Prioritizing Decentralized Financial Instruments for Financing the Defense Economy: An Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Approach

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of International Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Imam Sadiq, Tehran, Iran.

2 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Oil and Gas Contracts Management, Faculty of Economics, University of Imam Sadiq, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Advances in financial technology and the expansion of the digital economy have fundamentally transformed traditional financing patterns and created new opportunities for economic institutions. The defense economy, as one of the country’s vital sectors, plays not only a security-related role but also an active role in infrastructure development, social services, and humanitarian activities. The continuity of these missions requires access to sustainable financial resources that are independent of the government’s public budget. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the main challenges in financing defense-economy projects and prioritize decentralized financial instruments for addressing these challenges. Data were collected through documentary research and a survey of 32 experts, including investment managers and specialists, academic researchers, and professionals active in digital financial markets. The data were analyzed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and pairwise comparisons.
The findings indicate that budgetary resource constraints represent the most significant obstacle to financing defense-economy projects, followed by the influence of political considerations on resource allocation, limited diversity of financing methods, delays in fund allocation, and increasing implementation costs. Among the innovative financial instruments examined, blockchain-based crowdfunding platforms received the highest priority according to the expert assessments, followed by real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, various forms of token issuance, and decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platforms. The results suggest that the targeted application of digital financial instruments within a context-specific and appropriately regulated framework can serve as an effective complement to public budgetary resources and contribute to the financial sustainability of the defense economy.

Keywords

References

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اقتصاد دفاع و توسعه پایدار
Volume 11, Issue 41
September 2026
Pages 33-61

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