Research

[ERFC - 524] Implementation of decentralized identity in user-centric Web3 product development

User-centric development proved to be imperative for any successful digital product. Decades of data marketing behind us showed how important is to track, collect insights and examine patterns in user behaviors. Those insights consider the must-have “know-how” of every successful product. According to the PWC digital product Study [1], data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) are the new backbones of digital product development. However, unlocking new technology fields like the blockchain industry becomes a problematic question. User-centricity is the subject of many debates as well as the fact of how to achieve it. In a world that lies on high privacy and decentralization, data is strict and is kept to itself. Therefore one of the burning questions is how to find a way to use it and not misuse it and build more user-centered products.

Dragana Koprivica

ERFC-524.hugo.md

[ERFC - 520] Deep Dive: DeFi Derivatives

This research aims to fully explore and understand the current state of the DeFi derivatives market. We embark on this adventure by taking a closer look at what derivatives are, the types of derivatives in DeFi, and their difference from TradFi. By analyzing some of the most prominent derivatives protocols, and their challenges, we will be able to give a complete market overview while also proposing improvements.

Andrija Raičević

ERFC-520.hugo.md

[ERFC - 409] Minty - Massive off-chain minting with verifiable on-chain commitments

Utilizing Blockchain comes with big limitations when it comes to storing a larger number of documents on the chain. Another problem arises when a large number of documents must be stored on the chain with minimal delay - real-time. In those cases, the time and financial costs may become overwhelming. This research aims to find the solution for this issue by combining off-chain issuing techniques and on-chain commitments to maximize throughput while minimizing costs from the number of transactions required to store the commitments. The solution is formulated as a hybrid (on-chain/off-chain) protocol called Minty.

Aleksandar Veljković

ERFC-409.hugo.md

[ERFC - 375] Anonymity in MACI

MACI - Minimal Anti-Collusion Infrastructure is a collection of smart contracts, ZK circuits and ts packages that we can use to build programs on top. We have already dealt with this topic, we summarized what has been done in MACI so far. More information about MACI can be found in our previous research (MACI [1]) and blog (Can MACI really destroy the collusion? [2]).

ERFC-375.hugo.md

[ERFC - 358] On-chain Capitalization Table

This research covers the current solutions based on Capitalization Tables in Web3 to fully understand the idea of creating a Capitalization Table Platform that would store the data and changes on-chain. The proposed solution is building a similar solution to Syndicates but without the governance power of token holders. Is this proposed solution just an inefficient DAO? Probably. It is up to the readers to decide.

Aleksandar Damjanovic

ERFC-358.hugo.md

Introduction to Avalanche

While Bitcoin and Ethereum represent the most popular networks in the Web3 space, they also face technical limitations for practical mass adoption. New networks were developed to address these limitations with novel technologies and approaches. To better understand these innovations and their advantages, this paper looks into one of these networks, Avalanche.

ERFC-336.hugo.md

[ERFC - 278] Meritocratic voting

We considered a setting where a resource or rights are to be distributed among participants/members of a group. One possibility would be to allocate it equally (we can call this system democratic), another possibility would be to allocate it proportionally to relative efforts made, this system is known as meritocratic (based on credits earned).

ERFC-278.hugo.md

[ERFC - 342] Intro to the Cosmos Network

Since its inception, Ethereum[1] has enabled smart contract functionality by introducing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This enabled the possibility of creating many different decentralized applications (DApps). Ethereum is a public general purpose blockchain where everyone can participate, deploy applications and compete for the chain’s resources.

Milos Bojinovic

ERFC-342.hugo.md

[ERFC - 246] Token Engineering and Design of complex systems

This is the first research paper in the series of research exploring Token Economics and Token Engineering tools and processes. It provides an introduction to the practice and the Process of Token Engineering. It also covers a portion of systems theory and the three most prevalent tools in the field of Token Engineering. These tools are:

Aleksandar Damjanovic

ERFC-246.hugo.md

[ERFC - 315] Reaching Towards Realtime in Blockchain

The concept of Real-Time can be best explained as a set of guarantees that are given and that need to be met within a predetermined time period. Usually, though not necessarily, this is a short time period. In the case the guarantees are not met before the deadline has been reached, then the performance of the real-time system either degrades or the system has failed completely.

Milos Bojinovic

ERFC-315.hugo.md

[ERFC - 248] Crosschain Identity

When we look at the current Web2 user identity solutions, we can see that they are mostly linked to centralized corporate organizations. Although convenient for the end-user, this type of online identity is not owned by the user, and the issuers (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) have complete control of them. In Web3, the focus is on decentralization; however, the problem of cross-chain interoperability of identities is a big one to overcome.

Aleksandar Damjanovic

ERFC-248.hugo.md

[ERFC - 270] ZK NFT Mixer

NFTs are growing in popularity, and so are the numbers of transactions for transferring the NFTs on the Blockchain. One of the main features of the Blockchain is privacy, but only in terms of pseudo-anonymity. The pseudo-anonymity implies that the user creating the transaction is hidden, as he is represented using an opaque, pseudo-random address. Still, the transactions between the addresses are transparent. By analyzing the transaction graph and external inputs, such as social network posts putting the address in a specific context, it is possible to deduce the address owner and reveal all his transactions. This research aims to analyze the possibility of creating a solution that can enable NFT transfers in an environment that supports complete anonymity but is still compatible with Ethereum. The proposed infrastructure represents a zero-knowledge mixer supporting shielded transfers of the NFTs on the side chain with the ability to withdraw NFTs back on the main chain.

Aleksandar Veljković

ERFC-270.hugo.md

Approaches to Testing Of Smart Contracts

Smart Contracts are applications built on blockchain that, once deployed, cannot be altered or updated. With that in mind, their testing is crucial, even more so than in traditional software development.

Milos Bojinovic

ERFC-259.hugo.md

SBT - Soulbound Tokens

This paper explores the SBTs (Soulbound Tokens) as a concept, their potential use cases, and the difficulties of implementing this solution. It also covers concepts of social and community recovery and briefly covers designated-verifier proofs and verifiable delay functions as they are potential enablers of this solution.

Aleksandar Damjanovic

ERFC-261.hugo.md

Royalty Contract Standardization - RCS

This research examines the possibility of hardcoding the royalty logic for the NFT royalty payments. It also explores how are royalties for NFT creators/artists taken care of by two largest NFT marketplaces OpenSea and LooksRare. It examines the EIP-2981 which aims to solve the royalty implementation problem. Small experiment is conducted with a goal to modify the transfer function from the ERC-721 standard.

Aleksandar Damjanovic

ERFC-171.hugo.md

Data Analytics in Blockchain

Data Analytics is the science of analyzing raw data related to a specific problem and extracting all of the necessary information in order to make conclusions about as well as derive approaches for solving it.

Milos Bojinovic

ERFC-146.hugo.md

Developing with Ape

This research examines Ape The Ethereum Development Framework For Python Developers. It examines its plugin system and ease of use. As a conclusion Web3 Tech Radar location is suggested.

Aleksandar Damjanovic

ERFC-172.hugo.md

OWT - Omni Web Token

JSON Web Tokens, or JWT, are the format of JSON encoded data structures for authorizing clients on the Web. Some JWT payloads have a specific standardized structure, defined by the protocol, such as OAuth(2) tokens. Others, however, are designed specifically for particular apps.

Aleksandar Veljković

ERFC-147.hugo.md

Blacklisting Platform based on untransferable NFTs

The main topic of this research is exploring the possibility and the need to create the “Authority” protocol that would handle blacklisting based on community voting and assessment. This protocol would mint the untransferable NFT to the blacklisted address. Creating this solutions (both the platform and the NFT) would not be challenging but the need for these solutions is questionable to the author. This paper explored the current blacklist cases and the possibility of creating the said NFTs. The Tether case is in the main focus since the solutions are similar and simple. The main takeaway is that creating this solution is not necessary per se, but the issue is open for discussion.

Aleksandar Damjanovic

ERFC-154.hugo.md

NFT that is bound by time

NFTs have a unique ID and belong to a single wallet. Two standards define what an NFT is and should do: ERC721 and ERC1155, aiming to distinguish each token to be unique. The development of NFT is still in the early stage, and this research shows how NFTs can change their properties. We go through some existing solutions where some events fundamentally affect the NFT, changing its state, properties, or value. We give an overview of those solutions with a desire to cover how they work under the hood and notice potential problems. In the end, are presented possible use cases that open a new door into the NFT word.

Marija Mijailovic

ERFC-101.hugo.md

Detect NFT Wash Trading

With the monthly trading volume of the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea reaching 5 billion dollars in January 2022¹ it is clear that NFTs are gaining popularity and with that grows the importance of having a transparent trading activity.

Milos Bojinovic

ERFC-90.hugo.md

Explorative Research on Crypto Insurance - Current state, problems and possibilities of creating new products

In this paper we covered 5 of the main players in DeFi insurance market in order to determine the products offered, the problems with these products, the way the claims are handled and the possibilty of creating new insurance protocols. Initially we were not familiar with this field and the effort needed for creating these products, so we conducted this explorative research.

Aleksandar Damjanovic

ERFC-91.hugo.md

Transaction splitting

Many companies sell goods with a business model based on donating some percent of their profit to charity. The problem is that some of these companies don’t transparently perform these donations. If, for example, the handmade wristwatch company claims that it donates 90 percent of earnings to the charity, the buyers can’t be sure whether they indeed donated the funds to charity or just bought a very expensive product. They can only believe the company itself. Blockchain technology eliminates the need for trust.

ERFC-105.hugo.md

BLS vs Schnorr vs ECDSA digital signatures

Bitcoin and Ethereum both use elliptic-curve cryptography for generating keys and signing transactions. The algorithm they both use is called Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), which represents a secure way of signing a message (a transaction for example) using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). This is a comparative analysis of BLS, Schnorr, and ECDSA signatures. The goal is to understand why are Ethereum and Bitcoin migrating from ECDSA, why BLS and Schnorr are superior to ECDSA and what are the key differences between them, how to use these signatures in the development and which Elliptic curves they are using and why.

ERFC-39.hugo.md

ROTOKEN

Organisations may include non-founder members with specific roles (treasurer, secretary, board members…) with higher permission levels, compared to the regular members. Members that have permission levels which include control over organisation finances represent a high risk for the organisation as there is a high risk of losing money if malicious members perform illegal transfers. That problem is especially present in the world of cryptocurrency where transfers cannot be revoked, once transaction is executed there is no rollback. The use of multisig might be an obvious solution, but the high overhead cost of writting multiple signatures on blockchain, even if the transaction is valid, may not be acceptable in many situations where there is a high frequency of transactions.

Aleksandar Veljković

ERFC-103.hugo.md

Building on Filecoin and Filecoin Proofs

When looking to build dApps that utilize decentralized storage Filecoin seems like the best option even with its flaws like : absent proof of deletion for the client, absent encryption, impossible modifying of the stored data and the durability problem of Filecoin’s Proof of Replication. This research gives an overview of competitors in decentralized storage solution field with a focus on Filecoin protocol. It also shows how its competitor Storj differs from Filecoin and the current grant opportunities for potential building on it. Considering the results of the research Filecoin seems to be the best option considering the popularity and the size of its ecosystem. Currently there is no interest for building on and with Filecoin and this is a purely explorative work without experiments, in order to test the researcher’s methodology and the approach to research. However, it proposes a question about a potential way of improving Filecoin, or creating both safer protocol for the user and cheaper for the storage miners.

Aleksandar Damjanovic

ERFC-38.hugo.md

Gaming DAPPs - Play to Earn model

Blockchain games, also called Gaming DAPPs, are an emerging area in the Web3 space. With their gameplay, Gaming DAPPs currently cannot compete with the 3D AAA games and they mostly resemble 2D Hyper Casual Mobile games. Developers often need to make compromises in separating on-chain activity from the actions that are taken off-chain and so the line is blurred between what is truly a blockchain game and what is not. However, strong advantage of these games is that they almost always offer some form of an economic incentive to the players with an opportunity to “own” part of the game in order to influence the game’s further development.

Milos Bojinovic

ERFC-37.hugo.md

Solidity++ (S++)

Writing efficient code in modern languages is mostly reflected in writing efficient algorithms and business logic. Writing efficient code in Solidity is mostly reflected in thinking as an assembler, moving focus from logic implementation to memory optimisations and low level hacks. Highly optimised code may become unreadable and unmaintainable with possible bugs hidden between the lines of bit level operations. To solve this problem, this project proposes multiple automatic optimisation techniques that will be all summed up into a transpiler and Solidity language extensions called Solidity++.

Aleksandar Veljković

ERFC-57.hugo.md

Access NFT Tools - Overview And Space For Improvements

NFT Access tokens are primarily used to join private Discord and Telegram communities. Still, a significantly larger opportunity lies in many online and offline communities and events that might utilize this technology.¹

Milos Novitovic

ERFC-40.hugo.md

Analyze of smart contract fuzzers

We are witness of the accelerated development of smart contracts, and more and more valuable assets are contained in them. For this reason, it is very important to write secure smart contracts. However, since people write smart contracts, and people make mistakes, it is desirable to have a tool that will be able to point out potential problems in the code. Fuzz testing is a technique that with early entry stresses our program to reveal errors. We will get to know with fuzing tools through this research.

Marija Mijailovic

ERFC-42.hugo.md