Revolutionizing Digital Banking: Harnessing Blockchain Smart Contracts for Enhanced Security and Efficiency

Blockchain technology stands out for its cryptographic connections between chronologically ordered records, forming the core of integrity within the expansive blockchain ecosystem. Leading the charge in this blockchain revolution are digital currencies, reshaping the financial landscape with seamless peer-to-peer transactions. As trailblazers in the realm of blockchain, digital currencies have catalyzed a shift towards decentralized, trust-based financial systems, fundamentally reimagining the global financial stage. This research embarks on an exploration at the intersection of Google Trends analytics and blockchain-based smart contracts. Its objective is to transform and fortify financial transactions within the digital banking sector. Moreover, the study offers a third-person perspective, unveiling valuable insights and recommendations for key stakeholders, such as financial institutions, regulators, and policymakers. These policy directives aim to promote greater financial inclusion, bolster security measures, and cultivate trust within the digital banking realm.

I. Introduction

In early 2009, an enigmatic figure known as Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin. It was a peer-to-peer software that presented an alternative to conventional electronic payment systems [1]–[3]. The primary goal of blockchains is to establish a reliable ecosystem among independent participants within a distributed environment that lack inherent trust. Within a blockchain system, security and autonomy stem from its interconnected blocks, peer-to-peer nodes, ledger consensus mechanisms, anonymous accounts, self-governing data ownership, and programmable smart contracts [4]–[6]. This technically efficient blockchain operates at low cost, based on a public key algorithm, hash encryption techniques, and a distributed processing structure. Consequently, there's potential for replacement of the current centralized ledger structure with a distributed one. Moreover, the banking sector recognizes substantial benefits in terms of stability, security, and data management cost reduction, which is anticipated to lead to improved service speed [6].