International Journal of Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies (7 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• ChainElastic: A Cloud Computing Resource Elasticity Model for IoT-based Blockchain Applications  
  by Rodrigo Da Rosa Righi, Cristiano André Costa, Vinicius F. Rodrigues, Alex Roehrs, Josué Valtair Silva e Silva 
  Abstract: Internet of Things (IoT) environments are composed of a changing number of devices that produce data events at different rates The development of Blockchain solutions for such environments characterizes an emerging trend of applications, thus requiring the system to be scalable However, the existing proposals to improve the Blockchain scalability bring a series of changes that are not compatible with today’s applications Therefore, we perceive that there are no alternatives to address Blockchain scalability without changing the Blockchain protocol itself, so reflecting on lack of portability In context, this article proposes ChainElastic, a cloud elasticity model to run Blockchain IoT applications in a private cloud with automatic resource reorganization We developed a prototype that runs over the OpenNebula cloud, highlighting the benefits of using elasticity in terms of resource consumption, latency, and execution time The experiments demonstrate gains of 39 64% in resource consumption with the ChainElastic model.
  Keywords: Blockchain;Internet of Things;Cloud Computing;Cloud Elasticity.
  
  
• Streamlining classical consensus  
  by Kyle Butt, Derek Sorensen 
  Abstract: Classical consensus protocols, generally based on rounds of voting, tend to be unscalable because of sheer message volume. Blockchain-style consensus has emerged to solve this problem, but there is still a gaping need for faster, more scalable, and reliably safe consensus protocols. We show that many classical consensus protocols give rise naturally to a directed acyclic graph (DAG), which we call the message DAG. We restructure two classical consensus protocols via the message DAG, consolidating message rounds with new messages, to achieve manifestly improved scalability. The second protocol lends itself to a scalable blockchain consensus protocol with strong safety and liveness guarantees. We also present a technique to generalise other message-based, classical consensus protocols.
  Keywords: consensus protocol; directed acyclic graph; DAG; pre-Nakamoto consensus; classical consensus; Byzantine fault tolerant.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJBC.2020.10034706
   
  
• Potential applications of smart contract technology in subsidy distribution (source code for data structures and problem solving using solidity)  
  by Armin Saatian 
  Abstract: The way governments distribute subsidies in terms of targeting and their effects on public economics has always been one of the biggest management challenges, especially in developing countries. The purpose of this research is to outline the application of blockchain technology in the context of the subsidies distribution through the transfer of digital currency; also, a blockchain-based targeted subsidy system has been performed under the Ethereum network using solidity language. The written program is based on a platform extracted from the library research method and through the research conducted over recent years. This study aims to achieve an intelligent, autonomous, and self-executing subsidy distribution system. Furthermore, this study can make it possible for governments to provide a subsidy payment platform that can prevent data manipulation due to its decentralised nature, create a more reliable method for subsidy payments, and increase transparency in the distribution of subsidies.
  Keywords: subsidy; blockchain; smart contracts; solidity; Ethereum; audit; government; decentralisation; digital currency; social security.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJBC.2020.10034728
   
  
• Revamping real estate document storage with blockchain  
  by Arshida K. Anandan, Pratik M. Dighe, Ajay D. Gaikwad, Pallavi Chavan, Madhuri Chavan 
  Abstract: This paper reports the usage of blockchain technology in today's asset trade. Blockchain analyses disruptive power towards real estate. The real estate sector's problem is that there are various ways in which high-profile people exploit the authentic user by taking of their land and manipulating the documents. The paper-based documentation linked with real estate is more vulnerable to forgery than digital documents. This paper describes how blockchain is applied to the real-estate sector. The blockchain aims to maintain the history of all real estate transactions and registration in a network using smart contracts. Blockchain allows each property, anywhere, to have a digital address for the ownership and other attributes to maintain all past transactions. Blockchain speeds up the transactions from days/weeks/months to minutes/seconds, which has huge impact on society. This paper describes the solution to ensure the use of blockchain in land records.
  Keywords: blockchain; nodes; transaction; system; smart contract; network.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJBC.2020.10034707
   
  
• Is Ethereum better explained by Bitcoin and Ripple prices? An ECM approach on the covid-19 episode price data  
  by S. Santhosh Kumar 
  Abstract: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are the three major cryptocurrencies with market capitalisation exceeding 70% of all the cryptos. The covid-19 threats since the beginning of the 2020 are disturbing the financial markets all around the world. This study is an enquiry to model the fluctuations among the three cryptocurrencies with the hypothesis that whether a combination of two coins could explain the changes in the other coin. The study found that Bitcoin and Ripple are better explaining the Ethereum returns in the short-run. The negative error correction coefficient found in the regression indicates that if the daily log returns of ETH is above that of the daily log return of BTC by one point, the daily log return of ETH fall by 1.11 point. On the other hand, the positive error correction coefficient indicates that if the daily log return of ETH is above that of the daily log return of XRP by one point, the daily log return of ETH increases by 0.14 point.
  Keywords: Bitcoin; Ethereum; Ripple; error correction model; ECM; long run equilibrium.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJBC.2020.10034730
   
  
• Central bank digital currency and alternative currencies: parallel paradigms  
  by Nipun Agarwal 
  Abstract: Central bank digital currencies have been on the rise for the past few years, especially after the emergence of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and others. Leading central banks like the People's Bank of China and Riksbanken (Swedish Central Bank), and some of the other central banks around the world have been looking to develop and test central bank digital currencies around the world. Nonetheless, the main question that we need to answer is if the cryptocurrencies or central bank digital currencies (CDBC) will become the main form of money in the future or will these currencies harmoniously co-exist within the economy paradigm? This paper applies monetary and political economy concepts to discuss how a potential central bank digital currency can be developed and how it would compete with cryptocurrencies. In conclusion, however, the introduction of a central bank digital currency will reduce the monetary policies issues rather than create new issues and this paper will explain how this can be achieved.
  Keywords: political economy; monetary economics; cryptocurrencies.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJBC.2020.10034708
   
  
• A robust verification system for recruitment process by using blockchain technology  
  by Sandeep Rathor, Ankit Agrawal 
  Abstract: In this competitive world, it is hard to get a job. It requires some specific qualifications and experience according to the post. If a person is not fulfilling these required entities, then not able to apply for that post. Therefore, some people, who are not eligible may use different forgery approaches like fake mark sheets, fake experience certificates, fake medical certificates, etc. However, despite being these fake certificates, some people may have a criminal background also. Therefore, large numbers of resources are required to verify the educational records, criminal background, and experience of a person. Therefore, the proposed system provides an efficient solution to these problems using blockchain technology. In the proposed work, we used three different modules like college, organisation, and police. The college is responsible for providing academic qualifications and the organisation is responsible for providing experience while police are responsible for proving and verification of the criminal record. The proposed system is implemented on the Ethereum blockchain platform and effectively can be used by the organisations for verifying the record of their employees.
  Keywords: blockchain applications; hiring employee; employee verification; academic verification; police verification; distributed ledger.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJBC.2020.10034495