The editors of the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A are seeking submissions for an upcoming special edition: 'Blockchains in Society: Challenges, Innovations and Opportunities for Statistics'.
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A blockchain is a shared, irreversible ledger that records a growing number of transactions across a computer network, a distinguishing feature being the decentralisation of the network, thus eliminating a single, central point of control. The past decade witnessed the proliferation of blockchains used to enable digital-asset transactions, but the utility of blockchains is much broader and goes far beyond crypto-asset applications (like Bitcoin and Ethereum, among many). Indeed, unparalleled growth in the adoption of digital technologies in the recent past has been seen in various sectors of society such as health, government, commerce and financial markets. The use of blockchains generates substantial quantities of novel data sets and poses new challenging problems that would significantly benefit from statistical inference, which in turn would allow us to better understand these technologies, the risks associated with them and their societal role.
This special issue of the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (Statistics in Society) aims to showcase the use of innovative statistical approaches that address modelling and inferential concerns for blockchain-related data sets. In doing so, it will highlight the strategic and unique role of modern statistical science for the analysis of these data.
As usual with Series A, the focus will be on the novel development and/or evaluation of statistical methods (in this case motivated by blockchain data sets) rather than papers of a technical nature or those only featuring summary statistical results. A wide variety of interdisciplinary topics will provide a unique perspective for blockchain knowledge synthesis, creation and transfer and will allow statisticians to identify multiple future key avenues for statistical research in theory and applications of blockchain technology. This, in return, will contribute to more sound practices of blockchain technology and could impact society across a broader front.
Potential topics could include:
- Fraud detection in cryptocurrencies
- Optimal portfolio analysis in decentralized finance
- Blockchain-based interoperability of models and data in healthcare
- Statistical assessment of privacy risks in tokenisation of real estate transactions.
Statistical approaches for blockchain data analytics also have a broad scope, including (but not limited to):
- Novel modelling techniques addressing inference for sparse dynamic multi-layer networks
- Goodness of fit for blockchain models, statistical topological and geometric methods for uncovering illicit finance
- Uncertainty quantification for artificial intelligence tools on blockchain data
- Computationally scalable methods for blockchain data analysis.
Prospective authors should submit their manuscripts for review by midnight 28 February 2025. Submissions – which should clearly indicate ‘JRSS-A Blockchains in Society Special Issue’ in the covering letter – should be made online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jrssa, where further guidance about the structure, length and format of manuscripts may be found.
Consistent with the journal's standard policy, all manuscripts will be peer-reviewed. However, to produce the special issue in a timely manner, authors will be asked to complete revisions within eight weeks of receiving referee reports. On behalf of the Series A editorial team and as editors of this special issue – which we are certain will showcase high-quality statistical research in blockchain analysis – we look forward to reviewing your manuscripts.
Yulia R. Gel (ygl@utdallas.edu)
B. Ricky Rambharat (ricky.rambharat@occ.treas.gov)