Financial interactions on the capital market involve a wide variety of actors and processes. The requirement of security and privacy results to a large extent in non-shared and unintegrated databases among the different parties, leading to complex, time consuming and costly procedures. The last decade's introduction of innovative blockchain technologies such as Bitcoin, has brought attention to the possibilities of decentralized peer-to-peer networking in general, and its potential influence in the financial sector in particular. This master thesis investigates the possibilities for the capital market to adapt such a system from a technical point of view, with main focus on scalability. The analysis covers crucial aspects such as a peer-to-peer application's ability to handle large transaction volumes while maintaining security. The degree project also includes continued work on Visigon's blockchain application prototype with main focus on the network communication, as well as simulations of its performance capability. Results from the simulations showed that the transaction throughput capacity is limited to the time of broadcasting the transaction to the network, and thus decreasing linearly with increasing network size. The required time for handling other parts in the process appears constant and takes up a small fraction of the total time, therefore future work lays in further optimization of the communication protocol.

In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, Bitcoin emerged as a radical new alternative to the fiat currencies of the traditional banking sector. Through the use of a novel kind of probabilistic consensus algorithm, Bitcoin proved it possible to guarantee the integrity of a digital currency by relying on network majority votes instead of trusted institutions. By showing that it was technically feasible to, at least to some extent, replace the entire banking sector with computers, many significant actors started asking what else this new technology could help automate. A subsequent, seemingly inevitable, wave of efforts produced a multitude of new distributed ledger systems, architectures and applications, all somehow attempting to leverage distributed consensus algorithms to replace trusted intermediaries, facilitating value ownership, transfer and regulation. In this thesis, we scrutinize distributed ledger technologies in terms of how they could help facilitate the digitization of contractual cooperation, especially in the context of the supply chain and manufacturing industries. Concretely, we consider them from three distinct technical perspectives, (1) performance, (2) interoperability and (3) integration. Voting systems, with or without probabilistic mechanisms, require significant time and resources to operate, for which reason it becomes relevant to investigate how the costs of running those systems can be mitigated. In particular, we consider how a blockchain, a form of distributed ledger, can be pruned to in order to reduce disk space requirements. Furthermore, no technical system part of a larger business is an island, but will have to be able to interoperate with other systems to maximize the opportunity for automation. For this reason, we also consider how transparent message translation between systems could be facilitated, as well as presenting a formalism for expressing the syntactic structure of message payloads. Finally, we propose a concrete architecture, the Exchange Network, that models contractual interactions as negotiations about token exchanges rather than as function invocations and state machine transitions, which we argue lowers the barrier to compatibility with conventional legal and business practices. Even if no more trusted institutions could be replaced by any forthcoming distributed ledger technologies, we believe contractual interactions becoming more digital would lead to an increased opportunity for using computers to monitor, assist or even directly participate in the negotiation, management and tracking of business agreements, which we see as more than enough to warrant the cost of further developing of the technology. Such computer involvement may not just save time and reduce costs, but could also enable new kinds of computer-driven economies. In the long run, this may enable new levels of resource optimization, and not just within large organizations, but also smaller companies, or even the homes of families and individuals.

The financial services sector is riddled with efficiency challenges and high costs resulting from the use of legacy financial systems. A solution for these challenges exists in the form of blockchain technology. However, adoption of blockchain in the financial services sector remains a challenge for several reasons. Key to this is the fact that the technology is still new, and there is a lack of clear information on how management of financial institutions can configure their organisations to prepare them for the adoption of the new technology. By investigating the technological aspects of blockchain technology; the organisational preparedness for adoption; and the environmental dynamics of financial services; this paper presents a framework for organisational adoption of blockchain technology. This framework will assist organisations to first reconfigure themselves to prepare for technological adoption; and second, align themselves to the requirements of adoption of blockchain technology. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with experts in the global financial services sector, it was found that there is a methodological approach to the adoption of blockchain technology. Blockchain advocates within organisations will be able to conduct an internal introspection into efficiency challenges they face, learn about blockchain technology, build a business case for adoption, reconfigure the organisation, align the organisation, and adopt blockchain to accord the organisation the necessary efficiencies. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

A great challenge for democracy is to account for the conflict between the ideal of self-governance and the capacity of the average person to participate in democratic decision-making. This challenge has led some observers to question the defensibility of democracy and consider other systems of social organization. I argue instead that the problem can be solved with a technologically enhanced version of Thomas Christiano’s choice of aims model of democracy. I begin by setting up the voter competency problem: I describe the ideals of democracy and the role that is ascribed to citizens under traditional accounts of democracy, then proceed to a discussion of the empirical evidence that shows how unlikely it is that voters could ever adequately perform such a role. While I consider a number of alternative democratic models which attempt to reconstruct the role of citizens in a way that is consistent with their capacities and with the democratic ideal of self-governance, I find that the choice of aims model strikes this balance in a way that is most tenable. Despite this, I argue that changes to the way information is distributed in modern democracies, to do with the rise of the internet, pose a serious threat to the viability of even this model, as it is becoming increasingly difficult for voters to ascertain reliable information. The second half of the thesis offers support to Christiano’s model in the form of technologically enhanced institutions. Chapter 3 provides a basic understanding of an emerging technology called distributed ledger technology, which offers a new paradigm for how information is stored, controlled, and distributed around society. The final chapter demonstrates how this technology can be used to strengthen democratic institutions so that citizens are able to truly be said to self-govern in a way that is consistent with their capacities. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The adoption of blockchain technologies require the consideration of a broad range of factors, over and above the predominantly technology focus of most current work. Whilst scholarly literature on blockchain technology is only beginning to emerge, majority are focused on the technicalities of the technology and tend to ignore the organizational complexities of adopting the technology. Drawing from a focused review of literature, this paper proposed a conceptual framework for adoption of blockchain technology capturing the complex relationships between institutional, market and technical factors. The framework highlights that varying outcomes are possible, and the change process is focal as this shapes the form blockchain applications take. Factors presented in the framework (institutional, market and technical) interact and mutually influence each other. The proposed framework can be used by organisations as a reference point for adopting blockchain applications and by scholars to expand, refine and evaluate research into blockchain technology.

Uppsatsen tar upp blockchain-teknologin och undersöker om den kan användas vid hantering av patientjournaler i ett svenskt patientjournalsystem. Genom att kombinera en genomförbarhetsstudie och SWOT-analys har tre aspekter; tekniska, legala och organisatoriska undersökts med hjälp av perspektiven från SWOT. De tekniska, legala och organisatoriska aspekterna berör viktiga faktorer och frågor som bör uppfyllas för ett projekt ska anses genomförbart. Uppsatsen är en explorativ fallstudie med dokumentanalys som metod. Primärt har akademisk litteratur samt lagar och författningar undersökts och analyserats. Med hjälp av informationen från insamlade dokument analyseras och diskuteras innehållet utifrån teknisk, legal genomförbarhet och organisatorisk genomförbarhet. Den tekniska samt legala aspekten antyder att blockchain i dess nuvarande form inte är genomförbart för att användas som stöd i svenskt patientjournalsystem. Emellertid har en hög genomförbarhet identifierats inom den organisatoriska aspekten. / This paper examines whether blockchain-technology can be used to assist an EHR system (electronic health records) in Sweden. By combining a feasibility study and SWOT-analysis, three major aspects; technical, legal and organizational, have been examined with help from the perspectives in SWOT. The aspects cover key factors and questions which ought to be fulfilled for a project to be considered feasible. An exploratory case study has been conducted combined with the method of document analysis. The documents have primarily consisted of academic literature and law acts and constitutions such as GDPR. The feasibility aspects have been analysed and discussed with the help of found literature. The technical and legal aspects suggest that the use of blockchain in its current shape and form is not feasible in assisting an EHR system. However, within the organizational aspect, a high level of feasibility has been concluded

This article analyses the impact of the IOTA distributed ledger technology (DLT) on smart cities. The world population is rapidly increasing while at the same time trends such as urbanization shape future demographics. Thus, fast-growing cities face the challenge of increasing demands in resources such as energy, water, transportation, while at the same time aiming to increase life quality by reducing burdens such as pollution and waste. The concept of a “Smart City” emerged with the ambition to solve a city’s issues by creating social and economic advantages while providing efficient resource allocation processes. Nevertheless, current information communication technologies tend to underperform a smartcities systems requirement since the quantity of connected devices increases which slows down the transition of a city becoming smart. The distributed ledger technology IOTA promises to enable automated, feeless transactions and processes with a high level of integrity, which may impact the development of smart cities. In this research the IOTA technology is introduced and investigated. The advantages of IOTA compared to conventional information communication technologies and the blockchain technology are highlighted. Thereafter, the current state of IOTA in smart cities is reviewed by analysing current research and use cases. To investigate the concept of a smart city the smart city initiative framework, including its subcategories is introduced. Additionally, different experts working on IOTA integrations related to smart city initiatives were interviewed giving insights into their field ofexpertise. Finally, an analysis and discussion of the IOTA technology use cases are put into relation with the multi-level perspective framework (Geels, 2006) highlighting the positive impact of IOTA on the development of smart cities. / I den här artikeln analyseras effekterna av IOTA:s teknik för distribuerade huvudböcker (DLT) på smarta städer. Världens befolkning ökar snabbt samtidigt som trender som urbanisering formar framtidens demografi. Snabbt växande städer står därför inför utmaningen att öka kraven på resurser som energi, vatten och transporter, samtidigt som de strävar efter att öka livskvaliteten genom att minska belastningar som föroreningar och avfall. Begreppet smart stad uppstod med ambitionen att lösa stadensproblem genom att skapa sociala och ekonomiska fördelar och samtidigt tillhandahålla effektiva processer för resursfördelning. Den nuvarande informations- och kommunikationstekniken tenderar dock att inte uppfylla kraven på system för smarta städer, eftersom mängden anslutna enheter ökar, vilket gör att övergången till en smart stad blir långsammare. Den distribuerade huvudbokstekniken IOTA lovar att möjliggöra automatiserade, felfria transaktioner och processer med en hög grad av integritet, vilket kan påverka utvecklingen av smarta städer. I den här forskningen introduceras och undersöks IOTA-tekniken. Fördelarna med IOTA jämfört med konventionell informationskommunikationsteknik och blockkedjetekniken lyfts fram. Därefter granskas det nuvarande läget för IOTA i smarta städer genom att analysera aktuell forskning och användningsfall. För att undersöka begreppet smart stad introduceras ramverket för initiativet för smarta städer, inklusive dess underkategorier. Dessutom intervjuades olika experter som arbetar med IOTA-integrationer isamband med initiativ för smarta städer för att ge en inblick i deras expertisområde. Slutligen analyseras och diskuteras IOTA-teknikens användningsområden i förhållande till ramverket för flernivåperspektivet (Geels, 2006), där IOTA:s positiva inverkan på utvecklingen av smarta städer lyfts fram.

Background:           Blockchain technology is recently receiving a lot of attention from researchers as well as from many different industries. There are promising application areas for the logistics sector like digital document exchange and tracking of goods, but there is no existing research on these topics. This thesis aims to contribute to the research of information systems in logistics in combination with Blockchain technology.     Purpose:                  The purpose of this research is to explore the capabilities of Blockchain technology regarding the concepts of privacy, transparency and trust. In addition, the requirements of information systems in logistics regarding the mentioned concepts are studied and brought in relation to the capabilities of Blockchain technology. The goal is to contribute to a theoretical discussion on the role of Blockchain technology in improving the flow of goods and the flow of information in logistics.   Method:                   The research is carried out in the form of an explorative case study. Blockchain technology has not been studied previously in a logistics setting and therefore, an inductive research approach is chosen by using thematic analysis. The case study is based on a pilot test which had the goal to facilitate a Blockchain to exchange documents and track shipments.   Conclusion:             The findings reflect that the research on Blockchain technology is still in its infancy and that it still takes several years to facilitate the technology in a productive environment. The Blockchain has the capabilities to meet the requirements of information systems in logistics due to the ability to create trust and establish an organisation overarching platform to exchange information.

Airline disruption management traditionally seeks to address three problem dimensions – aircraft scheduling, crew scheduling, and passenger scheduling – in that order. However, current efforts have, at most, only addressed the first two con-currently and do not account for the propagative effects that uncertain scheduling outcomes in one dimension can have on another. Uncertainties in scheduling out-comes originate from random disruption events (like inclement weather and aircraft malfunction), the order in which they occur, and how they are resolved. As such, these uncertainties propagate through all problem dimensions of airline disruption management on day of operation. Existing approaches for airline operations recovery include human specialists who decide on the necessary corrective actions to airline schedule disruptions on the day of operation. However, human specialists are limited in their ability to process copious amounts of information, necessary to make robust decisions that simultaneously address all three problem dimensions in operations recovery. Therefore, there is a need to augment the decision-making capabilities of a human specialist with quantitative and qualitative tools that can rationalize complex interactions amongst the three dimensions in airline operations recovery, and provide objective insights to the specialists in the Airline Operations Control Center (AOCC).To this effect, this dissertation provides a discussion of an agnostic and systematic paradigm for enabling simultaneously-integrated recovery of all problem dimensions in airline disruption management, through an intelligent multi-agent system that employs principles from artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology.

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) stands to benefit industries such as financial services with transparency and censorship resistance. DLT systems need to be scalable to handle mass user adoption. Mass user adoption is required to demonstrate the true value of DLT. This dissertation first analyses scalability in ethereum and EOS. Currently, ethereum 1.0 uses proof of work (PoW) and handles only 14 transactions per second (tps) compared to Visa's peak 47 000 tps. Ethereum 2.0, known as Serenity, introduces sharding, proof of stake (Casper), plasma and state channels in and effort to scale the system. EOS uses a delegated proof of stake (DPoS) protocol, where 21 super-nodes, termed ‘block producers' (BPs), facilitate consensus, bringing about significant scalability improvements (4000 tps). The trade-off is decentralisation. EOS is not sufficiently decentralised because the BPs yield significant power, but are not diverse. This dissertation conducts an empirical analysis using unsupervised machine learning to show that there is a high probability collusion is occurring between certain BPs. It then suggests possible protocol alterations such as inverse vote weighting that could curb adverse voting behaviour in DPoS. It further analyses whether universities are suitable BP's before mapping out required steps for universities to become block producers (leading to improved decentralisation in EOS)