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Blockchain, like the internet, or democracy, or money, is many overlapping things. It is a decentralized record of cryptocurrency transactions. It is a peer-to-peer network of computers. It is an immutable, add-on-only database. What gets confusing is the way in which these overlapping functions override one definition or explanation of blockchain, only to replace it with an altogether different one. The conceptual overlaps are like glass lenses dropped on top of one another, scratching each other's surface and confusing each other's focal dimensions. This guide takes apart the stack of these conceptual lenses and addresses them one by one through the reconstruction of the basic elements of blockchain technology. The first section of this report gives a short history of blockchain, then describes its main functionality, distinguishing between private and public blockchains. Next, the guide breaks down the components and inner workings of a block and the blockchain. The following section focuses on blockchain's journalistic applications, specifically by differentiating between targeted solutions that use blockchain to store important metadata journalists and media companies use on a daily basis, and hybrid solutions that include targeted solutions but introduce cryptocurrency, therein changing the journalistic business model altogether. Finally, the report speculates on the proliferation of what are known as Proof-of-Stake blockchain models, the spread of "smart contracts," and the potential of enterprise-level and government-deployed blockchains, all in relation to what these mean to newsrooms and the work of reporters.

Cover -- Half-title -- Title page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Figures and tables -- 1 Introducing blockchain -- 1.1 A transaction -- 1.2 Key characteristics -- 1.3 Categories -- 2 Blockchain's basic components -- 2.1 Technical components -- Peer-to-peer networks -- Client-server architecture -- Grid-architecture -- P2P architecture -- Virtual machines and smart contracts -- Technical summary -- 2.2 Mathematical components -- Hash algorithms -- Public-key cryptography -- Mathematical conclusions -- 2.3 Economic, political and social components -- Consensus -- Governance -- Incentive patterns -- Conclusions -- 3 Potential and actual socio-economic impacts of blockchain -- 3.1 Crypto knowledge and crypto usage -- 3.2 Perceived and actual use of cryptocurrencies -- 3.3 Dis-intermediation, localization and individualization -- 3.4 Censorship resistance and privacy -- 3.5 Property and the empowerment of the individual -- 3.6 New markets and marketplaces -- 3.7 Crypto-secession: the most disruptive potential of distributed ledger technology -- 4 Applications of blockchain technology in different domains -- 4.1 Central bank digital currency (CBDC) -- 4.2 Energy markets and infrastructure -- 4.3 Self-sovereign identity -- 4.4 Capital markets and security services -- Clearing and settlement -- Initial coin offerings -- 4.5 Supply chains and logistics -- 4.6 The Gambling industry -- 5 Conclusion: possible directions of blockchain -- References -- Index.

This book highlights the design, use and structure of blockchain systems and decentralized ledger technologies (B/DLT) for use in the construction industry. Construction remains a fragmented change-resistant industry with chronic problems of underproductivity and a very low digitization factor compared to other fields. In parallel, the convergence, embedding and coordination of digital technologies in the physical world provides a unique opportunity for the construction industry to leap ahead and adopt fourth industrial revolution technologies. Within this context, B/DLT are an excellent fit for the digitization of the construction industry. B/DLT are effective in this as they organize and align digital and physical supply chains, produce stigmergic coordination out of decentralization, enable the governance of complex projects for multiple stakeholders, while enabling the creation of a new class of business models and legal instruments for construction.

Intro -- Title page -- Table of Contents -- Copyright -- List of Contributors -- About the Editors -- Managing Editor -- Associate Editors -- About the Lead Contributors -- Guest Foreword -- Guest Biography -- Editor's Prologue: Blockchain Movement for Global Climate Actions -- Interlude I: How to Read This Book -- How to Read This Book -- Section 1: Scene-Setting - What's Going On? -- Chapter 1. A Conversation with Dr. Kelce Wilson on the Foundations of the Blockchain -- Abstract -- Chapter 2. A Conversation with Masterminds in Blockchain and Climate Change -- Abstract -- 2.1 Unleashing the Potential of Blockchain in Addressing Climate Change -- 2.2 Blockchain's Role in Peer-to-peer Energy Trading -- 2.3 Closing the Private Finance Gap -- 2.4 Restoring Faith in Climate Negotiations -- 2.5 Finance 4.0.-Incentivizing a Sharing Economy -- 2.6 The Future of Blockchain -- References -- Chapter 3. Blockchain 101: What is Blockchain and How Does This Revolutionary Technology Work? -- Abstract -- 3.1 Introduction to Distributed Ledgers -- 3.2 Examples of Distributed Ledgers -- 3.3 The Four Main Use Cases of Distributed Ledgers -- 3.4 Challenges and Road Ahead -- 3.5 Conclusion -- Chapter 4. Decoding the Current Global Climate Finance Architecture -- Abstract -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Scale of Climate Investment Required -- 4.3 The State of Climate Finance Post-Paris Agreement -- 4.4 Climate Finance Market Observations -- 4.5 Barriers for Unlocking Climate Finance -- 4.6 Current Climate Finance Instruments to Bridge the "Gap" -- 4.7 Problems with Climate Finance Tracking -- 4.8 Blockchain-The Trust Machine -- References -- Interlude II -- Section 2: Blockchain for Smarter Renewable Energy Deployment -- Section 2. Blockchain for Smarter Renewable Energy Deployment -- Chapter 5. How Blockchain can Democratize Global Energy Supply -- Abstract

Over the past two decades, improvements in the information technology landscape have made the collection, preservation, and analysis of digital evidence extremely important. This book can provide a wide-ranging overview of how AI and blockchain can be used to solve problems in digital forensics using advanced tools and applications.

"This book offers relevant theoretical frameworks and empirical research findings to nurture investigations in blockchain technology innovations meant as a basis for understanding novel technological, organizational and societal settings involving blockchain technology"

Recent increases in security breaches and digital surveillance highlight the need for improved privacy and security, particularly over users' personal data. Advances in cybersecurity and new legislation promise to improve data protection. Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies provide novel opportunities for protecting user data through decentralized identity and other privacy mechanisms. These systems can allow users greater sovereignty through tools that enable them to own and control their own data. Artificial intelligence provides further possibilities for enhancing system and user security, enriching data sets, and supporting improved analytical models.

Chapter 1. Role of Community Model in Networked Healthcare Organizations -- Chapter 2. Blockchain Architecture for the Healthcare Ecosystem -- Chapter 3. Blockchain-Based Dynamic Consent for Healthcare and Research -- Chapter 4. "Pay for Value": Blockchain for Drug Pricing in Canada -- Chapter 5. A Blockchain-Centric Data Sharing Framework for Building Trust in Healthcare Insurance -- Chapter 6. Learning to Trust: Exploring the Relationship between Trust and User Experience in Blockchain Systems -- Chapter 7. Design and Implementation Considerations for Blockchain for Health Records -- Chapter 8. Blockchain Implementation for Decentralized Real-World Research -- Chapter 9. The inter-organizational environment of blockchain in healthcare: The state of blockchain healthcare consortia.

Contents 1. Introduction -- 2. The institutional economics of blockchain -- 3. The universal turing institution -- 4. The microfoundations of ledgers -- 5. Money, dequity, and the barter economy of the future -- 6. Supply chains and identity -- 7. The V-form organisation and the future of the firm -- 8. Public policy in a blockchain era -- 9. Capitalism after Satoshi -- 10. Conclusion -- References -- Index.

Bitcoin is the first digital medium to allow global, "purely peer-to-peer" exchange. At the height of the Great Recession, Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator introduced the electronic cash to sidestep political and economic institutions. Today, it is praised as an opportunity for the unbanked, a liberating force, and a pioneering technology. It is also infamously associated with volatility, illicit activities, and profligate energy consumption. Bitcoin has also flown under the radar of political science, whereas computer scientists, economists, and legal scholars have written extensively about it. To address the gap in the literature, I describe Bitcoin as an actor in global affairs, explain how Bitcoin and blockchain technology work, and discuss why Bitcoin is relevant to political science as the archetypal case of blockchain technology. I argue that Bitcoin is a form of contentious politics uniquely suited to the twenty-first century. Examining Bitcoin as a form of contentious politics sheds light on how a purportedly borderless technology has actually fared in subverting state authority: not entirely well. Nonetheless, Bitcoin has succeeded in at least two respects: it is an unprecedented form of untraceable electronic cash that coordinates unrivaled levels of computing resources from voluntary contributors and it has become a resilient, global social movement. As an archetype of blockchain technology, Bitcoin inspires research of blockchain's capacity to facilitate collective action, uses in international cooperation and competition, and prospects for human development. The thesis concludes with a set of implications for blockchain research and policy.

"This book of contributed chapters focuses on the potential role of industry in reducing environmental burdens throughout the product life cycle from the extraction of raw materials, to the production of goods, to the use of those goods and to the management of the resulting wastes discussing how the integration of blockchain technology in the idea of sustainability and waste management techniques improve the field of Industrial ecology"--

Intro -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- 1 Disintermediation Economics: An Introduction -- Trust Engineered! -- Why Disintermediation-And Not Decentralization Economics? The Problem of Dealing with Randomness -- The Structure of the Book -- Bibliography -- Part I Disintermediation in Microeconomics -- 2 Blockchain as an Economic Optimization Problem: Value, the Firm and the Limits of Decentralization -- Defining Blockchain Economics -- What Is the Real Economic Value of Blockchain? -- Any Blockchain Architecture Design Is an Economic Optimization Exercise -- The Blockchain Value Generation Continuum -- Blockchain 4.0: Overcoming Socio-Political and Technological Constraints -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 3 Economics of Smart Contracts: Efficiency and Legal Challenges -- Definition and Idea of Smart Contracts -- Smart Contracts and Blockchain -- Possible Use Cases -- Beyond the Applications: Smart Contracts and Economic Theory -- Contract Completeness and Smart Contracts -- Dynamic Contracting and Smart Contracts -- Making Smart Contracts, Smarter I: Physical and Programmable Intermediation -- Curators -- Oracles -- Making Smart Contracts, Smarter II: Ricardian Contracts -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 4 Corporate Strategies for Blockchain-Based Solutions -- What Blockchain Means for Businesses -- Market Outlook -- Why Companies Leverage Blockchain -- Corporate Demand for Blockchain Solutions -- When Blockchain Strategy Becomes the Business Model… -- Or the Operating Model to Deliver Value -- Capturing Business Through Tokenization -- How Companies Build Blockchain Services -- Blockchain Strategy -- The Consortium Model -- Platform Design -- Solution Architecture -- Use Case Design -- How to Engage with the Innovation Ecosystem -- Lead Collaboration with Emerging Disruptors.