Blockchain Ecosystem Research Articles

Blockchain-Based ICOs: Pure Hype or the Dawn of a New Era of Startup Financing?

This study explores the determinants of initial coin offering (ICO) success, where success is defined as the amount of capital a project could raise. ICOs are a tool for startups in the blockchain ecosystem to raise early capital with relative ease. The market for ICOs has grown at a rapid pace since its start in 2013. We analyze a unique dataset of 278 projects that finished their ICOs by August 2017 to assess determinants of funding success that we derive from the crowdfunding and venture capital literature. Our results show that ICOs exhibit similarities to classical crowdfunding and venture capital markets. Specifically, we identify resemblances in determinants of funding success regarding human capital characteristics, business model quality, project elaboration, and social media activity.

Loyalty Points on the Blockchain

Although some organizations are contemplating the potential impact of blockchain technology in today’s economy, blockchain, itself, is quickly emerging to be a disruptive force. This is especially true in the circumstance of loyalty programs. Blockchain is a public, digital, and distributed database solution providing decentralized management of transactional data. This technology is transforming society in ways that were previously unimaginable. Whether it be the way individuals use their phones, cars, or the healthcare system, blockchain is applicable for a variety of economic sectors and transactions. Although many may argue that blockchain is in its early development stage, it still possesses the power to revolutionize industries and consumer habits at a global scale. Through implementation of blockchain for loyalty networks, companies eliminate the limitations and inefficiencies while elevating the customer experience with secure and immediate redemption options from a variety of vendors. Despite evolving rapidly, its implementations provide better security, privacy, performance, usability, data integrity, and scalability, to name a few. Hence, blockchain is likely to entice any individual for instantaneous incentives for every purchase. This paper aims to analyze the current, traditional loyalty programs and the challenges associated with them. It highlights how blockchain can resolve these challenges and provide a better experience. This report further explores the various types of loyalty programs that currently exist in the blockchain ecosystem and provides potential future implementations. Finally, the paper analyzes the implementation of coupons in comparison with loyalty points programs, highlighting the vast spread of blockchain implementation.

Loyalty Points on the Blockchain

Although some organizations are contemplating the potential impact of blockchain technology in today’s economy, blockchain, itself, is quickly emerging to be a disruptive force. This is especially true in the circumstance of loyalty programs. Blockchain is a public, digital, and distributed database solution providing decentralized management of transactional data. This technology is transforming society in ways that were previously unimaginable. Whether it be the way individuals use their phones, cars, or the healthcare system, blockchain is applicable for a variety of economic sectors and transactions. Although many may argue that blockchain is in its early development stage, it still possesses the power to revolutionize industries and consumer habits at a global scale. Through implementation of blockchain for loyalty networks, companies eliminate the limitations and inefficiencies while elevating the customer experience with secure and immediate redemption options from a variety of vendors. Despite evolving rapidly, its implementations provide better security, privacy, performance, usability, data integrity, and scalability, to name a few. Hence, blockchain is likely to entice any individual for instantaneous incentives for every purchase.This paper aims to analyze the current, traditional loyalty programs and the challenges associated with them. It highlights how blockchain can resolve these challenges and provide a better experience. This report further explores the various types of loyalty programs that currently exist in the blockchain ecosystem and provides potential future implementations. Finally, the paper analyzes the implementation of coupons in comparison with loyalty points programs, highlighting the vast spread of blockchain implementation.

Taking Blockchain Seriously

In the present techno-political moment it is clear that ignoring or dismissing the hype surrounding blockchain is unwise, and certainly for regulatory authorities and governments who must keep a grip on the technology and those promoting it, in order to ensure democratic accountability and regulatory legitimacy within the blockchain ecosystem and beyond. Blockchain is telling (and showing) us something very important about the evolution of capital and neoliberal economic reason, and the likely impact in the near future on forms and patterns of work, social organization, and, crucially, on communities and individuals who lack influence over the technologies and data that increasingly shape and control their lives. In this short essay I introduce some of the problems in the regulation of blockchain and offer counter-narratives aimed at cutting through the hype fuelling the ascendency of this most contemporary of technologies.

LNSC: A Security Model for Electric Vehicle and Charging Pile Management Based on Blockchain Ecosystem

The Internet of Energy (IoE) provides an effective networking technology for distributed green energy, which allows the connection of energy anywhere at any time. As an important part of the IoE, electric vehicles (EVs), and charging pile management are of great significance to the development of the IoE industry. Previous work has mainly focused on network performance optimization for its management, and few studies have considered the security of the management between EVs and charging piles. Therefore, this paper proposes a decentralized security model based on the lightning network and smart contract in the blockchain ecosystem; this proposed model is called the lightning network and smart contract (LNSC). The overall model involves registration, scheduling, authentication, and charging phases. The new proposed security model can be easily integrated with current scheduling mechanisms to enhance the security of trading between EVs and charging piles. Experimental results according to a realistic infrastructure are presented in this paper. These experimental results demonstrate that our scheme can effectively enhance vehicle security. Different performances of LNSC-based scheduling strategies are also presented.

A Blockchain Ecosystem for Digital Identity: Improving Service Delivery in Canada’s Public and Private Sectors

IntroductionIdentity verification and authentication has long been a critical component in service delivery for both the private and public sectors, but changing citizen demands in the digital age have stressed the need for new approaches to verify that an individual is who they say they are – with surety.

Blockchain's roles in strengthening cybersecurity and protecting privacy

This paper evaluates blockchain's roles in strengthening cybersecurity and protecting privacy. Since most of the data is currently stored in cloud data centers, it also compares how blockchain performs vis-vis the cloud in various aspects of security and privacy. Key underlying mechanisms related to the blockchain's impacts on the Internet of Things (IoT) security are also covered. From the security and privacy considerations, it highlights how blockchain-based solutions could possibly be, in many aspects, superior to the current IoT ecosystem, which mainly relies on centralized cloud servers through service providers. Using practical applications and real-world examples, the paper argues that blockchain's decentralized feature is likely to result in a low susceptibility to manipulation and forgery by malicious participants. Special consideration is also given to how blockchain-based identity and access management systems can address some of the key challenges associated with IoT security. The paper provides a detailed analysis and description of blockchain's roles in tracking the sources of insecurity in supply chains related to IoT devices. The paper also delves into how blockchain can make it possible to contain an IoT security breach in a targeted way after it is discovered. It discusses and evaluates initiatives of organizations, inter-organizational networks and industries on this front. A number of policy implications are discussed. First, in order to strengthen IoT, regulators can make it obligatory for firms to deploy blockchain in supply chain, especially in systems that are mission critical, and have substantial national security and economic benefits. Second, public policy efforts directed at protecting privacy using blockchain should focus on providing training to key stakeholders and increasing investment in this technology. Third, one way to enrich the blockchain ecosystem would be to turn attention to public–private partnerships. Finally, national governments should provide legal clarity and more information for parties to engage in smart contracts that are enforceable.

Life Cycle of Smart Contracts in Blockchain Ecosystems

This paper discusses the life cycle of decentralized smart contracts, i.e. digital and executable representations of rights and obligations in a multi-party environment. The life cycle relies on blockchain technology, i.e. a distributed digital ledger, to ensure proper implementation and integrity of the smart contracts. The life cycle consists of four subsequent phases: Creation, freezing, execution, and finalization. For each phase actors and technological services are identified and explained in detail. With the life cycle at hand, risks and limitations of smart contracts and the underlying blockchain technology are briefly discussed.