Creating standardized infrastructures for new technologies has become a frequent event in recent years, forcing competing firms to together collaborate in order to develop and mutually agree on a common standard. This is due to technologies such as blockchain (distributed ledger) technology that need interoperability to reach its full potential, making the collaboration aspect crucial for organizations that want to adapt to the technology. Therefore, this study’s purpose is to identify and analyze the challenges of creating such a standardized infrastructure. A case study was used to analyze these challenges, which involved experts of blockchain technology and three Nordic banks connected to the blockchain consortium R3. First, a pre-study took place with the help of blockchain experts, who helped identify potential problems regarding blockchain (distributed ledger) technology. Secondly, a main study was conducted consisting of four interviews with key persons representing the banks, in addition to collecting secondary data via news articles, and press releases. With the help of co-opetition theory and a technical description of blockchain (distributed ledger) technology, an analytical model was developed to support the analysis of the data collection. The analysis focus on aspects of co-opetition drivers, co-opetition capabilities, co-opetition dynamics and blockchain aspects, which were used to showcase the challenges of collaborating on creating a standardized infrastructure. The result of this study highlights the importance of learning and educational aspects, the size of a cooperation and threats from other competing solutions, which generates challenges. In addition to the identified challenges, this study has also contributed to an understanding of how these aspects can come to affect a collaboration.

Inspired by the digital revolution to the financial industry, the discussion around central bank digital currency also attract attention from academics and central banks. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is also researching on China’s CBDC: digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) and announced that DCEP would be issued as soon as possible.  However, the PBOC does not systematically disclose the information of DCEP. The characteristics and mechanism design are still obscured and need to be explored deeply. This thesis analysed the classification and mechanism design choices of DCEP from the perspective of two different demands: general demand and central bank demand. Based on pragmatism philosophy, we use a mixed-methods approach that is a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. Through the interview and surveys, we identified the demands from the PBOC and the general public in China and the characteristics of DCEP from official claims. Then generate the design choices via the money flower and the pyramid of CBDC models and compare the result with the demand. The analysis shows that the DCEP belongs to type B general-purpose CB digital tokens, and it would adopt a complex multi-layer hybrid architecture design, with the support from both DLT and conventional way. In conclusion, the current mechanism design choices can meet the demands from each side to a certain extent and reached a delicate balance under the trade-off between privacy and security issues. This thesis provides an insightful view on the classification and design choices of DCEP, fulfils the lack of systematic research relating to the demand and design choices of DCEP, and reveals the public’s insufficient knowledge in DCEP.

The phenomenon of isolated value in each blockchain system has become adistinct issue of the blockchain field. To address this problem, the demandof cross-chain intercommunication came up. In a narrow sense, cross-chainrefers to the process of asset interoperability between relatively independentblockchains. In this thesis, we mainly analyze the design principles, technicaldifficulties, and solutions of cross-chain intercommunication in this narrowsense. With the introduction of distributed ledger technology(DLT), we describethe interaction with other ledgers as the fundamental problem of currentblockchain technology.The implementation of cross-chain is mainly manifested as asset swap and assettransfer. So far, there are many existing application scenarios and projectsadopted from these manifestation. This paper will focus on these two implementations,illustrate their principles, locate the realization difficulties, andput forward corresponding possible solutions. Then we elaborated on eightpopular cross-chain projects underlying mechanism listed with three maincategories. A detailed comparison according to their interoperability level,consensus algorithm and application scenarios of the overall overview of 20cross-chain projects is presented as a table in the Appendix A.During the implementation process, we performed a simple atomic swap crosschainframework based on Hash Time Lock Contract between Bitshares andEthereum, then compare the performance with a wallet application presentby Ripple using Interledger Protocol. These two applications are representedthe two different use case of cross-chain realization.With limited number of projects to test out, our conclusion was reached aftera discussion with the relative merits of the two approaches. Interledger protocolhas a better solution from the aspects of the decentralization, scalability,and whether it supports traditional ledgers. / Fenomenet isolerat värde i varje blockchain-system har blivit en distinkt frågaom blockchainfält. För att hantera detta problem kom kravet på interkommunikationmellan kedjor upp. I en smal mening hänvisar tvärkedjantill processen för interoperabilitet mellan tillgångar mellan relativt oberoendeblockchains. I denna avhandling analyserar vi huvudsakligen designprinciper,tekniska svårigheter och lösningar för interkommunikation mellan kedjor ien smal bemärkelse. Med introduktionen av distribuerad huvudboksteknologi(DLT) beskriver vi interaktionen med andra bokar som det grundläggandeproblemet med den nuvarande blockchain-tekniken.Tvärkedjans implementeringsform manifesteras huvudsakligen som tillgångsbyteoch överföring av tillgångar. Hittills finns det många befintliga applikationsscenarier och Pro projekt som antagits från dessa manifestation. Dettadokument kommer att fokusera på dessa två implementeringar, illustrera derasprinciper, lokalisera förståelsessvårigheterna och lägga fram motsvarandemöjliga lösningar. Sedan utarbetade vi åtta populära tvärkedjeprojekt underliggandemekanism listade med tre huvudkategorier. En detaljerad jämförelseberoende på deras driftskompatibilitetsnivå, konsensusalgoritm och tillämpningsscenarierav den övergripande översikten över 20 tvärkedjeprojekt presenterassom en tabell i Appendix A.Under genomförandeprocessen genomförde vi en enkel atomisk swap Cross-Chain ram baserad på hash Time lock kontrakt mellan Bitshares och Ethereum,sedan jämföra prestanda med en plånbok program som finns med Ripplemed Interledger Protocol. Dessa två applikationer föreställs de två olika användningsfallenav Cross-Chain genomförande.Med begränsade projekt att testa, nåddes vår slutsats efter en diskussion medrelativa fördelar med två metoder praktiskt taget. Interledger-protokollet haren bättre lösning med avseende på decentralisering, skalbarhet och huruvidadet stöder traditionella bokar.

Centralized data storage and reconciliation by trusted intermediaries has historically put financial systems in the hands of a single central parties. The emergence of bitcoin and blockchain, combined with the 2008 financial crisis, has shifted the Swedish financial sector’s traditional perspectives on democratization, centralization, transparency and automation. Trade and export finance is one of many sectors investigating how blockchain and distributed ledger technology can be used other than as a digital currency system. Swedish trade and export finance connects importers, exporters, banks, credit providers, customs, and transporters into a fragmented and complex process with many stakeholders. Sweden further has a history of quickly adopting technological innovations. Banks therefore face a dynamic environment and an inconsistent, manual operative process that removes profitability incentives in providing small enterprises with credit. The adoption of DLT could provide efficiency gains and cost savings in administration, communication, reconciliation and accounting. In this thesis, the costs, benefits, and remaining barriers of implementing distributed ledger technology in Swedish trade finance are identified. Further, Swedish contextual factors’ effect on the rate of adoption is addressed. The chosen methodology of deep interviews and thorough studying of literature provides an assessment of the potential transition dynamics, forming a foundation for future investment decisions. The conclusions drawn suggest that the main costs related to adoption lie in research and development and implementation. R&D costs for distributed ledgers in the Swedish financial sector during 2019 were approximated to USD 40 million. The main benefits of automation, efficiency and reduced level of complexity were concluded to likely outweigh the costs within approximately ten to twenty years. Experience will allow companies to optimize governance structures and consensus mechanisms, while learning to expose parts of networks into public space. The innovative, adaptive Swedish market environment presumably enables faster than average diffusion of innovation, while remaining barriers in cooperation, trust, interoperability and regulation may extend the adoption process

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This study has the purpose to investigate the existing state of adoption of blockchain technology in higher education, exploring the obstacles, and potential associated with its implementation to provide an updated and concise overview of the challenges and assess the feasibility of adopting blockchain in higher education.This research includes a literature review to examine the current status of blockchain in higher education. Additionally, a qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews is utilized to gain an in-depth understanding of blockchain adoption, the potential challenges of its adopting, and its prospects within higher education by investigating the perspective of the interviewed academic community.Furthermore, the TOE framework is used to categorize adoption challenges into technical, organizational, and environmental dimensions. Challenges identified include technical complexity, resistance to change, financial constraints, perception of immaturity, lack of awareness, limited interoperability, insufficient skills, inadequate organizational support, regulatory compliance, cultural factors, and ecosystem readiness.Besides, the TAM is utilized to highlight the potential of blockchain based on respondents’views. It also explores how challenges from the TOE framework impact users’ perceptions of blockchain’s ease of use and usefulness in higher education. The overall findings indicate that adopting blockchain in higher education presents challenges such as resistance to change, cost concerns, lack of awareness, cryptocurrency bias, technical complexity, regulatory compliance, and ecosystem readiness.As a consequence, considering the identified level of readiness of universities to embrace new technologies, it is evident that blockchain is still in its early stages of recognition in higher education. However, its potential benefits are suggested such as reducing bureaucracy, enhancing communication and collaboration, improving payment systems, and ensuring secure document storage. It will require time for the full potential of blockchain to be acknowledged and accepted within the field of higher education

[pt] Blockchain e Tangle são estruturas de dados usadas para criar um registro público imutável de dados segurados por uma rede de participantes peer-to-peer que mantém um conjunto de registros de dados em constante crescimento conhecidos como ledgers. As tecnologias Blockchain e Tangle são uma solução descentralizada que garante a troca de grandes quantidades de mensagens confiáveis, entre bilhões de dispositivos de IoT conectados, os quais são muito valiosos, desde que sejam válidos e completos. Esse mecanismo de mensagens peer-to-peer altamente criptografado e seguro é adotado neste projeto para gerenciar o processamento de transações de IoT e a coordenação entre os dispositivos que interagem com o processo. Para manter as transações privadas e seguras, os algoritmos de consenso distribuídos são responsáveis por validar e escolher as transações e registrá-las no ledger global. Os resultados mostraram que a velocidade dos algoritmos de consenso pode afetar a criação em tempo real de histórias confiáveis que rastreiam os eventos das redes IoT. Após incorporar o Processamento de Eventos Complexos, que permite selecionar apenas os eventos de alto nível, é possível obter uma melhoria em muitas situações. O resultado é um sistema Middleware que fornece framework para a construção de aplicativos de larga escala onde podem usar Processamento de Eventos Complexos e diferentes ledgers descentralizados, como o blockchain da Ethereum ou IOTA Tangle, para armazenamento seguro de dados. / [en] Blockchain and Tangle are data structures and protocols used to create an immutable public record of data ensured by a network of peer-to-peer participants that maintain a monotonic constantly growing set of data records known as ledgers. Both technologies provide a decentralized solution that guarantees the exchange, among billions of IoT devices, of large amounts of trusted messages, which are very valuable as long as they are valid and complete. This highly encrypted and secure peer-to-peer messaging mechanism is adopted in this project to manage the processing of IoT transactions. To maintain transactions private, and secured consensus algorithms are responsible for validating and choosing transactions and recording them in the global ledger. The results showed that the speed of the consensus algorithms can affect the creation in real-time of reliable stories that track the events of the IoT networks. After incorporating Complex Event Processing that allows selecting only those high-level events, it is possible to obtain an improvement in many situations. The result is a Middleware system that provides a framework for the construction of large-scale computer applications that use Complex Events Processing and different decentralized ledgers such as the blockchain of Ethereum or IOTA Tangle, for secure data storage.

Handeln med finansiella instrument har effektiviserats avsevärt under de senaste decennierna tack vare den tekniska utvecklingen och internationaliseringen. Pappersbaserade värdepapper har ersatts av digitala finansiella instrument och investerare kan numera på ett enkelt sätt skapa värdepappersportföljer innehållande komplexa värdepapper från hela världen. En välfungerande och effektiv handel med finansiella instrument förutsätter att förtroendet existerar mellan aktörer på finansiella marknader. Idag säkerställs förtroendet inom finansiella marknader av ett antal olika finansiella intermediärer, vilka ansvarar för olika funktioner såsom clearing, avveckling och kontoföring. Transaktionskedjan avseende finansiella instrument består därmed av flera nivåer och varje enskild transaktion måste genomgå samtliga nivåer. Den finansiella handeln har ökat betydligt i omfattningen och ett betydande antal transaktioner är numera gränsöverskridande. Detta har resulterat i ett tämligen komplext, sammanlänkat och sårbart system, vilket bland annat har synliggjorts under den senaste finanskrisen år 2008.     Blockkedjeteknologi, vilken är en typ av Distributed Ledger Technology, kan något förenklat ses som en databas eller ett transaktionsregister. Till skillnad från traditionella transaktionsregister, vilka i regel är centraliserade och förvaltas av olika intermediärer, bygger den nya teknologin på ett decentraliserat nätverk av aktörer utan att någon tredje part är ansvarig för verifiering av transaktioner. Blockkedjeteknologin introducerar därmed ett nytt sätt att genomföra transaktioner med digitala tillgångar, genom att förtroendet säkerställs med hjälp av kryptografiska lösningar och ett decentraliserat nätverk. Blockkedjeteknologin anses av många ha en betydande potential att effektivisera transaktionskedjan avseende finansiella instrument genom att exempelvis automatisera förandet av transaktionsregister samt integrera de olika nivåerna inom transaktionskedjan. Tekniken är dock fortfarande i en utvecklingsfas och många olika utmaningar återstår innan tekniken kan komma till användning. I Sverige präglas transaktionskedjan avseende finansiella instrument dessutom av strikta regleringar, varför frågan uppstår om huruvida lösningar baserade på blockkedjetekniken är förenliga med dagens rättsliga ramar.   I denna uppsats diskuteras huruvida och på vilket sätt blockkedjeteknologin skulle kunna effektivisera vissa funktioner inom transaktionskedjan avseende finansiella instrument samt vilka rättsliga frågeställningar som uppstår i samband med tillämpning av den nya tekniken utifrån dagens rättsläge i Sverige.

Product certificates are sent throughout the supply chain of Swedish heavy industry in order to show provenance and physical characteristics of objects such as screws. The data management of the certificates has been, and still is, a very manual process. The process requires extensive work in order to maintain a correct record of the certificates. In particular, tracing causes of errors and establishing compliance takes a long time and effort. The company Chaintraced is developing an application to automate the process by acting as a third party to digitalize and manage the certificates. Introducing a third party into a business-to-business process requires that data integrity is preserved and that information reaches its expected destination. Recent research has indicated that distributed ledger technologies showpromise to fulfill these requirements. In particular, blockchain-based systems offer immutability and traceability of data, and can reduce the trust needed between different parties by relying on cryptographic primitives and consensus mechanisms. This thesis investigates the application of distributed ledger technology to further automate the Swedish heavy industry supply chain and reduce the trust needed in a third party managing the certificates. Requirements for an industrial strength system is set up and several distributed ledger technology solutions are considered to fit the use case of Swedish heavy industry. A proof of concept based on the findings is implemented, tested and compared with a centralized database to explore its possible usage in the supply chain with regard to feasibility, immutability, traceability and security. The investigation resulted in a prototype based on Hyperledger Fabric to store product certificates. The solution provides certain guarantees to immutability and security while being developed with feasibility for deployment in mind. The proposed solution is shown to be slow compared to a centralized solution but scales linearly with number of certificates and is considered within bounds for the use case. The results also show that the proposed solution is more trustworthy than a centralized solution, but that adopting blockchain technology is an extensive task. In particular, trustworthiness and guarantees provided by the solution is highly dependent on the feasibility aspect and the investigation concludes that adoption of blockchain technology within the Swedish heavy industry must take this into consideration. / Hanteringen av produktcertifikat inom den svenska tungindustrin är en mycket manuell process vilket resulterar i att ett enormt arbete krävs för att upprätthålla en korrekt hantering av certifikaten. Att spåra orsaken till fel och att kontrollera efterlevnaden av krav inom industrin tar lång tid. Chaintraced har utvecklat en applikation som automatiserar hanteringen av certifikaten genom digitalisering och att som tredje part lagra informationen. Att introducera en tredje part i affärsverksamheter kräver att integriteten av datan bibehålls och att information anländer till korrekt mottagare. Ny forskning har visat att distribuerade liggare har möjligheten att uppfylla dessa krav. Framförallt gällande blockkedjetekniken med dess många egenskaper och garantier som företag letar efter, så som oföränderlig och spårbar data. Blockkedjetekniken reducerar också förtroendet som behövs för parter inom nätverket genom att förlita sig på kryptografi och konsensus mekanismer. Den här rapporten utreder användningen av distribuerade liggare för att ytterliggare automatisera den svenska tungindustrins leveranskedja och minska tilliten som krävs för en tredje part som hanterar certifikaten. Krav ställs upp för ett system och flertalet distribuerade databastekniker undersöks för att passa in i fallet angående den svenska tungindustrin. En prototyp är utvecklad baserad på kraven, prototypen är testad och jämförd med en central databas för att undersöka hur implementationen står sig vad gäller genomförbarhet, oföränderlighet, spårbarhet och säkerhet. Undersökningen resulterade i en prototyp baserad på Hyperledger Fabric. Prototypen lagrar produktcertifikaten och ger vissa garantier till oföränderligbarhet samt säkerhet. Möjligheten för aktörer i kedjan att använda prototypen hade stor inverkan på hur systemet utvecklades. Prototypen visar sig vara långsammare än en centraliserad lösning men mätningarna kan anses vara inom kraven för ett system inom tungindustrins leveranskedja. Skalbarheten av lösningen är beroende av kraven på säkerhet men är linjär i antalet certifikat som skickas och lagras. Resultaten visar också att den föreslagna lösningen inger mer tillit än en centraliserad lösning men att introducera blockkedjetekniken är en komplex process. Trovärdighet och garantier som ges av lösningen är till stor del beroende av komplexiteten vilket rapporten kommer fram till är det viktigaste för svensk tungindustri att ha i åtanke vid eventuell antagande av blockkedjeteknik.

The Swedish public sector is under constant pressure to improve processes and services through further digitalization. Blockchain is a novelty technology which shows promise of enabling functionalities which are desired within the sector. However, as the technology is still in its infancy, the practical value it could offer the sector remains unproven. In this master thesis, the socio-technical transition of the public sector for adopting blockchain is analyzed using the multi-level perspective framework. The sector is operationalized as an incumbent socio-technical regime and blockchain as a collection of niche innovations. Affordance theory and the multi-level perspective are combined to analyze how the perception of blockchain affects the potential transition pathways. The primary empirical data is gathered through a series of interviews with key individuals from both the Swedish public sector and blockchain community, as well as from attending blockchain events. Secondary data is gathered through the review of various types of literature regarding the topic. The findings of the thesis show that the practical value and functionalities that blockchain offers and that match the needs of the sector are verification, authentication, traceability, automating simple logical functions, and digitizing unique value. The identified conceptual solutions deemed suitable today are: blockchain for identity management, blockchain for data verification, blockchains for property registers of, e.g., vehicles and real estate, and external industry blockchains for improved traceability of, e.g., supply chains and sales records. The thesis also derives recommendations for the public sector indicating that, e.g., active education, revision of regulation, and international cooperation would further a potential transition towards blockchain. It also finds that perceived affordances of a technology in its early stages affect the transition pathways; barriers of entry, number of potential adopting application sectors, the level of coordination, and the available resources for development are influenced by the perceptions. / Svensk offentlig sektor utsätts konstant för påtryckningar gällande fortsatt digitalisering av processer och tjänster. Blockkedjan är en ny teknologi som påvisar potential att kunna tillgodose funktioner önskvärda inom den offentliga sektorn. Dock är teknologin fortfarande i ett begynnande stadie och dess praktiska värde är ännu obevisat. I detta examensarbete analyseras offentliga sektorns potentiella socio-tekniska övergång till att ta blockkedjor i bruk med hjälp av multinivåperspektiv-ramverket. Sektorn operationaliseras som en befintlig socio-teknisk regim och blockkedjor som en samling av nischinnovationer. Görlighetsteori och multinivåperspektivet kombineras för att analysera hur uppfattningen av blockkedjor påverkar de potentiella övergångsvägarna. Primära empiriska data samlas in genom en serie av intervjuer med nyckelindivider från både svensk offentlig sektor och blockkedjegemenskapen, samt även från deltagande i blockkedjearrangemang. Sekundära data samlas in genom en studie av diverse typer av litteratur gällande ämnet. Examensarbetets resultat påvisar att det praktiska värdet och funktionaliteterna som blockkedjor tillgodoser och som passar med offentliga sektorns behov är verifikation, autentisering, spårbarhet, automatisering av simpla logiska funktioner, samt digitalisering av unika värden. De identifierade konceptuella lösningarna som bedöms lämpliga i dagsläget är: blockkedja för identitetshantering, blockkedja för dataverifikation, blockkedjor för egendomsregister, t.ex. för fordon och bostäder, samt externa industriblockkedjor för förbättrad spårning, t.ex. av försörjningskedjor och försäljning. Examensarbetet härleder även rekommendationer till offentliga sektorn, innefattande exempelvis aktiv utbildning, revision av reglementen, samt internationellt samarbete. Resultaten påvisar även att den uppfattade görligheten av en teknologi i ett tidigt stadie av innovation påverkar övergångsvägarna in i en regim. Detta genom att uppfattningarna influerar inträdesbarriärer, antalet potentiella applikationssektorer, koordinationsnivån, samt mängden tillgängliga resurser.