20,494 research outputs found
Fair and Decentralized Exchange of Digital Goods
We construct a privacy-preserving, distributed and decentralized marketplace
where parties can exchange data for tokens. In this market, buyers and sellers
make transactions in a blockchain and interact with a third party, called
notary, who has the ability to vouch for the authenticity and integrity of the
data.
We introduce a protocol for the data-token exchange where neither party gains
more information than what it is paying for, and the exchange is fair: either
both parties gets the other's item or neither does. No third party involvement
is required after setup, and no dispute resolution is needed.Comment: 10 page
Beyond Bitcoin: Issues in Regulating Blockchain Transactions
The buzz surrounding Bitcoin has reached a fever pitch. Yet in academic legal discussions, disproportionate emphasis is placed on bitcoins (that is, virtual currency), and little mention is made of blockchain technologyâthe true innovation behind the Bitcoin protocol. Simply, blockchain technology solves an elusive networking problem by enabling âtrustlessâ transactions: value exchanges over computer networks that can be verified, monitored, and enforced without central institutions (for example, banks). This has broad implications for how we transact over electronic networks.
This Note integrates current research from leading computer scientists and cryptographers to elevate the legal communityâs understanding of blockchain technology and, ultimately, to inform policymakers and practitioners as they consider different regulatory schemes. An examination of the economic properties of a blockchain-based currency suggests the technologyâs true value lies in its potential to facilitate more efficient digital-asset transfers. For example, applications of special interest to the legal community include more efficient document and authorship verification, title transfers, and contract enforcement. Though a regulatory patchwork around virtual currencies has begun to form, its careful analysis reveals much uncertainty with respect to these alternative applications
A blockchain-based Decentralized System for proper handling of temporary Employment contracts
Temporary work is an employment situation useful and suitable in all
occasions in which business needs to adjust more easily and quickly to workload
fluctuations or maintain staffing flexibility. Temporary workers play therefore
an important role in many companies, but this kind of activity is subject to a
special form of legal protections and many aspects and risks must be taken into
account both employers and employees. In this work we propose a
blockchain-based system that aims to ensure respect for the rights for all
actors involved in a temporary employment, in order to provide employees with
the fair and legal remuneration (including taxes) of work performances and a
protection in the case employer becomes insolvent. At the same time, our system
wants to assist the employer in processing contracts with a fully automated and
fast procedure. To resolve these problems we propose the D-ES (Decentralized
Employment System). We first model the employment relationship as a state
system. Then we describe the enabling technology that makes us able to realize
the D-ES. In facts, we propose the implementation of a DLT (Decentralized
Ledger Technology) based system, consisting in a blockchain system and of a
web-based environment. Thanks the decentralized application platforms that
makes us able to develop smart contracts, we define a discrete event control
system that works inside the blockchain. In addition, we discuss the temporary
work in agriculture as a interesting case of study.Comment: Accepted for publication in the proceedings of the "Computing
Conference 2018" - 10-12 July 2018 - London, United Kingdo
The Evolution of Giving: Considerations for Regulation of Cryptocurrency Donation Deductions
This Issue Brief looks at the rapidly growing area of cryptocurrency donations to nonprofit organizations. Given the recent IRS guidance issued on taxation of Bitcoin, specifically its decision to treat cryptocurrencies as property, questions now arise as to how charitable contributions of the coins will be valued for tax deductions. Though Bitcoin resembles most other capital gain property, its volatility, general decline in value, anonymity, and potential for abuse require specific guidance on valuation and substantiation so as to handle its unique nature and prevent larger deductions for charitable contributions than those to which taxpayers are entitled
The Evolution of Giving: Considerations for Regulation of Cryptocurrency Donation Deductions
This Issue Brief looks at the rapidly growing area of cryptocurrency donations to nonprofit organizations. Given the recent IRS guidance issued on taxation of Bitcoin, specifically its decision to treat cryptocurrencies as property, questions now arise as to how charitable contributions of the coins will be valued for tax deductions. Though Bitcoin resembles most other capital gain property, its volatility, general decline in value, anonymity, and potential for abuse require specific guidance on valuation and substantiation so as to handle its unique nature and prevent larger deductions for charitable contributions than those to which taxpayers are entitled
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 âperformâ. Our FinBots will trade based on features extracted from the authorsâ words in this book: the political, ethical and cultural values embedded in the work, and the extent to which the FinBots share authorsâ 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 âautonomousâ trading bots, we also explore the different ânetworkâ affordances that differ between paper based books thatâs 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 â books â 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
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