"Recent years have witnessed the rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as vehicles for non-investment finance, including in nonprofit and political fundraising. As with other financial sectors in which NFTs have a role, the use of NFTs in financing nonprofits and political campaigns and committees has revealed gaps and ambiguities in existing legal regulatory systems. Appetite exists to evolve legal frameworks to complete and clarify applicable bodies of law and regulation.

Blockchain-based fundraising transforms the way issuers raise capital from the public, promising to reduce transaction costs, expand financial access, and reshape issuer-investor interactions. Despite these promises, the blockchain finance market is currently plagued by severe asymmetric information and is rife with fraudulent and low-quality issuers who exploit this friction. This chapter explores the reasons for the severe asymmetric information in this market and discusses the extent to which signaling and analysts can address it. It suggests that the effectiveness of signaling is limited due to the low costs of producing and disseminating signals and investors' inability to verify biased signals ex ante and punish biased signals ex post. These limitations make analysts a vital source for reducing asymmetric information but they, too, appear to suffer from significant problems – ranging from conflicts of interest to lack of transparency to low competence and expertise – which hinder their effectiveness in reducing asymmetric information. The chapter concludes with the policy implications arising from these observations, which can also guide policy-makers in addressing emerging blockchain-based fundraising mechanisms, such as non-fungible token (NFT) offerings.

The digital asset landscape is rapidly evolving, despite recent volatility exemplified by the collapse of FTX in 2022. However, the taxation of cryptocurrencies remains a contentious topic, raising questions about how these financial instruments should be taxed. While the IRS has not signaled any immediate changes to the tax code, arguments persist for new tax specifics. This chapter presents the case for integrating fresh tax regulations into the code, catering to both academics and practitioners. Exploring the complexities of taxing cryptocurrencies, it considers factors such as classifying tax liabilities for various digital assets and understanding the implications of crypto transactions on taxable events, and delves into the challenges faced by tax authorities in monitoring decentralized and pseudonymous cryptocurrency transactions. With a focus on bridging theory and practice, the chapter offers practical insights for implementing effective taxation policies for digital assets. It aims to guide policy-makers and taxpayers in navigating the dynamic cryptocurrency landscape. Additionally, it advocates for an updated tax code that aligns with the evolving nature of the digital asset ecosystem. By providing a comprehensive economic rationale, it contributes to ongoing discussions on cryptocurrency taxation, fostering an efficient and equitable tax framework tailored for NFTs and digital assets.

For better or worse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most peculiar and least expected art market innovations of the early twenty-first century. This chapter provides a brief history of NFTs and the NFT market, beginning with the invention of blockchain technology, through the creation of the Bitcoin, Namecoin, and Ethereum blockchains, and the NFT phenomenon. It describes a selection of NFT projects and artists and provides a theoretical account of both the art market and the NFT market.

Fueled in part by the wealth created from digital currencies, major art dealers such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s have embraced the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) attached to unique digital works of art. NFTs, how they are related to the blockchain, and the evolution of the market for digital art is the subject of this chapter. Despite recent decreases in value, it appears that digital art can be added to the growing list of uses for blockchain technology, which is now becoming a part of modern life. This chapter proceeds in five sections. First, the overview of the evolutionary progression of blockchain technology in the form of NFTs. Second, a description of the emergence of the market for digital art. Third, an explanation and historical account of digital art and related recent issues. Fourth, a coverage of the abrupt decline in the market price for many NFTs. And last, a conclusion, which focuses on how the dramatic extension of blockchain and other digital technology to the world of art represents a new and exciting platform for creative expression. This chapter offers a valuable addition to the literature by providing a readable introduction and overview of what is now known about the likely impact of blockchain technology and NFTs to art. Additionally, this important development should have a significant impact on the future of innovation and property law.

This chapter covers:

1. • The academic disciplines that come together in the field of human–robot interaction (HRI);

2. • The barriers created by the disciplines’ different paradigms and how to work around these;

3. • The history and evolution of HRI as a science;

4. • Landmark robots in HRI history.

This chapter covers:

1. • The role of nonverbal communication in interactions between people—how communication is enhanced by facial expressions, hand gestures, body posture, and sounds;

2. • The importance of interpreting, using, and responding to nonverbal cues in the appropriate way, both to successful human– robot interactions and to generate a positive perception of robots;

3. • Nonverbal communication channels that are unique to robots, as well as channels that replicate those commonly used by humans;

4. • How robotic sounds, lights, and colors or physical gestures with arms, legs, tails, ears, and other body parts can be effective for communicating with people.

This chapter covers:

1. • How a well-designed robot can lift interactions to the next level (physical design);

2. • How people do not treat robots as an assembly of plastic, electronics, and code but rather as humanlike entities (anthropomorphism);

3. • How HRI research draws on psychological theories, such as anthropomorphism, to design and study people’s interactions with robots;

4. • Design methods and prototyping tools used in human–robot interaction.

About this book; Christoph Bartneck; Tony Belpaeme; Friederike Eyssel; Takayuki Kanda; Merel Keijsers; Selma Šabanović; Notes on second edition

This chapter covers:

1. • The diverse areas of robot applications where human–robot interaction (HRI) is an important component;

2. • Applications beyond robots that are studied in a research context;

3. • Possible future applications;

4. • Potential problems that would need to be solved when HRI has a larger role in our society.

This chapter covers:

1. • The difference between affect, emotions, and mood;

2. • What roles emotions play in interacting with other humans and robots;

3. • Basic models of emotions;

4. • The challenges in emotion processing.

This chapter covers:

1. • The basic hardware and software components that a robot consists of;

2. • The techniques we can apply to make a robot ready for interacting with people.

This chapter covers:

1. • Current attitude of the general public toward robots and how this may change in the coming years;

2. • Possible shifts and developments in the nature of human–robot relationships, specifically companion bots;

3. • Further development of the technology of human–robot interactions, specifically artificial intelligence;

4. • The inherent issues with predicting the future (“crystal ball problems”).

This chapter covers:

1. • The complexities and challenges of human verbal interaction;

2. • The components of speech in human and human–robot interaction (HRI);

3. • The basic principles of speech recognition and its application to HRI;

4. • Dialogue management systems in HRI;

5. • Natural-language interaction in HRI, including the use of chatbots.