ESTUDO DE MAPEAMENTO SISTEMÁTICO SOBRE AS TENDÊNCIAS E DESAFIOS DO BLOCKCHAIN

Blockchain é uma tecnologia de gerenciamento de dados cujo funcionamento consiste em transações descentralizadas, sendo desenvolvida para a criptomoeda Bitcoin no contexto de pagamento digital. O interesse na tecnologia blockchain tem aumentado desde que a ideia foi cunhada em 2008. As razões para o interesse na tecnologia blockchain são seus atributos centrais que fornecem segurança, anonimato e integridade de dados sem qualquer interferência de terceiros no controle das transações. Até agora, o blockchain tem atraído bastante atenção da indústria de serviços financeiros, mas a tecnologia pode ser adaptada para qualquer indústria onde seja necessário registrar, confirmar e transferir qualquer tipo de contrato ou propriedade. Nesta pesquisa, realizamos um mapeamento sistemático para estudar como essa tecnologia tem sido utilizada pelas corporações. O objetivo é compreender os principais recursos do blockchain, as novas aplicações que surgiram, impactos, vantagens e desafios. Foram extraídos 21 artigos primários de bases de dados científicas. Os resultados mostram potencial disruptivo da tecnologia, como ela vai mudar a nossa economia e como ela foi adaptada para muitas indústrias

Token Economy – Towards Building a Sustainable Blockchain Token Ecosystem Framework

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementIn the context of the internet’s historical trajectory, blockchain technology represents a significant paradigm shift from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0. Web 2.0, the current world of the interactive and social web, is an internet siloed by centralized organizations that provide services in exchange for personal data. Web 3.0, on the other hand, is based on cryptographic blockchain technology and enables an economic institutional infrastructure that is natively available on the web, hands ownership back to the creators and users and operates without an intermediary. Blockchain tokens enable digital scarcity and a novel internet-native value transfer mechanism. Tokens can have a magnitude of different use cases ranging from serving as unit of account (currency), promoting usage incentive, as tool for governance, representation of ownership or as a funding instrument. The research field of token creation is still in its very infant stage and a lot of blockchain project launches still happen without proper structure and long term strategy – leading to suboptimal and short lasting results. Based on the Design Science Research methodology, this dissertation attempts to design a holistic conceptual framework that can serve as a base for a decision aid for organizations when creating a blockchain token ecosystem. This artifact will finally be evaluated by domain experts to ensure proper correctness

The Authority of Distributed Consensus Systems Trust, Governance, and Normative Perspectives on Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers

The subjects of this dissertation are distributed consensus systems (DCS). These systems gained prominence with the implementation of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. This work aims at understanding the drivers and motives behind the adoption of this class of technologies, and to – consequently – evaluate the social and normative implications of blockchains and distributed ledgers. To do so, a phenomenological account of the field of distributed consensus systems is offered, then the core claims for the adoption of systems are taken into consideration. Accordingly, the relevance of these technologies on trust and governance is examined. It will be argued that the effects on these two elements do not justify the adoption of distributed consensus systems satisfactorily. Against this backdrop, it will be held that blockchains and similar technologies are being adopted because they are regarded as having a valid claim to authority as specified by Max Weber, i.e., herrschaft. Consequently, it will be discussed whether current implementations fall – and to what extent – within the legitimate types of traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal authority. The conclusion is that the conceptualization developed by Weber does not capture the core ideas that appear to establish the belief in the legitimacy of distributed consensus systems. Therefore, this dissertation describes the herrschaft of systems such as blockchains by conceptualizing a computational extension of the pure type of rational-legal authority, qualified as algorithmic authority. The foundational elements of algorithmic authority are then discussed. Particular attention is focused on the idea of normativity cultivated in systems of algorithmic rules as well as the concept of decentralization. Practical suggestions conclude the following dissertation

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations in Organisational Design Theory

As Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) is a new emerging form of organisation with unrevealed characteristics, this study examines how DAO can be classified in terms of organisational design theory and provides an overview of its characteristics. The investigation could further provide guidance on what types of organisations can be easily transformed into a DAO. A deeper look into the knowledge base on organisational design theory and organisational forms is essential as well as characteristic properties. In regard of DAO, the underlying concepts of blockchain and smart contracts are marked as they serve a better understanding, which is needed to characterise DAO. An analysis of DAO will specify how they are classified in terms of organisational design and how they differ compared to traditional organisation forms, which will be displayed in an overview. The results are discussed and concluded, also comprising the highlighting of potential paths for future work

Blockchain in the built environment: analysing current applications and developing an emergent framework

Distributed ledger technology (DLT), commonly referred to as ‘blockchain’ and originally invented to create a peer-to-peer digital currency, is rapidly attracting interest in other sectors. The aim in this paper is (1) to investigate the applications of DLT within the built environment, and the challenges and opportunities facing its adoption; and (2) develop a multi-dimensional emergent framework for DLT adoption within the construction sector. Key areas of DLT applications were found in: smart energy; smart cities and the sharing economy; smart government; smart homes; intelligent transport; Building Information Modelling (BIM) and construction management; and business models and organisational structures. The results showed a significant concentration of DLT research on the operation phase of assets. This is expected given the significant resources and lifespan associated with the operation phase of assets and their social, environmental and economic impact. However, more attention is required to address the current gap at the design and construction phases to ensure that these phases are not treated in isolation from the operational phase. An emergent framework combining the political, social and technical dimensions was developed. The framework was overlaid with an extensive set of challenges and opportunities. The structured and inter-connected dimensions provided by the framework can be used by field researchers as a point of departure to investigate a range of research questions from political, social or technical perspectives

A Critical Investigation into Identifying Key Focus Areas for the Implementation of Blockchain Technology in the Mining Industry

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2023.The value of digital information is ever-increasing as more companies utilize digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to gain deeper insight into their business operations and drive productivity gains. It is therefore important to safeguard and ensure the integrity of digital information exchange. Blockchain technology (BCT) was identified as potentially providing the mining industry with a trusted system for securely exchanging digital value. However, there is little evidence or understanding of how/where BCT can be implemented and what benefits the industry could obtain. This research study provides a fundamental understanding of what the technology is in order to identify the associated capabilities and potential application benefits for the mining industry. From a technology push perspective, blockchain capabilities are used to evaluate how the technology’s value drivers map to the mining industries core value chain processes. This was done to identify potential focus areas within the mining enterprise for further research and development of blockchain applications.ARMMining EngineeringMEngUnrestricte

Archival Study of Blockchain Applications in the Construction Industry From Literature Published in 2019 and 2020

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate proposed blockchain applications in the construction industry from contemporary literature. Methodology: Archival studies will be used to obtain academic content from secondary sources. An explorative strategy will be adopted with no preconception or biases on the preferred route of execution. Blockchain is a fast-evolving technology with a high rate of yearly progression; therefore, this paper refines the search to recently published material in 2019 and 2020. Data is collected in two stages, firstly, categories of research are extrapolated from secondary literature and recorded into a table, and afterwards, the corresponding proposed application of blockchain is documented and reviewed. Findings: An adequate breadth and variety of categories are substantiated from archival literature, which effectively contributes to the extraction of proposed blockchain applications for construction. The data collection extracts 19 categories from the explorative study, in which 19 proposed solutions (one per category) is presented. All of the advisory content for the proposed solutions were obtained from a deliberated selection of 21 academic study papers. Limitations: The study is limited to one proposed application per category, totalling 19 proposed solutions; however, assessing various approaches per category could not be researched comparatively due to voluminous information. Thus, recommendations incorporate a holistic case study of one subject category which incorporates a multitude of various proposed applications. Originality: This paper contributes to new knowledge through extrapolating proposed blockchain applications from academic literature in 2019 and 2020

Using blockchain technology for implementation of an android graphics simulation application

The Blockchain technology can be used for many purposes on the web, the main one being the financial branch, having in mind the present article clearly presents the technology concepts behind Bitcoin called Blockchain and is shown throughout the work to implementation of a mobile application developed in the Android platform, where it makes use of blockchain to simulate the operation of its own, being a practical guide to blockchain, can be used to teach technology to lay visually, the tool uses principles such as hash function, chain of blocks, consensus algorithm among others that are linked to the technology of crypto coin

FinChain: Adaptation of Blockchain Technology in Finance and Business - An Ethical Analysis of Applications, Challenges, Issues and Solutions

Blockchain Technology is a distributed database technology that has emerged as a ground-breaking technology with several possible solutions to critical applications, say from supply chain management, agribusiness, marketing to healthcare industry including internet of medical things. Although it started as a digital coin (popularly known as bitcoin), it is slowly influencing business, marketing policy and society. We have presented an in-depth study and ethical analysis of how blockchain is applied over the economic and financial sector including banks, credit unions and other retail giants. During our research, we have also investigated how blockchain technology can affect financial institutions around the world and businesses including large and small businesses. Our contributions included the following: (i) classifying blockchain models and architecture for finance and business markets (ii) analyzing recent and relevant works for finance applications and business solutions using blockchain (iii) discussing the advantages of using blockchain technology in financial institutions like banks, government firms. education sectors (iv) pointing out challenges and issues of blockchain technology for finance and business organizations (v) summarizing future research on integration and adaptation of blockchain technology along with C2C, B2C, and B2B with finance and recommendations for improvement