integration process of social network and block chain and puts forward corresponding solutions. Through detailed case investigation, this paper shows the specific obstacles of the integration link and discusses the potential solutions. The research aims to promote the perfect integration of social media and blockchain technology and aims to provide valuable references for these two rapidly growing areas to support their future development.
Smart contracts are programs that permanently store and automatically execute on the blockchain system such as Ethereum. Due to the non-tamperable nature of the underlying blockchain, smart contracts are difficult to update once deployed, which requires redeploying the contracts and migrating the data. It means that the observation of smart contract evolution in the real world makes more sense. Hence, in this paper, we conducted the first large-scale empirical study to characterize the evolution of smart contracts in Ethereum. For evolution identification, we presented a contract similarity-based search algorithm, digEvolution, and evaluated its effectiveness with five different search strategies. Then we applied this algorithm to 80,152 on-chain contracts we collected from Ethereum, to dig out the evolution among these contracts. We then explored three research questions. We first studied whether the evolution of smart contracts is common (RQ1), then we studied how do the Gas consumption (RQ2) and the vulnerability (RQ3) of smart contracts vary during the evolution. Our research results show that the evolution of smart contracts is not very common. There are some contract components that have vulnerability but still be called by users. The Gas consumption of most smart contracts doesn’t vary during the evolution, contract is Gas-efficient before and after the evolution. The vulnerability of most smart contracts doesn’t vary during the evolution, both are secure before and after the evolution.