Blockchain and FinTech (BlockFin)

Blockchain and FinTech Research (BlockFin)

A diverse group of researchers at FIIT are working on a range of Blockchain academic and industry-driven research projects in a means to push further the technical development and innovation of the endless applications of Blockchain.
Current research projects include: connection to IoT platforms and it's usability, distributed systems, data mining and machine learning, anti-money laundering techniques, scalability and resiliency, smart contracts, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchains interoperability, voting and election systems based on blockchain, privacy and security in blockchains and cryptocurrencies, asset sharing blockchain platforms, metaverse projects, decentralized finances (DeFi), and applications of blockchain into normal life.

The vision of the group lays in approaching Internet of Value in a horizon of 5 to 10 years and further empowering blockchain technology usage in society, actually, especially metaverse.

 

Research interests

• Distributed ledger technology
• Blockchain
• Financial technology
• Anti-money laundering

 

 

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	Volodymyr Khylenko Professor e-mail: volodymyr.khylenko[at]stuba.sk website			Michal Ries Associate Professor e-mail: michal.ries[at]stuba.sk website
His research focus includes the development and application of methods and algorithms for system analysis for the field of information communications. Recently, he has focused on cybersecurity and networks control issues using blockchain technologies. He has authored and co-authored 9 monographs and more than 150 scientific publications. He has registered patents and patent applications in the USA and Germany. For 8 years he headed the Ukrainian Research Institute of Telecommunications. Prof. V. Khylenko participated as a leader and solver of more than 15 research international projects.			His research interest lies at technology transfer and network performance, including Software Defined Networking (SDN), wireless and mobile networking, Internet of Things and blockchains. He focuses mainly on scalability of blockchain technologies and anti-money laundering techniques.

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	Kristián Košťál Assistant Professor e-mail: kristian.kostal[at]stuba.sk website, Kusama Research group leader			Martin Sabo Assistant Professor e-mail: martin.sabo[at]stuba.sk website
Focusing mainly on communication architectures of blockchains and fintech areas, especially blockchain and processes around the deployment of blockchain technology. His research interests are in blockchains interoperability, tokenization of things and metaverse approaches. As a fan of open technologies and open software, he is an active member in the blockchain community in Slovakia.

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	Richard Marko Researcher e-mail: richard.marko[at]stuba.sk website			Muhammad Nasim Bahar Doctoral Student e-mail: muhammad.bahar[at]stuba.sk website
Focusing on smoothly overseeing financial, personnel and operational facets and effectively balance targets with resources and optimize long-term success. He is doing research and development on anti-money laundering and blockchain topics to showcase benefits and retain customers. His expertise is also in European payment systems and SWIFT money transfers.			His research focus lies in Zero-Knowledge Proofs, scalable transparent argument of knowledge (STARK), and succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge (SNARK).

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	Wiliam Brach Doctoral Student e-mail: wiliam.brach[at]stuba.sk website			Lukáš Mastiľak Doctoral Student e-mail: lukas.mastilak[at]stuba.sk website
			He focuses on network communication and blockchain technology from a security perspective. He is currently working on the design of an alternative method of protection against reporting fake IP addresses within the border gateway protocol using a blockchain and secure communications of databases.

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	Adam Novocký Doctoral Student e-mail: adam.novocky[at]stuba.sk website			Viktor Valaštín Doctoral Student (ext.) e-mail: viktor.valastin[at]stuba.sk website
			He has been researching blockchain technology since 2018 with research focus firstly in blockchain-based car-sharing platforms, afterwards in universal asset sharing platforms and composability non-fungible tokens. He also has practical experience in building an open-source NFT virtual gallery which enhances the idea of ownership and IP in the digital ecosystem. Nowadays he focuses on metaverse research.

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	Michal Géci Doctoral Student (ext.) e-mail: michal.geci[at]stuba.sk website			Vladimír Jančok Doctoral Student (ext.) e-mail: vladimir.jancok[at]stuba.sk website

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Selected recent publications

1. FDHILA, Walid - STIFTER, Nicholas - KOŠŤÁL, Kristián - SAGLAM, Cihan - SABADELLO, Markus. Methods for Decentralized Identities: Evaluation and Insights. In Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing. 1. ed. Cham: Springer Nature, 2021, pp. 119-135.
2. KRUPA, Tomáš - RIES, Michal - KOTULIAK, Ivan - KOŠŤÁL, Kristián - BENCEL, Rastislav. Security Issues of Smart Contracts in Ethereum Platforms. In Open Innovations Association (FRUCT): 28th conference proceedings. 1. ed. Washington: IEEE Computer Society, 2021, pp. 208-214.
3. MASTILAK, Lukas - HELEBRANDT, Pavol - GALINSKI, Marek - KOTULIAK, Ivan. Secure Inter-Domain Routing Based on Blockchain: A Comprehensive Survey. Sensors. 2022. Vol. 22, no. 4, p. 1437.
4. KOŠŤÁL, Kristián - HELEBRANDT, Pavol - BELLUŠ, Matej - RIES, Michal - KOTULIAK, Ivan. Management and Monitoring of IoT Devices Using Blockchain. Sensors. 2019. Vol. 19, no. 4, p. 856.
5. KOŠŤÁL, Kristián - BENCEL, Rastislav - RIES, Michal - KOTULIAK, Ivan. Blockchain E-Voting Done Right: Privacy and Transparency with Public Blockchain. In Proceedings: 2019 IEEE 10th International Conference on Software Engineering and Service Science (ICSESS), 18-20 October 2019, Beijing, China. 1. ed. Piscataway: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2019, pp. 592-595.
6. VALAŠTÍN, Viktor - KOŠŤÁL, Kristián - BENCEL, Rastislav - KOTULIAK, Ivan. Blockchain Based Car-Sharing Platform. In Proceedings ELMAR-2019 : 61st International symposium. Zadar, Croatia. September 23-25, 2019. 1. ed. Zagreb: University of Zagreb, 2019, pp. 5-8.
7. KOŠŤÁL, Kristián - KRUPA, Tomáš - GEMBEC, Martin - VEREŠ, Igor - RIES, Michal - KOTULIAK, Ivan. On Transition between PoW and PoS. 2018 International Symposium ELMAR, Zadar, 2018, pp. 207-210.

 

Industry collaboration

• Common international research project proposals with several industry partners: Atos Spain SA, QBSW, Sfera, Kusama foundation.
• Extensive collaboration in research and development projects with several Slovak software development companies.

 

Academy collaboration

Common international research project proposals with several academic partners:

• NHF EUBA (Prof. Pavol Ochotnicky),
• FIT Fraunhofer (Dr. Georgios Toubekis),
• Metropolia University (Dr. Erkki Räsänen),
• 3CL Malta (Dr. Alex Grech).

 

Infrastructure

• Several virtual machines connected into OpenStack platform at faculty. High-capacity storage computers in several labs across faculty.