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Clack is Joint Field Chief Editor for the research journal Frontiers in Blockchain. Recent publications from Frontiers in Blockchain are given below:


  • Co-produced decentralised surveys as a trustworthy vector to put employees’ well-being at the core of companies’ performance

    Co-produced decentralised surveys as a trustworthy vector to put employees’ well-being at the core of companies’ performance

    Assessing employees’ wellbeing has become central to fostering an environment where employees can thrive and contribute to companies’ adaptability and competitiveness in the market. Traditional methods for assessing wellbeing often face significant challenges, with a major issue being the lack of trust and confidence employees may have in these processes. Employees may hesitate to provide honest feedback due to concerns not only about data integrity and confidentiality, but also about power imbalances among stakeholders.In this context, blockchain-based decentralised surveys, leveraging the immutability, transparency, and pseudo-anonymity of blockchain technology, offer significant improvements in aligning responsive actions with employees’ feedback securely and transparently. Nevertheless, their implementation raises complex issues regarding the balance between trust and confidence. While blockchain can function as a confidence machine for data processing and management, it does not inherently address the equally important cultural element of trust. To effectively integrate blockchain technology into wellbeing assessments, decentralised wellbeing surveys must be supported by cultural practices that build and sustain trust. Drawing on blockchain technology and relational cultural theory, we explain how trust-building can be achieved through the co-production of decentralised wellbeing surveys, which helps address power imbalances between the implementation team and stakeholders. Our goal is to provide a dual cultural-technological framework along with conceptual clarity on how the technological implementation of confidence can connect with the cultural development of trust, ensuring that blockchain-based decentralised wellbeing surveys are not only secure and reliable but also perceived as trustworthy vector to improve workplace conditions.

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  • Long-term nexus of macroeconomic and financial fundamentals with cryptocurrencies

    Long-term nexus of macroeconomic and financial fundamentals with cryptocurrencies

    We investigate the long-term impact of macroeconomic and financial factors on cryptocurrency metrics using both parametric and non-parametric methods. Our analysis examines how these factors influence cryptocurrency prices, market capitalizations, and Bitcoin’s hash rate. The results establish that two key factors, the US dollar and the price of gold, adversely affect Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency metrics, including the prices and market capitalizations of decentralized finance and layer-one protocols. Bitcoin’s hash rate demonstrates greater market sensitivity than its price, with the dollar having a stronger impact on Bitcoin than gold. The dollar primarily affects Bitcoin’s price, whereas gold mainly influences its hash rate. These findings, along with Bitcoin’s properties, support the view of Bitcoin as a digital asset analogous to physical gold, playing a role similar to a substitute for the latter.

    Read more

  • DAO as digital governance tool for collaborative housing

    DAO as digital governance tool for collaborative housing

    This paper explores the promise of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) as a digital governance tool for collaborative housing initiatives. Based on existing literature around the collaborative housing initiative no1s1, we explore the research question: How can DAOs help govern collaborative housing initiatives? To address this, we employ conceptual research methods, synthesizing theories from the field of collaborative housing and DAOs to propose a new framework for the governance of such initiatives. Our analysis identifies five key benefits of DAOs in collaborative housing governance: a transparent crypto-accounting system, scalable decision-making, global jurisdiction and rule enforcement, automated rights and incentives system, and flexible polycentric governance. These benefits align with Elinor Ostrom’s “Governing the Commons” principles and highlight the potential of DAOs to enable scalability and autonomy in geographically dispersed communities. While theoretical, our study provides insights into the transformative potential of blockchain-based DAOs in collaborative housing governance, laying the groundwork for further research and real-world and empirical validation.

    Read more

  • What keeps them invested? Social identity and group formation in blockchain

    What keeps them invested? Social identity and group formation in blockchain

    Cryptocurrency technologies have spawned a vast network of millions of users. One notable aspect of crypto spaces is the emergence of vibrant communities that form around specific projects, with supporters gathering on interactive online platforms and demonstrating a strong sense of collective identity. Despite its pseudonymous and “trustless” nature, crypto has become an instrument for establishing social ties that seem remarkably robust. However, the factors that influence establishing social bonds in highly dispersed, pseudonymous crypto spaces with minimal in-person interaction have remained largely unexplored so far. Using a mixed-method approach, this study examines the factors that shape community formation in the crypto space. In an initial step, based on 26 semi-structured, qualitative interviews, we explore factors that may influence group formation in crypto spaces. In a second step, we develop a quantitative questionnaire using items generated from these interviews to measure the effect of the identified factors on group formation, using a sample of 111 crypto users. Group formation is operationalised as an identity fusion scale, reflecting the tendency for individuals to merge their sense of self with that of a social group to which they belong. The results show that social reward, a promising outlook, and participant’s investment level predict identity fusion with crypto communities. This study contributes to the understanding of social bonding processes in pseudonymous crypto spaces.

    Read more

  • The ReFi movement in Web3: implications for the Global Commons

    The ReFi movement in Web3: implications for the Global Commons

    ‘ReFi’ is a rapidly emerging movement in the web3 space that seeks to leverage blockchain technology and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to deliver positive real-world impact. While ReFi is short for regenerative finance, regenerative practitioners query the regenerative claims of the movement. This perspective article explains why the regenerative claims of the ReFi movement are under scrutiny and highlights the implications for the Global Commons if the movement does not adhere to regenerative principles. Given that ReFi is a blockchain-enabled movement, the impact of ReFi on the Global Commons is implicitly a blockchain-related concern. This article provides a regenerative practitioner’s perspective on the ReFi movement as a point of reference for blockchain practitioners in the ReFi movement seeking to be a force for good. Long-standing research in ecological economics highlights the negative impacts of over-financialization and commoditization on the natural world. Given that blockchain technology enables more of the world’s natural assets to become commoditized, securitized, and collateralized than ever before, the article asserts that DeFi’s drive to financialize everything could make the Global Commons the next, and final, commodity frontier. It also asserts that the ReFi movement has the potential to reverse this trend if it can genuinely adhere to the regenerative paradigm.

    Read more

  • Revolutionizing the energy sector: exploring diversified blockchain platforms for a sustainable future

    Revolutionizing the energy sector: exploring diversified blockchain platforms for a sustainable future

    Blockchain technology has caused a significant transformation in the global energy sector as it is increasingly applied in producing, distributing, trading, and managing energy. The incorporation of blockchain in the industry presents unprecedented opportunities for creating secure and decentralized systems of trading energy systems that are not only secure and resilient but also transparent. The paper explores a detailed analysis of various blockchain platforms and endeavors to collapse the existing gaps in the advanced research of blockchain systems supporting the development of energy trading applications. Precisely, this paper gives in-depth details of some of the popular blockchain platforms, and it primarily focuses on the platforms’ security, scalability solutions, consensus methods, strategies for mitigating cyberattacks, privacy-preserving mechanisms, regulatory considerations, the integration of artificial intelligence for platform optimization and suitability in energy trading based on the existing information. It helps energy providers select the best blockchain platform for their energy trading projects. The detailed examination aims to further improve energy trading efficiency, reliability, and sustainability via the most suitable blockchain platform.

    Read more

  • Exploring the failure factors of blockchain adopting projects: a case study of tradelens through the lens of commons theory

    Exploring the failure factors of blockchain adopting projects: a case study of tradelens through the lens of commons theory

    Blockchain is a transformative technology with the potential to metamorphose industries, including supply chains and logistics, owing to its promise of efficiency, transparency and traceability. However, many blockchain projects have failed, requiring an analysis of the underlying reasons. This research focuses on the failure factors by studying the case of TradeLens, a supply chain platform using Blockchain to improve the visibility and coordination of international shipments. Applying Elinor Ostrom’s theory of the commons, we explored challenges related to governance, participation, interoperability, technological evolution and security. The study reveals that a lack of stakeholder engagement, unclear governance, and confidentiality concerns are major obstacles. Ostrom highlights the importance of participatory governance and a clear definition of boundaries and communities in the management of shared resources. To be successful, blockchain projects must adopt a holistic approach, with transparent governance, encourage collaboration, guarantee interoperability and invest in data security. By incorporating these recommendations and the lessons learned from past failures, future blockchain projects can improve their chances of success and make a positive contribution to the transformation of industries.

    Read more

  • Exploring the decentralized science ecosystem: insights on organizational structures, technologies, and funding

    Exploring the decentralized science ecosystem: insights on organizational structures, technologies, and funding

    IntroductionThe scientific community is increasingly interested in leveraging decentralized technologies to address systemic challenges such as the reputation economy, the monopolization of academic publishing, and the replication crisis. This study presents an analysis of the Decentralized Science (DeSci) landscape in 2023, focusing on organizational structures, technological foundations, and funding mechanisms of DeSci organizations.MethodsA 16-question survey was distributed to DeSci organizations between December 2023 and April 2024, and responses from 49 projects were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods.ResultsResults highlight the prominent role of Ethereum as the dominant blockchain platform in DeSci, the varied applications of blockchain in scientific processes, and a significant emphasis on community building and infrastructure development. Funding sources within the ecosystem are moving towards partnerships with more traditional organizations, including academia. However, most projects lack DAO features for governance. It remains uncertain whether they will adopt more DAO-like structures in the future or deploy a different organizational model.DiscussionOur findings offer a comprehensive overview of the progress and challenges facing the DeSci ecosystem, including slow project progression due to leadership issues and limited funding for most DeSci projects. By identifying key patterns and areas for improvement, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors driving success and sustainability in DeSci.

    Read more

  • Editorial: Blockchain and tokenomics for sustainable development
  • Improved blockchain-based ECDSA batch verification scheme

    Improved blockchain-based ECDSA batch verification scheme

    IntroductionBlockchain technology has attracted much attention due to its decentralization, transparency and security. Initially applied in the financial field, it has now expanded to various fields such as Internet of Things (IoT), electronic cash and healthcare. However, the open nature of blockchain has raised potential security concerns about sensitive transaction data, and the increasing number of transactions requires low-latency solutions. Most blockchain applications still rely on the lightweight Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA). Due to complex operations such as vectorized multiplication and modular inversion, this may introduce significant additional overhead.MethodsTo address these issues, a new scheme named KTP-ECDSA is proposed. This scheme is based on the improved two-parameter Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (TP-ECDSA) and the KGLP algorithm. In both the signing and verification processes, this scheme eliminates modular inverse operations and reduces scalar multiplications during the verification stage by using batch verification.ResultThe experimental results show that, compared with the traditional ECDSA, KTP-ECDSA has achieved a speed increase of over 50% in both independent verification and batch verification, significantly improving the efficiency of signature verification.DiscussionBy adopting the KTP-ECDSA algorithm and using the digital signature batch verification method, multiple signatures can be verified simultaneously, thus reducing the computational burden of the traditional single-verification method. This greatly increases the overall transaction throughput and improves resource utilization efficiency.

    Read more

Co-produced decentralised surveys as a trustworthy vector to put employees’ well-being at the core of companies’ performance
Assessing employees’ wellbeing has become central to fostering an environment where employees can thrive and contribute to companies’ adaptability and competitiveness in the market. Traditional methods for assessing wellbeing often face significant challenges, with a major issue being the lack of trust and confidence employees may have in these processes. Employees may hesitate to provide honest feedback due to concerns not only about data integrity and confidentiality, but also about power imbalances among stakeholders.In this context, blockchain-based decentralised surveys, leveraging the immutability, transparency, and pseudo-anonymity of blockchain technology, offer significant improvements in aligning responsive actions with employees’ feedback securely and transparently. Nevertheless, their implementation raises complex issues regarding the balance between trust and confidence. While blockchain can function as a confidence machine for data processing and management, it does not inherently address the equally important cultural element of trust. To effectively integrate blockchain technology into wellbeing assessments, decentralised wellbeing surveys must be supported by cultural practices that build and sustain trust. Drawing on blockchain technology and relational cultural theory, we explain how trust-building can be achieved through the co-production of decentralised wellbeing surveys, which helps address power imbalances between the implementation team and stakeholders. Our goal is to provide a dual cultural-technological framework along with conceptual clarity on how the technological implementation of confidence can connect with the cultural development of trust, ensuring that blockchain-based decentralised wellbeing surveys are not only secure and reliable but also perceived as trustworthy vector to improve workplace conditions.
Long-term nexus of macroeconomic and financial fundamentals with cryptocurrencies
We investigate the long-term impact of macroeconomic and financial factors on cryptocurrency metrics using both parametric and non-parametric methods. Our analysis examines how these factors influence cryptocurrency prices, market capitalizations, and Bitcoin’s hash rate. The results establish that two key factors, the US dollar and the price of gold, adversely affect Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency metrics, including the prices and market capitalizations of decentralized finance and layer-one protocols. Bitcoin’s hash rate demonstrates greater market sensitivity than its price, with the dollar having a stronger impact on Bitcoin than gold. The dollar primarily affects Bitcoin’s price, whereas gold mainly influences its hash rate. These findings, along with Bitcoin’s properties, support the view of Bitcoin as a digital asset analogous to physical gold, playing a role similar to a substitute for the latter.
DAO as digital governance tool for collaborative housing
This paper explores the promise of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) as a digital governance tool for collaborative housing initiatives. Based on existing literature around the collaborative housing initiative no1s1, we explore the research question: How can DAOs help govern collaborative housing initiatives? To address this, we employ conceptual research methods, synthesizing theories from the field of collaborative housing and DAOs to propose a new framework for the governance of such initiatives. Our analysis identifies five key benefits of DAOs in collaborative housing governance: a transparent crypto-accounting system, scalable decision-making, global jurisdiction and rule enforcement, automated rights and incentives system, and flexible polycentric governance. These benefits align with Elinor Ostrom’s “Governing the Commons” principles and highlight the potential of DAOs to enable scalability and autonomy in geographically dispersed communities. While theoretical, our study provides insights into the transformative potential of blockchain-based DAOs in collaborative housing governance, laying the groundwork for further research and real-world and empirical validation.
What keeps them invested? Social identity and group formation in blockchain
Cryptocurrency technologies have spawned a vast network of millions of users. One notable aspect of crypto spaces is the emergence of vibrant communities that form around specific projects, with supporters gathering on interactive online platforms and demonstrating a strong sense of collective identity. Despite its pseudonymous and “trustless” nature, crypto has become an instrument for establishing social ties that seem remarkably robust. However, the factors that influence establishing social bonds in highly dispersed, pseudonymous crypto spaces with minimal in-person interaction have remained largely unexplored so far. Using a mixed-method approach, this study examines the factors that shape community formation in the crypto space. In an initial step, based on 26 semi-structured, qualitative interviews, we explore factors that may influence group formation in crypto spaces. In a second step, we develop a quantitative questionnaire using items generated from these interviews to measure the effect of the identified factors on group formation, using a sample of 111 crypto users. Group formation is operationalised as an identity fusion scale, reflecting the tendency for individuals to merge their sense of self with that of a social group to which they belong. The results show that social reward, a promising outlook, and participant’s investment level predict identity fusion with crypto communities. This study contributes to the understanding of social bonding processes in pseudonymous crypto spaces.
The ReFi movement in Web3: implications for the Global Commons
‘ReFi’ is a rapidly emerging movement in the web3 space that seeks to leverage blockchain technology and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to deliver positive real-world impact. While ReFi is short for regenerative finance, regenerative practitioners query the regenerative claims of the movement. This perspective article explains why the regenerative claims of the ReFi movement are under scrutiny and highlights the implications for the Global Commons if the movement does not adhere to regenerative principles. Given that ReFi is a blockchain-enabled movement, the impact of ReFi on the Global Commons is implicitly a blockchain-related concern. This article provides a regenerative practitioner’s perspective on the ReFi movement as a point of reference for blockchain practitioners in the ReFi movement seeking to be a force for good. Long-standing research in ecological economics highlights the negative impacts of over-financialization and commoditization on the natural world. Given that blockchain technology enables more of the world’s natural assets to become commoditized, securitized, and collateralized than ever before, the article asserts that DeFi’s drive to financialize everything could make the Global Commons the next, and final, commodity frontier. It also asserts that the ReFi movement has the potential to reverse this trend if it can genuinely adhere to the regenerative paradigm.
Revolutionizing the energy sector: exploring diversified blockchain platforms for a sustainable future
Blockchain technology has caused a significant transformation in the global energy sector as it is increasingly applied in producing, distributing, trading, and managing energy. The incorporation of blockchain in the industry presents unprecedented opportunities for creating secure and decentralized systems of trading energy systems that are not only secure and resilient but also transparent. The paper explores a detailed analysis of various blockchain platforms and endeavors to collapse the existing gaps in the advanced research of blockchain systems supporting the development of energy trading applications. Precisely, this paper gives in-depth details of some of the popular blockchain platforms, and it primarily focuses on the platforms’ security, scalability solutions, consensus methods, strategies for mitigating cyberattacks, privacy-preserving mechanisms, regulatory considerations, the integration of artificial intelligence for platform optimization and suitability in energy trading based on the existing information. It helps energy providers select the best blockchain platform for their energy trading projects. The detailed examination aims to further improve energy trading efficiency, reliability, and sustainability via the most suitable blockchain platform.
Exploring the failure factors of blockchain adopting projects: a case study of tradelens through the lens of commons theory
Blockchain is a transformative technology with the potential to metamorphose industries, including supply chains and logistics, owing to its promise of efficiency, transparency and traceability. However, many blockchain projects have failed, requiring an analysis of the underlying reasons. This research focuses on the failure factors by studying the case of TradeLens, a supply chain platform using Blockchain to improve the visibility and coordination of international shipments. Applying Elinor Ostrom’s theory of the commons, we explored challenges related to governance, participation, interoperability, technological evolution and security. The study reveals that a lack of stakeholder engagement, unclear governance, and confidentiality concerns are major obstacles. Ostrom highlights the importance of participatory governance and a clear definition of boundaries and communities in the management of shared resources. To be successful, blockchain projects must adopt a holistic approach, with transparent governance, encourage collaboration, guarantee interoperability and invest in data security. By incorporating these recommendations and the lessons learned from past failures, future blockchain projects can improve their chances of success and make a positive contribution to the transformation of industries.
Exploring the decentralized science ecosystem: insights on organizational structures, technologies, and funding
IntroductionThe scientific community is increasingly interested in leveraging decentralized technologies to address systemic challenges such as the reputation economy, the monopolization of academic publishing, and the replication crisis. This study presents an analysis of the Decentralized Science (DeSci) landscape in 2023, focusing on organizational structures, technological foundations, and funding mechanisms of DeSci organizations.MethodsA 16-question survey was distributed to DeSci organizations between December 2023 and April 2024, and responses from 49 projects were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods.ResultsResults highlight the prominent role of Ethereum as the dominant blockchain platform in DeSci, the varied applications of blockchain in scientific processes, and a significant emphasis on community building and infrastructure development. Funding sources within the ecosystem are moving towards partnerships with more traditional organizations, including academia. However, most projects lack DAO features for governance. It remains uncertain whether they will adopt more DAO-like structures in the future or deploy a different organizational model.DiscussionOur findings offer a comprehensive overview of the progress and challenges facing the DeSci ecosystem, including slow project progression due to leadership issues and limited funding for most DeSci projects. By identifying key patterns and areas for improvement, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors driving success and sustainability in DeSci.
Improved blockchain-based ECDSA batch verification scheme
IntroductionBlockchain technology has attracted much attention due to its decentralization, transparency and security. Initially applied in the financial field, it has now expanded to various fields such as Internet of Things (IoT), electronic cash and healthcare. However, the open nature of blockchain has raised potential security concerns about sensitive transaction data, and the increasing number of transactions requires low-latency solutions. Most blockchain applications still rely on the lightweight Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA). Due to complex operations such as vectorized multiplication and modular inversion, this may introduce significant additional overhead.MethodsTo address these issues, a new scheme named KTP-ECDSA is proposed. This scheme is based on the improved two-parameter Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (TP-ECDSA) and the KGLP algorithm. In both the signing and verification processes, this scheme eliminates modular inverse operations and reduces scalar multiplications during the verification stage by using batch verification.ResultThe experimental results show that, compared with the traditional ECDSA, KTP-ECDSA has achieved a speed increase of over 50% in both independent verification and batch verification, significantly improving the efficiency of signature verification.DiscussionBy adopting the KTP-ECDSA algorithm and using the digital signature batch verification method, multiple signatures can be verified simultaneously, thus reducing the computational burden of the traditional single-verification method. This greatly increases the overall transaction throughput and improves resource utilization efficiency.