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Guest Editors
Hemang Subramanian, Florida International University, USA
Rong Liu, Stevens Institute of Technology, USA
Introduction
Every 10 to 15 years, computing has undergone a paradigm shift. Today, close to the tenth anniversary of the Bitcoin white-paper, we have the “trust” based computing era, wherein computing systems and applications can replace a centralized authority and execute programs on a censor-proof decentralized and Turing-complete, distributed global computing system (Nakomoto, 2008). Such “trust” based computing has implications for many industries such as information systems, financial and banking systems, healthcare systems, supply-chain systems, accounting methods, and business contracts. Beyond improving efficiencies and lowering costs in matching transacting entities, and facilitating faster, more-secure, soft-real time transactions, the blockchain also enables a completely new set of automated rule-based functions for smart contracts (Subramanian, 2018). In addition to the spawning of a completely different asset class of cryptocurrencies (Liu & Tsyvinski, 2018 ), the blockchain technology facilitates many different functions such as immutability, security, byzantine fault-tolerance and distributed transaction validation.
Objective
We propose a special issue for the Journal of Database Management that invites paper submissions that study interesting questions pertaining to the Blockchain and Smart Contracts in the following research areas.
Recommended Topics
1. Blockchain Core Technologies
Blockchain, as a class of distributed-transaction systems, encompasses a number of key technologies, including distributed ledger, cryptography, consensus protocols, and smart contracts. These components are leveraged together to achieve desirable properties such as disintermediation, immutability, transparency, and automation. It would be essential for researchers and practitioners to understand these underlying components, their variations, and the pros and cons of each variation so that the community can appreciate blockchain better. Topics in this category includes, but are not limited to:
Survey papers highlighting existing proofing-mechanisms, providing a comparative study of proofing mechanisms, summarizing or proposing solutions to Byzantine Fault tolerance, or studying encryption algorithms used in different blockchain systems.
Verification of smart contracts and the integration of smart contracts with business processes.
Reward and penalty mechanisms for design for oracles (e.g. Athena blockchain system), agents that extract external information and push to smart contracts.
Private and public blockchain architectures, and comparison between these two types.
Enterprise application architectures using Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) or Hyperledger applications.
New development to evolve the essential technological components of blockchain.
2. Innovative Blockchain Applications
Following the success of bitcoin, blockchain initiatives proliferate across industries, many innovative applications have been proposed. These applications can provide the community better understanding of blockchain’s capabilities and the nuances of effective architectures. Topics in this category may include:
Trust based computing using blockchain mechanisms such as assurance computing, automated auditing, automated compliance, etc.
Smart contract and blockhain analytics platforms (e.g., Numerai, Polymath, etc.)
Decentralized financial exchanges and incentive mechanisms
Prediction market applications atop the blockchain (e.g., Augur, Truthcoin, etc.)
Securitized token applications – blockchain-based security token creation and validation mechanisms.
Crowdsourcing applications and reward mechanisms atop the blockchain.
Smart contract based rule validation with mechanisms for automated reasoning.
3. Decisions and Challenges Related to Blockchain Adoption
Although blockchain is gaining more momentum in industries, very few blockchain applications are operational. A number of challenges have been revealed through early experiments, including efficiency, scalability, interoperability, complexity, and regulation. Moreover, systematic approaches are needed to help firms make various technological or economic decisions in designing and operationalizing blockchain based systems. Topics in this category may include:
Protocol economic mechanisms that delve into the game-theoretic or mechanism design aspects of blockchain incentives such as “renting mechanics”, “control mechanics” and “voting mechanics”.
Surveys of existing scalability challenges on blockchain systems (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum) and discussion of algorithms and mechanisms to address these challenges.
Cross-chain compatibility issues; cross-chain validation mechanisms and cross-implementation issues.
Service design and pricing of blockchain Software-as-a-Service platforms.
Blockchain adoption strategies: Software-as-a-Service, consortium blockchain networks, or private blockchain platforms.
Methods to evaluate blockchain solutions in terms of performance, cost, risk, network effect, and scalability.
4. Second-Order Effects of Blockchain and Beyond
It is widely believed that blockchain is promising to revolutionize business and redefine companies and economies. Iansiti and Lakhani (2017) considered blockchain as a foundational technology comparable to TCP/IP with the potential to create new foundations for our economic and social systems. We invite discussion on blockchain’s impact on technologies, governance, organizations, or societies such as
Papers relating blockchain with market efficiency papers discussing how blockchain impacts markets
Cryptocurrencies and their impacts on society and economy
New models for auditing and regulatory compliance
References:
1. Iansiti, Marco, and Karim R. Lakhani. "The truth about blockchain." Harvard Business Review 95.1 (2017): 118-127.
2. Nakamoto, Satoshi. "Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system." (2008).
3. Subramanian, Hemang. "Decentralized blockchain-based electronic marketplaces." Communications of the ACM 61.1 (2017): 78-84.
4. Liu, Yukun, and Aleh Tsyvinski. Risks and Returns of Cryptocurrency. No. w24877. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2018.
Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit papers for this special theme issue on Blockchain and Smart Contracts on or before April 1st , 2019. All submissions must be original and may not be under review by another publication. INTERESTED AUTHORS SHOULD CONSULT THE JOURNAL’S GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS athttp://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write//. All submitted papers will be reviewed on a double-blind, peer review basis. Papers must follow APA style for reference citations.
All submissions and inquiries should be directed to the attention of:
Hemang Subramanian and Rong Liu
E-mails:[email protected]; [email protected]
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