Henry M. Kim

Token-based digital currencies like cryptocurrencies and stablecoins constitute newer, more novel technology relative to account-based digital currencies like M-Pesa’s or traditional bank’s. To motivate wider adoption, proponents of stablecoins in particular have advocated for their use for financial inclusion. With their central ethos of decentralization, these token-based currencies are much closer to cash than intermediated account-based ones, important since cash is the least financially excluding form of money. However, in-depth evidential studies have surmised that the narrative appears compelling only in niche cases, generally having to do with NGO-led cash disbursements. In this paper, we present a reframed exploration of the narrative, drawing from IT Affordance Theory. Using an example scenario from literature, we explore how the recently introduced concept of intermediary ecosystem can impede or enable a financially excluded person’s potential use of stablecoins to fulfill goals associated with the affordances of transferring value, maintaining liquidity, staying resilient to financial shocks, and meeting other family and lifestyle goals. Through this exercise, we discern the possibility that stablecoin functionalities could be integrated into, say, community-based initiatives like Latin American tandas. Hence, reframing in the lens of IT affordance reinforces that blockchain-based tokenized digital currencies could strengthen benevolent intermediaries’ ability to aid financially excluded persons.

Given the exploding interest in generative AI and the concern that a few companies like Microsoft will monopolize access to such models, we address this centralization risk in the context of a DApp that matches buyers and sellers of various AI services. A key question for a decentralized marketplace is where and how to store the metadata that specifies the services’ properties in human and machine-readable formats. Having one or a few actors controlling access to that data constitutes undesirable centralization. We explore data storage alternatives to ensure decentralization, equitable match-making, and efficiency. Classifying decentralized storage alternatives as simple peer-to-peer replication, replication governed by a permissionless consensus, and replication governed by a private consensus, we select an exemplar for each category: IPFS, Tendermint Cosmos and Hyperledger Fabric. We conduct experiments on performance and find that read and write speeds are fastest for IPFS, about two times slower for Tendermint and slowest for Hyperledger. Writing using IPFS and Tendermint takes significantly longer than reading, and finally, specifically with IPFS, write speeds strongly depend on configuration. Given these results and the properties of the storage technologies, we conclude that simple peer-to-peer storage is the best option for the proposed AI marketplace.

Efforts that incentivize GHG emissions reduction are hampered by inability to transparently and uniformly account for impact. The UN has espoused blockchain’s potential to address transparency, and novel Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems that constitute the state-of-the-art in using blockchain to address this need. However, positive effect is diluted without sufficient uniformity: Different blockchains idiosyncratically reporting carbon credits based on differing standards does not constitute a solution. In this paper, we specify a top-level architecture that uses Semantic Web ontologies to complement a blockchain-based, transparent, uniform (sharable) MRV system. Our design conceptualizes transforming “smart standards” designed and harmonized using IT into ontologies of quantification methodologies and verification standards, which in turn can be used develop smart contracts executable on, and interoperable between, different blockchains. We pose this within the context of the real-life Reciclo Orgánicos project, an international collaboration to reduce GHG emissions from Chile’s municipal waste sector.

Blockchains can be public, permissionless networks implementing novel cryptocurrency-based
technology features or permissioned, interorganizational networks championed by industry consortia.
Some ventures operationalize a hybrid of these two network types to enhance adoption of their blockchain
platforms by broadening their base of stakeholders or facilitating interoperability between heterogeneous
blockchains. In this paper, we synthesize literature and industry writings to identify four hybrid blockchain
architectures: hybrid blockchain approach, connected hybrid blockchain, interoperable blockchain
architecture, and hard-forked blockchain for enterprise use. We then analyze these architectures along
dimensions of semantic modeling support between private and public networks; data connectivity between
networks; syntactic interoperability support between networks with heterogeneous codebases; governance
model, and technical features. We find that hybrid blockchain ventures make trade-offs: support API’s,
tools, and customized development so that a codebase is useful for private and public networks or provide
such support for interoperation between heterogeneous codebases. We then conduct a case study of an
exemplar for a hybrid blockchain approach, the startup Insolar. We identify characteristics that have led
Insolar to be idiosyncratically agile and effective in its blockchain development, which together with our
architecture analysis may be timely and prescriptive as enterprises grow interested in addressing
blockchain hybridity and interoperability.

The study of setting up cryptocurrency incentive mechanisms and operationalizing governance is called token economics. Given the US$250 billion market cap for cryptocurrencies, there is compelling need to investigate it. In this article, we present facets of the token engineering process for a Swiss blockchain startup.

Blockchain technology, originally popularized by cryptocurrencies, has been proposed as an infrastructure technology with applications in many areas of business management. Blockchains provide an immutable record of transactions, which makes them useful in situations where actors must cooperate but may not fully trust each other. In this paper, we examine the use of proof-of-work blockchains for executing inter-organizational workflows. We discuss architectural options and describe two prototype implementations of a blockchain-based workflow management system (WfMS), highlighting differences to traditional WfMS. Our main contribution is the identification of potential problems raised by proof-of-work blockchain infrastructure and recommendations to address them.

Blockchains rely on a consensus among participants to achieve decentralization and security. However, reaching consensus in an online, digital world where identities are not tied to physical users is a challenging problem. Proof-of-work provides a solution by linking representation to a valuable, physical resource. While this has worked well, it uses a tremendous amount of specialized hardware and energy, with no utility beyond blockchain security. Here, the authors propose an alternative consensus scheme that directs the computational resources to the optimization of machine learning (ML) models – a task with more general utility. This is achieved by a hybrid consensus scheme relying on three parties: data providers, miners, and a committee. The data provider makes data available and provides payment in return for the best model, miners compete about the payment and access to the committee by producing ML optimized models, and the committee controls the ML competition.

Distributed ledger technology, frequently designated as ‘blockchain,’ is evolving from its hype phase toward greater maturity and long-term value creation. Although many academic communities were initially slow to grasp the technology’s numerous potential implications, meanwhile a substantial amount of research is dedicated to investigating the development and impact of blockchain and related technologies. As undertaken, most research projects take a specific homogenous perspective, such as a technical or business viewpoint. To date, blockchain research studies are largely missing a bridge between and across academic disciplines. Given the manifold implications of blockchain technology, a fruitful crossdisciplinary exchange is therefore needed. In this paper, we bring together researchers with varying expertise to provide a vision into what may be next in terms of concepts, applications, and research agendas. We consider business, economic, societal, legal, technical, and philosophical viewpoints and propose multiple research questions as well as hypotheses arising from these diverse viewpoints. Simultaneously, we challenge various academic communities to tackle some of the most crucial issues of current blockchain research and to develop a solid foundation for future exploration.

This research summarizes the implementation of blockchain technology in the food and agriculture industry in Canada. Our research indicates that blockchain solutions are an existing and proven set of technologies. We also describe how blockchain based supply chain traceability information has many more benefits than its current use for food safety and product recalls. We recommend that costs for development of blockchain based solutions should also be distributed across stakeholders, and apportioned by the relevant industry associations. Our research indicates that adoption of blockchain technology in agriculture will achieve critical mass earlier when the industry applies a consortium approach, in a regulatory environment that is supported by government. This report also makes recommendations relevant to the integration of blockchain for end consumers of food.

We present the journey by which Novera, a blockchain start-up, partnered with CompanyX, an SME investment firm actively looking for opportunities to leverage disruptive technologies. We believe that the key to this journey is expressed in Novera’s “Business in the front, crypto in the back” perspective. Finance is highly regulated and conservative. So, Novera would not have been able sell its concept for a novel bitcoin tracking fund that received over $1M in venture capital without its corporate ethos: Novera would be able to walk into any boardroom and clearly demonstrate compliance to regulations, and moreover show that their business practices would meet stringent expectations of large financial institutions. At the same time, it is Novera’s vision to innovate beyond the fund to a blockchain-based token platform that keeps its team of technologists motivated and forward-looking. We advise others weighing investment in blockchain, especially SME’s and start-ups in finance, to understand and manage this dichotomy.

Residential energy trading systems (RETS) enable homeowners with distributed energy resources (DERs) to participate in virtualized energy markets that have the potential to reduce the peak demand of residential communities. Blockchains are key enablers of RETS, by virtue of providing a decentralized, self-governed network that mitigates concerns regarding privacy and transparency. However, more real-world case studies are needed to evaluate the techno-economic viability of blockchain-based RETS to improve their positive uptake. Thus, this article develops a permissioned blockchain-based RETS, which enables homeowners to select bidding strategies that consider the individual preferences of their DERs, and further evaluates the impact of the bidding strategies on reducing the peak demand of the community. The proposed system is implemented on the permissioned Hyperledger Fabric platform, where a decentralized ledger is used to store all energy bids, and a smart contract is used to execute a double auction mechanism and dispatch the homeowner DERs. The proposed system is validated by conducting simulations on a 8-home community using real-world data, and also by deploying the system to a Canadian microgrid, where the smart contract execution time is benchmarked. Simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed system by achieving a peak demand reduction of up to 48 kW (62%), which leads to an average savings of $1.02 M for the distribution system operator by avoiding transformer upgrades. Also, the simulation results show that the execution time of the proposed smart contract is 17.12 seconds across 12 nodes, which is sufficient for RETS.

Transactive energy systems (TES) are modern mechanisms in electric power systems that allow disparate control agents to utilise distributed generation units to engage in energy transactions and provide ancillary services to the grid. Although voltage regulation is a crucial ancillary grid service within active distribution networks (ADNs), previous work has not adequately explored how this service can be offered in terms of its incentivisation, contract auditability, and enforcement. Blockchain technology shows promise in being a key enabler of TES, allowing agents to engage in trustless, persistent transactions that are both enforceable and auditable. To that end, this study proposes a blockchain based TES that enables agents to receive incentives for providing voltage regulation services by (i) maintaining an auditable reputation rating for each agent that is increased proportionately with each mitigation of a voltage violation, (ii) utilising smart contracts to enforce the validity of each transaction and penalise reputation ratings in case of a mitigation failure, and (iii) automating the negotiation and bidding of agent services by implementing the contract net protocol as a smart contract. Experimental results on both simulated and real-world ADNs are executed to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed system.

Blockchains have been proposed as infrastructure technology for a wide variety of applications. They provide an immutable record of transactions, making them useful when business actors do not trust each other, and their distributed nature makes them suitable for inter-organizational applications. However, widely-used proof-of-work based blockchains are computationally inefficient and do not provide final consensus, although they scale well to large networks. In contrast, blockchains built around Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus algorithms are more efficient and provide immediate and final consensus, but do not scale well to large networks. We argue that this makes them well-suited for workflow management applications, which typically include no more than a few dozen participants. This paper is motivated by a use case in the resource extraction industry. We develop an architecture for a BFT blockchain based workflow management system (WfMS) and present a prototype implementation. We discuss its advantages and limitations with respect to proof-of-work based systems and provide an outlook to future research.

As technology revolutionizes the methods of both production and communication, economists have to respond to new market structures and efficiencies, and the controversial concept of decentralization emerging in recent decades should also be examined in terms of its capacity to induce structural changes in the economy. This paper takes look at one specific market of interest and models the decentralization of a hypothetical emission quota market with the inclusion of households though automated auctions, in order to provide a preliminary analysis of how the redistribution of emission quotas would impact short-run equilibrium in this market and long-run growths. Given the endogenous dynamics, we would also examine the effects of exogenous technological shocks. For the purpose and scope of this paper, a simple mathematical formulation based on the Solow growth model as well as certain strong assumptions derived from economic intuitions is established, aiming to provide a more quantitative illustration of the effects from decentralization on such a system.

This paper aims to propound a thorough and circumspect analysis of the implications of blockchain technology in the accounting profession and its broader industry. The analysis begins with a summary of early developments by first movers and how they are harnessing blockchain technology to improve business practices. Concomitantly, the paper will go on to discuss how this technology will streamline accounting processes, specifically as the technology approaches critical mass. Finally, a discussion of its long-term implications will follow through a more philosophical and conceptual dialogue. Throughout the paper, criticisms will be raised to address concerns regarding blockchain’s widespread use.

In spring 2016, the Distributed Autonomous Organization (The DAO) was created on Ethereum. As with Bitcoin, Ethereum uses a P2P network, where distributed ledgers are implemented as daisy-chained blocks of data. Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency, Ethers are spent to execute pieces of code called smart contracts. Investors paid their Ethers for the DAO to operate and received the opportunity to vote on and become investors in venture projects proposed by Ethereum-based startups. Transactions and settlements between investors and startups are executed autonomously. The DAO experiment failed shortly after inception as an anonymous hacker stole over $50M USD worth of Ethers out of the $168M invested. The Ethereum community voted to return (or fork) the state of the network to one prior to the hack, returning Ethers back to investors and shuttering the DAO. However, this action arguably represented as a bailout—ironically, Bitcoin was conceived as a reaction against the 2008 bailout of US banks—and violated the ledger immutability and “code is law” ethos of the blockchain community.

Compared to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and conventional loans, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are sales of promises of cryptocurrency appreciation. However, regulatory uncertainties continue to prohibit successful widespread adoption. This paper examines ICOs with varying levels of success, including Mastercoin (now Omni) and Kin, as well as fraudulent ICOs, like REcoin and OneCoin. The discussion of the ICO market focuses on the “regulation paradox,” examining some of the inherent contradictions between regulatory actions and values that differentiate ICO schemes from other investment instruments, and therefore questioning the capability of regulations to enhance investor protection mechanisms without undermining the fundamental value of cryptocurrencies and ICOs as a viable funding structure.

An interesting research problem in our age of Big Data is that of determining provenance.
Granular evaluation of provenance of physical goods–e.g. tracking ingredients of a
pharmaceutical or demonstrating authenticity of luxury goods–has often not been possible with
today’s items that are produced and transported in complex, inter-organizational, often
internationally-spanning supply chains. Recent adoption of Internet of Things and Blockchain
technologies give promise at better supply chain provenance. We are particularly interested in
the blockchain as many favoured use cases of blockchain are for provenance tracking. We are
also interested in applying ontologies as there has been some work done on knowledge
provenance, traceability, and food provenance using ontologies. In this paper, we make a case
for why ontologies can contribute to blockchain design. To support this case, we analyze a
traceability ontology and translate some of its representations to smart contracts that execute a
provenance trace and enforce traceability constraints on the Ethereum blockchain platform.

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.

When used effectively, recommender systems provide users with suggestions based on their own preferences. These systems first showed their value with e-commerce sites like Amazon and eBay, which provided recommendations algorithmically. A key drawback of these systems is that some items need personal touch recommendations to spur on purchase, use, or consumption. A recommender system that facilitates personal touch recommendations by enabling users to discover good recommenders as opposed to focusing on recommending items algorithmically addresses this drawback. In this article, we discuss such a system—a curated recommender system. A curated recommender system is optimal for online retailers and service providers, especially those that sell books, stream content, or provide social networking platforms.

Although three-dimensional, immersive virtual worlds, such as Active Worlds, Second Life, and Teleplace have been in existence for several years, their organizational use is rather limited. This paper posits, perhaps counter intuitively, that the diffusion of virtual worlds within organizations could be enhanced by their recreational usage. This argument is motivated by the notion developed in this paper that the use of technologies need not remain within a single context, but instead can cross-contexts, for example from recreational to vocational. We term such shift cross-context IS continuance. This paper proposes that workers using virtual worlds for recreational (i.e., hedonic and social) use are suitably positioned to discover those technologies’ workplace applicability, thereby assisting in their diffusion within the organization. Building on the supporting results of an empirical study, this paper recommends that managers consider allowing for ‘playtime’ with virtual worlds as a mechanism for enhancing their adoption and subsequent diffusion in the workplace. From an information systems (IS)-research perspective, this paper makes several important contributions. First, it contributes to the IS continuance literature by arguing for, and providing evidence in support of, the existence of cross-context continuance. To date, this literature stream has examined only one aspect of continuance – for example, within-context. Second, this paper identifies recreational and work as distinct dimensions of technology usage, and hedonic and social usage as sub-dimensions of the former, thereby contributing to the contextualization of this core IS construct. Third, it is one of the early field studies dedicated to the empirical examination of virtual worlds.