Programmable Money: Next-generation Conditional Payments using Blockchain

Ingo Weber, Mark Staples

2021

Abstract

Conditional payments allow the transfer of money only when predefined rules hold. Example uses could include welfare payments, employee expenses, insurance payouts, or tied donations. Normally, conditions are checked manually in reimbursement or pre-approval/audit processes, either at accounts before funds are distributed, or using account records after distribution. Blockchain’s capabilities for smart contract and digital assets can be used to implement next-generation conditional payments, on a decentralized ledger. We conducted a project with an industry partner where we conceptualized, implemented, and evaluated a novel programmable money concept using blockchain. In the system, programmed policies are not attached to accounts, but instead to money itself. Policies here specify under which conditions money may be spent, and can be automatically checked by the money as it is spent. Policies can be dynamically added to and removed from money as it flows through an economy. Here we report on some of our experiences and insights regarding blockchain architecture, software engineering with blockchain, and blockchain-based programmable money. Selected open research questions are listed at the end of the paper.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Weber I. and Staples M. (2021). Programmable Money: Next-generation Conditional Payments using Blockchain. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Cloud Computing and Services Science - Volume 1: CLOSER, ISBN 978-989-758-510-4, pages 7-14. DOI: 10.5220/0010535800070014

in Bibtex Style

@conference{closer21,
author={Ingo Weber and Mark Staples},
title={Programmable Money: Next-generation Conditional Payments using Blockchain},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Cloud Computing and Services Science - Volume 1: CLOSER,},
year={2021},
pages={7-14},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010535800070014},
isbn={978-989-758-510-4},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Cloud Computing and Services Science - Volume 1: CLOSER,
TI - Programmable Money: Next-generation Conditional Payments using Blockchain
SN - 978-989-758-510-4
AU - Weber I.
AU - Staples M.
PY - 2021
SP - 7
EP - 14
DO - 10.5220/0010535800070014