A Study of Use Cases for Smart Contracts Using Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology is an emerging and rapidly growing technology in the current world scenario. It is a collection of records connected through cryptography. They play a vital role in smart contracts. Smart contracts are present in blockchains which are self-controlled and trustable. It can be integrated across various domains like healthcare, finance, self-sovereign identity, governance, logistics management and home care, etc. The purpose of this article is to analyze the various use cases of smart contracts in different domains and come up with a model which may be used in the future. Subsequently, a detailed description of a smart contract and blockchain is provided. Next, different case-studies related to five different domains is discussed with the help of use case diagrams. Finally, a solution for natural disaster management has been proposed by integrating smart contract, digital identity, policies and blockchain technologies, which can be used effectively for providing relief to victims during times of natural disaster.

FinTech and Its Disruption to Financial Institutions

This chapter studies how FinTech is transforming traditional financial institutions (FIs). This chapter achieves the four related goals. First, it discusses the current stage of FinTech development in different areas such as crowdfunding, payment, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. Second, it examines how each FinTech development affects traditional FIs, in both positive and negative ways. Third, it explores how FIs are currently managing FinTech innovations. It also suggests ways through which these institutions could best utilize FinTech to better serve their customers and eventually optimize the overall financial system. Finally, following the book's focus on man's role at the center of technology advancement, this chapter discusses whether FIs' customers' needs are still placed at the center of FIs' incentives to adapt new technology, and if not, how can we focus back to the people that the financial system ultimately serves.

Improving Opportunities in Healthcare Supply Chain Processes via the Internet of Things and Blockchain Technology

Despite key advances in healthcare informatics and management, little progress to address supply chain process-related problems has been made to date. Specifically, key healthcare supply chain processes include product recalls, monitoring of product supply shortages, expiration, and counterfeits. Implementing and executing these processes in a trusted, secure, efficient, globally accessible and traceable manner is challenging due to the fragmented nature of the healthcare supply chain, which is prone to systemic errors and redundant efforts that may compromise patient safety and impact health outcomes adversely. Blockchain, combined with the Internet of things (IoT), is an emerging technology that can offer a practical solution to these challenges. Accordingly, IoT blockchain offers a superior way to track and trace products via a peer-to-peer distributed, secure, and shared ledger of the blockchain network. This article highlights key challenges related to healthcare supply chains, and illustrates how IoT blockchain technologies can play a role in overcoming these challenges now and in the near future.

Gambling Behaviour in the Cryptocurrency Market

This article examines whether the investment strategies of cryptocurrency market involve high-risk gambling. Results show that the cryptocurrency risk premiums co-move closely with the return on CBOE Volatility Index (VIX). As such, the strategies of cryptocurrency trading closely resemble that of high-risk gambling. In other words, traders' expectations co-move closely (significantly) with the expected future payoffs from gambling. The co-movement is more pronounced when the gambling offers gains rather than losses and the payoffs are above average. VIX index returns significantly Granger-cause CSAD of returns (with and without Bitcoin) indicates that the cryptocurrency trading constitutes a form of gambling where the motivation for gambling comes from the amount of variation (i.e. riskiness) in the gambling payoffs. These findings warrant policymakers of countries to revisit the existing regulatory framework governing the conduct of electronic finance in the financial services industry.

Vulnerabilities and Threats in Smart Grid Communication Networks

Advances in smart grids and in communication networks allow the development of an interconnected system where information arising from different sources helps building a more reliable electrical network. Nevertheless, this interconnected system also brings new security threats. In the past, communication networks for electrical systems were restrained to closed and secure areas, which guaranteed network physical security. Due to the integration with smart meters, clouds, and other information sources, physical security to network access is no longer available, which may compromise the electrical system. Besides smart grids bring a huge growth in data volume, which must be managed. In order to achieve a successful smart grid deployment, robust network communication to provide automation among devices is necessary. Therefore, outages caused by passive or active attacks become a real threat. This chapter describes the main architecture flaws that make the system vulnerable to attacks for creating energy disruptions, stealing energy, and breaking privacy.

Blockchain and the Protection of Patient Information in Line with HIPAA

Blockchains used for the protection of patient information can serve as a way for hospitals and other medical facilities to secure patient records. With more information threats targeting hospitals and other medical facilities, it is becoming more important for these organizations to improve the information systems that are charged with protecting their patient records. HIPAA regulations are in place to try and protect patient records and information, but the hospitals do not allocate enough funds to information systems so they are put at risk of attack. Blockchains can offer the type of protection that these medical facilities need without them having to worry about upgrading the technology every year. The Blockchain is not without its faults, and that can be seen in the attacks that take place against Bitcoin. Even with these attacks, the use of Blockchain would be beneficial to the hospitals and medical facilities.

Finance Strategies for Medium-Sized Enterprises

This chapter discusses how FinTech—technology-enabled financial solutions and services—can optimize finance strategies of medium-sized enterprises. Using a balance sheet model, the chapter integrates medium-sized companies' financing strategies, working capital management, and investment decisions and discusses FinTech solutions in each area to suggest best practice. Specifically, the chapter first discusses how crowdfunding and its different types could provide alternative financing for medium-sized enterprises. Second, FinTech solutions for online payment and transfer, invoice finance, supply chain finance, and trade finance help medium-sized enterprises optimize their working capital management. Third, blockchain technology and artificial intelligent (AI)-based decisions tools could potentially help medium-sized businesses optimize their decision-making process. This chapter also suggests future work that will allow us to better understand FinTech applications in medium-sized enterprises.

Chinese Internet Finance Credit Investigation Issue and Legal Countermeasures

In recent years there has been a phenomenon of “Thirst for Credit Investigation Information” within China's internet finance industry. To compensate for the new credit investigation demands that traditional measures of credit investigation lack, big data credit investigation has been widely recognized as a viable solution. Big data credit investigation however poses greater risks to the rights and interests of the information subject. In order to solve the existing problems associated with the data credit investigation industry, the author advocates that special laws and regulations be revised or formulated on the basis of balancing the rights and interests of the information subject with those of public interests. In the future, the combination of big data credit investigation system with blockchain technology may effectively solve the problems that are harmful to the rights and interests of the information subject, such as information-isolated island and information security.

Potentials of Cryptocurrency Entrepreneurs in Transforming Global Cities and Regions

The emergence of digital currencies is substantially influencing the growth of global financial markets and cities. Cryptocurrency entrepreneurs (CEs) are reshaping global cities and regions by transforming the way we live, work and interact. This chapter explores how the entrepreneurs use cryptocurrency assets and their underpinning computing technologies to transform the dysfunctional and evolving global cities. The CEs generate funds and create cutting-edge technologies to meet the challenges faced by cities, including unemployment, inadequate and rundown infrastructure and facilities as well as for new development to meet the needs of massive future urbanization. The chapter is organized in five parts. It first introduces the study and presents a background on the concepts of blockchain technologies and cryptocurrency, their emergence and development trend. It then discusses the rise of global cities and how technology impacts them, followed by the potentials and challenges of CEs in transforming global cities and regions. It ends with conclusion and future research directions.

Blockchain for Islamic Social Responsibility Institutions

Blockchain and smart contracts are forming new systems to record and manage businesses with less need for intermediaries. The new systems are expected to offer high level of governance with lower cost as compared to the traditional technologies. While there is a continuous effort to apply this innovative technology in several businesses, Islamic finance in general—and Islamic social finance in particular—are facing few challenges that could be solved by such innovations. Islamic social finance institutions such as waqf are facing some challenges in enhancing its governance structure to ensure Shariah compliance as well as economic efficiency. This chapter explains how blockchain and smart contract technologies can help these institutions for better governance, lower transaction cost, more transparency, and higher trust, hence enhancing the business flexibility and market accessibility. It also presents some related cases that are currently under development as an evidence for the practicality of these technologies in the Islamic social finance arena.