【Abstract】This paper examined the acceptance of central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a payment method in the hos-pitality and tourism sectors. The characteristics of CBDC payment were discussed and the five-stage consumer adoption model served as a framework for advancing our knowledge about individuals' adoption process of payment innovation. In addition, this study involved consumer innovativeness as a moderating factor in the formation of consumer adoption behavior. Based on 423 responses collected from self-administrated online survey, we conducted the structural equation modeling analysis and metric invariance test. The proposed model, which incorporates innovation characteristics and the consumer adoption process, properly predicted consumer acceptance toward CBDC payment in buying hospitality and tourism products. Furthermore, the identified moderating role of consumer innovativeness in the relationships, such as one between interest and evaluation, and the other between evaluation and trial intention promoted a better understanding of the consumer adoption behavior toward payment innovation.
【Abstract】The life cycle of a drug begins with discovery and ends with its disposal. Drug discovery companies, drug manufacturers, regulatory agencies, suppliers, pharmacies, patients, healthcare providers, and many more are involved in this process. Transparency, traceability, automation, and data security are some of the most crucial factors affecting how effectively and safely the transactions are conducted across all parties involved in the cycle. By contrast, scalability, energy consumption, regulation, standards, and complexity hamper the adoption of new technology that is expected to fulfil these requirements. Here, we highlight how blockchain technology can track, accelerate, and boost the efficiency of incredibly complicated operations, such as pharmaceutical development.
【Abstract】This study aims to explore a social metaverse's positive effects as mood management on consumers' life satisfaction and usage intentions. A total of 304 survey responses from active users of a popular social metaverse platform, Zepeto, were collected with help from an online survey firm. Structural equation modeling analysis was conducted using AMOS 25.0. The direct paths from social metaverse consumption as positive mood enhancement and negative mood alleviation to consumers' life satisfaction were significant, which led to greater usage intentions. Positive mood enhancement influenced usage intentions both directly and indirectly through increased life satisfaction; however, the effect of negative mood alleviation on usage intentions was fully mediated by life satisfaction. Interestingly, for the players who spend money in the social metaverse, only the path from negative mood alleviation to usage intentions mediated by life satisfaction was significant.
【Abstract】Launching the central bank digital currency (CBDC) is increasingly recognized as a key priority by several governments. Unknown are, however, the primary factors of public support for the initiative and CBDC acceptance choices. Moreover, despite the fact that CBDC's success requires substantial public support, there is less empirical data of how the public perceives and speaks about it. This research seeks to fill in these gaps using Facebook data from May 2012 to April 2022 using deep learning algorithms for text mining. This research demonstrates that government performance, inflation rate, economic inequality, and technological literacy have a significant influence on the public's perception of CBDC. The government's support of CBDC is determined by public sentiment, the degree of adoption of decentralized finance (Defi), and monetary policy settings. The degree of wealth inequality and technological literacy are two other demographic elements that influence the government's adoption of CBDC.
【Abstract】The convergence of mobile edge computing (MEC) and blockchain is transforming the current computing services in mobile networks, by offering task offloading solutions with security enhancement empowered by blockchain mining. Nevertheless, these important enabling technologies have been studied separately in most existing works. This article proposes a novel cooperative task offloading and block mining (TOBM) scheme for a blockchain-based MEC system where each edge device not only handles data tasks but also deals with block mining for improving the system utility. To address the latency issues caused by the blockchain operation in MEC, we develop a new Proof-of-Reputation consensus mechanism based on a lightweight block verification strategy. A multi-objective function is then formulated to maximize the system utility of the blockchain-based MEC system, by jointly optimizing offloading decision, channel selection, transmit power allocation, and computational resource allocation. We propose a novel distributed deep reinforcement learning-based approach by using a multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm. We then develop a game-theoretic solution to model the offloading and mining competition among edge devices as a potential game, and prove the existence of a pure Nash equilibrium. Simulation results demonstrate the significant system utility improvements of our proposed scheme over baseline approaches.
【Abstract】The past few years have witnessed an exponential growth of diverse Internet of Things (IoT) devices as well as compelling applications ranging from industrial production to medical care. Dramatic advances in IoT technology not only brought enormous economic opportunities but also challenges (e.g., privacy and security vulnerabilities). Recently, with the appearance of blockchain technology, the integration of IoT and blockchain (BCoT) is considered a promising solution to address these issues. Blockchain provides a secure and scalable data management framework for IoT devices. However, the huge computation and energy cost of the consensus process in blockchain prevents it from being directly applied as a generic platform. To overcome this challenge, in this article, we propose a cloud mining pool-aided BCoT architecture, where the IoT devices can rent the computing resources from the cloud mining pools to offload the mining process. Based on this architecture, we study the mining pool selection problem and analyze the colony behaviors of IoT devices with different pooling strategies. We propose a centralized evolutionary game-based pool selection algorithm for the sake of maximizing the system utility. Considering the non-cooperative relationship among multiple miners, we also propose a lightweight distributed reinforcement learning algorithm, named the 'WoLF-PHC' algorithm.
【Abstract】In this study we advance the understanding of the spillovers and connectedness network among conventional and Islamic BRICS stock markets, cryptos (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin) and various global uncertainties, using a quantile vector autoregression method and daily data covering the period October 8, 2016, to May 28, 2021. Further, the study uses a network and sensitivity analyses to assess the nexus, examines risk causes, and the transfer paths in these markets under bearish, normal, and bullish markets. The evidence offers major findings. First, the overall static and dynamic connectedness is very high and more intense at extreme events. Second, the network connectedness structure shows that the markets have played both roles: net transmitters and receivers of shocks under several market states. Finally, the sensitivity to quantiles analysis shows switching behavior of net transfer spillovers over the quantiles. This could be beneficial to investors aiming at optimizing hedging strategies. Policymakers should consider carefully the overall network connectedness in the market system and formulate appropriate policies to conceive stock market price sensitivity.
【Abstract】In a college classroom in the Indian city of Bangalore last August, Moiz Ahmed held up a volleyball-size chrome globe with a glass-covered opening at its center. Ahmed explained to the students that if they had their irises scanned with the device, known as the Orb, they would be rewarded with 25 Worldcoins, a soon-to-be released cryptocurrency. The scan, he said, was to make sure they hadn't signed up before. That's because Worldcoin, the company behind the project, wants to create the most widely and evenly distributed cryptocurrency ever by giving every person on the planet the same small allocation of coins.
【Abstract】This paper uses the advantages of blockchain technology to help construction enterprises obtain low-interest bank loans, effectively reduce financing costs, thus improving the level of financial supply chain, innovating financial management (FM) of construction enterprises, solving the FM transformation problem of construction enterprises and promoting the sustainable development of construction enterprises, and thus doing the following work. First, this paper describes the concept and characteristics of BT and the motivation of FM of construction enterprises to use BT. Second, it analyses BT's three main application advantages in construction enterprise financing: reducing financial risks, improving the credit penetration of core enterprises, and reducing financing costs. Meanwhile, this paper summarizes the problems that should be paid attention to in implementing the current financial supply chain management strategy in enterprises. It provides a solid theoretical foundation for the research of FM transformation in construction enterprises. Finally, the overall design and functional analysis of the BT FM platform are carried out. The functions of the BT FM platform are divided into four modules: system management, credit management, contract management, and information management. Besides, their specific business processes are analysed. The research results show that BT is applicable in enterprises, and the value of each participant's financing platform can be clearly defined from the construction of BT-based financing platform. The income quota of the owner's individual operation is 33%, and the income quota of the tripartite cooperation is also 33%, which further illustrates the effectiveness of the financial financing model of construction enterprises based on BT and the feasibility of its actual implementation in the future. In this paper, the related issues of financial supply chain management are systematically and comprehensively summarized, which has theoretical guiding significance for the research of FM transformation of construction enterprises based on BT.
【Abstract】The study investigates the implications of companies' adoption of blockchain technology on accounting information quality. Based on a sample of 33,242 firm-year observations from A-share companies listed on China's stock exchanges in 2007-2019, we find evidence that blockchain technology adoption significantly improves accounting information quality. Further, additional tests demonstrate that the mechanism of blockchain exerting its positive effect include strengthening corporate governance and realising synergies with large audit firms, while cross-sectional tests show that its positive effect on accounting information quality is attenuated if the company is in an industry with high IT development or has experienced an audit firm change. Economic consequence tests show that the adoption of blockchain is conducive to companies' financing behaviour, as well as to overall firm value. Consequently, our results suggest the positive effect of blockchain technology on accounting information quality.
【Abstract】Short and Distort (S &D) is a price manipulation scheme in the futures trading market. In recent years, S &D has become increasingly rampant due to the emergence of Bitcoin futures. While existing research has just begun to notice this phenomenon, this article presents the first detailed empirical study, where we examine the information available on S &D, synthesize it with cryptocurrencies, then propose a problematic definition and discriminatory criteria for S &D in Bitcoin futures. Besides, we provide a typical S &D case study, where we build a model to implement real-time detection of S &D in perpetual and term contracts, exhibiting higher accuracy and robustness compared to other related studies. Results show significant S &D manipulation in both perpetual and term contracts that the proposed model can effectively detect. Furthermore, the Binance exchange is relatively secure among selected exchanges, and the Bittrex exchange is the most likely to suffer from S &D.
