Denna uppsats undersöker Bitcoin ETF:ers påverkan och det regulatoriska landskapet i Sverige och EU. Sedan dess introduktion av skaparen Satoshi Nakamoto 2008 har valutan revolutionerat den finansiella marknaden genom att möjliggöra peer-to-peer-transaktioner utan en central myndighet. Studien utforskar de regulatoriska reaktionerna på Bitcoin ETF:er, med fokus på viktiga tillsynsorgan som U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) och Finansinspektionen i Sverige. Genom att använda kvalitativa forskningsmetoder, inklusive intervjuer med branschexperter och analys av regulatoriska dokument, visar resultaten att Bitcoin och Bitcoin ETF:er erbjuder betydande möjligheter för portföljdiversifiering och hög avkastning. De medför dock avsevärda risker, såsom hög volatilitet och säkerhetsproblem. SEC försiktiga handlingssätt, reflekterat i det initiala godkännandet av Bitcoin futures ETF:er 2021 och senare Spot Bitcoin ETF:er 2024, understryker pågående oro över marknadsmanipulation och regleringens tillräcklighet. I Europa betonar ESMA strikt reglering för att minska riskerna, vilket ses i införandet av MiCA-förordningen som syftar till att harmonisera den juridiska ramen för kryptotillgångar inom EU.I Sverige har Finansinspektionen bibehållit en försiktig inställning till Bitcoin ETF:er, med prioritering på oro över volatilitet, bedrägerier och konsumentskydd. Trots potentialen för hög avkastning förblir det svenska regulatoriska klimatet vaksamt, vilket reflekterar en bredare tveksamhet mot kryptovalutor i regionen. Forskningen betonar den avgörande rollen som tillsynsorgan har i att hantera frågor om transparens, säkerhet och investerarskydd. Studien kommer fram till slutsatsen att framtiden för Bitcoin ETF.er i EU och Sverige är svår och har flera hinder framför sig. En stor utmaning för reglerande myndigheter kommer att vara att uppnå en balans mellan kryptovalutors innovativa potential och behovet av robusta regulatoriska ramverk för att hantera tillhörande risker och säkerställa marknads stabilitet. / This thesis investigates Bitcoin ETFs' impact and the regulatory landscape in Sweden and the EU. Since its introduction by the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, Bitcoin has revolutionized the financial market by enabling peer-to-peer transactions without a central authority. This study explores the regulatory responses to Bitcoin ETFs, focusing on key regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen). Utilizing qualitative research methods, including interviews with industry experts, and analyzing regulatory documents, the findings reveal that Bitcoin and Bitcoin ETFs present significant opportunities for portfolio diversification and high returns. However, they also come with considerable risks, such as high volatility and security issues. The SEC’s cautious approach, reflected in the initial approval of Bitcoin futures ETFs in 2021 and subsequent spot Bitcoin ETFs in 2024, underscores ongoing concerns about market manipulation and regulatory adequacy. In Europe, ESMA emphasizes strict regulation to mitigate risks, as seen in the introduction of the MiCA regulation aimed at harmonizing the legal framework for crypto assets in the EU. In Sweden, Finansinspektionen has maintained a cautious stance on Bitcoin ETFs, prioritizing concerns over volatility, fraud, and consumer protection. Despite the potential for high returns, the Swedish regulatory environment remains vigilant, reflecting a broader hesitancy towards cryptocurrencies in the region. The research underscores the crucial role of regulatory bodies in addressing issues of transparency, security, and investor protection. The thesis concludes that the future of Bitcoin ETFs in the EU and Sweden is challenging and faces several obstacles. A major challenge for regulatory authorities will be achieving a balance between the innovative potential of cryptocurrencies and the need for robust regulatory frameworks to manage associated risks and ensure market stability

Disputes involving emerging technology, often leave a grey area on applicable law, as it is unlocated in the physical world. The problem with crypto-assets is partly driven by their underlying technology, allowing for the assets to be distributed in an international, digital sphere, and making it hard to pinpoint their territorial location and solve legal issues. This thesis, therefore, aims to clarify the questions of qualification and connecting factors for the choice of law when dealing with disputes concerning crypto-assets under a cross-border contractual agreement. It particularly seeks to examine consumer protection and the predictability of the choice of law in cryptocurrency trading. The thesis concludes that, for some specifically listed contracts, the applicable law is determined through hard and fast rules, but for other more complex contracts, the applicable law is determined by primarily examining the habitual residence of the operator of the characteristic performance, and secondarily, the closest connection. As to consumer contracts, a special rule appoints the law of the country where the consumer has his habitual residence, but only when several requirements are met. The rules pose problems with predictability and finding a territorial connection when the location of the assets or parties cannot be located. It is particularly a problem in decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges. Regarding the qualification, the thesis concludes that the current rules and statements do not provide a definite answer to the characterization of crypto-assets and require technically complex interpretations. Crypto-assets are mainly categorized based on their purpose, and the parties’ expectations. Therefore, fictional objectification of cryptocurrencies as movable property is possible when accepted as such by the parties. Moreover, cryptocurrency trading does not fall within traditional financial regulations but can be categorized as a service where the coins constitute a means of payment. Although the views are divided, causing uncertainty in the market, the obligations of traders are expected to be clarified through upcoming regulations.

This study looks at the price mechanism of the digital quasi-currency bitcoin. Through statistical analysis of secondary data a probable significant results regarding correlation and regression between price and different independent variables have been established. The final analysis is pointing towards network effects being a part of the determinants for the crypto-currency’s price. Complimentary to the quantitative study explained above, an implementation of hermeneutic analysis based on secondary theoretical sources, journalistic opinion and a professional qualified judgment has aided the author and study in conceptual understanding. This interpretation has semantic character, and takes a Socratic kickoff regarding the nature of bitcoin as a financial instrument. The analysis runs back and forth throughout the course of the study and finally intertwines with qualitative results in the discussion. It is the author’s impression that a significant dimorphism surrounds bitcoin, calling for a conceptual differentiation leading to practical rethinking. The study takes the shape of a case-study conducted over four months. The author’s location during the process of writing was Stockholm Sweden, but the gathered data is of transnational character. / Den här studien tittar på prismekanismen hos den digitala kvasi-valören bitcoin. Genom statistisk analys av sekundärdata har sannolikt signifikanta resultat angående korrelation och linjärregrission mellan pris och olika oberoende variabler ettablerats. Den slutgiltiga analysen pekar mot att nätverksvariabler är delaktiga i avgörandet av krypto-valutans pris. Komplimentärt till den kvantitativa studen förklarad ovanför så har en implementation av hermeneutisk analys basserad på sekundära källor, journalistiska åsikter och ett professionellt kvalifiserat uttalande hjälpt författaren samt studien i dess konceptuella förståelse. Denna tolkning har semantisk karaktär, och tar Sokratisk avstamp gällande bitcoins natur som ett finansielt instrument. Analysen går fram och tillbaka genom uppsatsens gång, för att slutligen sammanvävas med de kvantitativa resultaten i uppsatsens diskussion. Det är denna förfatares intryck att en signifikant dimorphism omsluter bitcoin och kallar för en konceptuel differensiering som leder till praktiskt nytänkande. Studen tar formen av en fallstudie som genomförts om loppet av fyra månader. Författarens plats genom skrivandeprocessen var Stockholm Sverige, men den samlade datan har transnationell karaktär.

This research investigates the denial of service problem, in the context of services provided over a network, and contributes to improved techniques for modelling, detecting, and preventing denial of service attacks against these services. While the majority of currently employed denial of service attacks aim to pre-emptively consume the network bandwidth of victims, a significant amount of research effort is already being directed at this problem. This research is instead concerned with addressing the inevitable migration of denial of service attacks up the protocol stack to the application layer. Of particular interest is the denial of service resistance of key establishment protocols (security protocols that enable an initiator and responder to mutually authenticate and establish cryptographic keys for establishing a secure communications channel), which owing to the computationally intensive activities they perform, are particularly vulnerable to attack. Given the preponderance of wireless networking technologies this research hasalso investigated denial of service and its detection in IEEE 802.11 standards based networks. Specific outcomes of this research include: - investigation of the modelling and application of techniques to improve the denial of service resistance of key establishment protocols; - a proposal for enhancements to an existing modelling framework to accommodate coordinated attackers; - design of a new denial of service resistant key establishment protocol for securing signalling messages in next generation, mobile IPv6 networks; - a comprehensive survey of denial of service attacks in IEEE 802.11 wireless networks; discovery of a significant denial of service vulnerability in the clear channel assessment procedure implemented by the medium access control layer of IEEE 802.11 compliant devices; and - design of a novel, specification-based intrusion detection system for detecting denial of service attacks in IEEE 802.11 wireless networks.

Cryptocurrencies are a cryptography based technology, that has increased massively in popularity in recent years. These currencies are traded on markets that specialize in cryptocurrency trade. There, you can trade one cryptocurrency for another, or buy one with real world money. These markets are quite volatile, meaning that the price of most cryptocurrencies swing up and down a lot. The largest cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, but there is also more than 1500 smaller ones, that goes by the name alternative coins, or altcoins. This thesis will try to find out if it is possible to make accurate predictions about the future price of the altcoin Ethereum, and also see if Bitcoin may have some influence over the price of the selected altcoin. The predictions were made with the use of an artificial neural network, an LSTM network, that was trained on labeled data from 2017. The predictions were then made in intervals of one hour ahead, six hours ahead, and one day ahead through early 2018. The predictions showed that it is possible to make somewhat accurate predictions about the future. The predictions that were made one hour ahead were more accurate than both the six hours ahead predictions and the full day ahead predictions. By comparing the loss rates of the neural networks that were only trained on Ethereum, with the loss rates of the networks that trained on both Bitcoin and Ethereum, is was made clear that training on both cryptocurrencies did not improve the prediction accuracies.

Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa e à Inovação Tecnológica do Estado de Sergipe - FAPITEC/SE / The present dissertation, entitled "Inquisitorial persecution and Crypto-Judaism: A study of the processes involving the sergeant-general Diogo Vaz and his relatives (1662-1673)", has as a research object the description and analysis of the Inquisition, specifically in the persecution of New Christians accused of Judaizers in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as in the Colony. We sought to investigate the cases of Diogo Vaz Penalvo, his sister Anna Rodrigues and other members of his family. For this, we are based on the categories of the Ginzburg (2001) index of the microhistory studied by Giovanni Levi (1992) and Ginzburg (2006), the category of pariah explained by Weber (2010) and the sociology of secrecy, of Simmel (2009), of fundamental importance for the maintenance of Crypto-Judaism. From this, we follow the following steps: to reconstruct the steps of members of a family arrested by the Holy Office and compare them with other cases already studied, collaborating with the study of religious practices that resisted Catholicism in the colonial period; to find in the reports of the documents indications of religious practices considered deviant from the Catholic faith. Finally, this research aims to contribute to the study of the inquisition with a focus on the persecution of the Crypto-Jews, in an attempt to know the religious practices of a family that suffered for more than a decade humiliation, exile and fire. / A presente dissertação, intitulada “A perseguição inquisitorial e o Criptojudaísmo: Estudo dos processos envolvendo o sargento-mor Diogo Vaz e seus familiares (1662-1673)”, tem como objeto de pesquisa a descrição e análise da Inquisição, especificamente na perseguição aos cristãos-novos acusados de judaizantes na Península Ibérica, assim como na Colônia. Buscamos investigar os casos de Diogo Vaz Penalvo, de sua irmã Anna Rodrigues e de outros membros da sua família. Para tal, baseamo-nos nas categorias do paradigma indiciário de Ginzburg (2001), da micro-história estudada por Giovanni Levi (1992) e Ginzburg (2006), a categoria de pária explicada por Weber (2010) e a sociologia do segredo, de Simmel (2009), de fundamental importância para a manutenção do criptojudaísmo. A partir disso, seguimos os seguintes caminhos: reconstruir os passos de membros de uma família presa pelo Santo Ofício e compará-los com outros casos já estudados, colaborando com o estudo de práticas religiosas que resistiram ao catolicismo no período colonial; encontrar nos relatos dos documentos indícios de práticas religiosas consideradas desviantes da fé católica. Por fim, esta pesquisa visa contribuir para o estudo do tema da inquisição com o foco na perseguição aos criptojudeus, na tentativa de conhecer as práticas religiosas de uma família que sofreu durante mais de uma década a humilhação, o degredo, a tomada de bens e o fogo. / São Cristóvão, SE

Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite infecting the intestines of its hosts, leading to acute diarrheal disease. Out of 26 recognized species, 14 are known to infect humans. Of most importance, from a human perspective are Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis, of which the former is known to have zoonotic potential. Globally, cryptosporidiosis affect people with lowered immune status particularly hard; among children under five it is the most important parasitic cause of gastroenteritis. In the region of KwaZulu-Natal, on the east coast of South Africa, Cryptosporidium is considered endemic. Drinking water is frequently collected from river systems and as Cryptosporidium spp. can be transmitted via contaminated water, this may be one source of infection. Research on the species distribution is important for outbreak investigations and prevention efforts. In water and wastewater such speciation is commonly performed using immunomagnetic separation, an antibody dependent method. There is however a suspicion that these antibodies have less affinity to some species and hence contorts the detected species distribution. An alternative approach is therefore of interest.   In the present study, Cryptosporidium diversity in wastewater collected from four different wastewater treatment plants in KwaZulu-Natal, is evaluated with an optimized antibody-free workflow and a single cell platform. It was shown that the workflow is suitable for complex samples, such as wastewater. Furthermore, diversity was assessed with amplicon sequencing, revealing four different species and genotypes. Further modifications of the methods used could benefit the field of Cryptosporidium research, along with improving global health and preventing disease outbreaks.

Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa e à Inovação Tecnológica do Estado de Sergipe - FAPITEC/SE / The present dissertation, entitled "Inquisitorial persecution and Crypto-Judaism: A study of the processes involving the sergeant-general Diogo Vaz and his relatives (1662-1673)", has as a research object the description and analysis of the Inquisition, specifically in the persecution of New Christians accused of Judaizers in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as in the Colony. We sought to investigate the cases of Diogo Vaz Penalvo, his sister Anna Rodrigues and other members of his family. For this, we are based on the categories of the Ginzburg (2001) index of the microhistory studied by Giovanni Levi (1992) and Ginzburg (2006), the category of pariah explained by Weber (2010) and the sociology of secrecy, of Simmel (2009), of fundamental importance for the maintenance of Crypto-Judaism. From this, we follow the following steps: to reconstruct the steps of members of a family arrested by the Holy Office and compare them with other cases already studied, collaborating with the study of religious practices that resisted Catholicism in the colonial period; to find in the reports of the documents indications of religious practices considered deviant from the Catholic faith. Finally, this research aims to contribute to the study of the inquisition with a focus on the persecution of the Crypto-Jews, in an attempt to know the religious practices of a family that suffered for more than a decade humiliation, exile and fire. / A presente dissertação, intitulada “A perseguição inquisitorial e o Criptojudaísmo: Estudo dos processos envolvendo o sargento-mor Diogo Vaz e seus familiares (1662-1673)”, tem como objeto de pesquisa a descrição e análise da Inquisição, especificamente na perseguição aos cristãos-novos acusados de judaizantes na Península Ibérica, assim como na Colônia. Buscamos investigar os casos de Diogo Vaz Penalvo, de sua irmã Anna Rodrigues e de outros membros da sua família. Para tal, baseamo-nos nas categorias do paradigma indiciário de Ginzburg (2001), da micro-história estudada por Giovanni Levi (1992) e Ginzburg (2006), a categoria de pária explicada por Weber (2010) e a sociologia do segredo, de Simmel (2009), de fundamental importância para a manutenção do criptojudaísmo. A partir disso, seguimos os seguintes caminhos: reconstruir os passos de membros de uma família presa pelo Santo Ofício e compará-los com outros casos já estudados, colaborando com o estudo de práticas religiosas que resistiram ao catolicismo no período colonial; encontrar nos relatos dos documentos indícios de práticas religiosas consideradas desviantes da fé católica. Por fim, esta pesquisa visa contribuir para o estudo do tema da inquisição com o foco na perseguição aos criptojudeus, na tentativa de conhecer as práticas religiosas de uma família que sofreu durante mais de uma década a humilhação, o degredo, a tomada de bens e o fogo. / São Cristóvão, SE

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In Portugal and in Spain, for a very long time a belief was cultivated about the Jews, that when being expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, at the beginning of the Modern Age, hid in certain places treasures to be rescued in posterity. Despite this account being cloaked in an atmosphere of mystery and distorted by imagination, in the hope that many nurture of finding riches in gold and jewels, there is evidence that these hidden riches consisted of censored books since, fleeing to other christian countries, they couldn’t take it with them. So in 1992, to corroborate this account, when in the modest Spanish village of Barracota a house was being remodeled, a “kept treasure”, hid by screens in a space between walls, was found. It was a heterogeneous set of 10 prints, a manuscript and a nômina. From those surprising finding its unveiled by extremeño Professor Fernando Serrano Mangas, that the set of clandestine books was hidden around 1557 by Crypto-jew Doctor Francisco Peñaranda. Therefore, this dissertation seeks to illustrate, starting from the analysis of the works “Alborayque” and “A muito devota oração da emparedada”, the mystic crypto-jewish universe and its paths in the 16th century’s contour. Working in this perspective according to the evidentiary method, proposed by Carlo Ginzburg, to highlight fundamental elements from the world vision of this minority that was the object of persecution by the Modern Inquisition. / Durante muito tempo, em Portugal e na Espanha, se cultivou a crença de que os judeus ao serem expulsos da Península Ibérica, no início da Idade Moderna, esconderam tesouros em determinados locais para serem resgatados na posteridade. Apesar desse relato está envolto em um clima de mistérios e também ser distorcido pela imaginação popular, na esperança que muitos acariciam de encontrar riquezas em joias e metais preciosos, existem indícios de que essas riquezas encobertas eram constituídas por livros censurados uma vez que, em sua fuga para outros países cristãos, eles não poderiam levá-los consigo. Assim, para corroborar com esse relato, em 1992 quando era realizada a reforma de uma secular residência na pacata vila de Barcarrota, na Espanha, foi encontrado um “tesouro oculto” escondido por tapumes num espaço vazio existente entre as paredes. Tratava-se de um conjunto heterogêneo de dez impressos, um manuscrito e uma nômina. A partir dessa surpreendente descoberta é desvelado, pelo historiador e professor extremeño Fernando Serrano Mangas, que esse conjunto de livros clandestinos foi ocultado pelo médico criptojudeu Francisco de Peñaranda, por volta de 1557. Portanto, essa dissertação procura ilustrar, a partir da análise das obras “Alborayque” e “A muito devota oração da emparedada”, o universo místico criptojudaico e seus meandros no contorno do século XVI. Nessa perspectiva, trabalhamos segundo o método indiciário, proposto por Carlo Ginzburg, para destacar elementos fundamentais da cosmovisão dessa minoria que foi objeto de perseguição pela Inquisição Moderna. / São Cristóvão, SE

Background: Within the emerging field of cryptocurrencies, the sub-sector DeFi (decentralized finance) has experienced explosive growth over the last year, and its importance for crypto as a whole has grown with it. The currencies have developed from simple peer-to-peer transactions to complex applications such as lending and exchanges. Several studies have researched determinants of cryptocurrency prices, and a few have focused on metrics central to DeFi, such as total value locked (TVL). However, academia has aimed sparse attention to the relationships between these metrics, which this article seeks to amend.  Aim: The purpose of this essay is to research the relationship between total value locked (TVL) in DeFi, the prices of native tokens on related platforms, and the price of ether, which is the dominant currency across DeFi.  Methodology: This study is deductive and quantitative and categorized as a causal-comparative thesis. The purpose of causal-comparative research is to find relationships between variables, independent and dependent, over a certain period.  The authors used deductive reasoning to form the hypotheses and collect the data necessary to investigate the hypothesis. Additionally, the structure of the paper and the epistemological process is quantitative and based on the scientific method.  The sources used for data gathering have primarily been DefiPulse and their API:s, retrieved using simple python coding and different applications that parse JSON code into the excel format. The transparent nature of blockchain has provided easy access to data needed for this study. Once the data was collected, it was categorized and compiled into an Excel sheet.  Conclusions: It is a considerable result that the ratio of locked ETH to total supply lacks significance for the price of ether, as it is counterintuitive to the macroeconomic theory of demand and supply. Presumably, the locked eth is not to be considered as a corresponding decrease in supply. However, if that was the case, the locked ratio of 10% is considerable and should affect the price as there is less supply available to the market.  In accordance with hypotheses two, three, and four, changes in the price of ether, TVL, and utilization rate affect the price of the native token. A notable distinction between the three different platforms lies in what metrics correlate more strongly with price changes. It for Compound and Aave was TVL, but utilization rate for MakerDAO. What causes these differences between seemingly similar platforms is a subject for further study.