The rapid expansion of smart cities has led to the widespread deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) devices for real-time data collection and urban optimization. However, these interconnected systems face critical cybersecurity risks, including data tampering, unauthorized access, and privacy breaches. This paper proposes a blockchain-based framework designed to enhance the security, integrity, and resilience of IoT data in smart city environments. Leveraging a private blockchain, the system ensures decentralized, tamper-proof data storage, and transaction verification through digital signatures and a lightweight Proof of Work consensus mechanism. Smart contracts are employed to automate access control and respond to anomalies in real time. A Python-based simulation demonstrates the framework’s effectiveness in securing IoT communications. The system supports rapid transaction validation with minimal latency and enables timely detection of anomalous patterns through integrated machine learning. Evaluations show that the framework maintains consistent performance across diverse smart city components such as transportation, healthcare, and building security. These results highlight the potential of the proposed solution to enable secure, scalable, and real-time IoT ecosystems for modern urban infrastructures.

This research aims to investigate the factors shaping the investment choices of individuals in Saudi Arabia concerning cryptocurrencies, particularly focusing on the influence of the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) psychological phenomenon. This study employs a mixed-methods approach to comprehend the factors influencing Saudi investors' decisions in the cryptocurrency realm. Quantitative surveys are conducted to gauge perceptions of risk, return, regulatory factors, and social influence. Additionally, qualitative interviews delve into the nuanced interplay of these elements and the impact of FOMO on decision-making. Integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior and Behavioral Finance theories, this research offers a holistic understanding of cryptocurrency investment determinants. The combined quantitative and qualitative methods provide a comprehensive view, enabling an in-depth analysis of the subject matter. The study reveals that Saudi Arabian investors' decisions regarding cryptocurrencies are significantly influenced by multiple factors, including perceived risk, potential return, regulatory environment, and social dynamics. FOMO emerges as a crucial psychological factor, interacting with these influences and driving decision-making. This research underscores the intricate interplay between these factors and FOMO, shedding light on the dynamics of cryptocurrency investment choices in the Saudi Arabian market. The findings hold implications for policymakers, financial institutions, and investors seeking deeper insights into this evolving landscape. Drawing from the Theory of Planned Behavior and Behavioral Finance, it examines perceived risk, return, regulatory factors, and social influence in influencing cryptocurrency investment choices among Saudi investors, focusing on the influence of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).  The research outcome provides insights for policymakers, financial institutions, and investors seeking to understand cryptocurrency investment dynamics in Saudi Arabia.

The food supply chain in South Africa faces significant challenges related to transparency, traceability, and consumer trust. As concerns about food safety, quality, and sustainability grow, there is an increasing need for innovative solutions to address these issues. Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising tool to enhance transparency and accountability across various industries, including the food sector. This study sought to explore the potential of blockchain technology in revolutionizing through promoting transparency that enable the achievement of sustainable food supply chain infrastructure in South Africa. The study found that blockchain technology used in food supply chain creates an immutable and decentralized ledger of transactions that has the capacity to provide real-time, end-to-end visibility of food products from farm to table. This increased transparency can help mitigate risks associated with food fraud, contamination, and inefficiencies in the supply chain. The study found that blockchain technology can be leveraged to enhance supply chain efficiency and trust among stakeholders. This technology used and/or applied in South Africa can reshape the agricultural sector by improving production and distribution processes. Its integration in the food supply chain infrastructure can equally improve data management and increase transparency between farmers and food suppliers.There is need for policy-makers and scholars in the fields of service delivery and food security to conduct more research in blockchain technology and its roles in creating a more transparent, efficient, and trustworthy food supply chain infractructure that address food supply problems in South Africa. The paper adopted a qualitative methodology to collect data, and document and content analysis techniques were used to interpret collected data. 

Blockchain technology has increasingly attracted the attention of the financial service sector, customers, and investors because of its distinctive characteristics, such as transparency, security, reliability, and traceability. The paper is based on a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The study comprehended the literature and the theories. It deployed the technology-organization-environment (TOE) model to consider technological, organizational, and environmental factors as antecedents of blockchain adoption intention. The paper contributes to blockchain literature by providing new insights into the factors that affect the intention to adopt blockchain technology. A theoretical model incorporates antecedents of blockchain adoption intention to direct an agenda for further investigations. Researchers can use the model proposed in this study to test the antecedents of blockchain adoption intention empirically.

The key goal of the study is to identify aspects of the implementation of blockchain technologies in human resource management and argue for the moderating role of institutional support. The need to introduce new technologies at both the tactical and strategic levels is substantiated. It is highlighted that the key core of modern organizations is the human resource management system. The role of integration of blockchain technologies in human resource management, which ensures the effective training of qualified personnel at the right time and in the right place, is argued. It has been determined that the introduction of blockchain technologies in human resource management facilitates the organization of cooperation between countries in updating skills and knowledge based on compliance with competency standards and corporate governance rules. A survey of 300 employees of the pharmaceutical industry in Jordan was conducted, which served as the basis for a multivariate analysis to confirm reasonable hypotheses. The results obtained are valuable and can be applied in practice in terms of determining the impact of the implementation of blockchain technology in the human resource management system and on the UTAUT structure, which in turn provides institutional support.

Decentralized cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, use peer-to-peer software protocol, disintermediating the traditional intermediaries that used to be banks and other financial intermediaries, effectuating cross-border transfer. In fact, by removing the requirement for a middleman, the technology has the potential to disrupt current financial transactions that rely on a trusted authority or intermediary operator. Traditional financial regulation, primarily based on the command-and-control approach, is ill-suited to regulating decentralized cryptocurrencies. The present paper aims to investigate the policy option most suitable for regulating decentralized cryptocurrencies. The study employs content analysis method to effectuate the purpose of the study. The paper argues that the combination of both direct and indirect regulatory approaches would be a feasible option for regulating decentralized cryptocurrencies. The absence of centralized authority and the borderless nature of decentralized cryptocurrencies would make them antithetical to centralized direct regulation. Therefore, the findings of the study suggest that regulators should focus on regulating intermediaries bridging the connection between the online world (crypto ecosystem) and the physical world (the point of converting crypto into fiat money). These intermediaries can work as passive actors or surrogate regulators who are indirectly responsible for implementing policy options on behalf of the central authority.