The term decentralized finance (DeFi) refers to an alternative financial infrastructure built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. DeFi uses smart contracts to create protocols that replicate existing financial services in a more open, interoperable, and transparent way. This paper highlights...

Virtual worlds have become increasingly more important, and are being used for a large variety of recreational and business activities. Various companies have opened virtual offices and brand ambassador spaces, and the recent surge in online interactions has further increased the interest in...

In this chapter, we present tokenization of equity crowdfunding on a Blockchain as a possible approach to ease access to capital for startups. We propose a categorization of token standards into UTXO-based, layer-based and smart contract-based tokens. In a second step, we analyze the advantages...

This article explores non-custodial crypto asset mixers such as Tornado Cash. We analyze what types of mixers exist and how they work. We discuss opportunities and risks and offer an approach, based on voluntary disclosure, that would allow financial market regulators to combat money laundering...

In this paper we explore the importance of platform governance. We discuss various problems of centralized architecture in the context of the metaverse or sharing economy applications which may lead to monopoly market structures. We argue that open standards and blockchain-based governance can...