Financial technology (fintech) has become an important component of the finance, banking, and payment industry. Essential financial technologies include the various approaches for blockchain and smart contracts. In this paper, the authors investigate the standard defined by the payment industry as it applies to recent blockchain and smart contract solutions.

The literature overview discusses vulnerabilities and privacy problems related to the actual implementation of blockchain and smart contracts. User anonymization, pseudo-anonymization, and identification are crucial issues. There are some contradictory requirements: simple payment transactions necessitate the anonymity of the payer side generally; on the other hand, business transactions among firms demand the unambiguous identification of partners.

The authors select two available solutions: QTUM and Ethereum. The authors analyze whether the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) permits the application of blockchain and smart contract technologies, and where gaps exist in its definition. A comparative study highlights the violations and discrepancies of the prescribed rules between the two technologies and PA-DSS.

The paper is an interesting read for security experts, professionals, and consultants involved in fintech. The authors examine privacy, data security, and protection problems using the two platforms. They conclude that the smart contract solution offers enormous business potential; however, several security issues remain. PA-DSS designates the roadmap that contributors to blockchain and smart contract technologies should follow.