Blockchain Technology as an Accelerator for the Development of Digitalization in the Financial Sector of the Economy

Safarli Aziz Hafis Ogly ORCID: 0000-0002-5349-015X Postgraduate Student, Department of International Finance, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) 119454, Russia, Moskva oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Prospekt Vernadskogo, 76 aziz.safarli@mail.ru Other publications by this author

introductionDigitalization processes are developing and expanding their integration in many areas of life.

In 2009, the first cryptocurrency was released under the name "Bitcoin" (Bitcoin – BTC). In addition to bitcoin itself, many were also interested in the distributed registry technology, on the basis of which the world's first cryptocurrency was issued and circulated. It is the distributed registry technology, to be even more specific, its kind, such as blockchain, which is a network of blocks with stored data, that ensures transparency, immutability and decentralization of operations carried out by bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies.

Due to the flexibility of its structure, blockchain technology is widely used in both public and private spheres. According to the degree of openness, the platform can be not only public, but also private, where a limited number of people have access to data. Smart contracts, which are blockchain products, help optimize transactions between counterparties without the presence of intermediaries.

Blockchain technology is most quickly integrated into the financial sphere, which leads to questions about the degree of future impact of this technology on the structure of international finance. However, there is also an opinion that blockchain, as a technology, is overrated, as evidenced by the slow pace of integration of technology into the spheres of life compared to what was expected at the early stages of the development of the industry.

The purpose of this study is to study the essence of blockchain technology, as well as to assess the current level of integration and possible prospects for its future implementation in the financial sector of the economy. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the author's conclusions related to the scale of the possible impact of blockchain technology on the structure of both international and national financial sectors. In the course of the research, scientific works were studied as domestic (N.V. Apatova ^[3], V.V. Fedotova ^[4], L.A. Elshin ^[5], A.A. Kosmarsky ^[6], E.P. Istomin ^[7], G.O. Krylov, A. Y. Pronyaeva, I. H. Utakaeva), and foreign authors (Tapscott D. ^[11], Chaum D. ^[16], Szabo N. ^[20,]Gorenflo C. ^[17], Bennett K. ^[18], S. Haber ^[19]). Materials of specialized news agencies and mass media were also used.

As the methodological basis of the work, general scientific methods and research techniques are used: analysis, synthesis, analogy, methods of historical and logical cognition, comparative and systematic approaches. The methodological basis of the article is based on the principles of scientific objectivity.

THE ESSENCE OF BLOCKCHAIN AS A KIND OF DISTRIBUTED REGISTRY TECHNOLOGYDistributed ledger technology (DLT) is a technological infrastructure that provides simultaneous access, verification and updating of records in a network distributed among several participants.

Similar registries are used by companies with divisions in different locations. However, in a traditional distributed database there is a system administrator who performs the key functions necessary to ensure consistency between all departments ^[15]. Within the framework of distributed registry technology, there is no need for a system administrator. The fundamental idea of distributed registry technology is the decentralized nature of the network. Due to this property, DLT is considered highly promising for introduction in those areas and structures that need a trusted third party in their work.

David Lee Chaum, an American IT specialist and cryptographer, is considered the first to propose the development of a protocol similar to blockchain in 1982 in his doctoral dissertation ^[16]. In 1991, Stuart Aber and Wakefield Scott Stornetta in the article "How to Create time stamps in a Digital Document (How To Time-Stamp a Digital Document)" gave a description of a cryptographically secure block chain ^[19]. In 2005 Nick Szabo made one of the first attempts to create a decentralized virtual currency called "Bit Gold" ^[22]. Although the Bit Gold project was never implemented, Sabo's attempt is considered a precursor to the Bitcoin protocol by Satoshi Nakamoto, who introduced bitcoin in 2008.

For the first time, the distributed registry technology was used in practice as part of the release of the first bitcoins in the form of a variety of this technology called "blockchain". The blockchain is a distributed registry in which operations are broadcast to all participants working on their verification, after which the data is collected in "blocks". Since the registry consists of separate but interconnected blocks, this type of distributed registry is called "blockchain" technology, i.e. a network of blocks. Each computer on the network has its own copy of the blockchain, which allows users to quickly verify transactions and prevent fraud. Each block in the network has a timestamp and a link (hash) to the block that was before it. Each block, respectively, includes a mathematical proof confirming that this transaction is valid ^[26].

A simple analogy of how blockchain technology works can be compared to how a Google Docs document works. When a document is created in the Google cloud platform, and access to it is granted to a group of people, this document is considered to be distributed among this group, and not transmitted as a copy or a unique instance. This creates a decentralized distribution chain that gives everyone simultaneous access to the underlying document. All changes in the document are recorded in real time, which makes the changes completely transparent. But unlike Google Docs, the original content and data in the blockchain cannot be changed after recording, which increases the security level of the blockchain system ^[24]. S. Raval, in his book decentralized applications, quite accurately defined the blockchain by a chain of blocks, which is a distributed database with a common replication of all transactions ^[9].

Among the main characteristic advantages of the blockchain system are:

·              Transparency. All records stored in the blockchain are constantly updated on the network, and therefore it is very difficult and energy-consuming to forge any data stored on the network. Any changes made will be visible to each participant of the network, which makes the system quite transparent.;

· Decentralization. Blockchain in its general sense is decentralized, because all transaction records are available for viewing to each node. However, there are also private blockchains with a lower level of decentralization;

· Immutability. In the blockchain, there is no way to make changes to the information already verified by nodes and added to the chain, which protects the data available in the blocks from possible negative impacts from the participants.

Blockchain networks may differ in the structure of work and functionality. There are, as a rule, public, private and hybrid types of blockchain networks.

Public blockchain. The first blockchain, on the basis of which bitcoin is issued and circulated, is public.  The bitcoin blockchain has played a significant role in popularizing distributed ledger technology.  This type of blockchain network has a high level of decentralization and transparency of operations.

A private blockchain is a closed network controlled by a limited number of individuals. This type of blockchain is mainly used as an internal platform within one or a number of affiliated organizations. It is also mentioned in a number of sources as an authorized or corporate type of blockchain.

Hybrid blockchain. Often organizations want to simultaneously take advantage of both public and private types of blockchain. In such cases, they develop a hybrid model that combines elements of both private and public block chains. The organizers of the hybrid network control who can access certain data stored in the blockchain, and what data can be public.

While maintaining anonymity, at the same time, the trust mechanism in the blockchain is provided using consensus algorithms, which are verification of each transaction for authenticity with further addition to the block. Consensus algorithms are based on the interest of the majority of nodes in maintaining the correctness of the blockchain. A number of unique consensus mechanisms have been developed for the functioning of blockchain networks. Consensus models are aimed at organizing equal communication between nodes and reaching a common agreement with the participation of each node, which will be most advantageous for the entire network. The following is an analysis of the main consensus algorithms.

Proof of Work (Proof of Work – PoW). Within the framework of this consensus algorithm, in order to add a new block, the participant must prove that he has completed a certain amount of work. This logic is reflected in the name of the algorithm itself. The process of adding a new block takes place in the form of a competition between nodes for achieving the solution of a complex mathematical problem that is created by the network ^[10]. The nodes participating in this competition are called miners, and the whole process is called mining. The miner who has solved the problem adds a new block to the chain and for this receives a reward in the form of cryptocurrency. The solution of this mathematical problem requires significant computing power and a large amount of electricity.

This algorithm is distinguished by its security, since it is necessary to have 51% of computing power to attack the system, which makes possible attacks too expensive and reduces the probability of their success ^[11]. The main disadvantages of this consensus algorithm are considered to be a low level of scalability, high energy consumption, and, accordingly, increased harm to the environment.

Proof of ownership (Proof of Stake – PoS). This type of consensus is considered the most popular alternative to PoW. It was first implemented in 2012 as part of the Peercoin cryptocurrency project ^[27]. With this consensus algorithm, the block validation process is called staking, and the validating node is the validator. As part of PoS, validators purchase coins from the network and use some of their own coins as a bet (staking). Next, the blocks are checked by validators. As a result of the checks, the validators place a bet on the block that they checked and made sure that it should be added to the chain. If a block is added to the chain on which the validator placed a bet, he receives a bonus proportional to the volume of his bet. Validators risk the coins that they have blocked for betting. If they confirm an operation that is not correct, they will lose the blocked funds. This restricts validators to maliciously insert the wrong block into the chain and motivates them to check the blocks as correctly as possible ^[6]. With this algorithm, the advantage lies with the validator who owns a large amount of coins of the network.

The above consensus algorithms are the first and most common in practice. As the blockchain industry develops, the technology is being improved, and new algorithms are emerging that are aimed at optimizing and safe operation of blockchain platforms.

One of the main products of the blockchain platform, which in addition to ensuring the distribution and immutability of the recording of various events that have taken place, but also allows you to write objective computer code that specifies exactly how a particular process will be carried out and what steps will be taken when a certain event occurs, is a smart contract. In other words, a smart contract is a computer code written to respond to certain types of significant events ^[18]. The concept of smart contracts was proposed in 1994 by American scientist Nick Szabo ^[20]. The concept was based on the goal of implementing commercial operations without intermediaries using a computer network. As an example, Szabo conducted human communication with a vending machine, where the role of the seller is simplified to the level of simple vending machine settings.

The advantage of a smart contract is the impossibility of control by regulators. It is practically impossible to influence, force to remove the smart contract code or change it, since the program, after being implemented in the blockchain, is replicated across many network nodes and is not subject to change ^[4]. Thus, eliminating the need for intermediaries, smart contracts also provide an instant exchange of assets prescribed in the terms of the smart contract, based on the results of the implementation of the agreement.

ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SITUATION IN THE BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRYBy the end of 2022, the volume of the global blockchain market was estimated at US$ 7.36 billion.

It is expected that from 2022 to 2032, the volume of the industry will grow at an average annual growth rate of 84% and reach a value of 3,273.83 billion US dollars by the end of 2032 ^[33]

The growth of innovation and the degree of consumer awareness of the benefits of using blockchain technology is expected to contribute to further market expansion.  According to a survey by the World Economic Forum for 2021 ^[35], more than 50% of the respondent organizations stated that they plan to use blockchain technology to ensure their cybersecurity.

The COVID-19 pandemic also prompted the popularization of the blockchain industry, since enterprises in this period of time began to depend heavily on the Internet and other virtual platforms in order to maintain their activities. Blockchain technology has been actively used to perform a wide range of data processing and storage operations, including financial transactions.

Another important factor influencing the development of the blockchain industry is the increase in the flow of venture capital investments to new promising startups, as well as the start of activities in this area of large international corporations such as IBM and Microsoft. However, in the second and third quarters of 2022, there was a gradual decline in venture capital investments in the industry, which is mainly due to the decline in the cryptocurrency market and the stock market.

Figure No. 1. Monthly data on venture investments in the blockchain industry in 2022Source: Cointelegraph Research ^[32]

Blockchain technology is also being actively implemented and studied in Russia. In 2016, during his speech at the Skolkovo Business School, the Chairman of the Board of Sberbank of Russia, German Gref, noted that blockchain technology is the foundation of the beginning of the digitalization century, calling it the "new Internet" ^[23]. The "Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation for 2017-2030"^[1] and the "Strategy for the Economic Security of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030"^[2] imply taking decisive steps aimed at developing the level of digitalization in various sectors of the economy, including expanding the introduction of distributed registry technology in practice. Starting in 2016, at the initiative of the Bank of Russia, together with key financial market participants, the Fintech Association was founded in order to develop and implement new technologies for the development of the national economy ^[28]. In 2017 The Ethereum blockchain-based association has developed and adjusted the Masterchain blockchain network in accordance with the specifics of national cryptography and the organization of privacy and security processes. According to the management plan, the Masterchain blockchain network is not intended for storing data requiring special conditions, in other words, data that is a trade secret or personal information ^[13].

In 2021, the Fintech Association transferred the management of the Masterchain structure to the Distributed Registry Systems company, founded by the Association itself and its members. In September 2022, the Distributed Registry System published a new version of the Masterchain blockchain network, which is designed to efficiently organize both public and private sector processes on its platform.

In May 2021, Beac presented its blockchain platform, which it made available to all developers. The network is developed on the basis of Hyperledger Fabric. Transactions in the network are carried out in a special settlement unit integrated with the bank. This ensures the implementation of operations in smart contracts in rubles ^[14]. Network members have the opportunity to create smart contacts.

In-depth study and further development of the field of distributed registry technology in Russia are widely supported and funded by the state, which makes it possible to predict the growth of the practical use of this technology in various spheres of our life in the near future.

INTEGRATION OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY INTO THE FINANCIAL SECTOR OF THE ECONOMY

The financial sector has long been a leader in the integration of blockchain technology in practice. At the same time, the general trend of digitalization in this area, which is highly relevant, creates favorable conditions for faster popularization of blockchain technology among financial organizations.

Figure No.2. Shares of industries implementing blockchain technology in 2021Source: Fortune Business Insight ^[34]

According to the forecasts of the international consulting company "Acceture", banks implementing blockchain technology in their activities may reduce their operating costs by $8-12 billion by 2025 ^[25]. According to the Fortune Business Insight research center, by the end of 2021, the financial sector accounted for 37.1% of the entire global blockchain industry.

Figure 3 shows the areas in which banks use or may use blockchain technology in the future, mainly in order to enhance the security of data storage and transactions, reduce transaction costs, as well as optimize and increase the level of transparency of activities. The introduction of blockchain technology into the structure of banks, including the use of smart contracts, as well as the possible introduction of the practice of organizing peer-to-peer transactions in the banking sector, respectively, will reduce the need for intermediaries and more effective management of processes and possible risks.

Figure No. 3. Areas of application of blockchain technology in the banking sectorSource: created by the author.

Against the background of active work on the development of central securities by many central banks, the relevance of blockchain technology, especially of a private type, has increased even more. In addition, blockchain is an integral part of decentralized finance (Decentralised Finance - DeFi).

Yelshin L.A., Banderov V.V. and Abdukayeva A.A. ^[5] investigated the possible impact of blockchain technology on the further development of the national economy and came to the conclusion that the integration of blockchain technologies will have the greatest impact on the financial sector of the economy, in particular, on the activities of credit institutions, on the growth of the level of liquidity of the capital of economic agents, as well as improving accessibility to financial products for citizens. The study indicates that the potential for additional GDP growth of the Russian economy as a result of the above changes may reach about 1% per year.

However, according to a number of experts, blockchain technology is overestimated for changing the structure of certain areas of the world economy on a global scale, including the structure of international finance, as evidenced by the significantly slow pace of its implementation compared to the forecasts shared by experts at an early stage of the industry development. E.P. Istomin in his research explains the slow pace introduction of technology by the fact that it is the basic technology, which was the Internet in its era ^[7]. Blockchain enthusiasts believed that at first there would be a period of local private solutions, like corporate email during the initial development of the Internet, then traditional applications would be replaced by blockchain applications, like Internet applications, and after that there would be a transition from quantity to quality, and a new reality based on smart contracts would appear ^[10]. However, in a joint study, G.O. Krylov and V.M. Seleznev ^[8] state that if we compare these stages with the process of creation and the periods of development of the Internet, it can be noted that from the very moment of creation, the Internet has found a much larger number of practical applications, except for corporate e-mail. The technologies on which the blockchain is based have been used in practice in one form or another for more than 25 years ^[8]. If we assume that these technologies are basic, this is a sufficient period of time to find its widespread use.

N.V. Apatova, O.L. Korolev, A.P. Krulikovsky in their scientific work ^[3] explain the slower pace of blockchain implementation in practice compared to expected by the fact that the early Internet was non-commercial, originally developed at the expense of defense funding and used mainly to connect research institutes and universities. It was not intended to make money, but rather to develop the most reliable and efficient way to build a network. And blockchain has been used with commercial expectations from an early stage of its development, which slows down the development of the technology itself.

It is worth noting that in terms of the speed of operations, energy intensity and the degree of scalability today, blockchain technology lags far behind traditional centralized systems. In 2019, Hyperledger developers proposed the FastFabric project as an extension of Hyperledger Fabric, which increases throughput from 3,000 to 20,000 transactions per second ^[7]. For comparison, the Visa platform, which has a centralized nature, can process 76,000 transactions per second ^[18].

To these barriers, it is also worth adding possible fraudulent attacks on the system, in particular, "51% attacks", which can be carried out if more than half of the nodes are under the control of a fraudster ^[12].

Taking into account the key factors limiting the development of blockchain technology today, despite the stable growth in the industry and the active infusion of new investments into it, at present this technology has not been able to reach the level of widespread use. Many companies are actively working to improve the technology for larger-scale use, but at the moment it does not have the degree of integration and influence to change the structure of the financial sector of the economy, which, in turn, is characterized by a dynamic pace of development and high digitalization. But despite this, the blockchain technology during the period of active use in practice, although not at the level of the Internet at the early stages of its development, but in many areas, in particular in finance, found its purpose and contributed to the development of digitalization as one of its strongest accelerators.

conclusionBlockchain technology, as the most widely used type of distributed registry in practice, is on the agenda of many states and large enterprises.

Despite the fact that for a long time it has been associated with cryptocurrencies, against the background of many restrictive measures taken in relation to the cryptocurrency market around the world, the relevance of blockchain technology continues to grow. This is facilitated by such advantages of this technology as a high degree of transparency, immutability of added information and decentralization. Depending on the procedure for verifying and adding new information to the network, there are a number of consensus algorithms on which the functioning of blockchain technology is based. The most common consensus algorithms today are considered Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS). Along with this, depending on their purpose, blockchain platforms can be public, private and hybrid. One of the most innovative components of the blockchain is smart contracts, which, based on pre-established algorithms, depending on the actions carried out within the framework of the transaction, reacts accordingly.

The blockchain industry is steadily growing and developing year after year. In Russia, great attention is paid at the state level to the introduction of blockchain in many spheres of life, which will be significantly positively reflected in the development of the digitalization sphere in the country. Blockchain is being implemented most actively in the financial sector of the economy. But due to a number of disadvantages, the introduction and scaling of the technology is not carried out at such a rapid pace as predicted in the early stages of its development. However, despite this fact, in the areas of its active integration, especially in the field of finance, blockchain brings the expected results, contributing to the development of the level of digitalization of international finance.