The program will be available by early June 2025.

We welcome high-quality submissions in the field of blockchain that present innovative ideas, explore emerging challenges, consolidate existing knowledge, or demonstrate early-stage but impactful directions.

Submission site 

PDF submissions can be submitted at https://nbc25.hotcrp.com

Topics of Interest

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

1.  Cryptoeconomics & Decentralized Finance

• Tokenomics and staking models
• Decentralized governance
• Systemic risk and economic stability in blockchain-based financial systems
• Mechanism design for reducing Miner Extractable Value (MEV)
• Decentralized stabilization algorithms and incentive-compatible protocol design

       2. Cryptography & Distributed Systems

• Novel cryptographic primitives and consensus protocols for blockchain
• Security proofs and formal analysis of blockchain protocols
• New techniques for secure, decentralized identity and authentication

       3. Formal Methods & Programming Languages

• Secure programming languages and frameworks for smart contracts
• Formal verification of cryptographic and consensus-critical code
• Static and dynamic analysis tools for blockchain applications

   

  4. Blockchain Infrastructure & Scalability

• Layer 1 and Layer 2 scaling solutions
• Secure and efficient blockchain storage and state management
• Decentralized oracle networks and cross-chain communication

   

  5. Privacy & Confidentiality

• Zero-knowledge proofs and privacy-preserving cryptographic techniques
• Privacy-enhancing technologies for decentralized applications
• Techniques for compliance-aware confidential transactions

  
  6. Hardware & Blockchain Security

• Hardware security modules (HSMs) and secure multi-party computation (MPC)
• Design and analysis of hardware wallets and key management solutions
• Alternative network infrastructure for blockchain communication (e.g., satellite, radio)

   

  7. Testing, Measurement & Deployment

• Blockchain testing methodologies, simulation, and experiment design
• Measurement and analysis of deployed blockchain networks
• Upgradability and governance mechanisms in blockchain protocols

   

  8. Security, Attacks & Threat Modeling

• Security vulnerabilities in smart contracts and DeFi protocols
• Attacks on consensus protocols, Sybil resistance, and economic security
• Emerging threats in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)

Submission Types

Technical Paper: A detailed and mature technical submission presenting a novel contribution to blockchain engineering, science, or cryptoeconomics. These papers should demonstrate strong methodology, technical depth, and meaningful implications for research or practice.

Exploratory Paper: Submissions in this category may include early-stage research with high potential or papers that systematize and analyze existing knowledge. This includes conceptually innovative ideas, comparative studies, surveys, or interdisciplinary analyses that aim to provoke discussion or guide future research.

Presentation Proposal: This category is for authors of papers accepted by ACM Distributed Ledger Technologies within the past 1.5 years who would like to present their work at NBC 2025. Submissions should be limited to 1 page and must include the title and DOI of the accepted paper.

Note: Submissions focused on cryptocurrency price trends, investment strategies, or legal/regulatory issues are outside the scope of the conference. All papers should emphasize technical or scientific contributions, such as blockchain protocols, cryptography, distributed systems, secure computing, and crypto-economics.

Publication

NBC does not have formal proceedings and is a non-archival conference. However, selected Technical Papers may be invited for publication in a special issue of ACM Distributed Ledger Technologies. More details regarding this opportunity will be announced soon.

 Important Dates

Paper submission deadline: April 30, 2025, 11:59pm AoE

Final acceptance notification: May 25, 2025

Submission Guidelines

1. Please submit your paper via HotCRP at https://nbc25.hotcrp.com in Portable Document Format (.pdf).
2. Submissions must be written in English and formatted using the standard ACM authoring templates for Microsoft Word or LaTeX, available at http://www.acm.org/publications/authors/submissions.
3. Submissions should use the single-column ACM format and be between 8 to 25 pages, including references.
4. Please select the appropriate submission type (Technical Paper, Exploratory Paper or Presentation Proposal) when submitting.
5. Anonymity is not required for this conference. Submissions may include author names and affiliations.