Cryptocurrency Payment Research Articles

Decentralized crowdsourcing for human intelligence tasks with efficient on-chain cost

Crowdsourcing for Human Intelligence Tasks (HIT) has been widely used to crowdsource human knowledge, such as image annotation for machine learning. We use a public blockchain to play the role of traditional centralized HIT systems, such that the blockchain deals with cryptocurrency payments and acts as a trustworthy judge to resolve disputes between a worker and a requester in a decentralized setting, preventing false-reporting and free-riding. Our approach neither uses expensive cryptographic tools, such as zero-knowledge proofs, nor sends the worker's answers to the blockchain. Compared with prior works, our approach significantly reduces on-chain cost: it only requires O(1) on-chain storage and O(log N ) smart contract computation, where N is the question number of a HIT. Additionally, our approach uses known answers or gold standards to determine the worker's answer quality. To motivate the requester to use honest known answers, the requester cannot learn the worker's answers if the answer quality does not meet the requirement. We further provide formal security definitions for our decentralized HIT and prove security of our construction.

USE OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES BITCOIN AND ETHEREUM IN THE FIELD OF E-COMMERCE: CASE STUDY OF UKRAINE

Abstract. The article examines integration of cryptocurrencies as electronic payment systems in e-commerce enterprises. Practical usage of Ethereum and Bitcoin cryptocurrencies as electronic payment systems, as well as factors that may affect their functionality are studied. Coinbase Commerce and Bitpay, as market leaders in cryptocurrency payment providers, were analyzed to compare integration issues and commission analysis with traditional payment systems LiqPay, PayPal. It is determined that the factors influencing the integration of cryptocurrencies in the enterprise include the field in which this enterprise is operating, instability of the national currency, development of information technology. It has been proven that e-commerce companies specializing on selling consumer goods could use hybrid cryptocurrency payments in Bitcoin in 50% of transactions and Ethereum in 65% of transactions in the studied timeframe to reduce the cost of the transaction compared to the LiqPay system. Key words: electronic payment systems, cryptocurrency, e-commerce, transactions. JEL Classification D2, C50, G23, G41 Formulas: 0; fig.: 9; tabl.: 2; bibl.: 16.

Motivations of Retailers Accepting Cryptocurrency Payments and Their Implications on Retail Customer Experience

The level of technology use of humanity has increased, while the interest in digital assets has increased with the effect of the pandemic period. This increasing interest has led to curiosity about what kind of consumer experience cryptocurrencies will offer when used in retail shopping. This study aims to reveal the advantages and disadvantages of using cryptocurrencies in shopping based on the experiences of businesses that accept payments with cryptocurrencies. Interviews were conducted with 9 businesses in Turkey that accept payments with crypto money using the in-depth interview technique in this study. As a result of the content analysis carried out with the NVivo analysis program for the findings, a research model was proposed. The results of this research point out that crypto currencies are preferred by consumers and retailers due to the fact that they are a fast, safe and cheap global payment tool. However, it has been found that there are also consumers who are totally unaware of the existence of payments with crypto currencies. Some consumers do not prefer payments with crypto currencies either because of low technology usage level or lack of trust to the system. However, when necessary legal sub-regulations are made and everything is digitized, money will also become digital in the common opinion. Unlike the studies in the literature, as a result of this study, it is predicted that payments with crypto money will be one of the alternative payment tools of the future, after the cryptocurrencies are positioned on a legal platform by the official authorities.

ВИКОРИСТАННЯ КРИПТОВАЛЮТ У СФЕРІ ГОТЕЛЬНО-РЕСТОРАННОГО ГОСПОДАРСТВА ТА ТУРИЗМУ

The article explores the use of cryptocurrencies in hotels, restaurants and the tourism industry. Analyzed the legislative aspects that regulate the turnover of cryptocurrencies. In the course of the research, a monographic and abstract-logical method was used (to substantiate the importance of using cryptocurrencies in the hospitality industry and the advantages of implementing a Blockchain system), in addition, methods of comparison, analogy, analysis, synthesis and generalization were used to reveal the content of basic concepts and terms. Today, modern digital currency is presented as an alternative form of money, however, in many countries, operations with cryptocurrency are prohibited in the banking system. In Ukraine, a procedure has been established for declaring cryptocurrencies, where bitcoins are an intangible asset. The Securities and Exchange Commission is starting to develop new tax legislation that aims to legitimize this type of currency. The hospitality industry is especially active in adopting new technologies. Cryptocurrencies allow consumers to pay for services electronically anonymously without the need to use banking institutions. The most popular among all cryptocurrencies is Bitcoin. The first tangible growth in bitcoins occurred precisely in the field of restaurant management due to the purchase of pizza on one of the forums. Today hundreds of restaurants and cafes around the world accept cryptocurrency payments. Blockchain benefits include cost efficiency, standardization, and secure communications. Data such as manufacturer ID and production date is hashed and stored in the Blockchain. Each organization in the supply chain, after receiving the product, adds its unique identifier and the corresponding blockchain date. Cryptocurrency is a very convenient way to pay for goods and services. More and more restaurant establishments are allowing crypto payments. This prompts the authorities of the countries to develop regulatory documents that contribute to the legalization of such transactions, not only in the field of hospitality.

The Benefits of Blockchain Technology for Medical Tourism

The paper discusses the benefits of blockchain technology for medical tourism. The major focus is placed on pre-procedure and post-procedure of medical tourism. The authors argue that blockchain technology can facilitate several stages of medical tourism by enabling disintermediation, allowing cryptocurrency payments, ensuring secure data sharing and privacy, and empowering trusted review systems. With regard to COVID-19 pandemic, the paper outlines the current challenges of the medical tourism industry and prop oses the opportunities for blockchain technology use. The paper attempts to provide important insights regarding the positive implications of blockchain technology use within the medical tourism industry as well as to further advance the current knowledge about blockchain technology’s effects for medical tourism.

Pricing strategies for blockchain payment service under customer heterogeneity

The growing popularity of cryptocurrency payment among supply chain members have resulted in considerable waiting in blockchain payment services. In response, service providers offer “priority payment” which allows users to pay additional transaction fee in exchange for priority transaction processing. Despite its growing popularity, there is very limited formal research that studies this service and its impact. In this paper, we examine the impact of the priority option on SC members' blockchain payment service adoption behavior, payment service provider's strategies, as well as his revenue generation. We find that offering priority blockchain payment option increases heavy members' usage of the option and reduces their usage of the waiting blockchain payment option. On the other hand, it boosts certain light players' usage of both blockchain payment services when the transaction fee rate is not too high. The service provider should charge a lower (higher) transaction fee rate if the trust-enabling rate of the priority blockchain payment option is relatively high (low). Finally, we demonstrate that offering priority blockchain payment option actually reduces his revenue when the trust-enabling rate of the option is sufficiently low. Thus, blindly charging transaction fees actually does more harm than good to the service providers.

Factors of digital payment adoption in hospitality businesses: A conceptual approach

Hospitality businesses might achieve a competitive advantage by adopting cryptocurrency payments. This study provides insight into the factors that influence hospitality businesses’ intention to use new digital payments based on a conceptual approach. One of the contributions to the literature is in integrating an external variable – perceived security – into the Technology Acceptance Model. Perceived security is considered a strong predictor for a new payment technology adoption. This study also contributes to the academic research by illuminating potential directions for future empirical research.

An evaluation of cryptocurrency payment channel networks and their privacy implications

Cryptocurrencies redefined how money can be stored and transferred among users. However, public blockchain-based cryptocurrencies suffer from high transaction waiting times and fees. To address these challenges, the payment channel network concept is touted as the most viable solution to be used for micro-payments. The idea is exchanging the ownership of money by keeping the state of the accounts locally which provides transaction approvals in seconds. Such attention on payment channel networks has inspired many recent studies that focus on how to design them and allocate channels such that the transactions will be secure and efficient. However, as payment channel networks are emerging and reaching a large number of users, privacy issues are becoming more relevant, this raises concerns about exposing not only individual habits but also businesses' revenues. In this paper, we first propose a categorization of the existing payment networks formed on top of blockchain-backed cryptocurrencies. After discussing several emerging attacks on user/business privacy in these payment channel networks, we qualitatively evaluate them based on a number of privacy metrics that relate to our case. Based on the discussions on the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches, we offer possible directions for research for the future of privacy based payment channel networks.

Smart Banknotes and Cryptobanknotes: Hybrid Banknotes for Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency Payments

Smart Banknotes and Cryptobanknotes: Hybrid Banknotes for Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency Payments

A Cryptocurrency-based E-mail System for SPAM Control

Sending bulk e-mail is commercially cheap and technically easy, making it profitable for spammers, even if a tiny percentage of recipients falls for the attacks or turn into customers. Some researchers have proposed making e-mail paid so that sending bulk e-mail becomes expensive, making spamming unprofitable and a futile exercise unless many victims respond to spam. On the other hand, the small sending fee is negligible for legitimate e-mail users. Making e-mail paid is a challenging task if implemented using a conventional payment system or developing new cryptocurrencies. Traditional payment systems are challenging to integrate with e-mail systems, and new cryptocurrencies will have challenges in adoption by users on the required scale. This work proposes using cryptocurrency payments to make e-mail senders pay for sending an e-mail without creating a new cryptocurrency or a new blockchain. In the proposed system, the recipients of the e-mail can collect the payments and use the collected revenues to send e-mail messages or even sell them on an exchange. The proposed solution has been implemented using Ropsten, an Ethereum Test Network and tested using enhanced E-mail Client and Server software.

A Review of Distributed Access Control for Blockchain Systems Towards Securing the Internet of Things

As the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm gets more attention from academia and industry, implementation tools of IoT will be explored more and more. One example is the applicability of blockchain systems to provide security and privacy of IoT networks, which is the topic of this article. Blockchain systems are on the rise, as crypto-currency payment systems (such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, etc.) boomed in the last few years due to their attractive de-centralized and anonymous features. As in every transaction, access of the users to IoT systems needs to be controlled. However, these systems are peer-to-peer systems and do not have centralized control, which means that traditional access control techniques will not be optimal. As a result, distributed access control schemes are needed and this paper aims at providing the state of the art in the literature. Thereby, we introduce and discuss the details and applicability of centralized (role-based) and distributed (threshold-signature, reputation, trusted-computing, identity, capability, ACL, group-signature, and hybrid) access control schemes to blockchain systems under the IoT ecosystems. Moreover, permissioned vs. permissionless blockchain systems are also discussed. Finally, challenges and research directions related to the application of all those presented blockchain systems to IoT are discussed.

Improving transaction success rate in cryptocurrency payment channel networks

Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies has received a substantial interest in the last decade as Blockchain can ensure trust among users without relying on third parties. However, cryptocurrency adoption for micro-payments has been limited due to slow confirmation of transactions and unforeseeable high fees, especially in the case of Bitcoin. To this end, creating off-chain payment channels between users is proposed which enables instant and nearly free transactions without writing to blockchain. Off-chain channel idea is then extended to establish payment channel networks to scale the idea to allow payment routing among many users. However, due to the way these channels are designed, both sides of a channel have a fixed one-way capacity for making transactions. Consequently, if one side consumes the whole one-way capacity, the channel becomes non-transitive in that particular direction, which causes failures of payments that would like to pass through. Eventually, the network becomes partitioned with unevenly distributed funds. In this paper, we propose the adoption of three specific techniques that aim to increase the overall success rate of payments and address channel imbalance problem to keep the payment channel network sustainable in the long run. First, we show the effectiveness of balance-aware routing that better utilizes available funds in the channels. Second, we propose an efficient method for selection of the gateway (i.e., connection point) for a user by considering the gateway’s inbound and outbound capacity. It exploits the fact that end-users can connect the network through multiple gateways any of which can be used to initiate the payment. Finally, we propose proportional payment splitting method to further increase success rate especially for large transactions. We implemented the three approaches for assessing their effectiveness. Compared to existing approaches such as maximum flow or greedy, the proposed approaches can achieve much higher success rates with channels balanced better.

Cryptocurrency – Is It Property?

Purpose To address recent cases and the applicable legal principles relating to cryptocurrency, and to contribute to legal thought in this developing area of law. Design/methodology/approach This article considers recent cryptocurrency related cases in Singapore, Canada and the United Kingdom, and then considers the implications of the developing law in relation to proper causes of action and issues of practical asset recovery relating to the enforcement of judgments. Findings The intangible and highly movable nature of cryptocurrency places a premium on decisive asset recovery. The cases also suggest that injunctions remain a useful and effective debt recovery tool, especially when coupled with quick investigative action to trace cryptocurrency payments. However, the law remains unsettled as to the most appropriate cause of action for a claim in cryptocurrency or how a debt in cryptocurrency can be subject to execution. These issues raise the fundamental question of the nature of cryptocurrency, whether it belongs to an existing category of property, or if it is sui generis. Practical implications Cryptocurrency remains relatively novel and usage is increasing but not widespread. Users of cryptocurrency and lawyers involved in transactions or disputes involving cryptocurrency would benefit from a broader understanding of the legal issues Originality/value This article provides expert analysis from experienced litigation lawyers familiar with the concepts behind cryptocurrency.

Distributed Atomic Swap on Cryptocurrencies

Anyone who wants to trade something in his possession with something else desires three things: To trade at the most appropriate rate, to trade at the least cost, not to be exposed to theft and fraud during the clearing. The cryptocurrency swap is also no different from swapping of any two entities. Crypto-currencies are getting more and more attractive day by day because their stock exchanges are open 24/7. Although all crypto-money markets in the world have similar expectations, existing market models have difficulties and risks while operating on them. The problem of this research is centralized exchange markets and risks while operating on them. The study aims to develop a distributed exchange model on blockchain using smart contracts for atomic swap method, and payment channels technology for liquidity. With this model, users will pay less without taking risks of centralized exchange markets, like hacking, theft and fraud. In central exchanges, users first send their cryptocurrencies to the stock exchange's account to trade. This results in collection of all cryptocurrencies of users in a single pool. With this model, users will be allowed to wait in their wallets until the cryptocurrency is exchanged, and the risk of central hacking will be eliminated. Original contribution of this study to the literature is to combine Atomic Swap and Payment Channels technologies to create a liquid decentralized stock market model as much as central exchanges. Keywords : Atomic Swap Between Cryptocurrencies, Block-Chain; Cryptocurrency; Distributed Cryptocurrency Market; Cryptocurrency Payment Gateway DOI : 10.7176/CEIS/11-4-05 Publication date :August 31st 2020

P4UIoT: Pay-Per-Piece Patch Update Delivery for IoT Using Gradual Release.

PUIoT—pay-per-piece patch update delivery for IoT using gradual release—introduces a distributed framework for delivering patch updates to IoT devices. The framework facilitates distribution via peer-to-peer delivery networks and incentivizes the distribution operation. The peer-to-peer delivery network reduces load by delegating the patch distribution to the nodes of the network, thereby protecting against a single point of failure and reducing costs. Distributed file-sharing solutions currently available in the literature are limited to sharing popular files among peers. In contrast, the proposed protocol incentivizes peers to distribute patch updates, which might be relevant only to IoT devices, using a blockchain-based lightning network. A manufacturer/owner named vendor of the IoT device commits a bid on the blockchain, which can be publicly verified by the members of the network. The nodes, called distributors, interested in delivering the patch update, compete among each other to exchange a piece of patch update with cryptocurrency payment. The pay-per-piece payments protocol addresses the problem of misbehavior between IoT devices and distributors as either of them may try to take advantage of the other. The pay-per-piece protocol is a form of a gradual release of a commodity like a patch update, where the commodity can be divided into small pieces and exchanged between the sender and the receiver building trust at each step as the transactions progress into rounds. The permissionless nature of the framework enables the proposal to scale as it incentivizes the participation of individual distributors. Thus, compared to the previous solutions, the proposed framework can scale better without any overhead and with reduced costs. A combination of the Bitcoin lightning network for cryptocurrency incentives with the BitTorrent delivery network is used to present a prototype of the proposed framework. Finally, a financial and scalability evaluation of the proposed framework is presented.

Safeguarding the evidential value of forensic cryptocurrency investigations

Analyzing cryptocurrency payment flows has become a key forensic method in law enforcement and is nowadays used to investigate a wide spectrum of criminal activities. However, despite its widespread adoption, the evidential value of obtained findings in court is still largely unclear. In this paper, we focus on the key ingredients of modern cryptocurrency analytics techniques, which are clustering heuristics and attribution tags. We identify internationally accepted standards and rules for substantiating suspicions and providing evidence in court and project them onto current cryptocurrency forensics practices. By providing an empirical analysis of CoinJoin transactions, we illustrate possible sources of misinterpretation in algorithmic clustering heuristics. Eventually, we derive a set of legal key requirements and translate them into a technical data sharing framework that fosters compliance with existing legal and technical standards in the realm of cryptocurrency forensics. Integrating the proposed framework in modern cryptocurrency analytics tools could allow more efficient and effective investigations, while safeguarding the evidential value of the analysis and the fundamental rights of affected persons.

Supporting Blockchain-Based Cryptocurrency Mobile Payment With Smart Devices

The smart device owning rate such as smart phone and smart watch is higher than ever before and mobile payment has become one of the major payment methods in many different areas. At the same time, blockchain-based cryptocurrency is becoming a nonnegligible type of currency and the total value of all types of cryptocurrency has reached USD 200 billion. Therefore, it is a natural demand to support cryptocurrency payment on mobile devices. Considering the poor infrastructure and low penetration of financial service in developing countries, this combination is especially attractive. The high storage cost and payment processing latency are the two main obstacles for mobile payment using cryptocurrency. We propose two different schemes for cryptocurrency mobile payment, one involves a centralized bank and the other one does not require any centralized party. We also provide a solution for the bank to meet KYC (know your customer)/AML (antimoney laundering) compliance requirements when it is involved in cryptocurrency mobile payment processing.

Blockchain Technology Adoption Behavior and Sustainability of the Business in Tourism and Hospitality SMEs: An Empirical Study

This paper investigates the factors influencing the intention to adopt cryptocurrency payments among small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in tourism and hospitality through the lens of the technology acceptance model (TAM). This paper uses an original sample of 101 SMEs employing a total of 15,831 people in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling is used to examine the joint effect of both internal and external factors influencing the intention to use cryptocurrency payments. Results show that (1) strategic orientation, owner/managers personal characteristics (self-efficacy and innovativeness) and social influence have a strong effect on the intention to adopt new technology; (2) perceived usefulness mediates the effects of strategic orientation and social influence; and (3) perceived ease of use mediates the effect of self-efficacy on the intention to adopt cryptocurrency payments. The present study is one of few empirical inquiries about cryptocurrency payment adoption among SMEs. This study extends the theoretical foundations of the TAM into the specific characteristics of SMEs. Limitations of the study are sample size and a single survey design. However, findings of this research on the cryptocurrency payment adoption offer practical implications for tourism stakeholders towards supporting SMEs competitiveness. The originality of this study is based on the fact that cryptocurrency payment is a new technology, and on the potential of cryptocurrency payments to disrupt the traditional way of operating tourism and hospitality SMEs. Hence the importance to consider major factors influencing SMEs’ intentions to adopt this technology.

Developing the infrastructure of virtual entrepreneurship in modern Russia through the mechanism of cryptocurrency payments

Developing the infrastructure of virtual entrepreneurship in modern Russia through the mechanism of cryptocurrency payments

The dark side of licensing cryptocurrency exchanges as payment institutions

The ultimate objective of cryptocurrencies is to become a payment system substituting, complementing, or competing with the conventional payment systems. Irrespective of whether such an objective could be accomplished, the functional similarities between certain cryptocurrencies and fiat money has persuaded competent authorities of certain EU Member States to grant payment institution licenses to cryptocurrency exchanges. At first blush, granting such an authorization would seem to be a step forward as it would bring otherwise unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges within the scope of the existing payment regulatory framework. However, this authorization effectively applies payment laws to new payment infrastructures that rely on volatile settlement assets with probabilistic finality. Since the volatility and finality risks cannot be fully addressed under the existing payment laws, an alternative policy option would be granting a special license to cryptocurrency businesses or introducing ring-fencing mechanisms to protect the conventional payment systems from the risks of cryptocurrency payments.