ARPA Whitepaper

We propose a secure computation solution for blockchain networks. The correctness of computation is verifiable even under malicious majority condition using information-theoretic Message Authentication Code (MAC), and the privacy is preserved using Secret-Sharing. With state-of-the-art multiparty computation protocol and a layer2 solution, our privacy-preserving computation guarantees data security on blockchain, cryptographically, while reducing the heavy-lifting computation job to a few nodes. This breakthrough has several implications on the future of decentralized networks. First, secure computation can be used to support Private Smart Contracts, where consensus is reached without exposing the information in the public contract. Second, it enables data to be shared and used in trustless network, without disclosing the raw data during data-at-use, where data ownership and data usage is safely separated. Last but not least, computation and verification processes are separated, which can be perceived as computational sharding, this effectively makes the transaction processing speed linear to the number of participating nodes. Our objective is to deploy our secure computation network as an layer2 solution to any blockchain system. Smart Contracts\cite{smartcontract} will be used as bridge to link the blockchain and computation networks. Additionally, they will be used as verifier to ensure that outsourced computation is completed correctly. In order to achieve this, we first develop a general MPC network with advanced features, such as: 1) Secure Computation, 2) Off-chain Computation, 3) Verifiable Computation, and 4)Support dApps' needs like privacy-preserving data exchange

FinBook: literary content as digital commodity

This short essay explains the significance of the FinBook intervention, and invites the reader to participate. We have associated each chapter within this book with a financial robot (FinBot), and created a market whereby book content will be traded with financial securities. As human labour increasingly consists of unstable and uncertain work practices and as algorithms replace people on the virtual trading floors of the worlds markets, we see members of society taking advantage of FinBots to invest and make extra funds. Bots of all kinds are making financial decisions for us, searching online on our behalf to help us invest, to consume products and services. Our contribution to this compilation is to turn the collection of chapters in this book into a dynamic investment portfolio, and thereby play out what might happen to the process of buying and consuming literature in the not-so-distant future. By attaching identities (through QR codes) to each chapter, we create a market in which the chapter can ‘perform’. Our FinBots will trade based on features extracted from the authors’ words in this book: the political, ethical and cultural values embedded in the work, and the extent to which the FinBots share authors’ concerns; and the performance of chapters amongst those human and non-human actors that make up the market, and readership. In short, the FinBook model turns our work and the work of our co-authors into an investment portfolio, mediated by the market and the attention of readers. By creating a digital economy specifically around the content of online texts, our chapter and the FinBook platform aims to challenge the reader to consider how their personal values align them with individual articles, and how these become contested as they perform different value judgements about the financial performance of each chapter and the book as a whole. At the same time, by introducing ‘autonomous’ trading bots, we also explore the different ‘network’ affordances that differ between paper based books that’s scarcity is developed through analogue form, and digital forms of books whose uniqueness is reached through encryption. We thereby speak to wider questions about the conditions of an aggressive market in which algorithms subject cultural and intellectual items – books – to economic parameters, and the increasing ubiquity of data bots as actors in our social, political, economic and cultural lives. We understand that our marketization of literature may be an uncomfortable juxtaposition against the conventionally-imagined way a book is created, enjoyed and shared: it is intended to be

Open Platform Concept for Blockchain- Enabled Crowdsourcing of Technology Development and Supply Chains

We outline the concept of an open technology platform which builds upon a publicly accessible library of fluidic designs, manufacturing processes and experimental characterisation, as well as virtualisation by a ‘digital twin” based on modelling, simulation and cloud computing. Backed by the rapidly emerging Web3 technology “Blockchain”, we significantly extend traditional approaches to effectively incentivise broader participation by an interdisciplinary ‘value network’ of diverse players. Ranging from skilled individuals (the ‘citizen scientist’, the ‘garage entrepreneur’) and more established research institutions to companies with their infrastructures, equipment and services, the novel platform approach enables all stakeholders to jointly contribute to value creation along more decentralised supply chain designs including research and technology development (RTD). Blockchain-enabled “Wisdom of the Crowds” and “Skin in the game” mechanisms secure “trust” and transparency between participants. Prediction markets are created for guiding decision making, planning and allocation of funding; competitive parallelisation of work and its validation from independent participants substantially enhances quality, credibility and speed of project outcomes in the real world along the entire path from RTD, fabrication and testing to eventual commercialisation. This novel, Blockchain-backed open platform concept can be led by a corporation, academic entity, a loosely organised group, or even “chieflessly” within a smart-contract encoded Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO). The proposed strategy is particularly attractive for highly interdisciplinary fields like Lab-on-a- Chip systems in the context of manifold applications in the Life Sciences. As an exemplar, we outline the centrifugal microfluidic “Lab-on-a-Disc” technology. Rather than engaging in all sub-disciplines themselves, many smaller, highly innovative actors can focus on strengthening the product component distinguishing their unique selling point (USP), e.g., a particular bioassay, detection scheme or application scenario. In this effort, system integrators access underlying commons like fluidic design, manufacture, instrumentation and software from a more resilient and diversified supply chain, e.g., based on a verified pool of community-endorsed or certified providers

What Can Cryptography Do for Decentralized Mechanism Design?

Recent works of Roughgarden (EC\u2721) and Chung and Shi (SODA\u2723) initiate the study of a new decentralized mechanism design problem called transaction fee mechanism design (TFM). Unlike the classical mechanism design literature, in the decentralized environment, even the auctioneer (i.e., the miner) can be a strategic player, and it can even collude with a subset of the users facilitated by binding side contracts. Chung and Shi showed two main impossibility results that rule out the existence of a dream TFM. First, any TFM that provides incentive compatibility for individual users and miner-user coalitions must always have zero miner revenue, no matter whether the block size is finite or infinite. Second, assuming finite block size, no non-trivial TFM can simultaenously provide incentive compatibility for any individual user, and for any miner-user coalition. In this work, we explore what new models and meaningful relaxations can allow us to circumvent the impossibility results of Chung and Shi. Besides today’s model that does not employ cryptography, we introduce a new MPC-assisted model where the TFM is implemented by a joint multi-party computation (MPC) protocol among the miners. We prove several feasibility and infeasibility results for achieving strict and approximate incentive compatibility, respectively, in the plain model as well as the MPC-assisted model. We show that while cryptography is not a panacea, it indeed allows us to overcome some impossibility results pertaining to the plain model, leading to non-trivial mechanisms with useful guarantees that are otherwise impossible in the plain model. Our work is also the first to characterize the mathematical landscape of transaction fee mechanism design under approximate incentive compatibility, as well as in a cryptography-assisted model

Essays on local currencies, development, and sustainable tourism

The past years brought challenges to humankind. This was not different to the tourism sector which needed to face travel restrictions and the perspective of changes in behaviour when travelling. As a consequence, this thesis aims to deal with new perspectives on tourism, addressing local development and well-being. This work is divided into three papers and brings three different propositions to improve local conditions and deal with visitors by using local currencies. The goal of local currencies is to allow money coming from out of the community to circulate in the local economy, possibly creating a virtuous circle. The first chapter treats the Maricá's case, a small city in Brazil that is implanting basic income for its inhabitants using oil royalties and a local currency called Mumbuca. It proposes a change in the engine of the city's economy, coming from oil to sustainable tourism, including tourism in the local financial framework. The second chapter proposes a balance in the negative externalities coming from visitors in favour of locals. To do so, it suggests a basic income coming from tourism, being paid through local currency. On the contrary, the last chapter proposes a kind of local cryptocurrency, based on cases in the literature and in specialized markets, in order to foment tourism and improve locals' well-being

Emerging Technology IS Course Design: Blockchain for Business Example

IS curricula require constant updating to accommodate the emergence of new technologies. Designing and delivering effective emerging technology courses within the constraints of existing programs remains an important challenge faculty face. This paper presents a template for approaching these courses from a learning theory perspective. Results of tests of this template, developed for teaching blockchain, indicate that it successfully strikes the balance needed in an IS program while simplifying the work of designing the structure of an emerging technology course. Additionally, this design was able to deliver this success in an online format, which can be a more challenging format for observing application of knowledge. Blockchain is a disruptive emerging technology opportunity for businesses to unlock value through trusted and “smart” peer-to-peer transactions, wherein smart means businesspeople can custom design processes for verification and transfer of assets. The blockchain example provided here includes a flexible 7-scenario design targeted to enable a constructive, project-based learning approach focused on authentic learning experiences. The template as applied to blockchain may be used directly or adapted for easier development of other emerging technology courses

Decentralised computer systems

The architecture of the Web was designed to enable decentralised exchange of information. Early architects envisioned an egalitarian yet organic society thriving in cyberspace. The reality of the Web today, unfortunately, does not bear out these visions: information networks have repeatedly shown a tendency towards consolidation and centralisation with the current Web split between a handful of large corporations. The advent of Bitcoin and successor blockchain networks re-ignited interest in developing alternatives to the centralised Web and paving a way back to the earlier architectural visions for the Web. This has led to immense hype around these technologies with the cryptocurrency market valued at several hundred billions of dollars at the time of writing. With great hype, apparently, come great scams. I start off by analysing the use of Bitcoin as an enabler for crime and then present both technical solutions as well as policy recommendations to mitigate the harm these crimes cause. These policy recommendations then lead us on to look more closely at cryptocurrency's tamer cousin: permissioned blockchains. These systems, while less revolutionary in their premise, nevertheless aim to provide sweeping improvements in the efficiency and transparency of existing enterprise systems. To see whether they work in practice, I present the results of my work in delivering a production permissioned blockchain system to real users. This involves comparing several permissioned blockchain systems, exploring their deficiencies and developing solutions for the most egregious of those. Lastly, I do a deep dive into one of the most persistent technical issues with permissioned blockchains, and decentralised networks in general: the lack of scalability in their consensus mechanisms. I present two novel consensus algorithms that aim to improve upon the state of the art in several ways. The first is designed to enable existing permissioned blockchain networks to scale to thousands of nodes. The second presents an entirely new way of building decentralised consensus systems utilising a trie-based data structure at its core as opposed to the usual linear ledgers used in current systems

New business model for auction houses based on blockchain

Over the last few years, and perhaps due to the global pandemic, activity around blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and crypto-assets has become socially popular and mainstream. This technology presents a new digital infrastructure and offers a new governance model in the ecosystem that can bring improvements to current systems and represent a turning point. In the frenetic and constantly evolving world we live in, the implementation of these new technologies is a challenge for companies, and their early adoption can be a turning point for their growth and future development. The project's starting point is born at this precise moment when different companies and industries are racing to join the new technology and try to adapt and take advantage of it. In particular, there has been a revolution in the art sector thanks to the invention of NFTs and their use linked to the creation and trade of digital art. Despite the existence of significant and recognized marketplaces where these assets are traded, large auction houses have maintained a relevant role in managing some of the most famous NFTs auctions. Their role has meant nothing more than incorporating these new assets into their catalogs and, in some cases, creating digital spaces where they can exhibit them. This thesis presents a new business model for auction houses based on blockchain to enable them to go a step further and take full advantage of the possibilities and improvements that this technology offers. The new business model developed incorporates several applications of the technology in the current system to improve it and satisfy the new needs and requirements of the market. In order to carry out the design of the new model, the document first proposes a compilation chapter of the two main topics to be dealt with. On the one hand, historical documentation of auctions and auction houses up to their current model has been carried out to understand their evolution. On the other hand, a detailed explanation of blockchain technology and its set of applications has been developed to understand its characteristics and the possibilities it offers. Finally, in order to give the most accurate picture of the current situation, a state-of-the-art is developed in a timeline format with the most significant related events that have taken place over the last year. Once the foundations on which the new business model is built have been understood and internalized, the project enters the second chapter, where the current situation on the topic is analyzed in detail through three different analyses. First, the state-of-the-art is examined in-depth, and the characteristics and conclusions that define the present situation are drawn. For this purpose, the different news items are examined objectively in order to distinguish the reasons behind the events, understanding how and why they have taken place. Secondly, a set of interviews have been conducted with different actors involved in the main topic of the thesis in order to have a first-hand opinion and hear different perspectives. To conclude the analysis and deepen in the field of blockchain technology and particularly in the possibilities of smart contracts, a programming course in blockchain has been carried out in parallel to the project's development. The document section shows a summary of the follow-up of the course and explains all the new concepts acquired during the course. Finally, the last chapter of the thesis shows a description of the new business model for auction houses based on blockchain as a result of the analysis of the project. The first section develops the new system and its characteristics, the design of the blockchain infrastructure and its operation, and presents the modifications made to the new business model. The chapter continues with the justification for creating the model and explains how it arises from taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the new technology and the possible results and benefits that auction houses can obtain. In addition, other sections are added that qualitatively define the roadmap to be followed for its implementation, the economic analysis, and the environmental impact of the new model. To conclude, a feasibility analysis is carried out to show the current weaknesses to be taken into account before adopting the new modelNegli ultimi anni e a causa della pandemia globale, l'attività intorno alla tecnologia blockchain, alle criptovalute e ai crypto asset è diventata socialmente popolare e un argomento mainstream. Questa tecnologia presenta una nuova infrastruttura digitale e offre un nuovo modello di governance nell'ecosistema che può portare miglioramenti ai sistemi attuali. Nel mondo frenetico e in continua evoluzione in cui viviamo, l'implementazione di queste nuove tecnologie è una sfida per le aziende, e la loro adozione precoce può essere un punto di svolta per la loro crescita e sviluppo futuro. Il punto di partenza del progetto nasce in questo preciso momento in cui diverse aziende e industrie stanno correndo per unirsi alla nuova tecnologia e cercare di adattarsi e trarne vantaggio. In particolare, c'è stata una rivoluzione nel settore dell'arte grazie all'invenzione degli NFT e al loro utilizzo legato alla creazione e al commercio di arte digitale. Nonostante l'esistenza di importanti e riconosciuti marketplace di questi beni, le grandi case d'asta hanno mantenuto un ruolo rilevante nella gestione di alcune delle più famose aste di NFTs. Il loro ruolo non ha significato altro che incorporare questi nuovi beni nei loro cataloghi e, in alcuni casi, creare spazi digitali dove poterli esporre. Questa tesi presenta un nuovo modello di business per le case d'asta basato sulla blockchain per permettere loro di fare un passo avanti e sfruttare al massimo le possibilità e i miglioramenti che questa tecnologia offre. Il nuovo modello di business sviluppato incorpora diverse applicazioni della tecnologia nel sistema attuale per migliorarlo e soddisfare le nuove esigenze e richieste del mercato. Per realizzare la progettazione del nuovo modello, il documento propone innanzitutto un capitolo di compilazione dei due temi principali da trattare. Da un lato, è stata realizzata una documentazione storica delle aste e delle case d'asta fino al loro modello attuale per comprendere la loro evoluzione. Dall'altro, è stata sviluppata una spiegazione dettagliata della tecnologia blockchain e del suo insieme di applicazioni per capire le sue caratteristiche e le possibilità che offrono. Infine, al fine di dare il quadro più accurato della situazione attuale, è stato sviluppato uno stato dell'arte in formato timeline con gli eventi correlati più significativi che hanno avuto luogo nell'ultimo anno. Una volta che le basi su cui è costruito il nuovo modello di business sono state comprese e interiorizzate, il progetto entra nel secondo capitolo, dove la situazione attuale sull’argomento viene analizzata in dettaglio attraverso di tre diverse analisi. In primo luogo, si esamina in profondità lo stato dell'arte e si tracciano le caratteristiche e le conclusioni che definiscono la situazione attuale. A questo scopo, le diverse notizie vengono esaminate in modo oggettivo per distinguere le ragioni dietro gli eventi, capendo come e perché sono avvenuti. In secondo luogo, sono state condotte una serie di interviste con diversi partecipanti riguardo l'argomento principale della tesi, al fine di avere un'opinione di prima mano e sentire diverse prospettive. Per concludere l'analisi e approfondire nel campo della tecnologia e in particolare nelle possibilità degli smart contracts, è stato realizzato un corso di programmazione in blockchain in parallelo allo sviluppo del progetto. La sezione del documento mostra un riassunto del seguito del corso e spiega tutti i nuovi concetti acquisiti durante il corso. Infine, l'ultimo capitolo della tesi mostra una descrizione del nuovo modello di business per le case d'asta basato su blockchain come risultato dell'analisi del progetto. La prima sezione sviluppa il nuovo sistema e le sue caratteristiche, la progettazione dell'infrastruttura blockchain e il suo funzionamento, e presenta le modifiche apportate al nuovo modello di business. Il capitolo continua con la giustificazione della creazione del modello e spiega come nasce dallo sfruttamento delle opportunità offerte dalla nuova tecnologia e i possibili risultati e benefici che le case d'asta possono ottenere. Inoltre, vengono aggiunte altre sezioni che definiscono qualitativamente la tabella di marcia da seguire per la sua implementazione, l'analisi economica e l'impatto ambientale del nuovo modello. Per concludere, viene effettuata un'analisi di fattibilità per mostrare le attuali debolezze da prendere in considerazione prima di adottare il nuovo modell