Search results

The present study apotheosises on the relationship between blockchain and fintech and its impact on the financial services sector. It then gauges into the various aspects that have been included in the published literature by the authors all across the world.

Post-pandemic, technology has led to tremendous opportunities in the financial sector, and the customers have started assessing financial services in online mode, thus enabling companies to innovate their business strategies. The present chapter aims to explore the areas where blockchain is benefitting the financial sector.

The objectives of this study were achieved through systematic review of literature performed with the help of bibliographic analysis. Further, a PRISMA model was developed, and the networks were derived with the help of Scopus analyser software and VOSviewer Version 1.6.15.

It is observed that since the introduction of the term and development of the first blockchain, a lot of work has been performed in the said domain, but it is still at a nascent stage. It is thus discovered that the string specific research documents got published in Scopus database from 2016 onwards, and a considerable amount is being performed by authors from China, the United States and India.

The present chapter exhibits the various dimensions in which a lot has to be yet explored and needs to devise innovative and full proof strategies which will enable to overcome the challenges, thus strengthening the position and working of the companies in Industry 5.0.

Web3’s raison d’être is decentralization. Quite problematically, however, few industry analysts can articulate what “decentralization” really entails; whether it differs at all from the notion of “distribution,” and how either construct can be measured with observable data to enable a meaningful analysis of the industry’s core promise. Instead, Web3 is akin to a decentralization theater in which archetypical characters, who resonate with the likes of Hamlet and Godot, enact decentralization based on fictitious narratives. After critically reassessing these narratives about decentralization, this paper offers a fresh perspective to evaluate, less theatrically and hopefully more rigorously, future claims about “being decentralized.” I argue that the crucial issue lurking behind the decentralization narrative is the dispersion of authority within blockchain platforms, which consists of two fundamental dimensions, namely the dispersion of information and of decision-making. The value proposition of Web3 will not be taken seriously until the industry can provide reliable indicators of authority dispersion and demonstrate that the latter affects strategic outcomes for blockchain platforms, including innovation, growth, and value creation.

In today's advanced economy, there is a broader presence of information revolution, such as artificial intelligence (AI). AI primarily drives modern banking, leading to innovative banking channels, services and solutions disruptions. Thus, this chapter intends to determine AI's place in contemporary banking and stock market trading.

Stock market forecasting is hampered by the inherently noisy environments and significant volatility surrounding market trends. There needs to be more research on the mantle of AI in revolutionising banking and stock market trading. Attempting to bridge this gap, the present research study looks at the function of AI in banking and stock market trading.

The researchers have synthesised the literature pool. They undertook a systematic review and meta-synthesis method by identifying the major themes and a systematic literature review aided in the critical analysis, synthesis and mapping of the body of existing material.

The study's conclusions demonstrated the efficacy of AI, which has played a robust role in banking and finance by reducing risk and operational costs, enabling better customer experience, improving regulatory complaints and fraud detection and improving credit and loan decisions. AI has revolutionised stock market trading by forecasting future prices or trends in financial assets, optimising financial portfolios and analysing news or social media comments on the assets or firms.

AI's debut in banking and finance has brought sea changes in banking and stock market trading. AI in the banking industry and capital market can provide timely and apt information to its customers and customise the products as per their requirements.

Metaverse means a world in which virtual and reality interact and co-evolve, and social, economic, and cultural activities are carried out in it immersively. In this scenario, it goes beyond just combining the physical and virtual worlds – there is a continuity between them, creating an ecosystem that merges the two universes (physical and virtual). This scenario is considered an innovative educational environment that enhances technologies related to the metaverse, which results in the fusion of resources and elements from the real with the virtual. Thus, the goal of this chapter is to map what an innovative digital learning environment with the metaverse looks like. In order to address these issues, a comprehensive and integrative review was conducted in the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases. (1) What is the metaverse? and (2) How can metaverse be used to create a cutting-edge digital learning environment? Results show that the metaverse may be integrated with problem-based learning, gamification, and maker culture approaches to create an even more creative and successful learning environment. This chapter will give an illustration of how a creative digital learning environment may be created utilizing the metaverse.

In this study, we examine the impact of audit protection services on individual taxpayer decision making. Audit protection services provide additional support for taxpayers in the event of an audit including preparation and representation. While these services could provide taxpayers with additional confidence, such services could also foster greater reliance on tax software, possibly resulting in riskier tax decisions. Drawing on risk homeostasis theory, we investigate two factors that could affect taxpayer reliance: the amount of taxes owed and the extent of audit protection services. Our results indicate that taxpayers are more likely to rely on tax software prompts when there are full audit protection services and a greater amount of taxes owed. Further, we find that the provision of full audit protection services reduces the likelihood that taxpayers change their tax reporting behavior. Collectively, we provide evidence on taxpayer interactions with tax software.

Widespread news coverage, politicised debate and social media commentary have given prominence to COVID-19 as an unparalleled threat to global health and mortality, intensifying panic and insecurity worldwide. In response, the endorsement and amplification of false claims about the pandemic has proliferated, in many cases, by public figures in the online ‘wellness’ realm. Using COVID-19 as a case study, this chapter interrogates observed connections between digital wellness cultures and informational disorders in times of crisis. The authors discuss the bourgeois liberal-individualist ideals that increasingly underpin much of this communication, exemplified through the co-option of social justice rhetoric and narratives of the ‘persecuted hero’. The authors also recognise the growing number of wellness influencers openly resisting pandemic-related mis/disinformation, and note the forms of anti-individualist, mutual care demonstrated in these ‘debunking’ efforts. The authors argue that these practices reflect a form of networked solidarity – enacted alongside a discursive distancing from individualist modes of thinking – that can be understood by applying a social ecological framework for understanding ‘resilience’.