Blockchain at the European Level Abstract The objective of this master thesis is to provide a basic overview of the blockchain technology, its features and its potential utilization, including an overview of European legal regulations that might be applicable to the technology, under certain conditions. In the first chapter, the master's thesis sets forth the legal framework of the EU primary law that establishes or can establish the EU's competence to act in the matters of blockchain technology, depending on its legal qualification (especially in the context of the internal market - namely the free movement of services and capital). The second and third chapters provide essential description of features of blockchain and cryptocurrency and related services. A more detailed description is provided in Annexes I-IV of this thesis. Further, the legal status and applicable regulation of cryptocurrencies are assessed at the European and national levels and in terms of other global jurisdictions. The assessment also includes the recent CJEU's judgment in the case Hedqvist, according to which bidirectional exchange services (purchase of cryptocurrency for fiat currency and vice versa) are to be exempted from VAT obligation under the VAT directive. In line with the CJEU's reasoning and the Advocate General's...

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.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are getting into common usage more and more frequently. Unfortunately this spread is connected with attempts to misuse their principles for personal benefit. The goal of this thesis is to explain the main principles of using bitcoin in relation to the internet identity. This connection is represented by two sources in the thesis: the first is a bitcoin blockchain, the second is the sum of various user profiles used in discussion forums and similar websites. The aim is to create and explain the process how to, by using the combination of this two sources, reveal the identity of a human using cryptocurrencies for payment (from a private person point of view). First, methods used for extraction of correct and useful data from the blockchain and internet profiles must be developed to be able to mine data from the joint database, merging into a full user profile containing personal data. Results of this investigation are extended by the rules of preserving anonymity on the internet, containing both technological and behavioural measures avoiding a share of personal data. The end of this thesis explains possible attack vectors that might be used for compromising cryptocurrencies. The methods of searching of the internet identity are a useful tool for facing these attacks.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the role of bitcoin in an investment portfolio. The paper examines the nature of bitcoin and additionally how bitcoin compares to gold when included in an investment portfolio. This report uses the historical value of bitcoin and investigates with a Mean-Variance model how the risk-adjusted return of an optimized portfolio is affected when bitcoin is a constituent. By comparing Sharpe Ratios from the optimized portfolios, a conclusion can be drawn as to whether bitcoin affects the maximum Sharpe ratio or the global minimum variance point. Our study suggests that including bitcoin in an investment portfolio increases the risk-adjusted return of the portfolio. In addition, portfolios optimized with bitcoin outperform the market. Further, we conclude that bitcoin has a relatively high correlation as compared to gold with the assets in the study. Hence, bitcoin is not the new gold.

Smart contracts are self-executing electronic contracts. Amongst its deployed applications in the digital world is providing a decentralized and transparent method for executing transactions of cryptocurrencies on blockchains. Our thesis aims to investigate the mechanisms influencing execution of smart contracts across different blockchain networks when it comes to transactions of their native tokens. With a focus on the Ethereum, Avalanche, Cardano, Chainlink, and Binance blockchain technologies, an experiment is conducted which involves transferring native tokens on each of the blockchains to obtain results of the speed of each of the transfers and their respective transaction costs. The developed problem statement revolves around understanding the blockchain characteristics and smart contract implementations that contribute to these results. Properties of smart contracts and blockchain networks are established, which form the qualitative data components of our research. Further, we perform an analysis and evaluation of the quantitative results of our experiment to form a connection between each of the blockchains’ qualitative properties and their respective performance. Architecture, gas limit, gas price, and network congestion are identified as key determinants of gas fees and transaction costs. The choice of consensus mechanism, block time, and scalability solutions also play a significant role in transaction speed and time to finality. We believe our discoveries contribute to enhancing the implementation of smart contracts in the context of cryptocurrencies. / Smarta kontrakt är självutförande elektroniska kontrakt. Bland dess tillämpningar i den digitala världen ingår att tillhandahålla en decentraliserad och transparent metod för att utföra transaktioner av kryptovalutor på blockkedjor. Vår examensarbete syftar till att undersöka de mekanismer som påverkar utförandet av smarta kontrakt över olika blockkedjenätverk när det gäller transaktioner av deras valutor. Med fokus på Ethereum, Avalanche, Cardano, Chainlink och Binance blockkedjeteknologier genomförs ett experiment som innebär överföring av valutor på varje blockkedja för att erhålla resultat av hastigheten för varje överföring och deras respektive transaktionskostnader. Det utvecklade problemet kretsar kring förståelsen av blockkedjekaraktäristik och smarta kontraktsimplementeringar som bidrar till dessa resultat. Egenskaper hos smarta kontrakt och blockkedjenätverk fastställs, vilket utgör de kvalitativa datakomponenterna i vår forskning. Dessutom genomför vi en analys och utvärdering av de kvantitativa resultaten från vårt experiment för att skapa en koppling mellan varje blockkedjas kvalitativa egenskaper och deras respektive prestanda. Arkitektur, gasgräns, gaspris och nätverksöverbelastning identifieras som avgörande faktorerna för gasavgifter och transaktionskostnader. Valet av konsensusmekanism, blocktid och skalbarhetslösningar spelar också en betydande roll för transaktionshastighet och tidsmässig avslutning. Vi anser att våra upptäckter bidrar till att förbättra implementeringen av smarta kontrakt i sammanhanget av kryptovalutor.

In our era, digital technology is one of the fastest-changing areas. It impacts our private life, well-being, economics, politics and warfare. This essay intends to answer how digital transformation affects combats and state and non-state actors and also how these digitalised combats compromise social sustainability. The findings include social media and online platforms, dark web and cyberterrorism, cryptocurrency, remote sensing and surveillance, machine learning and AI, and digitally enabled strategies. The analysis was done by the Centre of Gravity model, social sustainability and securitisation theory. The thesis follows a comparative case study approach about Kenya and Nigeria therefore the essay address al-Shabaab and Boko Haram as the two prominent terrorist groups and the empirical data are related specifically to these countries and these diasporas.

It has been suggested that some cryptocurrencies have potential to take the role as a global digital payment system. However, as the current technology stands, all cryptocurrencies have shortcomings which are growing when scaling parameters. This emphasizes the importance of fast and reliable data transmissions when implementing network protocols to handle the transactions. However, little research has been conducted to specifically support the development of cryptocurrencies regarding protocol performance comparison. This study will be assisting the development of a new cryptocurrency, proposed by HAJ Enterprise. The report uses a theoretical framework of economic perspectives to investigate if the proposed cryptocurrency could take the role as a form of good money. Furthermore, the main purpose of the study is to identify which existing transport protocol with appurtenant parameters would be the most suitable in an implementation of the proposed cryptocurrency. To answer these questions, the study measures latency, throughput and reliability of protocols in a test simulating a real case of long distance data transmission. These results are then compared to findings from similar studies. From the results, it was suggested that proposed cryptocurrency satisfies the requirements of good money, as intrinsic value was found through the monetary policy. Moreover, it was found that TCP IPv6 showed the best performance regarding data transmission. However, considering the current state of the IPv6 adoption rate into consideration, it is suggested that TCP IPv4 with a packet size in the range of 1024-2048 would be beneficial. Further research in different settings is required for more nuanced results. / Det har föreslagits att kryptovalutor har potential att fungera som ett globalt digitalt betalmedel. Den bakomliggande tekniken medför dock att alla kryptovalutor har brister. Dessa brister är växande när parametrar skalas upp. Detta understryker vikten av snabba och pålitliga överföringar av data och passande val vid implementering av protokoll för att hantera transaktionerna. Forskning inom området för effektiv dataöverföring inom kryptovalutor tillåter fler möjligheter i betraktande av lösningar till storskaliga nätverk. Dessvärre har en begränsad mängd forskning bedrivits som specifikt understödjer utvecklingen av kryptovalutor genom jämförelse av protokollprestanda. Denna studie medverkar i utvecklingen av en ny kryptovaluta, föreslagen av HAJ Enterprise. Rapporten använder ett teoretiskt ramverk av ekonomiska perspektiv på kryptovalutor för att undersöka om den föreslagna kryptovalutan kan klassas som good money. Vidare är det huvudsakliga syftet med studien att identifiera vilka befintliga transportprotokoll, med tillhörande parametrar, som skulle vara mest lämpade att implementera i den föreslagna kryptovalutan. För att besvara dessa frågor mäts fördröjning, genomströmning och tillförlitlighet av protokoll i en testmiljö som simulerar ett verkligt fall med dataöverföring mellan långa avstånd. Dessa resultat jämförs därefter med resultat från liknande studier. Från resultaten kunde rapporten visa att den föreslagna kryptovalutan kan klassificeras som en form av pengar, då inneboende värde kunde identifieras genom kryptovalutans monetära policy. Det var också visat att TCP IPv6 hade bäst prestanda gällande dataöverföring. Men med hänsyn till den globala etablering av IPv6 föreslås TCP IPv4 med en paketstorlek inom en räckvidd mellan 1024 till 2048 byte som mest fördelaktig. Fortsatt forskning inom området och utökade tester inom olika miljöer krävs för ett mer nyanserat resultat.

In this paper, the price fluctuations of Bitcoin under speculative environment is studied. It has been seen that the market trend points out an existence of a speculative bubble. Over the course of the period from 2014 to 2018, the trend in price movements of bitcoin has proved to be strongly speculative. In that regard, investors might be curious about what drivers might be instrumental in these speculative price changes.  After reviewing of NPV, it was seen that NPV is not applicable to the case of cryptocurrencies due to their nature and lack of free cash flows to base the asset valuation to some fundamental facts. Later, LPPL model is reviewed, however, that also proved to be insufficient since it does not reflect the investor speculations and inform much about price dynamics regarding behavioral finance principles. Then, some papers from the past price fluctuations of bitcoin (for the period from 2010 to 2013) was reviewed and three key variables were determined which might explain price movements. Public interest towards Bitcoin as interest-driven, regulatory and political news about cryptocurrencies as event-driven and VIX as overall investor approach to Bitcoin market have been taken. After running regressions, the only significant variable happened to be public interest and popularity of Bitcoin. Although, for some cases, VIX variable also explain price fluctuations for some intervals, in none of the cases event-driven variable has long- terms effect on price fluctuations under speculative environment. Lastly, a robustness test is also handled considering the “weekend effect” and it has been seen public interest variable again proved to be a significant price determinant.

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Bitcoin's decentralized nature enables reasonably anonymous exchange of money outside of the authorities' control. This has led to Bitcoin being popular for various illegal activities, including scams, ransomware attacks, money laundering, black markets, etc.  In this thesis, we characterize this landscape, providing insights into similarities and differences in the use of Bitcoin for such activities.  Our analysis and the derived insights contributes to the understanding of Bitcoin transactions associated with illegal activities through three main aspects. First, it offers a comprehensive characterization of money flows to and from Bitcoin addresses linked to different abuse categories, revealing variations in flow patterns and success rates. Second, a temporal analysis captures long-term trends and weekly patterns across categories. Finally, an analysis of outflow from reported addresses uncovers differences in graph properties and flow patterns among illicit addresses and between abuse categories. These findings provide valuable insights into the distribution, temporal dynamics, and interconnections within various categories of Bitcoin transactions related to illicit activities.