https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/85786 2026-04-27T06:57:21Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/85854 Title: An analysis on the challenges encountered by European SMEs, in relation to lending and investing, and the prospect of a P2P blockchain lending platform Abstract: SMEs occupy a significate role both in the Maltese economy as well as in the EU. However, such enterprises are encountering several difficulties and barriers which inhibit them for acquiring financial aid from financial institutions. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to identify these hurdles encountered by SMEs and assess the appetite of a Blockchain-based P2P microfinance platform. Apart from examining the challenges of SMEs and the benefits of Blockchain application in the microfinance space, through available literature, the researcher also designed a business model for a Blockchain-based P2P microfinance platform, named SMEAid. The purpose of this business model is to help reader visualise the potential of Blockchain application in this particular subject The researcher conducted seven semi-structured virtual interviews with participants who either have an involvement with SMEs or lending services. The participants were also presented with the business model and requested to fill in a Competitive Analysis matrix. The matrix scoring was then interpreted by Pugh Matrix whereas the interview responses were analysed and compared to the literature. The results show an overall acknowledgement of the potential of Blockchain technology in overcoming the challenges currently experienced by SMEs when requesting for funds. Nonetheless, the feedback acquired from the interviews, related to the acceptance of a Blockchain-based P2P microfinance platform, suggest that the participants are still yet to be fully on board with the technology applications. However, based on the judgement of the participants, increased knowledge on the subject, a strategic financial and marketing plan could enhance the potential uptake of Blockchain-based P2P microfinance platforms. Description: M.Sc.(Melit.) 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/85837 Title: Decentralised finance : analysis of governance and regulatory implications Abstract: Decentralised Finance (“DeFi”) is a blanket term for a wide array of new technologies and products that seek to offer innovative ways for consumers to manage their finances autonomously; essentially without the intermediation of traditional (centralised) financial institutions. DeFi has been increasing in volume since 2020 and has now reached an equivalent of USD 67 billion locked in the smart contracts on the blockchain. A new era of the on-chain financial services, ranging from decentralised virtual-assets exchanges, P2P lending to asset management and insurance protocols, is now on the rise. This is achieved by means of autonomous, self-enforced smart contracts deployed on various DLTs (such as Ethereum Polkadot or Waves blockchains). However, despite its asserted distinctions from more traditional or centralised financial products and services, DeFi may implicate similar activities and raise similar investor protection, market integrity and policy issues for international financial regulators to consider, particularly as DeFi activity continues to expand. Therefore, notwithstanding the immediately visible benefits (such as faster, more efficient and censorship resistant, financial services), many aspects pertinent to the DeFi services still remain partially, if at all, addressed. The identified gaps include lack of governance, accountability and financial regulation surrounding DeFi markets. In order to address these gaps, this study provides a hypothetical DAO model that aims primarily to address the potential governance challenges and the associated regulatory implications; and describes to what extent these may be resolved. A potential regulatory approach to be adopted in the context of DeFi is also discussed, suggesting that the DeFi sector would be best supervised by an SRO, rather than a public financial supervisory body. Finally, the study concludes that DeFi markets should evolve from their current form to strike the right balance between centralised and decentralised ecosystems, in order to enable the provision of innovative financial services in a safe, secure and reliable manner. Description: M.Sc.(Melit.) 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/85822 Title: A unified approach to distributed application development for DLT Abstract: The widespread interest surrounding blockchain systems, has brought forth the introduction of decentralized applications. Such applications are built using Smart Contracts running on a blockchain network. Due to the siloed nature of blockchains and smart contracts, parts of such applications may have to be deployed on different blockchains, or outside the blockchain altogether. For instance, due to privacy constraints arising from GDPR, keeping private data on a public blockchain may not be an option, and would have to be kept on a centralized server which communicates with the blockchain in question. This shift in development methodology introduces new challenges for developers to achieve seamless communication and interaction between off-chain and on-chain code of decentralized applications. The current solution is to program the parts separately including additional code to handle communication between the different systems. Hence, this is considered as a source of additional complexity and also a potential source of error. In this dissertation, we propose UniDAPP, a unified programming model to decentralized application development. We explored techniques that have been used to achieve blockchain interoperability, IoT enabled Smart Contracts, as well as the field of macroprogramming for wireless sensor networks. Our approach takes a macroprogramming approach, thus allowing for such systems to be programmed as a monolithic system, but with annotations to add information regarding where each part of the system should be deployed and executed. Ultimately, our aim is to create a development environment where developers can easily explore the placement of data and control flow on different target locations. In order to demonstrate and evaluate the use of our approach we designed a software system use-case which would require shifting certain components between centralized and decentralized environments. The final results were made possible through the experiment carried out during the evaluation phase. This experiment included development of a number of tasks on the use-case using both the traditional method and the framework proposed herein. Description: M.Sc.(Melit.) 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/85815 Title: The legal ramifications of blockchain-based smart contracts : a comparative analysis of B2C2 Ltd v. Quoine Pte Ltd Abstract: Blockchain technology and other forms of distributed ledger technologies, may still be deemed to be in their early developmental stage. The case of B2C2 Ltd v. Quoine Pte Ltd has shown how smart contracts, a central aspect of blockchain technology, are utilized in transactions on a daily basis and though they solve a number of problems, they also bring with them other challenges. Among the challenges that require to be overcome, there are legal questions relating to whether legal remedies are available to parties of a contract which utilise smart contract technology. This dissertation seeks to identify some of the most pressing issues brought about by these type of contract arrangements. Following the analysis of the judgment delivered by the International Commercial Court of Singapore, a comparative overview is done between the judgment delivered by the court, being a common law jurisdiction, and the applicable doctrine of contract law under the civil law tradition. Through the detailed analysis of the court judgment, the dissertation seeks to examine the problems arising from the contractual relationship between B2C2 and Quoine. Both parties are electronic market makers and whose contractual relationship relates to the trading of two cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ether, on a centralized exchange platform. Certain trade orders are subject to a dispute between the parties, following their execution. The dispute results from an incident which led to certain trading orders to be executed at a rate far off from the real market rate at the time. Through the legal comparative analysis, one may understand better the court’s reasoning in delivering the judgment of the case, the historical common law background leading for such a decision and the consequences such a decision will possibly have on the adoption of similar smart contracting arrangements. The conclusions pinpoint some crucial observations. One of them is that the contract law doctrine under a civil law system might prove to be more holistic and appropriate in its approach to comprehend the novelty that is associated with blockchain-based smart contracts. Description: M.Sc.(Melit.) 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z