No abstract

The integration of circular economy (CE) models into everyday contexts generates huge amount of data involved in goods tracking and tokenization procedures. The sector of blockchain platforms is extremely varied, and the choice of the proper technology is not easy. It is important that the selection is conducted consistently with respect to the CE models. With this study, we present a performance index named Blockchain Circular Economy Index (BCEI). BCEI, obtained through Multicriteria Decision Analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process, aims to measure the suitability of blockchain platforms to the needs highlighted by a CE scenario. The present study is contextualized by comparing six blockchain platforms, for each of which, the related BCEI is calculated. The results of the analysis show that transaction fee and energy consumption are the two most critical parameters. In addition, the results show the lack of a leading blockchain technology in CE models. Thus, there is a market space that can be exploited given the growing interest in digital and sustainable issues.

Decentralization initiatives such as Solid, Digi.me, and ActivityPub aim to give data owners more control over their data and to level the playing field by enabling small companies and individuals to gain access to data, thus stimulating innovation. However, these initiatives typically use access control mechanisms that cannot verify compliance with usage conditions after access has been granted to others. In this paper, we extend the state of the art by proposing a resource governance conceptual framework, entitled ReGov, that facilitates usage control in decentralized web environments. We subsequently demonstrate how our framework can be instantiated by combining blockchain and trusted execution environments. Through blockchain technologies, we record policies expressing the usage conditions associated with resources and monitor their compliance. Our instantiation employs trusted execution environments to enforce said policies, inside data consumers’ devices. We evaluate the framework instantiation through a detailed analysis of requirments derived from a data market motivating scenario, as well as an assessment of the security, privacy, and affordability aspects of our proposal.