This paper expounds the main principles behind blockchain technology and some of its cutting-edge applications. Firstly, we present the core concepts at the heart of the blockchain, and we discuss the potential risks and drawbacks of public distributed ledgers, and the shift toward hybrid solutions. Secondly, we expose the main features of decentralized public ledger platforms. Thirdly, we show why the blockchain is a disruptive and foundational technology, and fourthly, we sketch out a list of important applications, bearing in mind the most recent evolutions.

Blockchain Technology: Principles and Applications

The paradigm of Internet of Things (IoT) is paving the way for a world, where many of our daily objects will be interconnected and will interact with their environment in order to collect information and automate certain tasks. Such a vision requires, among other things, seamless authentication, data privacy, security, robustness against attacks, easy deployment, and self-maintenance. Such features can be brought by blockchain, a technology born with a cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. In this paper, a thorough review on how to adapt blockchain to the specific needs of IoT in order to develop Blockchain-based IoT (BIoT) applications is presented. After describing the basics of blockchain, the most relevant BIoT applications are described with the objective of emphasizing how blockchain can impact traditional cloud-centered IoT applications. Then, the current challenges and possible optimizations are detailed regarding many aspects that affect the design, development, and deployment of a BIoT application. Finally, some recommendations are enumerated with the aim of guiding future BIoT researchers and developers on some of the issues that will have to be tackled before deploying the next generation of BIoT applications.

A Review on the Use of Blockchain for the Internet of Things

Cryptocurrencies as a financial asset: A systematic analysis

Purpose: This paper investigates the way in which blockchain technology is likely to influence future supply chain practices and policies. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic review of both academic and practitioner literature was conducted. Multiple accounts of blockchain adoption within industry were also consulted to gain further insight. Findings: While blockchain technologies remain in their infancy, they are gaining momentum within supply chains, trust being the predominant factor driving their adoption. The value of such technologies for supply chain management lies in four areas: extended visibility and traceability, supply chain digitalisation and disintermediation, improved data security and smart contracts. Several challenges and gaps in understanding and opportunities for further research are identified by our research. How a blockchain enabled supply chain should be configured has also been explored from a design perspective. Research limitations/implications: Our systematic review focuses on the diffusion of blockchain technology within supply chains and great care was taken in selecting search terms. However, we acknowledge that our choice of terms may have excluded certain blockchain articles from this review. Practical implications: This paper offers valuable insight for supply-chain practitioners into how blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt existing supply chain provisions as well as a number of challenges to its successful diffusion. Originality/value: Ours is one of the first studies to examine the current state of blockchain diffusion within supply chains. It lays a firm foundation for future research. Keywords: blockchain, distributed ledger technology, supply chain management, peer-to-peer communication, systematic literature review

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Understanding blockchain technology for future supply chains: a systematic literature review and research agenda

The steady increase in food falsification, which has caused large economic losses and eroded consumers’ trust, has become a pressing issue for producers, researchers, governments, consumers and other stakeholders Tracking and authenticating the food supply chain to understand provenance is critical with a view to identifying and addressing sources of contamination in the food supply chain worldwide One way of solving traceability issues and ensuring transparency is by using blockchain technology to store data from chemical analysis in chronological order so that they are impossible to manipulate afterwards This review examines the potential of blockchain technology for assuring traceability and authenticity in the food supply chain It can be considered a true innovation and relevant approach to assure the quality of the third step of the analytical processes: data acquisition and management

Future challenges on the use of blockchain for food traceability analysis

Just as decentralization communication systems lead to the creation of the Internet, today a new technology — the blockchain — has the potential to decentralize the way we store data and manage information, potentially leading to a reduced role for one of the most important regulatory actors in our society: the middleman. Blockchain technology enables the creation of decentralized currencies, self-executing digital contracts (smart contracts) and intelligent assets that can be controlled over the Internet (smart property). The blockchain also enables the development of new governance systems with more democratic or participatory decision-making, and decentralized (autonomous) organizations that can operate over a network of computers without any human intervention. These applications have lead many to compare the blockchain to the Internet, with accompanying predictions that this technology will shift the balance of power away from centralized authorities in the field of communications, business, and even politics or law.In this Article, we explore the benefits and drawbacks of this emerging decentralized technology and argue that its widespread deployment will lead to expansion of a new subset of law, which we term Lex Cryptographia: rules administered through self-executing smart contracts and decentralized (autonomous) organizations. As blockchain technology becomes widely adopted, centralized authorities, such as governmental agencies and large multinational corporations, could lose the ability to control and shape the activities of disparate people through existing means. As a result, there will be an increasing need to focus on how to regulate blockchain technology and how to shape the creation and deployment of these emerging decentralized organizations in ways that have yet to be explored under current legal theory.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2580664_code2373233.pdf?abstractid=2580664.&mirid=4

Decentralized Blockchain Technology and the Rise of Lex Cryptographia

The growth of Blockchain technology presents a number of legal questions for lawyers, regulators and industry participants alike. Primarily, regulators must allow Blockchain technology to develop whilst also ensuring it is not being abused. This book addresses the challenges posed by various applications of Blockchain technology, such as cryptocurrencies, smart contracts and initial coin offerings, across different fields of law. Contributors explore whether the problems posed by Blockchain and its applications can be addressed within the present legal system or whether significant rethinking is required. In 25 concise steps, you will learn the basics of blockchain technology. No mathematical formulas, program code, or computer science jargon are used. No previous knowledge in computer science, mathematics, programming, or cryptography is required. Terminology is explained through pictures, analogies, and metaphors. This book bridges the gap that exists between purely technical books about the blockchain and purely business-focused books. It does so by explaining both the technical concepts that make up the blockchain and their role in businessrelevant applications. What You'll Learn What the blockchain is Why it is needed and what problem it solves Why there is so much excitement about the blockchain and its potential Major components and their purpose How various components of the blockchain work and interact Limitations, why they exist, and what has been done to overcome them Major application scenarios Who This Book Is For Everyone who wants to get a general idea of what blockchain technology is, how it works, and how it will potentially change the financial system as we know it An experimental new Internet-based form of money is created that anyone can generate at home; people build frightening firetrap computers full of video cards, putting out so much heat that one operator is hospitalised with heatstroke and brain damage. A young physics student starts a revolutionary new marketplace immune to State coercion; he ends up ordering hits on people because they might threaten his great experiment, and is jailed for life without parole. Fully automated contractual systems are proposed to make business and the law work better; the contracts people actually write are unregulated penny stock offerings whose fine print literally states that you are buying nothing of any value. The biggest crowdfunding in history attracts $150 million on the promise that it will embody “the steadfast iron will of unstoppable code”; upon release it is immediately hacked, and $50 million is stolen. How did we get here? David Gerard covers the origins and history of Bitcoin to the present day, the other cryptocurrencies it spawned including Ethereum, the ICO craze and the 2017 crypto bubble, and the attempts to apply blockchains and smart contracts to business. Plus a case study on blockchains in the music industry. Bitcoin and blockchains are not a technology story, but a psychology story. Remember: if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is. “A sober riposte to all the upbeat forecasts about cryptocurrency” — New York Review of Books “A very convincing takedown of the whole phenomenon” — BBC News "The importance of blockchain and cryptocurrencies continually evolving. The first book on this increasingly important topic, it is a pioneering and seminal read which aims to identify regulatory gaps and establish the first applicable legal framework. Written by well-known experts in cyber law, this reference work covers: · Blockchain IP/ownership/legal consequences of use/areas of regulation · Crypto Assets Security of wallets/IP/Data Sovereignty · The internet of things Current regulation/ability of smart cities based on IOT to comply with pending legislation/regulation · The impact of GDPR/DPB · How Blockchain will impact on ownership of raw materials, eg energy, power and water

Blockchain and the Law: The Rule of Code

Best known for their role in the creation of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, blockchains are revolutionizing the way tech entrepreneurs finance their business enterprises. In 2017 alone, over $3.2 billion has been raised through the sale of blockchain-based digital tokens. Some call these token sales initial coin offerings or “ICOs,” and they have become wildly popular, with some sales lasting mere seconds. In a token sale, organizers of a project sell digital tokens to members of the public to finance the development of future technology. An active secondary market for tokens has emerged – cryptocurrency exchanges scattered across the globe offer platforms on which tokens are bought and sold, often with wild price fluctuations. 
The recent explosion of token sales could mark the beginning of a broader shift in public capital markets — one similar to the shift in media distribution that started several decades ago. Blockchains drastically reduce the cost of exchanging value and enable anyone to transmit digitized assets around the globe in a highly trusted manner, stoking dreams of truly global capital markets that leverage the power of a blockchain and the Internet to facilitate capital formation. 
The spectacular growth of tokens sales has caused some to argue that these sales simply serve as new tools for hucksters and unscrupulous charlatans to fleece consumers, raising the attention of regulators across the globe. A more careful analysis, however, reveals that blockchain-based tokens represent a wide variety of assets that take a variety of forms. Some are obvious investment vehicles and entitle their holders to economic rights like a share of any profits generated by the project. Others carry with them the right to use and govern the technology that is being developed with funds generated by the token sale and may represent the beginning of a new way to build and fund powerful technological platforms. 
Lacking homogeneity, the status of tokens under U.S. securities laws is anything but clear. The test under which security status is assessed — the Howey test — has uncertain application to blockchain-based tokens, particularly those that entitle the holder to use a particular technological service, because they also present the possibility of making a profit by selling the token on a secondary market. Although the SEC recently issued a Report of Investigation in which it found that one type of token qualified as a security, confusion surrounds the boundaries between the types of tokens that will be deemed securities and those that will not. 
Blockchain-based tokens exhibit disparate features and have characteristics that make current registration exemptions a poor fit token sales. In addition to including requirements that do not fit squarely with blockchain-based systems, the transfer restrictions that apply to the most popular exemptions would have the perverse effect of restricting the ability of US consumers to access a new generation of digital technology. The result is an uncertain regulatory environment in which token sellers do not have a sensible path to compliance. 
In this Article, we argue that the SEC and Congress should provide token sellers and the exchanges that facilitate token sales with additional certainty. Specifically, we propose that the SEC provide guidance on how it will apply the Howey test to digital tokens, particularly those that mix aspects of consumption and use with the potential for a profit. We also propose that lawmakers adopt both a compliance-driven safe harbor for online exchanges that list tokens with a reasonable belief that the public sale of such tokens is not a violation of Section 5 as well as an exemption to the Section 5 registration requirement that has been tailored to digital tokens.

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Blockchain-Based Token Sales, Initial Coin Offerings, and the Democratization of Public Capital Markets

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Aaron Wright

Papers

Decentralized Blockchain Technology and the Rise of Lex Cryptographia

Blockchain and the Law: The Rule of Code

Blockchain-Based Token Sales, Initial Coin Offerings, and the Democratization of Public Capital Markets

Blockchain-Based Token Sales, Initial Coin Offerings, and the Democratization of Public Capital Markets

Analyzing FinCEN’s Proposed Regulation Relating to AML and KYC Laws