1,911 research outputs found

    Sustainable Development Report: Blockchain, the Web3 & the SDGs

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    This is an output paper of the applied research that was conducted between July 2018 - October 2019 funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and conducted by the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and RCE Vienna (Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development).Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc

    Sustainable Development Report: Blockchain, the Web3 & the SDGs

    Get PDF
    This is an output paper of the applied research that was conducted between July 2018 - October 2019 funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and conducted by the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and RCE Vienna (Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development).Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc

    Blockchain in Oil and Gas Supply Chain: A Literature Review from User Security and Privacy Perspective

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    Blockchain's influence extends beyond finance, impacting diverse sectors such as real estate, oil and gas, and education. This extensive reach stems from blockchain's intrinsic ability to reliably manage digital transactions and supply chains. Within the oil and gas sector, the merger of blockchain with supply chain management and data handling is a notable trend. The supply chain encompasses several operations: extraction, transportation, trading, and distribution of resources. Unfortunately, the current supply chain structure misses critical features such as transparency, traceability, flexible trading, and secure data storage - all of which blockchain can provide. Nevertheless, it is essential to investigate blockchain's security and privacy in the oil and gas industry. Such scrutiny enables the smooth, secure, and usable execution of transactions. For this purpose, we reviewed 124 peer-reviewed academic publications, conducting an in-depth analysis of 21 among them. We classified the articles by their relevance to various phases of the supply chain flow: upstream, midstream, downstream, and data management. Despite blockchain's potential to address existing security and privacy voids in the supply chain, there is a significant lack of practical implementation of blockchain integration in oil and gas operations. This deficiency substantially challenges the transition from conventional methods to a blockchain-centric approach

    Blockchain in the Energy Sector for SDG Achievement

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    Blockchain technology finds application in multiple sectors, including renewable energy. Numerous blockchain-based applications aim to provide support in the production, management, distribution, and consumption of green energy. The benefits offered are not only technological but also social, environmental, and economic. The purpose of this study is to examine how the application of blockchain in the energy industry may affect the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study is composed of two parts. The first part concerns the identification and analysis of the most relevant categories of blockchain applications in the energy sector and their ability to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. A knowledge base, comprising scientific articles, gray literature, and real-world applications, has been created and analyzed. With a keyword-based approach, each application was associated with one or more SDGs. In the second part, the Sustainability Awareness Framework (SuSAF) was used to examine the findings of the first part of the study and discuss them in terms of five dimensions of sustainability. Finally, potential risks associated with the use of blockchain in the energy sector are also covered. Results reveal that tracking energy production and consumption and renewable energy communities are the applications that have the most beneficial effects, and that the benefits linked to blockchain adoption go beyond the energy sector to include the environment, the economy, industry, infrastructure, smart cities, and society

    Designing a Blockchain Model for the Paris Agreement’s Carbon Market Mechanism

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    This paper examines the benefits and constraints of applying blockchain technology for the Paris Agreement carbon market mechanism and develops a list of technical requirements and soft factors as selection criteria to test the feasibility of two different blockchain platforms. The carbon market mechanism, as outlined in Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, can accelerate climate action by enabling cooperation between national Parties. However, in the past, carbon markets were limited by several constraints. Our research investigates these constraints and translates them into selection criteria to design a blockchain platform to overcome these past limitations. The developed selection criteria and assumptions developed in this paper provide an orientation for blockchain assessments. Using the selection criteria, we examine the feasibility of two distinct blockchains, Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric, for the specific use case of Article 6.2. These two blockchain systems represent contrary forms of design and governance; Ethereum constitutes a public and permissionless blockchain governance system, while Hyperledger Fabric represents a private and permissioned governance system. Our results show that both blockchain systems can address present carbon market constraints by enhancing market transparency, increasing process automation, and preventing double counting. The final selection and blockchain system implementation will first be possible, when the Article 6 negotiations are concluded, and governance preferences of national Parties are established. Our paper informs about the viability of different blockchain systems, offers insights into governance options, and provides a valuable framework for a concrete blockchain selection in the future.DFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität Berli

    Investigating transactions in cryptocurrencies

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    This thesis presents techniques to investigate transactions in uncharted cryptocur- rencies and services. Cryptocurrencies are used to securely send payments on- line. Payments via the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, use pseudonymous addresses that have limited privacy and anonymity guarantees. Research has shown that this pseudonymity can be broken, allowing users to be tracked using clustering and tag- ging heuristics. Such tracking allows crimes to be investigated. If a user has coins stolen, investigators can track addresses to identify the destination of the coins. This, combined with an explosion in the popularity of blockchain, has led to a vast increase in new coins and services. These offer new features ranging from coins focused on increased anonymity to scams shrouded as smart contracts. In this study, we investigated the extent to which transaction privacy has improved and whether users can still be tracked in these new ecosystems. We began by analysing the privacy-focused coin Zcash, a Bitcoin-forked cryptocurrency, that is consid- ered to have strong anonymity properties due to its background in cryptographic research. We revealed that the user anonymity set can be considerably reduced using heuristics based on usage patterns. Next, we analysed cross-chain transac- tions collected from the exchange ShapeShift, revealing that users can be tracked as they move across different ledgers. Finally, we present a measurement study on the smart-contract pyramid scheme Forsage, a scam that cycled $267 million USD (of Ethereum) within its first year, showing that at least 88% of the participants in the scheme suffered a loss. The significance of this study is the revelation that users can be tracked in newer cryptocurrencies and services by using our new heuristics, which informs those conducting investigations and developing these technologies

    #Blockchain4EU: Blockchain for Industrial Transformations

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    The project #Blockchain4EU is a forward looking exploration of existing, emerging and potential applications based on Blockchain and other DLTs for industrial / non-financial sectors. It combined Science and Technology Studies with a transdisciplinary policy lab toolbox filled with frameworks from Foresight and Horizon Scanning, Behavioural Insights, or Participatory, Critical and Speculative Design. Amid unfolding and uncertain developments of the Blockchain space, our research signals a number of crucial opportunities and challenges around a technology that could record, secure and transfer any digitised transaction or process, and thus potentially affect large parts of current industrial landscapes. This report offers key insights for its implementation and uptake by industry, businesses and SMEs, together with science for policy strategic recommendations.JRC.I.2-Foresight, Behavioural Insights and Design for Polic
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