Wenrui Zuo, Aravindh Raman, Raúl J. Mondragón, Gareth Tyson
Web3 social media strives to eliminate the need for centralized management by building upon on technologies such public ledgers and smart contracts. This has generated significant hype, but creates many notable challenges, many of which remain unaddressed. One such challenge is content moderation. Specifically, the immutable nature of blockchain means that it becomes impossible to retrospectively delete posts. This means that illegal content posts cannot be moderated or removed. In an attempt to overcome this, Web3 platforms, such as memo.cash, allow users to filter out posts from their personal timelines. Taking memo.cash as a use case, the goal of this work is to study the efficacy of the approach, and identify associated challenges. A particularly unique feature of memo.cash is that users must pay money (satoshi) for each social action (e.g., posting and blocking other users). We conjecture that this may impact the nature of moderation, particularly among poorer users. To explore this, we gather data from memo.cash covering 24K users, 317K posts, and 2.57M user actions. We investigate how the need to pay may impact the moderation system and propose potential solutions to address the challenges that arise.
Abstract A rising number of educational solutions based on blockchain technology have been designed. Students and other authorities responsible for verifying certificates are very concerned about the authenticity of academic credentials, either because the institutions that issue them no longer exist or because they do not keep adequate records. Blockchain technology has much to offer in education, including its high level of security, improved data access control, low cost, improved accountability, identity authentication, transparency, increased trust, and improved efficiency in managing student records. We proposed a decentralized blockchain‐based secure platform for the storage of academic certificates and student assessments with double encryption. Apart from speeding up the verification process, it will increase the safety of personal education data and assessments of all kinds of misuse. The data would only be accessed using a stakeholder's private key, and storing documents on a blockchain would increase security. We proposed a framework to offer a secure channel for educational resources. We are storing documents over blockchain utilizing an IPFS distributed data server. We give a thorough explanation of the system development, design, and evaluation of the suggested solution in terms of security and cost. Finally, we put the proposed framework to the test by deploying a smart contract prototype on the Ethereum TESTNET network in a Windows environment. The study's findings revealed that the proposed method is effective and feasible.
In 2002, Chinese artist Zhang Huan crossed through New York’s streets wearing a bodysuit made of raw meat that shaped him with bulging contours and expanded his presence to into a humanoid, Hulk-like figure. By this time, it had been four years since Zhang left China. He had previously studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he graduated in 1993. With personal identity and existential survival being his most pressing topics at the time, Zhang was able to exercise a radical, self-exploitative practice as a performance artist. In 2021, as part of a collaboration with the Taipei-based tech platform EchoX, Zhang created Celestial Burial of an Artist, a digital project that revisited Zhang’s meat-suit intervention My New York, his earlier work that now holds a firm position in the canon of performance art at the turn of the century. The two decades since Zhang’s original performance intervention have seen a trend towards score-based, multi-scale practices, depending less on artists’ physical presence, and departing from extreme physical actions. Zhang’s artistic trajectory relates to the conceptualization of the performative, too, even though his practice has since focused on the creation of object-based works.The artist’s return to China, in his words, marked a “point of no return,” separating his past productions from his future work. Zhang stopped performing his repertoire of past interventions because of a conscious desire “not to repeat himself,” as he considered his practice to have reached “the maximum results” with performance art by then. Reflecting this sentiment, Zhang’s 2021 return to My New York stayed away from the notion of reenactment. Celestial Burial of an Artist was conceptualized for online audiences to participate one-on-one in a performative interaction with Zhang’s avatar in a virtual game room. In reference to My New York, the artist’s avatar was rendered to be dressed in a golden meat suit. During period of several weeks in November 2021, audience members (or users) could engage with him in a game-room setting as a vulture-headed avatar, picking parts from the artist’s figure, with their mouse clicks simulating a hungry bird’s beak. This interaction was rewarded symbolically, with a small amount of the cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH). A few weeks later, participants were then able to transform the amount of ETH, generated through their interaction, into an NFT (non-fungible token). EchoX then minted a collection that is hosted on the NFT-platform OpenSea, displaying a total of five hundred and ten avatar-NFTs in metaverse meat suits, in a total of six different colors.NFTs are used mainly by media artists and seem to have very little to do with performance—or do they? This question arises since the boom period of NFTs has sparked conversations around collecting intangible art forms and their social and monetary value. Entering into public awareness from 2017 and experiencing a peak during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, artists and art institutions have since shown great dedication to exploring the technology’s potential.1 Genre-defining figures of performance art such as Marina Abramović and Robert Wilson have entered the “global” NFT market to tokenize documents of their iconic, past performance works and sell them as NFTs, thereby solidifying the links between the live form and artists’ reliance on (sellable) documents.The conceptual grounds of NFTs are pegged out by an envisioned singularity, which, at first, seemingly (and only seemingly) recalls how the concept of the unique, non-exchangeable artist body is commonly addressed in performance studies. From a theoretical perspective, these approaches demand upholding the notion of performance art regarding the live event. This yearning for presence has been described by Amelia Jones as “the dilemma how performance cultures work. Precisely because it claims both to be ’art’ and to be ’live’ […], live and/or performance art presses together modes of being, meaning and value that have historically been considered incompatible.”2 To carve out the territories of Zhang’s project, it is first necessary to delve a bit further into crypto language. In short, an NFT is a non- interchangeable unit of data that is stored on a digital ledger called the blockchain. NFTs are recorded through blockchains: decentralized, distributed digital ledgers that build from records, called blocks.Blockchains function to track transaction records across many computers, creating a system in which no block in a chain can be altered retrospectively without altering subsequent blocks at the same time. In a chain, a token simply describes a sequence of related characters that may be associated with digital files such as those containing images, video, audio, or text. In theory, this immutability—the ability of the ledger to remain unaltered—leads to a permanent and indelible history of transactions, which has been praised as a specific quality of blockchain systems. The ways in which blockchains store information in encrypted form across peer-to-peer computer networks thus, from a technological perspective, make them useful as keepers of important records and proof of ownership. In a blockchain context, the specific asset characteristic of NFTs is their non-fungibility. They are deployed to track a given file as a specific asset. Designed to represent a unique claim of “thingness,” they introduce an artificial scarcity into the vast landscapes of digital data.Drawing parallels to performance art in an analog setting, owning an NFT can be compared to owning a unique photographic print of a performance signed by the artist, while multiple other individuals may simultaneously own identical unsigned prints. The value of an analog work of art, after all, relies on social consensus as much as physical reality, and the current consensus around art NFTs largely forms the same way. Countering early adopter prophecies of democratization and decentralization, the “social factor” in fact plays an equally important role in how artists can position themselves within the platform-settings of the crypto market. As China has officially banned non-state crypto currencies and trade in September 2021, Zhang’s project benefitted from the infrastructure and resources of a Taiwan-based tech company in order to reach an international audience and market, using the Ethereum chain and the platform OpenSea.The setting of Celestial Burial of an Artist resembles that of online games, defined by the use of avatars, a clear set of rules, and resulting in a quantifiable outcome.3 For their collaboration with Zhang Huan, EchoX built a simple-to-navigate digital “live-site” with limited but clear directives regarding how the artist and his audiences were supposed to interact. The performance/game was organized in three rounds that took place over a ten-day period. In order to be part of its social-technical casino, participants entered the gaming room one by one, as a vulture-head avatar, to mine pieces from the artist’s avatar. Blending in with its meta-environment, Celestial Burial avatar of Zhang referenced the character of a Celestial, inspired by fictional figures of the same name that appear in an iconic series of American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Visually, it can be best described as a voxelized version of a bulky statue made of gold ingots. In connection with the artist’s spiritual beliefs, the concept of Celestial Burial drew from the praxis of sky burial, in which a human corpse is exposed in mountainous areas to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds.In Tibetan tradition, it is believed that this procedure serves the wish of the deceased to go to heaven. It is considered a bad omen if only a small number of birds come down to eat from the corpse, or even leave the body untouched. For a good rebirth, complete destruction of the remains is the practice’s goal. According to Ellen Pearlman, Zhang has called himself out as a Ju Shi, or “householder” Buddhist about eight years ago, “taking on the name ci ren or Sky Human. He has also studied Chán Buddhism, the Chinese precursor to Zen, with Master Sheng Yen in Queens, New York.”4 A bird had already featured in the setting of My New York. As Zhang moved through the busy metropolis, he released a single white dove to channel Christian symbolism of the peace-bringing dove as well as ancient Chinese fangsheng, animal-release rituals that are practiced until this day. While a bird served as a rather tangible metaphor in My New York and featured in Zhang’s performance Seeds of Hamburg, which he created back in 2002, Celestial Burial appropriated its symbolic presence as a tool to ignite an exchange between the artist’s avatar and its online audiences.In the performance, for thirty seconds, audiences could “pick” on the artist’s avatar to remove golden cubes from his figure. After this period, the game automatically ended, and participants were shown the amount of ETH that had been generated through the interaction. Presented in such framework, Celestial Burial of an Artist referenced the fact that games are experienced through the instance of playing. Therefore, each “play-through” constituted a key moment for a participant (as a player) to interact with Zhang Huan’s avatar. Moreover, the invitation to interact provided itself as the only opportunity to even enter the game’s experiential setting. An audience’s meeting with the delegated artist’s avatar, however, did not mark their status as co-authors whose presence would impact the situation and its potential ways of developing. Instead, a fully preprogrammed setting served to commodify an algorithmically shaped form of “interactivity.” The audiences’ (or players’) interactions with the work relied on preprogrammed terms. Playing a game is different from performing in a live (or even digital) setting—according to this logic, it was not the artist, but his abstracted golden avatar that audiences/players would be meeting and interacting with.EchoX introduced Celestial Burial of an Artist in slightly different terms, proclaiming that in the game, the artist waits for players to enter the burial ground for interaction. Each player can cut off [from] the artist’s body at will within a limited time. Players then can choose whether to mint the remainder [remains] of Zhang’s avatar into an NFT collectible.5This announcement suggested Zhang could actually “be present,” ready to encounter an online audience within the project’s temporal logic. Promoting an exclusive one-on-one experience with the artist within a limited time, Celestial Burial promoted itself through its claimed experiential ephemerality as well as envisioning a unique and special moment of encounter, two elements considered to be constitutive for performative happenings.6“Liveness” is a highly contested term in performance studies, often discussed regarding the ephemeral qualities of performance and the impossibility of its repetition. It is called upon to express the situated moment of encounter as a contingent, uncertain terrain ruled by chance and affect. Matthew Reason and Anja Mølle Lindelof convincingly argue that “the emphasis here is on a continual fabrication of the newness of the event and the fact that what is happening might go wrong: the dancer might fall, the equipment might fail and the actor might miss a line. Often this is hypothetical, a stress on the potential for difference rather than analysis of the impact of actual differences.”7 In fact, experimentation with visceral experience, bodily endurance, and pain had been core themes in Zhang’s early artistic practice which he explored through performance. Works including My America (Hard to Acclimatize), Pilgrimage—Wind and Water in New York, and My New York, probe the capacities and limits of corporeal (co-)presence, social norms and behavioral patterns, provoking judgment in the (public) social sphere.Focusing on this aspect of liveness, as a contingent but shared experience between artist and audiences, Thomas Berghuis, in his influential book on performance art in China, has called for the conditions of place in performance to be recognized as one of the core artistic expressions in contemporary art. Writing against the political and discursive marginalization of performance art in the Chinese political context, Berghuis recalls the need to “judge performance on the basis of human perception” and the “embodied sensibility of each individual participant in the performance.”8 Liveness, then, is within the relation a performance establishes between practitioner and audience. Understood in such relational manner, instead of an ontological liveness, performance proposes conditions of experiencing live. Through such unruliness, both parties within an encounter may allow themselves “to be caught out, to be affected, to be relocated and transported.”9In digital times, we see liveness expand into the virtual realm, where it may unfold to different degrees, as a co-performance of human and non-human entities. Yet stripping away the flawed human factor, Celestial Burial of an Artist states a particular case for an online performance. It stands apart from performances “transported” to the online realm through a live-stream that interactively addresses participants (users) in a virtual network. Unlike tech-based performances that would include possibilities for mutual interaction as a condition for its unfolding, the collaboration between Zhang and EchoX was not made as it was experienced and could not be experienced as it was made. Accordingly, in their attempt to reproduce the experiential factor, the project’s creative team came up with a particular kind of stopgap. In addition to the game-based online setting, performative offline interventions were organized across global metropolises. Demonstrating a well-staged synchronization of art, tech and popular culture, a chain of IRL (“in real life”) performance interventions took place in Shanghai, Qingdao, St. Petersburg, New York, and London. With the purpose of drawing attention to the project, volunteers strolled around in these cities wearing costumes printed with meat motifs. In truth, they performed dress-up parades through the streets that were thin in substance, more consonant with the folkloristic interventions of Renaissance fairs or Christmas markets than a philosophical expression of cryptofuturism. Their activity, shared all across social media, was geared towards the promotion of the crypto-performative, purposed to draw attention to Zhang’s artistic engagement with blockchain technology.A performance work enters Web3, as the “new,” decentralized and token-based internet is called, in a monetarized form, as crypto performance. The “crypto” prefix thereby manifests a technological vision that leans towards the prophetic. In a 1997 book titled The Sovereign Individual, authors William Rees-Mogg and James Dale Davidson predicted that the currency used in the information age would rely on “mathematical algorithms that have no physical existence.”10 Early claims such as theirs have shaped an imaginary promise to eliminate the traditional hierarchies of the economic system, and they also have been exploited in the context of the art market for the purpose of stimulating a gold rush inspired new era of sales. Zhang’s concept also bears reference to the aesthetics of online games that must, like science fiction, be regarded as the breeding ground for contemporary metaverse attempts and crypto-fantasies.To take part, participants first needed to register on the EchoX website. 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In terms, this each player to own a crypto on the NFT ETH and an in order to the to an on the network. not through experience and the of a liveness, but through an economic In other words, Celestial Burial of an Artist a virtual to a of monetary of My New York in Celestial Burial of an Artist did not question the ability of the work to be from the artist, a which is considered a for to be both and The of the with his avatar in the name of crypto instead the of artistic with the of In this setting, the artist figure, in a manner, his own Zhang and EchoX to engage through a and and to the Their engagement with NFTs for the of the crypto art as it plays through the for to engage with it (as an and an NFT (as their is is that artists the to their as owning the NFT not of the digital asset. In fact, not a of Zhang’s avatar was but what the artist to be minted was a of the experience, the of social for crypto In the game, the of what would be as engagement would no on Instead, the of the bodily to a virtual in which the interaction relies on In such a setting, of allow for the permanent and to upon the My New York, the meat only Zhang’s his to be topics of identity and the New York performance, on the one well to the of artistic that many of art were themselves with in the and early as Zhang’s holds that make it apart from earlier of what contemporary Chinese art made the of China in the economic this to how Zhang’s artistic trajectory was made by his of his Celestial Burial a to a Through the of EchoX, in of artistic creation as well as audience the project blockchain on an international In Zhang’s early performance the use of the is in this as it already an into a personal as has to live in China, Zhang has built his very of the and them to the conditions of the Chinese market. as a golden corpse avatar how the public of the artist has from first being in China for his to performance art to being in the global market as a The of My New York served him as an for market the of which only and further expanded its In their collection into in and that no in this is an asset but can be into an asset. In of the of at they the of and they up owning it and what that for as to not only the of but to the future of at It is no that Zhang’s digital as symbolic avatar, (and to the artist’s which he since the of My New York.
This chapter highlights the need for a systemic, multi-disciplinary approach to understanding Web3's development. By disaggregating Web3 into interrelated networks of actors that hold distinct interests and beliefs, this chapter aims to describe and map Web3 to advance a more systemic understanding of its order and functioning. While presenting Web3 as a black box, the work underscores the importance of considering both the inherent nature of the technology itself and the broader societal context in which it operates and interacts with. Employing a Science, Technology, and Society lens, the work combines industry insights with a holistic approach to conceptualize the values, interests, and risks associated with Web3. The research holds that systemic challenges flow from Web3's inherent socio-technical and early-stage nature, and that its development is neither solely technologically determined nor entirely reliant on social actors. Instead, Web3's trajectory results from a complex interplay of its technological nature, societal values, stakeholder interests, and external (f)actors.
Web3 is a ground-breaking invention that has the ability to address the shortcomings of web1 and web2. The industry witnessing its major impact is the finance sector. A wave of innovation in traditional finance has been inspired by the introduction of Web3. It is also referred to as the decentralised web and is a developing movement that is upending conventional finance by providing a more open, safe, and decentralised substitute. Traditional banking should work to adopt the features that Web3 offers, including stability, scalability, interoperability, security, performance, extensibility, management, and openness. In order for TradFi to maintain its relevance and expertise in the face of the widespread adoption of digital financial modes, it is now necessary to embrace several Web3 capabilities. Keeping into consideration the relevance and importance of Web3 in finance, this chapter will basically focus on analysing the key features and characteristics of Web3 in comparison to traditional finance.
This chapter delves into the core building blocks of Web3, the transformative phase of the internet characterized by decentralized and user-centric digital ecosystems. It explores the ethos of Web3, emphasizing openness, transparency, trustlessness, and user empowerment. The chapter examines blockchain technology for secure transactions, smart contracts revolutionizing agreements, and cryptocurrencies facilitating peer-to-peer value transfer. It discusses decentralized finance (DeFi) as a transformative building block and explores decentralized applications (DApps) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for creating user-centric platforms. The importance of interoperability along with governance mechanisms like decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) is highlighted. The chapter concludes by envisioning the interconnectedness between Web3 and the metaverse, where virtual and physical realities merge. Overall, it provides a comprehensive overview of Web3's emergence and its transformative impact on decentralization, transparency, and user empowerment.
The class of technology variously referred to as Web3 or crypto has been heralded as a democratizing force for economics and governance. This essay argues that, to the extent such hype is justified, it is only partly due to the affordances of the technology itself. Perhaps more important is the amnesia it has induced, as an innovative paradigm whose novelty inclines people to neglect once-stable norms. In both economics and governance, crypto offers opportunities for greater democracy, but following through on them is guaranteed by neither the technology nor the amnesia it invites.
Soccer is one of the most popular and passionate sports in the world, and in Brazil it's no different. Soccer clubs are true national passions, mobilizing crowds of fans who follow and support their teams unconditionally. However, in recent years, with the advance of digital technologies, the relationship between clubs and fans has undergone profound transformations, and the possibilities for interaction between both parties have expanded considerably. In this context, Web3 technologies have gained increasing prominence and promise to revolutionize the way Brazilian soccer clubs relate to their fans. Web3 technologies are an evolution of previous web technologies (Web1 and Web2), and are characterized by allowing the creation of decentralized applications and platforms, based on blockchain, which can be used for a variety of purposes, from developing new forms of payment to creating voting systems and collaborative governance. In the context of sport, especially soccer, the possibilities are vast, and an elite Brazilian soccer club can benefit enormously from using these technologies to bring its fans closer together and generate new revenue.
Blockchain, Metaverse & NFT are technologies that were booming during the Pandemic. As a derivative product of blockchain, the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is one of the technologies that has attracted the most interest from investors and the public because of its potential benefits and has always been closely associated with the Metaverse as a main purposes research of the NFTs. This paper is to explore the possibilities and provide an overview of the current use of NFT technology so that it can provide insight for further research & gap with the big picture that it is trying to present in this paper. However, after exploring further related to NFT in this research, it was found that the problem that most people are trying to solve through NFT is related to the topic of Decentralization & Web3 not as a Metaverse main backbone.
Purpose This paper explores sports consumer interest in virtual environments (VE) and Web3 activations, specifically how the level of psychological involvement, consumers' generational cohorts and previous experience with VE and Web3 activations influence consumer interest in VE and Web3 products and services related to their favorite sports team. Design/methodology/approach A survey instrument was developed and distributed online resulting in a sample size of n = 526. The survey was designed to measure consumers' psychological involvement with their favorite sports team based on the Psychological Continuum Model, and to determine respondents' interest in potential VE and Web3 activations. Finally, the survey collected demographical information and data regarding respondents' previous experience with VE and Web3 applications. Multiple regression analysis was subsequently conducted to predict the impact of (1) psychological involvement, (2) consumers' generational cohorts and (3) previous experience with VE and Web3 activations on the dependent variable consumer interest in VE and Web3 activations. Findings The regression model showed a significant impact of the independent variables on consumer interest in VE and Web3 activations with consumer involvement exerting the highest influence. Consumers' previous experience with VE and Web3 applications also seems to trigger interest, in line with the consumption capital theory. This study also suggests that younger generational cohorts are not intrinsically more attracted to VE and Web3 activations but their interest seems to depend on the type of activation. Research limitations/implications This study is intended as a first assessment of independent variables that may have an impact on sports consumer interest in VE and Web3 activations. Further research is needed to assess the impact these variables combined with other indicators may have on consumer interest, for instance by employing a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach. This research included selected VE and Web3 applications comprising online games, NFTs and cryptocurrencies, to calculate a VE and Web3 Literacy Score for the purpose of this paper. However, the “umbrella term Web3” (Wang et al. , 2022) could indicate a number of additional applications not considered in this research. Future studies could examine sports consumer experience with additional Web3 activations when assessing VE and Web3 Literacy. Practical implications The results of this research imply the need for a diversification of the VE and Web3 portfolio offered by sports teams to cater to different consumer segments. Upcoming challenges for sports teams include motivating younger consumers to take an interest in Web3 activations beyond gaming. Additionally, sports teams should encourage loyal supporters in the advanced stages of the PCM who possess limited VE and Web3 experience, to engage in VE and Web3 activations through simplified offers complementing their overall fan experience. Originality/value VE and Web3 activations currently offered by sports teams are still in their early stages and data underpinning their success is scarce. This is the first study examining variables that may influence consumer interest in a sports context.
Digital Marketing and Social Media
Technology Adoption and User Behaviour
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Conspicuous and inconspicuous consumption of luxury goods in a digital world: implications for advertisers this special issue focuses on the very intriguing types of luxury consumption that are shaping industry paradigms and trends, especially given the digital marketing revolution that is impacting the way luxury firms create and implement strategies to engage customers and drive sales.luxury brands communicate style, exclusivity, identity, uniqueness, superior quality, and hedonic value, all of which signal status to extended networks (Shukla and Purani 2012;Pangarkar, Patel, and Kumar 2023).While recent events, such as the CoVid-19 pandemic and the economic recession have impacted economic conditions, as per a Euromonitor international report, the luxury industry continued its impressive growth to reach USd 1.2 trillion in 2022, with a steady growth rate of around 6% (roberts 2022).according to a Kearney (2022), Chinese luxury consumers were at the forefront of this recovery, followed by US and German consumers, which led to many luxury brands such as Kering, lVMH, and Herms experiencing resurgence after a temporary setback.Most luxury brands were skeptical initially as the digital landscape started evolving and social media surge transformations were observed (Heine and Berghaus 2014).However, through being flexible and adaptive, luxury brands have employed a number of most advanced digital tools and techniques to target, attract, engage, and retain customers through digital marketing strategies and technologies such as phygital, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, influencer advertising, and non-fungible tokens (NFts).For instance, Gucci has created a virtual world on roblox, a popular game among young generation and also develop Gucci Vault which is an experimental online concept space that holds its NFts and other Web3 projects.Similarly, Balenciaga, made a pioneering move by unveiling their 2020 collection through a video game fashion show and dressed Fortnite game characters in the new Fall 2021 collection, which demonstrates their readiness to adopt themselves in the metaverse.against the backdrop of this digital marketing revolution, luxury advertisers need to create, adapt, and introduce innovative new strategies targeted at the various segments of luxury consumers.While luxury has long been associated with conspicuous consumption reflecting ostentatious behavior targeted at earning social recognition and signaling of wealth (Shukla 2012;Pangarkar, arora, and Shukla 2022), there are other types of consumers, such as inconspicuous consumption consumers (Berger and Ward 2010) and inconspicuous minimalism consumers (Pangarkar, Shukla, and taylor 2021) that are rapidly gaining attention, experiencing growth, and therefore warranting further exploration.in particular, the focus of such luxury consumers is on muted designs, subtle logos, discreet styles and fashions, and simple cuts, all of which signal distinction and differentiation to insiders or those in the know (Han, Nunes, and drze 2010; Pangarkar, Shukla, and taylor 2021).While luxury scholars have conducted research in these areas, it is important to explore, investigate, and analyze the impact of these different types of consumption on
Open access
Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Objective : tokenization of creativity, alongside with cryptoeconomy and Web3 network infrastructure, is a notable trend in the development of modern society in the third decade of the 21st century. The objective of this article is to explore the risks and prospects emerging in the process of disposition of the creative labor results in the form of non-fungible tokens. Methods : the research methodology is based on analysis of varied viewpoints on the problem, including diametrically opposing concepts. The opposing views of the observers manifest their attitude to tokenization of creative products as a speculative scheme, on the one hand, and a promising tool of creative industries development, on the other. Results : the probable negative consequences of tokenization of intellectual activity results are identified; author’s recommendations on managing these risks are given. Another result of this publication is analysis of economiclegal prospects stemming from tokenization of the objects of copyright and neighboring rights by the example of musical pieces. Scientific novelty : it consists in presenting and substantiating a hypothesis that the relations formed in the musical industry under the modern sociocultural and technological realities will be reproduced in other creative industries. Also, scientific novelty consists in the analysis of prospects of tokenization of such results of intellectual activity as gaming artifacts, works of traditional and digital visual arts, patents and scientific achievements. The use of nonfungible tokens the ecosystem of network computer games will allow gamers to buy and sell rights to game pieces autonomously from game publishers. Tokenization of industrial property objects and individualization means will ensure protection of intellectual rights of their authors while waiting for the issuance of a state protection document. In the modern society, there will be many of those wishing to become an owner of a token for a scientific work, as the popularity of science and innovations is constantly growing in developed countries. Ownership of a token for a scientific work will be regarded a moral investment, increasing the prestige and status of its owner. Tokens for scientific works have a high potential as a means of measuring value in a post-economic society. Practical significance : it consists in the description of innovative means of using creative products and business models based on tokenization of the results of intellectual activity, ready to be implemented in practice.
This paper investigates the potential of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in transforming traditional governance systems in higher education institutions. Utilizing a case study, it explores the implementation of a university DAO on the Web3 platform, which leverages blockchain technology, smart contracts, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and a user interface to facilitate transparent, secure, and efficient democratic governance. The proposed system empowers students, faculty, and staff to engage in decision-making processes, fostering a more inclusive university community. Despite its potential, the system faces limitations such as reliance on an isolated development environment, legal concerns, and scalability challenges. This paper highlights the opportunities and challenges in adopting blockchain-based DAO technology in higher education. It provides insights into its impact on university culture, stakeholder satisfaction, and overall educational quality.
This chapter discusses the evolution of the web and its three generations: Web 1.0 (the Read-Only Web), Web 2.0 (the Read-Write Web), and Web 3.0 (the Read-Write-Execute Web). Web 1.0 was characterized by static web pages, while Web 2.0 introduced social networks and dynamic pages. Web 3.0 is the next generation of the web and encompasses the use of AI, blockchain, and immersive virtual experiences. The focus of Web3 is on blockchain technology, which uses cryptography and public/private key infrastructures and is open, public, and collectively owned. The chapter explains the Metaverse, highlights the potential dangers of AI, including a possible AI takeover, and the benefits of Web3, including a change in the fundraising game for entrepreneurs. Additionally, the chapter explores the differences between Web2 and Web3 in handling identity and data, and the role of wallets in accessing dApps.
M. L. Dhore, Soham Ratnaparkhi, Rohan Sasne, Om Surase · 5 authors
Social media has revolutionized global communication, business contracts, and the diffusion of ideas. However, there are several potential drawbacks to this, including the spread of false information, data breaches, identity fraud, effective content monitoring, and digital piracy. Using blockchain protocols and Web3 philosophies, it is possible to protect data privacy, data security, and fraudulent identities. By replacing traditional email/name-password authentication with Metamask authentication, user privacy is strengthened. Storing application media on the Ethereum blockchain, a proof-of-concept for application data can be established, thereby preventing data breaches. According to our research results, blockchain technology has the potential to provide tamper resistance, traceability, and transparency. As a result, this proposed research provides a social media platform that is truly decentralized and built on a network, enhancing its users' privacy.
K. Suganthi, Krishnansh Singh, Sajal Tayal, Mandeep Singh
In today’s rapidly growing economy with everincreasing inflation, the purchasing power of money keeps decreasing as time pass by therefore it becomes important to invest money to counter the growing inflation. Real estate investment has been a proven hedge against inflation over many decades. The Real Estate sector despite so much contribution to the financial system has seen relatively less innovation in terms of technology. Blockchain has shown a great affinity towards managing real estate properties and all the transactions involved. Investment in this sector usually requires huge capital as a result, small retail investors are not able to invest. This is where Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) comes to the rescue of retail investors. This paper focuses on the ERC721M token standard and proposed architecture as to how a REIT company can make use of ERC721M to design their Decentralized Asset organization, or simply DAO, which will help them in adapting web3 technologies and bring automation in their procedure of operations with maximum transparency, We have also done a comparative analysis of ERC721Mv/s Standard Deployment and why ERC721M is the best token standard to be suited for creating smart contract interface for such an operation.
The metaverse represents now one of the most promising innovations that lie under the umbrella of Web3-powered technologies. Its societal impact has important repercussions both on social good and on social computing. Among the technologies that are driving the metaverse, we find cryptocurrencies and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that are used to represent the property of goods and assets in the virtual worlds. In particular, NFTs are used to represent the parcels in which the metaverse is divided, with unknown consequences on the metaverse economy. In this paper, we explore the social impact of employing NFTs in the metaverse and propose an analysis of parcel sales taking Decentraland and The Sandbox as a case study. Our analysis uncovers that prices of the metaverse parcels are increasing over time and that acquiring parcels is becoming prohibitive. Additionally, we identify that the factors that drive the price of sales in the metaverse are the proximity to specific landmarks, like roads, squares, districts, or parcels owned by influencers or enterprises. We argue that this could be a factor in reducing the social good of the metaverse because it fuels a speculative market similar to the one of the physical estate.
The emergence of the Web3 paradigm has led to more and more systems built on blockchain technology and relying on cryptocurrency tokens – both fungible and non-fungible – to sustain themselves and generate profit. The growth and success of these platforms are strongly dependent on the growth and evolution of the trade relationships among users. In this context, it is of paramount importance to understand the mechanism behind the evolution and growth dynamics of these economic ties: however, in these systems the trade relationships are strictly intertwined with social dynamics, posing significant challenges in the analysis. One of the most important mechanisms behind the evolution of social networks is the triadic closure principle: given the strict link between social and economic spheres, the mechanism emerges as a potential candidate among mechanisms in literature. Therefore in this work, we extend the existing methodology for triadic closure studies and adapt it to directed networks. We performed an analysis centered around 3-node subgraphs known as “triads” and statistically significant triads referred to as “triadic motifs”, both from a static and temporal perspective. The methodology was applied to various decentralized socio-economic networks with distinct levels of social components. These networks include currency transfers from the blockchain-based online social media platform Steemit, trade relationships among NFT sellers and buyers on the Ethereum blockchain, and a blockchain-based currency designed for humanitarian aid called Sarafu. Our measurements show how triadic closure is relevant during the evolution of these platforms and, for a few aspects, more impactful than centralized online social networks, where triadic closure is also incentivized by recommendation systems. Moreover, we are able to highlight both similarities and differences across networks with different levels of social components, both from a static and temporal standpoint. Overall our work presents strong evidence that triadic closure is an important evolutionary mechanism in decentralized socio-economic networks. Our findings provide a stepping stone in the study of decentralized socio-economic networks. Understanding the evolution of other decentralized networks, not following the same Web3 paradigm or with different social components will provide valuable insight into the understanding of dynamics in decentralized systems and potentially improve their design process.
The emergence of Web3 technologies has led to the development of decentralized funding platforms, which allow individuals and organizations to raise funds without the need for intermediaries such as banks and venture capitalists. The underlying technology powering these platforms is blockchain, known for its ability to offer a reliable and transparent method of recording transactions and overseeing financial operations. This research paper aims to explore the Web3 funding platform landscape, its benefits and challenges, and the potential impact it could have on traditional funding models. The paper also examines the key features and functionalities of these platforms, including smart contracts, tokenization, and decentralized governance. It also presents the design and development of a platform for investors to invest in startups using cryptocurrencies. The platform is designed to address the challenges faced by startups in accessing funding, while providing investors with new investment opportunities in the fast-growing world of cryptocurrencies. Through a review of relevant literature and case studies, this research paper provides insights into the current state of Web3 funding platforms, their adoption and growth trajectory, and the regulatory environment that surrounds them. Overall, the platform offers a new investment opportunity for investors, while also providing startups with access to much-needed funding. The platform has the potential to disrupt traditional funding models and provide a more efficient and transparent way for startups to access funding.
A web3 crowdfunding dapp is a decentralized application built on blockchain technology that allows individuals or groups to raise funds for a project or venture.Unlike traditional crowdfunding platforms, web3 crowdfunding dapps operate on a decentralized network, where transactions are verified and recorded through a consensus mechanism, ensuring transparency and security.Web3 crowdfunding dapps leverage the power of smart contracts, which are selfexecuting programs that enforce the rules and conditions of the crowdfunding campaign.Smart contracts eliminate the need for intermediaries, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.Participants in a web3 crowdfunding campaign can contribute to the project using cryptocurrencies or tokens, and receive rewards or tokens in return.These rewards can be customized based on the level of contribution, creating a more personalized and engaging experience for participants.Overall, web3 crowdfunding dapps offer a more democratic and accessible way for individuals and groups to raise funds, while also providing greater transparency, security, and efficiency.
Yuqiang Sun, Daoyuan Wu, Yue Xue, Han Liu · 8 authors
Smart contracts are prone to various vulnerabilities, leading to substantial financial losses over time. Current analysis tools mainly target vulnerabilities with fixed control or data-flow patterns, such as re-entrancy and integer overflow. However, a recent study on Web3 security bugs revealed that about 80% of these bugs cannot be audited by existing tools due to the lack of domain-specific property description and checking. Given recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs), it is worth exploring how Generative Pre-training Transformer (GPT) could aid in detecting logicc vulnerabilities. In this paper, we propose GPTScan, the first tool combining GPT with static analysis for smart contract logic vulnerability detection. Instead of relying solely on GPT to identify vulnerabilities, which can lead to high false positives and is limited by GPT's pre-trained knowledge, we utilize GPT as a versatile code understanding tool. By breaking down each logic vulnerability type into scenarios and properties, GPTScan matches candidate vulnerabilities with GPT. To enhance accuracy, GPTScan further instructs GPT to intelligently recognize key variables and statements, which are then validated by static confirmation. Evaluation on diverse datasets with around 400 contract projects and 3K Solidity files shows that GPTScan achieves high precision (over 90%) for token contracts and acceptable precision (57.14%) for large projects like Web3Bugs. It effectively detects ground-truth logic vulnerabilities with a recall of over 70%, including 9 new vulnerabilities missed by human auditors. GPTScan is fast and cost-effective, taking an average of 14.39 seconds and 0.01 USD to scan per thousand lines of Solidity code. Moreover, static confirmation helps GPTScan reduce two-thirds of false positives.
We present a novel method for a multi-party, zero-trust validator infrastructure deployment arrangement via smart contracts to secure Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains. The proposed arrangement architecture employs a combination of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a treasury contract, and validator smart contract wallets to facilitate trustless participation in staking mechanisms. The NFT minting process allows depositors to exchange their capital for an NFT representing their stake in a validator, while the treasury contract manages the registry of NFT holders and handles rewards distribution. Validator smart contract wallets are employed to create a trustless connection between the validator operator and the treasury, enabling autonomous staking and unstaking processes based on predefined conditions. In addition, the proposed system incorporates protection mechanisms for depositors, such as triggered exits in case of non-payment of rewards and a penalty payout from the validator operator. The arrangement benefits from the extensibility and interoperability of web3 technologies, with potential applications in the broader digital ecosystem. This zero-trust staking mechanism aims to serve users who desire increased privacy, trust, and flexibility in managing their digital wealth, while promoting greater decentralization and transparency in the PoS ecosystem.
Different from “read” based Web1 and “read-write” based Web2, “read-write-own” based Web3 is proposed as a typical user-centric internet to open the new generation of World Wide Web, which is expected to not allow the power to rest with a few big internet companies. Generally, Web3 is decentralized and semantic depending on user behavior, and thus the zero-trust architecture should be created initially. To hasten its arrival, a comprehensive discussion on its architecture and enabling technologies is inspired. Specifically, to access Web3, it is essential to study how to establish an identity management system. Meanwhile, for resource description and data verification, it is necessary to set up decentralized identifiers (DID), and link the data to identifiers in the form of DID document. In particular, a decentralized network operating system is an indispensable underlying technology for Web3, incorporating concepts such as decentralization and user-driven philosophy. Therefore, the corresponding technologies for the operating system such as blockchain and distributed ledger technology should be further studied and developed. Moreover, in order to reduce the consensus cost, a large-scale incentive mechanism is also the basis of long-term sustainability, which can attract and motivate distributed players to participate in the maintenance of Web3. Last but not the least, Web3 is built on a physical infrastructure relying on communication, networking, storage and computing, which is crucial to establishing an effective and secure Web3. This encourages us to study communication, networking, storage and computing in Web3, as well as the specific requirements of running Web3.
L'autore definisce una metodologia di progettazione utilizzando strumenti come blockchain, Distributed Autonomous Organization (DAO) e Non-Fungible Token (NTF) per risolvere le problematiche del luogo e per offrire servizi di valorizza-zione territoriale. Nella parte iniziale viene introdotto il contesto tecnologico (Web3, blockchain, DAO e NFT) e si sottolinea l'importanza della community nell'‘ecosistema informatico. Il testo vuole mettere in relazione il concetto di ma-teria prima, di risorsa naturale, con l'NFT, considerato come un oggetto digitale che rappresenta la risorsa economica e materiale di comunità digitali. La ricerca ha prodotto un modello di classificazione di progetti che utilizzano la blockchain e gli NFT come metodo principale di sostentamento e finanziamento per raggiun-gere diversi obiettivi tematici. Sono state individuate quindici variabili di analisi più di quattordici DAO. Vengono presentati brevemente i progetti analizzati, che coprono diverse tematiche come l'ambiente, l'arte, la finanza rigenerativa e il cambiamento climatico. Nel finale, il progetto individua i technofossili, ovvero manufatti umani che sono stati sedimentati negli strati della terra a partire dalle prime attività umane, come materia prima digitale per creare beni digitali e pro-muovere la valorizzazione del territorio.