https://sites.google.com/unipi.it/wave2025/home

2-5 July 2025, Bologna, Italy

Accepted papers will be published by IEEE and will be available via the IEEE Xplore.

Motivation and Rationale

Web3 and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) are two key factors of the new Internet era. They are redefining the landscape of digital communications and distributed systems, offering new opportunities for secure, resilient, and scalable applications. The worldwide adoption of Web3 is reshaping how users experience Internet services by including concepts such as decentralization, democratization and rewarding in existing services. The main engine of Web3 is blockchain technology. However, there are numerous areas where there is room for improvement.

To begin with, most Web3 applications revolve around DeFi, however, the decentralisation offered by blockchain technology could help plenty of scenarios. Promising scenarios are supply chains, health, decentralized storage, data sharing, power grids, virtual worlds (like the Metaverse) and many more. Additionally, there are other scenarios where Web3 could have a meaningful impact, including IoT, vehicular networks, cloud and edge computing, digital identities, intellectual property management, digital twins, and integration with the physical world. DeFi is still quite far from perfect. Indeed, fungible and non-fungible assets are constantly evolving to include more advanced functionalities as so to increase their adoption. Moreover, DeFi was shown to be susceptible to malicious activity, including fake NFTs, sleepminting, washtrading, rug pull, pump and dump, Maximal Extractable Value and other scams. Finding solutions to foresee and prevent such malevolent practices becomes crucial for the true adoption of this technology. Lastly, blockchain technology has some inherent limitations that are still to be addressed, including creating efficient consensus protocols for public blockchains, and secure channels for transaction confirmation among others.

The Web3 Applications and the eVolution of dEcentralized finance (WAVE) workshop analyses the technological challenges and the potential of Web3 and DeFi applications. By bringing together researchers and practitioners, the workshop aims to attract contributions that can discuss how these emerging technologies can shape the future of blockchain, and address the challenges of their adoption. Papers on both theoretical and design aspects are welcomed, which describe and evaluate novel design methods and system prototypes. The workshop also welcomes work-in-progress and position papers.

Topics

We welcome submission on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:

• Web3 Applications and Technologies

• Web3 storage decentralization and data sharing

• Novel Web3 applications (IoT, networks, cloud computing)

• DLTs and Blockchain Technology

• Blockchain security and performance

• Adoption of blockchain in innovative scenarios

• Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and similars (e.g. GameFi, SocialFi)

• Application of DeFi to novel scenarios

• DeFi vulnerability identification and mitigation

• New DeFi services

• Decentralized Social Networking: analysis and applications

• Decentralized Technology for the Metaverse

• NFTs analysis and applications

• AI for Web3 and DeFi

• Privacy, scalability, and governance

• Networking and communications for Web3 and DeFi

• Solutions for safe online environments

Submission

Submissions will be made via EDAS using the following link:  https://edas.info/newPaper.php?c=33279.

WAVE'25 uses a double-blind review process. The workshop accepts manuscripts up to 6 pages long in the IEEE double-column proceedings format, including tables, figures and references. 

Important Dates

• Papers submission: [Extended Deadline] February 10, 2025 (AoE, UCT -12)

• Notification of acceptance: March 14, 2025

• Camera-ready paper due: April 14, 2025

• Workshop: July 2-5, 2025 (tbc)