Ledger: Announcements

Call for Papers: Blockchains and Sustainability

2022-09-07T15:03:54-04:00

Ledger is seeking submissions of original research and scholarly review for a peer-reviewed special issue on the topic of Blockchains and Sustainability.

In recent years, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies have come under fire for sustainability reasons—for example the contribution of proof-of-work mining to the climate crisis and the increasing production of e-waste from the blockchain sector of the economy—the impacts of which are commonly perceived to be disproportionate to the value they contribute to society. In this special issue, Ledger would like to use its position as a peer-reviewed, academic journal to explore rather than litigate the subject, to highlight new research into the sustainability of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies: the problems they can present, the solutions being developed, and the opportunities for them to contribute to a more sustainable world.

Potential topics might include:

- The use of blockchains to develop circular economies
- Scalability and power usage of various consensus algorithms
- Impacts of growing sectors of the crypto-economy on carbon emissions
- Sustainability regulation/use of sandboxes to test sustainability regulation
- Sustainability of unregulated/free-market cryptocurrency-based economic systems
- Potential blockchain-based climate solutions
- The intersection of blockchains and carbon markets

Potential authors should not limit themselves to this list, but rather take a more expansive approach to the topic. If in doubt about the appropriateness of a topic, authors are encouraged to reach out to our editorial team.

Submissions will be accepted through the end of the calendar year, though earlier submissions are appreciated, in order to give more time for the peer review process. Publication is slated for Q2 of 2023.
Submissions should be made through the submission portal at ledgerjournal.org, with reference made to the special issue in the submission’s accompanying cover letter.

Questions and comments should be directed to Dr. Richard Ford Burley at ledger.editors@pitt.edu. Please include the words “Blockchain and Sustainability” in the subject field to speed up responses.

Ledger Call for Papers (Volume 7, 2022)

2022-04-11T12:10:51-04:00

Now in its seventh year of publication, Ledger—the first peer-reviewed journal dedicated entirely to the study of cryptocurrencies and shared ledgers—is open for submissions!

We are currently seeking:

General Submissions
(Ongoing / Rolling Submissions)

Ledger is seeking full-length articles describing original research in all areas related to cryptocurrency and its intersection with mathematics, computer science, engineering, law, policy, economics, and more. Submissions related to all areas of cryptocurrency research are welcome, including (but not limited to) the following topics:

Sustainability and environmental impact of various cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies
Research into and comparisons of consensus mechanisms (PoW, PoS, DPoS, PoST, etc.)
Research into blockchain scaling solutions
Research into so-called "Play to Earn" games and NFTs
Comparison of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based technologies with CBDCs and other digital financial instruments
Development of new cryptocurrency algorithms and protocols
Analysis of existing cryptocurrency algorithms and protocols
New cryptographic methods for cryptocurrencies
Network analysis of transactions on public ledgers
Macroeconomic studies of cryptocurrencies
Computer hardware design of new components
Novel applications of cryptocurrencies
Legal commentary on cryptocurrency uses
Finance and the impact of decentralized ledgers on markets
Sociological studies of the implications of the rise of cryptocurrencies
Analysis of proposed changes to the protocols of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrency protocols

Please note that now as ever we are an open-access journal, and our published papers are indexed by a number of high-quality indexing services, including Web of Science (through its Emerging Sources Citation Index), Scopus, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and Google Scholar.

To submit, find Word and LaTeX templates, and see cover letter requirements, please consult the Submissions link below and the Author Guidelines section found there.

http://ledgerjournal.org/ojs/ledger/about/submissions

Ledger is published by Pitt Open Library Publishing, an imprint of the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh. Unless otherwise stated, articles in the journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Call For Papers EXTENDED: Blockchains and Decentralized Identification

2021-04-12T13:50:06-04:00

Update: Due to popular request, the deadline for this Call for Papers has been EXTENDED to 30 June 2021!

Ledger is currently seeking submissions for a special issue on the topic of Blockchains and Decentralized Identities and Identification (DID), to be published in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The trend toward digitization and the increasing number of digitized services have created a need for safe and secure digital identities and identification processes. On one hand, interoperability, regulations, and governance require something like a common framework for identities; on the other hand, data protection, self-sovereignity and heterogeneity call for decentralization—such as is provided by blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.

Worldwide, a countless number of projects are developing methods, interfaces, use cases, and standards for decentralized identities (DID) and identification. Examples are company-based projects and products such as Lissi or SelF (https://self-ssi.com/de/), EBSI hosted by the European Union (https://ec.europa.eu/cefdigital/wiki/display/CEFDIGITAL/EBSI), ESSIF (https://essif-lab.eu/), and sovrin (https://sovrin.org/) as an international identity project.

This trend has encouraged us—the editors of Ledger—to open a call-for-papers for research on or academic or scholarly solutions about blockchain-based, distributed ledger-based, or other decentralized identity systems.

There are no further restrictions on topics or use cases.

If you are:

Developing or contributing to a DID-solution using blockchains, ledgers, or other distributed systems, and
You have research work to be published
In a free, open-access journal*

then you are cordially invited to submit a scholarly paper or to volunteer to serve as a reviewer.

Submission Deadline EXTENDED: 30 June 2021
Timeline: Due to the extended deadline, publication is now expected in the fourth quarter of 2021.

If you have questions or suggestions, please contact the principal editor of the special issue, Prof. Dr. Volker Skwarek, directly, at volker.skwarek@haw-hamburg.de. Please include "Blockchain and DID" in the subject of your email.

Submissions should be made through the usual submission process at ledgerjournal.org, with reference made to the special issue in your cover letter.

Submit at:
ledgerjournal.org
Submission Guidelines:
http://ledger.pitt.edu/ojs/ledger/about/submissions
LaTeX Template:
https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/ledger-journal-template/pxqkcbbgdfvj
Word Template:
http://ledger.pitt.edu/ojs/public/journals/1/WordTemplate_01.docx

* Ledger is committed to the elimination of financial barriers to publication. We only charge fees from authors who volunteer that they have specific, institutional coverage intended to support open-access publication, as these fees allow us to cover some of the expenses of our independent and pro-bono work.

Call For Papers: Blockchains and Decentralized Identification

2021-03-18T12:16:51-04:00

Ledger is currently seeking submissions for a special issue on the topic of Blockchains and Decentralized Identities and Identification (DID), to be published in the third or fourth quarter of 2021.

The trend toward digitization and the increasing number of digitized services have created a need for safe and secure digital identities and identification processes. On one hand, interoperability, regulations, and governance require something like a common framework for identities; on the other hand, data protection, self-sovereignity and heterogeneity call for decentralization—such as is provided by blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.

Worldwide, a countless number of projects are developing methods, interfaces, use cases, and standards for decentralized identities (DID) and identification. Examples are company-based projects and products such as Lissi or SelF (https://self-ssi.com/de/), EBSI hosted by the European Union (https://ec.europa.eu/cefdigital/wiki/display/CEFDIGITAL/EBSI), ESSIF (https://essif-lab.eu/), and sovrin (https://sovrin.org/) as an international identity project.

This trend has encouraged us—the editors of Ledger—to open a call-for-papers for research on or academic or scholarly solutions about blockchain-based, distributed ledger-based, or other decentralized identity systems.

There are no further restrictions on topics or use cases.

If you are:

Developing or contributing to a DID-solution using blockchains, ledgers, or other distributed systems, and
You have research work to be published
In a free, open-access journal*

then you are cordially invited to submit a scholarly paper or to volunteer to serve as a reviewer.

Submission Deadline: 30 April 2021
Timeline: The first round of reviews is expected to be finished by the end of June, with final versions of papers submitted in July and August or as revisions require. Publication is expected in the late third or early fourth quarter of 2021.

If you have questions or suggestions, please contact the principal editor of the special issue, Prof. Dr. Volker Skwarek, directly, at volker.skwarek@haw-hamburg.de. Please include "Blockchain and DID" in the subject of your email.

Submissions should be made through the usual submission process at ledgerjournal.org, with reference made to the special issue in your cover letter.

Submit at:
ledgerjournal.org
Submission Guidelines:
http://ledger.pitt.edu/ojs/ledger/about/submissions
LaTeX Template:
https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/ledger-journal-template/pxqkcbbgdfvj
Word Template:
http://ledger.pitt.edu/ojs/public/journals/1/WordTemplate_01.docx

* Ledger is committed to the elimination of financial barriers to publication. We only charge fees from authors who volunteer that they have specific, institutional coverage intended to support open-access publication, as these fees allow us to cover some of the expenses of our independent and pro-bono work.

Ledger News & Updates #2 is live!

2021-02-23T12:08:24-05:00

The first quarter 2021 edition of our newsletter, Ledger News & Updates, is now live! Check out the following link to hear the latest from Ledger, including a special call for papers, an inforgraphic about the first five years of the journal, and a big thank you to our supporters!

You can find the newsletter here, and you can sign up to have it sent directly to you inbox here!

Coming Soon: Ledger News & Updates

2020-10-12T10:55:54-04:00

Dear Ledger Subscribers,

Thank you so much for your continuing interest in Ledger and in the peer-reviewed research we provide to the cryptocurrency and blockchain research communities. You are the reason we’re still publishing after five years and why, only five years in, we’re already included in major indexes like Web of Science and (coming very soon) Scopus!

This note is to tell you that we will soon be changing the way we reach out to you, the reader, about new articles, calls for papers, and important developments at Ledger.

Next month we will be launching Ledger: News and Updates, an infrequent newsletter to replace notifications like these. It’s going to be more convenient, easier to manage, and nicer on the eyes.

Because our journal’s software backbone is geared toward peer review more than reader outreach, we will be using MailChimp to manage the newsletter, which means different things for you depending on where you are in the world.

If you are not in the EU, then you are already subscribed and you do not need to do anything else. We sincerely hope you’ll enjoy our news and updates, but if you don’t, there will be a one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom.

If you are in the EU, then you will need to actively subscribe to the newsletter by going to this link and entering your name and email address (that’s it!).

Either way, we very much hope that you will stay connected with us, and from everyone here at Ledger, thank you for reading.

Sincerely,

The Ledger Editorial Team

-----------------------------------
Christopher Wilmer, Managing Editor

Peter Rizun, Managing Editor

Richard Ford Burley, Deputy Managing Editor

Peter Nichol, Editor

Daniel Salmon, Editor

Jason Shim, Editor

Volker Skwarek, Editor

Konstantinos Stylianou, Editor

Call for Papers, Ledger Volume 5 (2020)

2020-02-20T12:44:33-05:00

Now in its fifth year of publication, Ledger—the first peer-reviewed journal dedicated entirely to the study of cryptocurrencies and shared ledgers—is open for submissions!

Ledger publishes full-length articles describing original research in all areas related to cryptocurrency and its intersection with mathematics, computer science, engineering, law and economics. Manuscripts are selected based on conceptual advancement, novelty, technical quality, and general interest to the journal’s audience. Submissions of articles related to all areas of cryptocurrency research are welcome, including (but not limited to) the following topics:

Development of new cryptocurrency computer algorithms/protocols
Analysis of existing cryptocurrency algorithms/protocols
New cryptographic methods for cryptocurrencies
Network analysis of transactions on public ledgers
Macroeconomic studies of cryptocurrencies
Computer hardware design of new components
Novel applications of cryptocurrencies
Legal commentary on cryptocurrency uses
Finance and the effect of decentralized ledgers on markets
Sociological studies of the implications of the rise of cryptocurrencies
Analysis of proposed changes to the Bitcoin protocol, etc.

Please note that now as ever we are an open-access journal, our published papers are indexed by Google Scholar, and we do not charge any author fees whatsoever.

To submit, find Word and LaTeX templates, and see cover letter requirements, please consult the Submissions link below and the Author Guidelines section found there.

http://ledgerjournal.org/ojs/ledger/about/submissions

Ledger is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as a part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is co-sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press.

A New Look And Feel For Ledger

2020-01-28T14:52:55-05:00

This week, the backend software Ledger runs on was upgraded from OJS 2 to OJS 3. While this isn't likey to affect most readers, it does come with some significant workflow improvements for our team, as well as a nice refresh to the site's image. We hope you'll find it a little cleaner and a little easier to navigate, and that you'll bear with us as any unforseen bugs pop up and are dealt with in due course. Thanks for joining us as we head into our fifth year of publication!

Ledger Awarded Pitt Cyber Accelerator Grant

2018-11-07T14:15:23-05:00

The Editorial Team at Ledger is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a Pitt Cyber Accelerator Grant by the Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security at the University of Pittsburgh, in order to help develop the journal and expand its capabilities.

The funding will support Ledger's development in the cryptocurrency studies space, and spur further involvement with the University of Pittsburgh's academic community.

Ledger would like to express its sincerest thanks to the Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security and the University of Pittsburgh for continuing to help support the peer review process and the important work the journal performs for the community.

Decentralized 2018 – Europe’s premier blockchain event (14-16 November; Athens, Greece)

2018-09-16T00:00:00-04:00

After the success of Decentralized 2017 event, University of Nicosia is organizing Decentralized 2018, the largest and most in-depth event of its kind in Europe, focused on the business and political implications of blockchain technologies, this year’s event will feature 1200+ attendees and 70+ world renowned industry leaders and academics from the Blockchain and Crypto industry.

Date: 14-16 November - Venue: Divani Caravel, Athens, Greece
Keynote Speakers: Jameson Lopp (Founder Mensa Bitcoin SIG), Spiros Margaris (Top Fintech influencer), Peter Rizun (Chief Scientist, Bitcoin Unlimited), Antonis Polemitis (CEO of University of Nicosia), Garrick Hileman (Head of Research at Blockchain Luxemburg S.A), Eva Kaili (Member of European Parliament).

Register now: www.Decentralized.com

The academic track welcomes research contributions that arise from various fields of blockchain technology with the potential of shaping our present and creating alternative futures. It covers broadly the many aspects of theoretical and applied traits of decentralized ledgers to complement the main conference program of Decentralized 2018.

Submit your abstract here: https://www.decentralized.com/call-for-papers/

University of Nicosia is widely regarded as the leading university in the world in Digital Currency and Blockchain education and research, with a number of firsts in the industry, to name a few:

• The first university in the world to accept Bitcoin as a method of payment for tuition fees

• The first university in the world to create a digital currency course (MOOC), DFIN-511: Introduction to Digital Currencies, featuring experts Andreas Antonopoulos and Antonis Polemitis has been followed by over 20,000 people

• The first university in the world to upload graduates certifications on the blockchain

• The only university in the world to offer an MSc in Digital Currencies

See you at Decentralized 2018!

Ledger Receives Additional Funding from Bitcoin Unlimited

2018-08-27T14:43:08-04:00

The Editorial Team at Ledger is pleased to announce that it has received subsequent funding from Bitcoin Unlimited to continue to help improve the research journal's publication process and to increase Ledger's visibility in the broader cryptocurrency studies community. The funding will support staffing and travel to conferences by journal representatives, in order to help the journal to both publish new and exciting blockchain and cryptocurrency research and to help disseminate that research after publication.

Ledger would like to express its sincerest thanks to Bitcoin Unlimited for continuing to help support the peer review process and the important work the journal performs for the community.

Volume 2 (2017) Is Now Complete!

2017-12-20T09:08:50-05:00

The Editorial Team at Ledger would like to announce the completion of our second year of publishing excellent, peer-reviewed work on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology research!

Many thanks go out to all those who chose to work with us this year, to those kind reviewers who dedicated their time and energy to making the peer-review process work, and to our readers, for staying with us all year.

In this volume we present five peer-reviewed papers:

"Equihash: Asymmetric Proof-of-Work Based on the Generalized Birthday Problem," by Alex Biryukov and Dmitry Khovratovich,

"Bitcoin Mining as a Contest," by Nicola Dimitri,

"From Smileys to Smileycoins: Using a Cryptocurrency in Education," by Gunnar Stefansson and Jamie Lentin,

"What Diplomacy in the Ancient Near East Can Tell Us About Blockchain Technology," by Chris Berg, and

"Funding Science with Science: Cryptocurrency and Independent Academic Research Funding," by Edward Lehner, Dylan Hunzeker, and John R. Ziegler.

We hope you will take some time to give them a read!

We would also like to take this moment to remind you that our call for papers is always open, and that we publish on a rolling basis as papers clear the peer-review process. We already have some papers in the works that will be appearing in early 2018, so check back for more soon.

Once again, from the Editorial Team at Ledger, we would like to thank you for another great year.

See you in 2018!

Call For Presentations (Satoshi's Vision Conference)

2017-12-13T13:26:53-05:00

[Download full CFP here]

Bitcoin Unlimited Presents:

Satoshi’s Vision Conference | Tokyo, Japan | 23-25 March 2018

Call For Presentations

Following the Satoshi’s Vision Conference held in San Francisco in 2016, and the Bitcoin Unlimited sponsored The Future of Bitcoin Conference held in Arnhem 2017, Bitcoin Unlimited brings you another premier event. Satoshi’s Vision Conference Tokyo will bring together developers, researchers, businesses, and Bitcoin Cash and other cryptocurrency enthusiasts from around the world.

We welcome topics including:

• Protocol Research and Development, in areas such as:
◦ Massive on-chain scaling technologies
◦ Pre-consensus techniques for improving rapid payments
◦ Advanced scripting capabilities, block chain tokens and colored coins

• Software development topics inclusive of multiple cryptocurrencies and software projects

• Economics, Game Theory, and Governance

• How to make Bitcoin Cash the best money the world has ever seen

Please submit presentation proposals to: presentations@satoshisvisionconference.com

Submissions should be 1-2 pages in length. Please outline the topic of the proposed talk, why it is important, and include a description of what the attendees will learn.

Proposals due 15 January 2018

Follow us at www.satoshisvisionconference.com or on Twitter @satoshis_vision

Ledger: Call for Papers | 2017 October 24

2017-10-24T14:55:51-04:00

The journal Ledger invites authors to submit their original research to the very first peer-reviewed academic publication devoted solely to the field of cryptocurrencies and its related subtopics. This nascent field of research is highly interdisciplinary, sitting at the intersection of computer science, cryptography, economics, engineering, finance, law, mathematics, and politics. Due to its novelty and wide-ranging nature, cryptocurrency studies has not found a comfortable home in any traditional journal, and it is thus our ongoing mission to create and maintain a purpose-built vehicle for the leading research in the field.

We welcome papers of up to four thousand words detailing new ideas and perspectives on any relevant topic, including but not limited to the technical, social, economic, and philosophical developments and implications of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, public and decentralized ledgers, distributed consensus, and more. Interested authors should consult the submissions and policies sections on the Ledger website for more details on our focus and scope, submission methods, transparent peer-review process, author guidelines, and open-access policy. Ledger has transitioned to a rolling acceptances model, and will consider submissions on an ongoing basis. We welcome inquiries by e-mail at ledger@pitt.edu.

Ledger is the first peer-reviewed journal devoted to the inherently interdisciplinary subject of cryptocurrencies, and is proud to be supported by its distinguished editorial board. It is published quarterly by the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh as an open-access journal and does not charge author fees. Ledger timestamps all published articles in the Bitcoin blockchain, and encourages authors to digitally sign their manuscripts. For further information please visit ledgerjournal.org.

"Bitcoin Mining as a Contest": New paper published

2017-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

Ledger: Call for Reviewers | 2017 May 15

2017-05-15T12:22:05-04:00

Ledger, the first peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies, is seeking reviewers with expertise in all related disciplines, including but not limited to:

Mathematics
Computer science
Engineering
Cryptography
Game theory
Economics
Finance
Politics
Law
Related cross-disciplinary humanities subjects

Reviewers should be interested in cryptocurrencies and/or blockchain technologies and willing to provide timely, detailed feedback on at least two papers per calendar year. By serving as a reviewer, you will be directly improving the level of rigor within the cryptocurrency communities and helping this nascent field of research mature.

To sign up, please visit https://ledgerjournal.org to register as a reader, and then email ledger.editors@pitt.edu with the subject heading [Reviewer Sign-Up: Your Name]. In the body of your email please state your reviewing interests and any other preferences.

The Future of Bitcoin Conference, Arnhem, The Netherlands, June 30 - July 1, 2017

2017-05-11T11:48:32-04:00

The team at Ledger would like to draw attention the upcoming deadline (15 May) for presentation submissions to The Future of Bitcoin Conference.

https://www.thefutureofbitcoin.com/#call-for-proposals

The conference aims to be an open and inclusive venue for researchers, developers, industry and enthusiasts to meet in person, present their work, and discuss Bitcoin's issues of today and tomorrow.

Have a paper you would like to share with the world? Why not present your work at The Future of Bitcoin Conference!

Ledger receives grant from Bitcoin Unlimited

2017-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

The Editorial Team at Ledger is pleased to announce that it has received a grant from Bitcoin Unlimited to help improve the research journal's publication process.

As described in the proposal for funding, we intend to "(1) decrease the average turnaround time (from submission to the first round of reviewer of feedback) to 6 weeks from its current time of 12+ weeks, (2) increase the average number of reviewers per article from 2.5 to 3.5, and (3) to publish 12-15 articles in 2017."

The bulk of this grant will be used to fund Richard Ford Burley as a part-time editor, and Ledger's only paid member of the otherwise-all-volunteer Editorial Team. Richard has a degree in English and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Boston College. He has extensive writing/editing/publishing experience and is broadly knowledgeable about Bitcoin.

Update On Our Progress at Ledger

2016-07-03T14:42:14-04:00

The purpose of this post is to update the community on our progress getting Ledger, the first peer-reviewed academic journal for cryptocurrency research, off the ground.

Two of the stated aims of the journal were to encourage greater involvement by academics in cryptocurrency and to foster a culture of rigorous analysis and peer-review within the Bitcoin community. Since our call for papers on September 15, 2015, we have received over 50 submissions, including many from academics, of which roughly half (24) were sent out for peer review. A total of 58 external reviews have been completed, comprising hundreds of pages of critical feedback for the authors. Thanks to the support from our distinguished Editorial Board, the commitment of our dedicated editors, and the hard work of expert reviewers within the community, the journal is beginning to achieve these two aims.

Peer-review is a time consuming process that requires cooperative interaction between authors, reviewers and editors. Ledger's average time between manuscript submission to notification of editorial decision was 8 weeks. This can be broken down as 6.2 weeks for papers where the decision was "decline," 8.2 weeks for papers where the decision was "resubmit," and 14 weeks for papers where the decision was "revisions required." Although this is already comparable to similar academic journals, we intend to further streamline our process and expand our network of expert reviewers, to keep pace with the speed of innovation in the nascent field of cryptocurrency research.

There is still work head of us. Another stated aim of the journal was to spur the aggregation and filtering of important content generated by cryptocurrency practitioners. We feel there still exists an "impedance mismatch” here in that a great deal of excellent ideas are left partially developed as blog posts or abandoned Github repos, while academics may write careful papers on topics less relevant to the practice of cryptocurrency development. An idea to help overcome this impedance mismatch is partnering practitioners with academics (especially graduate students): one to do, and the other to chronicle. If you are a graduate student and looking for ideas for research papers or connections with active developers, please contact us at ledger@pitt.edu to discuss.

As we work on assembling a first edition of the journal over the next few months, we look forward to receiving additional high-quality submissions for our future editions.

Call for Papers (special issue of the Metaphilosophy journal)

2016-05-11T00:00:00-04:00

[Download full CFP here]

The scope of Metaphilosophy is to consider a wide variety of philosophical approaches, schools, methods, and fields, and accordingly invites the broad philosophical investigation of topics related to blockchain technology. This Metaphilosophy special journal issue welcomes submissions of papers (4,000-5,000 words) addressing these and any other related topics:

Organizational models: hierarchical, decentralized, hybrid, complex adaptive systems
Inter-agent coordination systems, human-technology relations, algorithmic reality
Individual and society: digital social realities, social contracts, and rules of law
Blockchains and cognition, learning, artificial intelligence, automated memory
Parts-whole; global-local; atomism-holism; plurality-monolithicity; materialism-idealism; digital-physical realities; immune systems (porous-fixed); organicism
Intelligent agent reputation systems, consensus trust, network reality, system design, checks and balances, good-agent behavior; producing social reality; automation economy
Blockchains and automation: smart contracts, Dapps, DAOs, DACs, DCOs, DASs
Blockchain-enabled technology entities: IoT, drones, robotics, cognitive enhancement
Blockchains and mining: decentralized participative ecosystems, innovation
Blockchain temporality: blocktime, programmable time, contingent time, futurity, historicity, virtual reality, cloud computing, temporal multiplicity
Blockchain sociality: social good-social pathology; abundance-scarcity; transcendence-immanence; microaggression-recognition; forms of life, blockchain language grammars; virtue; happiness (hedonic-eudaimonic); personal utility functions, actualization
Blockchain Aesthetics: digital morality, computational ethics modules; moral pluralism

Address for submissions (via e-mail or regular mail by October 1, 2016 to):

Metaphilosophy (John Wiley & Sons)

Department of Philosophy

Southern Connecticut State University

501 Crescent Street

New Haven, CT 06515, USA

E-mail: metaphil@southernct.edu

Call for Papers (10th Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems)

2016-04-26T15:18:46-04:00

Call for Papers

Digital Currencies, Digital Payments and Blockchain Applications Track

10th Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, 4-6 September 2016, Paphos, Cyprus (http://mcis2016.eu/).

The birth of digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, began as a renegade novelty a few years ago. However, nowadays it has drawn the attention of researchers and financial institutions worldwide. The popularity of digital currencies has grown immensely in the past few years, prompting a rising amount of research from academics to practitioners. The nature of crypto-currencies poses ever growing challenges and debates in relation to its structure for mining digital currencies, lower transaction costs, lack of legal framework, substantial price volatility and the debate of (un)certainty in privacy and security. Moreover, the technology behind digital currencies, namely blockchains, has grasped the attention of researchers and has been hailed as a major breakthrough, both in Information Technology and in Finance.

The track will feature research papers that focus on problems that cut across Digital Currencies, Digital Payment Systems, and Blockchain Applications, including, but not limited to: The Nature of Digital Currencies • Mining Crypto-currencies • Crypto-currency Exchange Markets • Financial Instruments/Markets with Digital Currencies • Regulatory Frameworks in Digital Monetary Systems • Types of Crypto-Currencies: inter-relation, competition and performance • Risk Management and Digital Currencies • Crypto-Currencies and Privacy / Security • Blockchain Applications: Smart Contracts, Fintech, Insurtech, etc.

Submission Deadline: 22 May 2016

Track Chairs:

George M. Giaglis, Athens University of Economics and Business

Svetlana Sapuric, University of Nicosia

Ledger welcomes Dr. Michael Kumhof from the Bank of England to its Editorial Board, along with three new editors.

2016-02-02T11:40:43-05:00

Ledger is very excited to announce the addition of economist and researcher Michael Kumhof to its Editorial Board. Dr. Kumhof is Senior Research Advisor in the new Research Hub of the Bank of England, where he co-leads and helps to formulate its research agenda. His main research interests include monetary reform (including digital currencies), the role of banks in the macro-economy, and the role of economic inequality in causing imbalances and crisis.

Prior to his position with the Bank of England, he served as Deputy Division Chief in the International Monetary Fund’s Modeling Division. In his 2012 IMF working paper, “The Chicago Plan Revisited,” he and co-author Jaromir Benes analyze the banking reforms proposed by University of Chicago economists in the wake of the Great Depression—but applied to the economy and monetary system of today. Of interest to the cryptocurrency community, a key feature of the Chicago Plan was that it “called for the separation of the monetary and credit functions of the banking system,” by “requiring 100% backing of deposits,” and by “ensuring that the financing of new bank credit can only take place through earnings that have been retained” and “not through the creation of new deposits, ex nihilo, by banks.” In analyzing this plan, Kumhof also considers the origin and nature of money in Chapter II, rejecting the “barter theory” in favor of the existence of informal credit systems.

Michael taught economics at Stanford University from 1998 to 2004 and worked in corporate banking for Barclays Bank from 1988 to 1993. He is also well-known for his published work, which has appeared in the journals AER, JME, AEJ Macro, JIE, JEDC, JMCB, EER, and the Journal of Macroeconomics, among others.

We are honored to have Dr. Kumhof join us and we look forward to working with him. Welcome Michael!

***

At this time, we are also pleased to introduce three new editors to the editorial team at Ledger:

Charles Evans joins us from Miami, Florida, USA. Prof. Evans is Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at Barry University and Executive Director of Conscious Entrepreneurship Foundation, which promotes the use of Bitcoin and other fintech innovations among the 80+% of the world's population that is unbanked or underbanked. Welcome Charles!

Antony Zegers joins us from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Mr. Zegers holds a M.A.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, is a long-time Bitcoin enthusiast, and for twelve years performed operational research and analysis for Defence Research and Development Canada. Welcome Antony!

Josh Westmoreland joins us from Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, where he works as an attorney with interests in the legal implications of Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Josh is also an advocate of scholarly publishing, having previously served as Senior Articles Editor for the Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review. Welcome Josh!

Transition to Rolling Submissions

2016-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

The Editorial Team at Ledger is pleased to announce the beginning of rolling submissions to the journal. Authors may submit manuscripts of up to four thousand words detailing original research and reviews on any relevant topic, including but not limited to the technical, social, economic, and philosophical developments and implications of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, public and decentralized ledgers, distributed consensus, and more. Interested authors should consult the submissions and policies sections on the Ledger website for more details on our focus and scope, submission methods, transparent peer-review process, author guidelines, and open-access policy. Submissions up to 15 January 2016 may be considered for the inaugural edition, contingent upon a timely review process and other editorial decisions. All submissions will be considered for subsequent issues on an ongoing basis. We welcome inquiries by e-mail at ledger@pitt.edu.

Reminder: Deadline for Inaugural Issue is 31 December 2015

2015-12-17T00:00:00-05:00

The Editorial Team at Ledger wishes to remind authors that the submission deadline (31 December 2015) for the journal's inaugural edition is rapidly approaching. We welcome papers of up to four thousand words detailing new ideas and perspectives on any relevant topic, including but not limited to the technical, social, economic, and philosophical developments and implications of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, public and decentralized ledgers, distributed consensus, and more. Interested authors should consult the submissions and policies sections on the Ledger website for more details on our focus and scope, submission methods, transparent peer-review process, author guidelines, and open-access policy. We will consider submissions after 31 December 2015 for subsequent issues on an ongoing basis.

Ledger Welcomes Five New Members To Its Editorial Team

2015-10-15T00:00:00-04:00

Ledger is a highly interdisciplinary journal and it takes many experts to cover all of the areas that cryptocurrency touches. Since announcing our Call for Papers, we have added five new outstanding members, collectively covering the fields of economics, business, quantitative systems analysis, and cryptography. We are very excited to introduce Catherine Mulligan, William Knottenbelt, George Giaglis, Shin’ichiro Matsuo and Jon Matonis.

Catherine Mulligan joins us from Imperial College London where she is a research fellow in the Business School and also in the Department of Computer Science. Together with William Knottenbelt (see below), she is the co-director of a new center at the university called the Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering. Welcome Cathy!

William Knottenbelt is also joining us from Imperial College London, where he is a Professor of Applied Quantitative Analysis and Director of Industrial Liaison in the Department of Computing. With Catherine Mulligan (above) he is the co-director of the Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering. Welcome Will!

Joining us from Greece is George Giaglis, who is Vice Rector and Professor of eBusiness at the Athens University of Economics and Business. He has published more than 150 articles in leading journals and international conferences, including the Information Systems Journal, the International Journal of Electronic Commerce, and the International Journal of Information Management. Since 2014, he is academic co-director of the world’s first Master’s degree in Digital Currency, offered by the University of Nicosia. Welcome George!

Joining us from Japan, Shin'ichiro Matsuo is a research scientist on cryptography and cryptographic protocols. He founded the CELLOS consortium (Cryptographic protocol Evaluation toward Long-Lived Outstanding Security) on the security evaluation of cryptographic protocol and he is chair of its technical working group. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers and peer-reviewed international conference papers. Welcome Shin'ichiro!

Finally, joining us from the US is Jon Matonis. Jon is one of the earliest advocates of Bitcoin and has an extensive background in finance, cryptography, and the combination of the two. Jon has presented worldwide on the topic of Bitcoin and its disruptive economic implications to a wide variety of audiences, including members of the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank, SWIFT, IRS, DHS, payment networks, major financial institutions, regulatory bodies, iGaming operators, hedge funds, and family offices. Welcome Jon!

Ledger: Call for Papers | 2015 September 15

2015-09-12T21:07:12-04:00

ledgerjournal.org

The journal Ledger invites authors to submit their original research for the inaugural issue of the very first peer-reviewed academic publication devoted solely to the field of cryptocurrencies and its related subtopics. This nascent field of research is highly interdisciplinary, sitting at the intersection of computer science, cryptography, economics, engineering, finance, law, mathematics, and politics. Due to its novelty and wide-ranging nature, cryptocurrency studies have not sat comfortably in any traditional journal, and it is thus our aim to create the first purpose-built vehicle for the leading research in the field. We welcome papers of up to four thousand words detailing new ideas and perspectives on any relevant topic, including but not limited to the technical, social, economic, and philosophical developments and implications of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, public and decentralized ledgers, distributed consensus, and more. Interested authors should consult the submissions and policies sections on the Ledger website for more details on our focus and scope, submission methods, transparent peer-review process, author guidelines, and open-access policy. The deadline for submissions for the inaugural issue is 31 December 2015, but we will consider submissions after that date for subsequent issues on an ongoing basis. We welcome inquiries by e-mail at ledger@pitt.edu.

Ledger is the first peer-reviewed journal devoted to the inherently interdisciplinary subject of cryptocurrencies, and is proud to be supported by its distinguished editorial board. It is published quarterly by the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh as an open-access journal and does not charge author fees. Ledger timestamps all published articles in the Bitcoin blockchain, and encourages authors to digitally sign their manuscripts. For further information please visit ledgerjournal.org.