Money & Trust in Digital Society, Bitcoin and Stablecoins in ML enabled Metaverse Telecollaboration

We present a state of the art and positioning book, about Digital society tools, namely; Web3, Bitcoin, Metaverse, AI/ML, accessibility, safeguarding and telecollaboration. A high level overview of Web3 technologies leads to a description of blockchain, and the Bitcoin network is specifically selected for detailed examination. Suitable components of the extended Bitcoin ecosystem are described in more depth. Other mechanisms for native digital value transfer are described, with a focus on `money'. Metaverse technology is over-viewed, primarily from the perspective of Bitcoin and extended reality. Bitcoin is selected as the best contender for value transfer in metaverses because of it's free and open source nature, and network effect. Challenges and risks of this approach are identified. A cloud deployable virtual machine based technology stack deployment guide with a focus on cybersecurity best practice can be downloaded from GitHub to experiment with the technologies. This deployable lab is designed to inform development of secure value transaction, for small and medium sized companies

A Perspective on Electronic Alternatives to Traditional Currencies

The institution of money is rapidly evolving thanks to developments in computer-based cryptography. Technological advances have made possible the creation of cost-effective electronic alternatives to banknotes and coins, which are the traditional physical currencies. This document aims to describe — based on scientific literature — the use and characteristics of money, some of the problems associated with issuing a new currency or a new payment instrument, and the possible comparative advantages of a central bank in leading the way relative to private issuers

A framework for cascading payment and content exchange within P2P systems

Advances in computing technology and the proliferation of broadband in the home have opened up the Internet to wider use. People like the idea of easy access to information at their fingertips, via their personal networked devices. This has been established by the increased popularity of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharing networks. P2P is a viable and cost effective model for content distribution. Content producers require modest resources by today's standards to act as distributors of their content and P2P technology can assist in further reducing this cost, thus enabling the development of new business models for content distribution to realise market and user needs. However, many other consequences and challenges are introduced; more notably, the issues of copyright violation, free-riding, the lack of participation incentives and the difficulties associated with the provision of payment services within a decentralised heterogeneous and ad hoc environment. Further issues directly relevant to content exchange also arise such as transaction atomicity, non-repudiation and data persistence. We have developed a framework to address these challenges. The novel Cascading Payment Content Exchange (CasPaCE) framework was designed and developed to incorporate the use of cascading payments to overcome the problem of copyright violation and prevent free-riding in P2P file-sharing networks. By incorporating the use of unique identification, copyright mobility and fair compensation for both producers and distributors in the content distribution value chain, the cascading payments model empowers content producers and enables the creation of new business models. The system allows users to manage their content distribution as well as purchasing activities by mobilising payments and automatically gathering royalties on behalf of the producer. The methodology used to conduct this research involved the use of advances in service-oriented architecture development as well as the use of object-oriented analysis and design techniques. These assisted in the development of an open and flexible framework which facilitates equitable digital content exchange without detracting from the advantages of the P2P domain. A prototype of the CasPaCE framework (developed in Java) demonstrates how peer devices can be connected to form a content exchange environment where both producers and distributors benefit from participating in the system. This prototype was successfully evaluated within the bounds of an E-learning Content Exchange (EIConE) case study, which allows students within a large UK university to exchange digital content for compensation enabling the better use of redundant resources in the university

Disrupting Finance

This open access Pivot demonstrates how a variety of technologies act as innovation catalysts within the banking and financial services sector. Traditional banks and financial services are under increasing competition from global IT companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon and PayPal whilst facing pressure from investors to reduce costs, increase agility and improve customer retention. Technologies such as blockchain, cloud computing, mobile technologies, big data analytics and social media therefore have perhaps more potential in this industry and area of business than any other. This book defines a fintech ecosystem for the 21st century, providing a state-of-the art review of current literature, suggesting avenues for new research and offering perspectives from business, technology and industry

Disrupting Finance : FinTech and Strategy in the 21st Century

This open access Pivot demonstrates how a variety of technologies act as innovation catalysts within the banking and financial services sector. Traditional banks and financial services are under increasing competition from global IT companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon and PayPal whilst facing pressure from investors to reduce costs, increase agility and improve customer retention. Technologies such as blockchain, cloud computing, mobile technologies, big data analytics and social media therefore have perhaps more potential in this industry and area of business than any other. This book defines a fintech ecosystem for the 21st century, providing a state-of-the art review of current literature, suggesting avenues for new research and offering perspectives from business, technology and industry

Towards an ICT artefact for financial inclusion in Ghana: a critical realist perspective

Financial exclusion is a major developmental problem. Perception has it that financial exclusion emanates from the lack of access to banking and financial services, and the general understanding is that ICT-based access to such services is the solution. In this research, which was undertaken in Ghana, Critical Realism (CR) revealed deeper causes (generative mechanisms) that underlie financial exclusion. The research followed a mixed-method approach. The CR approach guided the research to create an initial model from which hypotheses were deduced and tested; the design science approach, guided the research to create the design theory and an instantiation of an application that uses the design theory; and the quantitative method, was used to evaluate the hypotheses. CR revealed how, in a credit economy, people have a need for credit to pursue business or education opportunities. The generative mechanisms identified have revealed how the credit market for the unbanked includes the reality that a wellfunctioning credit market is self-sustaining with two mechanisms: signalling and adoption. The signalling mechanism facilitates users’ access to credit, which they in turn are able to spend on more services. On the other hand, the adoption mechanism enables the development of more services making the market more valuable, thus attracting more users in a self-feeding loop. The key findings suggest that being banked does not necessarily lead to financial inclusion and financial wellbeing. Transactional banking only serves as an "enrichment agenda for the banks", with minimal benefit to the people. There are also other non-financial technologies such as sharing and social technologies that have an effect on the provision of credit; in addition to their main purpose of saving and/or earning income, for the unbanked, by sharing resources. In Ghana, despite having bank accounts, most of the banked do not use them, because of cost and inappropriate services. This research reveals that the unexamined notion of being banked as a fundamental requirement for financial inclusion may require further investigation. The research has found that the unbanked keeping to themselves and the use of cash creates anonymity and makes them invisible to formal financial institutions, who prefer identity over anonymity, thus contributing to their financial exclusion. The following design needs were identified: inexpensive credit and value-added services such as saving groups, financial accounting services, service to report delinquent customers and education. The research offers a conceptualization of a financial inclusion ICT artefact to draw attention to the multifaceted and complex environment financial inclusion effort is immersed. This calls for an integrated approach since the issues with financial exclusion extend beyond financials and have an effect on the broader society. The research, therefore, proposes a substantive framework for improving the design and development of financial inclusive systems, which helps build trust using obligation transactions. It offers an approach to computing an individual’s financial inclusiveness, which also helps safeguard his/her financial wellbeing. The thesis makes a contribution to Information Systems theory in proposing a framework on financial inclusion using ICT. The contribution to practice is the design of an ICT artefact.School of ComputingPh. D. (Computer Science

Incentive-driven QoS in peer-to-peer overlays

A well known problem in peer-to-peer overlays is that no single entity has control over the software, hardware and configuration of peers. Thus, each peer can selfishly adapt its behaviour to maximise its benefit from the overlay. This thesis is concerned with the modelling and design of incentive mechanisms for QoS-overlays: resource allocation protocols that provide strategic peers with participation incentives, while at the same time optimising the performance of the peer-to-peer distribution overlay. The contributions of this thesis are as follows. First, we present PledgeRoute, a novel contribution accounting system that can be used, along with a set of reciprocity policies, as an incentive mechanism to encourage peers to contribute resources even when users are not actively consuming overlay services. This mechanism uses a decentralised credit network, is resilient to sybil attacks, and allows peers to achieve time and space deferred contribution reciprocity. Then, we present a novel, QoS-aware resource allocation model based on Vickrey auctions that uses PledgeRoute as a substrate. It acts as an incentive mechanism by providing efficient overlay construction, while at the same time allocating increasing service quality to those peers that contribute more to the network. The model is then applied to lagsensitive chunk swarming, and some of its properties are explored for different peer delay distributions. When considering QoS overlays deployed over the best-effort Internet, the quality received by a client cannot be adjudicated completely to either its serving peer or the intervening network between them. By drawing parallels between this situation and well-known hidden action situations in microeconomics, we propose a novel scheme to ensure adherence to advertised QoS levels. We then apply it to delay-sensitive chunk distribution overlays and present the optimal contract payments required, along with a method for QoS contract enforcement through reciprocative strategies. We also present a probabilistic model for application-layer delay as a function of the prevailing network conditions. Finally, we address the incentives of managed overlays, and the prediction of their behaviour. We propose two novel models of multihoming managed overlay incentives in which overlays can freely allocate their traffic flows between different ISPs. One is obtained by optimising an overlay utility function with desired properties, while the other is designed for data-driven least-squares fitting of the cross elasticity of demand. This last model is then used to solve for ISP profit maximisation

Blockchain na evropské úrovni

Blockchain na evropské úrovni Abstrakt Cílem této diplomové práce je poskytnout základní přehled technologie blockchain, jejích vlastností a potenciálního využití, včetně přehledu evropských předpisů, které se této technologie mohou za určitých podmínek dotýkát. V první kapitole diplomová práce poskytuje právní rámec primárního práva EU, který zakládá nebo může založit pravomoc EU zabývat se technologií blockchain, v závislosti na její právní kvalifikaci (zejména v souvislosti s vnitřním trhem - zejména volný pohyb služeb či kapitálu). V druhé a třetí kapitole je uveden základní popis funkcionalit blockchainu a kryptoměn a souvisejících služeb. Detailní popis je poskytnut v přílohách I-IV této diplomové práce. Zároveň je posouzen právní status a regulace kryptoměn, které tvoří základ technologií založených na blockchainu, a to jak na evropské úrovni, tak na úrovni členských států a dalších světových jurisdikcí. Součástí posouzení je i nedávný rozsudek SDEU Hedqvist, dle kterého se na dvousměrné směnárenské služby (nákup kryptoměn za fiat měny a naopak) uplatní výjimka z povinnosti odvést DPH v souladu s VAT směrnicí. Vzhledem k odůvodnění SDEU i generálního advokáta může tento rozsudek v budoucnu významně ovlivnit vývoj interpretace právního statusu kryptoměn a blockchainu obecně. Kromě kryptoměn je rovněž...Blockchain at the European Level Abstract The objective of this master thesis is to provide a basic overview of the blockchain technology, its features and its potential utilization, including an overview of European legal regulations that might be applicable to the technology, under certain conditions. In the first chapter, the master's thesis sets forth the legal framework of the EU primary law that establishes or can establish the EU's competence to act in the matters of blockchain technology, depending on its legal qualification (especially in the context of the internal market - namely the free movement of services and capital). The second and third chapters provide essential description of features of blockchain and cryptocurrency and related services. A more detailed description is provided in Annexes I-IV of this thesis. Further, the legal status and applicable regulation of cryptocurrencies are assessed at the European and national levels and in terms of other global jurisdictions. The assessment also includes the recent CJEU's judgment in the case Hedqvist, according to which bidirectional exchange services (purchase of cryptocurrency for fiat currency and vice versa) are to be exempted from VAT obligation under the VAT directive. In line with the CJEU's reasoning and the Advocate General's...Katedra evropského právaDepartment of European LawFaculty of LawPrávnická fakult

Legal Implications of a Ubiquitous Metaverse and a Web3 Future

The metaverse is understood to be an immersive virtual world serving as the locus for all forms of work, education, and entertainment experiences. Depicted in books, movies, and games, the metaverse has the potential not just to supplement real-world experiences but to substantially supplant them. This Article explores the rapid emergence and evolution of the Web3 technologies at the heart of the metaverse movement. Web3 itself is a paradigmatic shift in internet commerce