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The review examines the existing literature on blockchain-based small and medium enterprise (SME) finance and highlights its trend, themes, opportunities and challenges. Based on these factors, the authors create a framework for the existing literature on blockchain-based SME financing and lay down future research paths.

The review follows a systematic approach. It includes 53 articles encompassing multiple dimensions of blockchain-based SME finance, including peer-to-peer lending platforms, supply chain finance (SCF), decentralized lending protocols and tokenization of assets. The review critically evaluates these approaches' theoretical underpinnings, empirical evidence and practical implementations.

The review demonstrates that blockchain-based SME finance holds significant promise in addressing the credit gap by leveraging blockchain technology's decentralized and transparent nature. Benefits identified include reduced information asymmetry, improved access to financing, enhanced credit assessment processes and increased financial inclusion. However, the literature acknowledges several challenges and limitations, such as regulatory uncertainties, scalability issues, operational complexities and potential security risks.

The article contributes to the growing knowledge of blockchain-based SME finance by synthesizing and evaluating the existing literature. It also provides a framework for the existing literature in the area and future research paths. The study offers insights for researchers, policymakers and practitioners seeking to understand the potential of blockchain technology in filling the SME credit gap and fostering economic development through improved access to finance for SMEs.

Bitcoin is among the highest rated digital crypto-currency in financial investment markets. This technology relies on a backbone of distributed data architecture and peer-to-peer networking model called Blockchain. Unlike the current digital economy, which is governed centrally by financial institution or governments, Blockchain is fully autonomous without any third-party involvement. The exorbitant success of Bitcoin has attracted investors, scholars as well as organizations to peek into this lucrative technology for the possible application to other areas apart from crypto-currency. Blockchain can adopt Smart Contracts, which are digitally enabled contracts that can be executed and enforced fully or partially using pre-defined notions. The aim of this research is to investigate the synergy between Smart Contract and Blockchain to propose a digital framework for an academic paper publication model that has the capability to automate the entire process and challenge the existing system. It can also bring together all the stakeholders under the same system. The proposed model can further hold the stakeholders accountable for breach of contracts and/or reward them for executing the successes of terms pre-configured in the Smart Contract. The proposed model, called Digital Smart Publication or DSP (as referred in the document), is highly secure and ensures balance in distributing rewards to the involved stakeholders while keeping data integrity and security as paramount features.

This study aims to explore the opportunities and challenges in activating a Smart Contract to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Ṣukūk offerings in the Islamic capital market.

The study adopts a mono-method qualitative approach. Data were obtained from survey interviews of two issuances on the fusion of smart contracts in Ṣukūk structures that were Sharīʿah-compliant. A thematic approach was further used to analyze the interview data based on the onion research method while opportunities and challenges of activating the Smart Ṣukūk (SṢ) relied on doctrinal evidence.

The results from the issuances across two jurisdictions showed that deployment of SṢ can resolve contractual ambiguities arising from Sharīʿah interpretations, jurisdictional policies and legal regime issues, which affect Ṣukūk origination and issuances especially on the right of investors in the event of Ṣukūk defaults. Although SṢ is automated, the third party’s presence is not eliminated as the blockchain platform still relies on the validators who are usually blockchain developers functioning as a third party in the Ṣukūk chain.

The study relies on doctrinal literature to explain the features and requirements of SṢ. The empirical approach is limited to interview data based on local SṢ issuances. Future studies need to explore regulators’ role and global standards in cross-border issuance of SṢ with multiple jurisdictions/laws.

The paper concludes that the offering of SṢ using local currency has been successful in the two issuances because of the facilitative regulatory environment. However, addressing Ṣukūk’s challenges in cross-border offerings would require guidance from international standard-setters such as the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions and the Islamic Financial Services Board.

This study is an advanced application of smart contracts to alleviate the related Ṣukūk challenges in the Islamic capital market.

This paper aims to analyse the virtual currency regulation especially in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Different member states had a bit differently incorporated regulation of AMLD5. Finland has gone the furthest in regulation and even issuers of virtual currency are under the Finnish regulation.

In one hand, the study approach is legal dogmatics, but in other hand it is comparative legal research. Both approaches can be found in this paper.

The EEA is going from a more fragmented regulatory landscape based on 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive to a more uniform regulatory approach provided by a legislative package that regulates crypto assets more broadly, coupled with an overhaul of the anti-money laundering rules, bringing them into a single European rulebook. Finland has taken a step further in this matter. Therefore, it would be reasonable for the AMLD5 scope to be expanded in this respect. It is a welcome development that the regulation will be unified and that investor protection will be better taken into account in the future as well.

This paper gives a picture of what kind of challenges is there in Fennoscandic in terms of money laundering regulation of virtual currencies. On the other hand, this paper brings into the discussion the rather clever solutions of Fennoscandic (especially Finland) regarding money laundering of virtual currencies.