12562 FACTA UNIVERSITATIS Series: Electronics and Energetics Vol. 37, No 1, March, 2024, pp. i - iv © 2024 by University of Niš, Serbia | Creative Commons License: CC BY-NC-ND Editorial GUEST EDITORIAL THEMATIC ISSUE ON BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS Aleksandra Labus1, Marijana Despotović-Zrakić1, Zorica Bogdanović1, Miodrag Mihaljević2, Marko Suvajdžić3, Božidar Radenković1 1Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia 2Mathematical Institute of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Аrts, Serbia 3Digital Worlds Institute, University of Florida, Florida, USA The development of digital technologies is changing the way of exchanging information among people. In modern e-business ecosystems data and information are traded intensively. Problems related to safety, security and privacy in the management of business transactions are emerging. In response to these challenges, blockchain emerges as a transformative solution, offering a decentralized, immutable, transparent, and secure ledger that impeccably records all monetary transactions. Rooted in a distributed database of encrypted data, blockchain ensures integrity and resilience against tampering or replication. The key attributes of blockchain technology encompass decentralization, anonymity, auditability, security, increased capacity, transparency, reliability, and immutability. Thematic issue Facta Universitatis, Series Electronics and Energetics "Blockchain Technologies and Applications" focuses on the profound impact of blockchain technologies on diverse domains such as E-business, Industry 4.0, Metaverse, Software engineering, Digital banking, Fintech, Risk management, Healthcare, Sport, Ecology. This thematic issue dedicated to blockchain presents innovative e-business models and ecosystems based on blockchain technologies [1][2], development of blockchain infrastructure [3][4], and its seamless integration with complementary technologies like Cloud Computing, Big Data [5], NFT [6], Artificial Intelligence [7][8], Machine Learning [9]. Findings and discussion of the thematic issue should improve the research and development potential in the academic, industry, and business environments. The following papers explore the application of blockchain technology in supply chain management across diverse industries, addressing readiness assessments, innovative business models, and challenges of implementation. The first paper, titled "Stakeholders' Readiness for Adopting Blockchain in the Fashion Industry," systematically examines the readiness of fashion industry stakeholders for adopting blockchain. It assesses readiness, identifies barriers, and proposes an innovative blockchain application model in the supply chain of the fashion industry. The subsequent pair of papers, "Testing Readiness of Adoption of ii A. LABUS, M. DESPOTOVIĆ-ZRAKIĆ, Z. BOGDANOVIĆ, M. MIHALJEVIĆ,... Blockchain Technology in Tracking the Authenticity of Organic Coffee" and "Assessing the Adoption and Utilization of Blockchain Technology among Software Developers," delves into the examination of blockchain adoption in specific domains. Both studies contribute insights into the dynamics of blockchain integration in distinct contexts, offering valuable perspectives for industry stakeholders and researchers alike. The paper "Methodology of Creating NFT Fashion Projects" aims to clarify misconceptions about non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their varied applications. It proposes a methodology for NFT fashion projects, demonstrating the modeling of a fashion ecosystem based on NFTs and providing a practical example of NFT collection creation using a smart contract developed in the PyTeal programming language on the Algorand blockchain platform. The next paper "Improving attractiveness of frontier markets using blockchain technology" explores smart contracts, their functioning, and prevalent platforms, proposing a model for a blockchain-supported junior stock market. The next two papers fall into the category of exploring the revolutionary influence of blockchain technology within the banking sector. The first paper, "Revolutionising the Document Workflow Using Blockchain in the banking sector," focuses on leveraging blockchain to enhance the efficiency, security, and privacy of workflow processes in banking. The proposed method integrates Alfresco DMS, CMIS, and Camunda for workflow management, with additional security provided by Factom Blockchain's notary. The paper "Blockchain and Outsourcing for Specialised Banking Communities," delves into the potential benefits of implementing blockchain technology and outsourcing contracts within specialised banking communities in Russia. The paper "Towards Decentralized Resource Management for Disasters: NGO-RMSD" proposes a blockchain-based decentralized system, NGO-RMSD, designed to improve collaborative efforts in disaster response. The paper titled "Blockchain: Balance of Anonymity and Security" aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges associated with balancing anonymity and security in the utilization of blockchain technologies. The following paper, "A Bibliometric Overview of Blockchain Technology in Sports," concludes by contributing valuable insights to both academic knowledge and practical applications, offering a comprehensive snapshot of the current state and trends of blockchain technology within the sports domain. The paper, "AI and Blockchain Framework for Healthcare Applications," explores the convergence of AI and blockchain in healthcare. It delves into societal implications while providing practical contributions, including the evolution of best practice guidelines and the introduction of a systematic development framework known as AI-BlockchainOps. Focusing on electric energy consumption and its CO2 emission footprint, this paper titled "The Impact of Blockchain Technology on the Environment" delves into the central theme of how blockchain technology affects the environment. The last two papers, "A Comprehensive Comparative Study of Machine Learning Models for Predicting Cryptocurrency" and "A Study on Bitcoin Price Behavior with Analysis of Daily Bitcoin Price Data," both fall within the category and scope of fintech and cryptocurrency exploration. In the former, various cryptocurrencies undergo comprehensive analysis using different machine learning models, revealing the absence of a singular model consistently outperforming others. The latter paper focuses on Bitcoin, acknowledging the challenges associated with attributing specific changes to identifiable reasons within the dynamic realm of cryptocurrencies. Thematic Issue on Blockchain Technologies and Applications iii Finally, we would like to take the opportunity to thank the authors and reviewers for their endeavors. Without great efforts from them, this thematic issue could not have been made. We would also like to thank the Editor-in-Chief, Professor Danijel Danković for the opportunity to edit this thematic issue and all his support throughout the editing process. REFERENCES [1] T. K. Agrawal, V. Kumar, R. Pal, L. Wang, and Y. Chen, "Blockchain-based framework for supply chain traceability: A case example of textile and clothing industry," Comput. Ind. Eng., vol. 154, no. January, 2021. [2] S. K. Panda, A. K. Jena, S. K. Swain, and S. C. Satapathy, Blockchain technology : applications and challenges, May. 2021. [3] M. Javaid, A. Haleem, R. P. Singh, R. Suman, and S. Khan, "A review of Blockchain Technology applications for financial services," BenchCouncil Trans. Benchmarks, Stand. Eval., vol. 2, no. 3, p. 100073, 2022. [4] C. C. Agbo, Q. H. Mahmoud, and J. M. Eklund, "Blockchain technology in healthcare: A systematic review," Healthc., vol. 7, no. 2, 2019. [5] Y. Du and F. Gu, "Application of Sports Industry Blockchain Technology under the Background of Big Data," Wirel. Commun. Mob. Comput., vol. 2022, 2022. [6] Q. Wang, R. Li, Q. Wang, and S. Chen, "Non-Fungible Token (NFT): Overview, Evaluation, Opportunities and Challenges," 2021, [Online]. Available: http://arxiv.org/abs/2105.07447 [7] T. N. Dinh and M. T. Thai, "AI and Blockchain: A Disruptive Integration," Computer (Long. Beach. Calif)., vol. 51, no. 9, pp. 48–53, 2018. [8] A. Barredo Arrieta et al., "Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI): Concepts, taxonomies, opportunities and challenges toward responsible AI," Inf. Fusion, vol. 58, pp. 82–115, 2020. [9] Y. Lee, C. H. Wei, and K. C. Chao, "Non-parametric machine learning methods for evaluating the effects of traffic accident duration on freeways," Arch. Transp., vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 91–104, 2017. [1] Aleksandra Labus, PhD, is a full professor and Head of Blockchain Laboratory at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. She is Co-PI at the UF Blockchain Lab, Project funded by Algorand Foundation as ACE-W3, 2022-2024. Her current professional and scientific interests include e-business, IoT, blockchain and digital transformation. She was a mentor for five defended PhD theses. The results of her research have been published in many well-known international journals and conference proceedings. She is a member of IEEE and treasurer of IEEE Computer chapter CO 16. She was a member of TPC for several international conferences. She was an editor of the book Digital Transformation of the Financial Industry, published by Springer, 2023. Marijana Despotović-Zrakić, PhD, is a professor at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Organizational Sciences. She teaches subjects in the area of computer simulation, internet technologies, blockchain, e-business and e-education on BSc, MSc, and PhD studies. The results of her researches have been published in many well-known international journals and conference proceedings. She was a mentor for twelve defended PhD theses. She is in chair of the Department of e-Business, and in chair of the Laboratory of simulation. She holds the position of vice-president of IEEE Computer chapter CO 16, and she is in chair of the seminar of IEEE Computer chapter CO 16. She is the program chair for the EBT scientific conference. She is a member of editorial board of several eminent international journals. iv A. LABUS, M. DESPOTOVIĆ-ZRAKIĆ, Z. BOGDANOVIĆ, M. MIHALJEVIĆ,... Zorica Bogdanović, PhD, is professor at University of Belgrade Faculty of Organizational Sciences. She teaches subjects in the area of e-business, internet technologies, blockchain and IoT on BSc, MSc, and PhD studies. The results of her researches have been published in many well-known international journals and conference proceedings. She was a mentor for six defended PhD theses. She is member of IEEE and secretary of IEEE Computer chapter CO 16. She is in chair of seminar of IEEE Computer chapter CO 16. She is in chair of the summer school "E-business technologies" at Faculty of Organizational Sciences. Since 2016 she has been in chair of Center for Internet of things. She is a member of coordinating committee and editor of proceedings for the conference IcMarkTech. Miodrag J. Mihaljevic is a Research Professor at Mathematical Institute, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia. He has held long-term visiting positions as Visiting Researcher or Invited Senior Research Scientist or Visiting Foreign Professor at the following institutions: the University of Tokyo, IMAI Lab (1997-2001 and 2004- 2005), Sony Computer Science Labs (2001-2002), Sony Corporation Labs (2002-2003), Tokyo, the Research Center for Information Security (RCIS), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tokyo, Japan (2006-2012), Research Institute for Secure Systems (RISEC), National Institute AIST, Tsukuba, Japan (2012-2013), and the Chuo University, IMAI Lab., Tokyo, Japan (2013-2014). His main research areas are cryptology and information security, and his list of achievements include over 100 research references published in the leading international journals, book series and conference proceedings. He is inventor of 6 granted patents in U.S, Japan and China. Notably, in over 90%, professor Mihaljević is the first author, i.e. the main contributor, of the published references. Marko Suvajdžić is an Associate Professor in Digital Arts and Sciences, he is the Associate Director of the Digital Worlds Institute, and the founding director of Blockchain Lab at the University of Florida. His research at the University of Florida has been awarded over $8M in grant money to date. Marko is a diverse thinker with 25+ years of achievement in academia and the creative digital research and production space. His experience includes a range of digital startups and educational projects from artificial Intelligence-intensive video game titles for major corporate clients to co-founding five of his own startups. Marko’s work has been featured at Talks at Google, TedX Salon, and he was a keynote speaker at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. He has lectured internationally at schools and conferences in the USA, UK, India, Australia, Turkey, UAE, Norway, China, and Japan. Božidar Radenković, PhD, is a full professor at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. His professional interests include internet technologies, mobile technologies, internet of things and enterprise networking. He is a full member of IEEE, ACM, SCS. He is the founder of Laboratory for simulation, and founder and chair of the Laboratory for e-business. He founded graduate and postgraduate studies in e-business in 2001. He was the President of the Councils of the Faculty of science, University of Kragujevac (2001-2002), President of the Board of the Association of information technologies in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (2001-2005), President of the UNESCO National Committee for ICT (2003-2009), President of the board of Institute of information systems and technology at FOS (1985-1987), Founder of Register of National Internet Domain Names of Serbia and Chair of the Board of Governors (2006-2008), Chair of IEEE Computer chapter CО16 (2003 till now).