Blockchains: a Systematic Multivocal Literature Review

2016

IRJET, 2022

It also discusses the most important aspects of blockchain technology and ideas, allowing us to assess the study's application cases. There has always been evidence that a company's value may be altered throughout history. A digital marketplace, an economic platform, and a storehouse for almost all human knowledge, the Internet provides these functions today. By examining a prospective proposal using Blockchain's most essential qualities, the authors illustrate the fundamental procedures necessary in conducting an analysis. Consequently, developing a precise model of blockchain technology's viability becomes more apparent. Distributed network registers constructed on chains of cryptographically protected blocks, which give a greater degree of information than now accessible, may be used to transmit growing numbers of daily transactions involving money, stocks, and precious documents, according to the basic principle.

International Journal of Engineering Research & Advanced Technology (IJERAT), 2022

The increasing need for organizations to keep a high level of synchronization around the world and the coming of new advancements are pushing increasingly more to move decision-making and operational power from the focus of associations to their edges. The blockchain could be the critical innovation to roll out this improvement conceivable. A blockchain is essentially a distributed database of records or public ledger of all transactions or digital events that have been executed and shared among participating parties. Blockchain is pleased with the fact that it provides high satisfaction and a trust bond to its users. Data immutability, decentralization, anonymity, auditability, and transparency are the main features that make blockchain an attractive technology. This paper presents a study of blockchain technology to provide a comprehensive analysis that includes types, architecture, components, characteristics, and applications of blockchain.

JARDC, 2019

Blockchain has various advantages, for example, decentralization, pertinacity, namelessness and audit ability. There are a broad variety of apps in the block chain including cryptocmTenl.1, financial services, risk management, open and community services internet of stuff (loT), despite the fact that the various investigations center for utilizing the blockchain innovation in different application angles, there is no complete review of the block chain technology From the point of perspective of both technology and implementation. To block this vacuous, we lead a far reaching study on the blockchain technology. Specifically, this document provides the taxonomy of the block chain, initiates typical blockchain consensus algorithms and evaluates blockchain apps and discusses technical difficulties in addition to latest developments in addressing problems. In addition, this paper additionally calls attention to the future bearings in the blockchain innovation.

IEEE Access

Blockchain is relatively a new area of research. However, a surge of research studies on the blockchain has taken place in recent years. These research studies have mostly focused on designing and developing conceptual frameworks to build more reliable, transparent and efficient digital systems. While blockchain brings a wide variety of benefits, it also imposes certain challenges. Therefore, the objective of this research is to understand the properties of blockchain, its current uses, observed benefits and pitfalls to provide a balanced understanding of blockchain. A systematic literature review approach was adopted in this paper in order to attain the objective. A total of 51 articles were selected and reviewed. As outcomes, this research provides a summary of the state-of-the-art research studies conducted in the area of blockchain. Furthermore, we develop a set of concept maps aiming to provide in-depth knowledge on blockchain technology for its efficient and effective usage in the development of future technological solutions. INDEX TERMS Blockchain, concept map, literature review, critical analysis, smart contracts.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2018

Blockchain is a new technology with strong implications for the future of how we exchange information and currency as a globally networked society. It is so new that there is relatively little academic work done on it, but this is changing quickly. For this literature review, we have begun by collecting a sample of primarily peer-reviewed sources, as well as an informative overview of articles from various other channels. Our selection of articles allows us to provide a representative view of three primary topics. First, some of the primary current topics being discussed in regard to blockchain technology. Second, the representative categories of said topics. Third, the potential future of blockchain development along with its impact on society and technology.

2022

In recent years, Blockchain arose as a key technology in building autonomous decentralised financial systems. Its ability to digitize trust enables building trustless systems such as cryptocurrencies where users do not need to rely on any third party to exchange value. The success of cryptocurrencies to operate without any intermediaries draw the interest of business operators who seek to bypass intermediation and thus to reduce cost and gain competitive advantages. As a result, Blockchain was used outside the crypto-sphere to build decentralized systems. However, this portage led to the inception of new types of Blockchains adapted to different specifications and with different designs. Consequently, the technology has diverged from its baseline (Bitcoin) to the point where some systems marketed as "blockchain" share only a few design concepts with the original Blockchain design proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto. This conceptual divergence alongside the lack of comprehensive models and standards made it difficult for both system designers and decision-makers to clearly understand what is a blockchain or to choose a suitable solution. This survey has a double goal; on the one hand, it attempts to contribute to the discussion on the ontological status of DLTs by providing a taxonomy oriented-framework (DCEA) for conceptualizing and examining DLT. On the other hand, it also attempts to present an up-to-date review and evaluation of current blockchains and their variants as constructed of four layers: the data, consensus, execution and application layers.

Applied Sciences, 2021

Blockchain being a leading technology in the 21st century is revolutionizing each sector of life. Services are being provided and upgraded using its salient features and fruitful characteristics. Businesses are being enhanced by using this technology. Countries are shifting towards digital currencies i.e., an initial application of blockchain application. It omits the need of central authority by its distributed ledger functionality. This distributed ledger is achieved by using a consensus mechanism in blockchain. A consensus algorithm plays a core role in the implementation of blockchain. Any application implementing blockchain uses consensus algorithms to achieve its desired task. In this paper, we focus on provisioning of a comparative analysis of blockchain’s consensus algorithms with respect to the type of application. Furthermore, we discuss the development platforms as well as technologies of blockchain. The aim of the paper is to provide knowledge from basic to extensive fro...

SN Computer Science, 2020

The blockchain technology first emerged with the Bitcoin whitepaper, which was the first successful proposal to implement a decentralized digital currency with ability to execute completely non-reversible transactions without a trusted and centralized third party. Blockchain concept provided an inherent part of this decentralization together with hash-based proof-of-work, public key cryptography, and peer-to-peer network. Even though blockchain technology was introduced to solve the doublespending problem of electronic money without relying on a trusted third party, this particular concept is being researched and already used to solve problems in many other areas. This paper captures concepts of blockchain, its applications, issues, and suggested improvements referring to blockchain-related subsequent publications.

Innovative Computing Review, 2022

Blockchain technology is used to maintain the ever-growing list of data records. Blockchain can be an authentic ledger which includes applications such as fund transfers, settling trades voting, and several other useful components. However, there are still many underlying challenges associated with blockchain technology. Blockchain (database) is older but a new approach in information technology whose first implementation is Bitcoin (crypto currency). Bitcoin has also used Blockchain technology at its back end to keep a permanent record (chains of block) of all the data. Bitcoin is the primary appliance that formed decentralized surroundings designed for Crypto money, wherever the participant is capable of acquiring and substituting production with Digital cash. Therefore, a confirmed contract could involve crypto cash, contracts, report, or other information. The current study aims to describe a comprehensive synopsis of the blockchain concept which could also be used in many other applications. The most essential material goods of blockchain are made with the aim that there is no essential overseer or any centralized information storage space routine. Hence, Blockchain transactions occur only in peer to peer network which is distributed among several nodes. Therefore, Blockchain expertise could be an innovative implementation of possible applications, in favor of an organization that enables a safe and sound connection exclusive of the necessitated essential power. The current study proposed and analyzed the possible function of blockchains within a structure throughout a case examination. In addition to do a systematic literature analysis Blockchain technology is expected to bring developments in diverse fields, such as politics, economy, culture, industry, and business models. Therefore, the scholarly research discovered the variety of drivers designed for blockchain accomplishment while highlighting the barriers and risk inborn within the chunk string (Blockchain).

2020

Due to their specific features, such as decentralization and immutability, blockchains have become popular in recent years. Blockchains are full-stack distributed systems in terms of realization, where security is a critical factor for their success. However, despite increasing popularity and adoption, there is a lack of standardized models to study security threats related to blockchains in a similar fashion as was done, e.g., in the area of cloud computing [236], [384]. To fill this gap, the main focus of our work is to systematize the knowledge about security and privacy aspects of blockchains, and thus contribute to the standardization of this domain. To this end, we propose the security reference architecture for blockchains, which utilizes a stacked model (similar to the ISO/OSI) that demonstrates the nature and hierarchy of various security and privacy threats. The model contains four layers: (1) the network layer, (2) the consensus layer, (3) the replicated state machine layer, and (4) the application layer. At each of these layers, we identify known security threats, their origin as well as mitigation techniques or countermeasures. Although a similar model has already been used in previous work to serve as a general outline of the blockchain infrastructure, we adapt it for the purpose of studying security threats in this domain. Further, we propose a blockchain-specific version of the threat-risk assessment standard ISO/IEC 15408 by embedding the stacked model into this standard. Finally, following our stacked model and its categorization, we provide an extensive survey of blockchain-oriented and related research as well as its applications.

International Journal of Information Management, 2020

The blockchain is considered to be the potential driver of the digital economy. The Blockchain technology outweighs the challenges associated with the traditional transaction business governed and regulated by the third trusted party. There is a growth in the interest among the researchers, the industry, and the academia to study and leverage the potential of Blockchain. Blockchain provides a decentralized and distributed public ledger for all the participating parties. Though it seems that blockchain is a viable choice and solution for all the centralized governed and regulated transactions (in digital online space), it has potential challenges that need to be resolved; opportunities to be explored, and applications to be studied. This paper utilizes a systematic literature review to study several research endeavors made in the domain of blockchain. To further research on blockchain adoption, the paper theoretically constructs an integrated framework of the blockchain innovation adoption process in an organization considering organizational and user acceptance perspectives. This would facilitate its widespread adoption, thereby achieving sustained leadership solutions. The paper offers 23 propositions to information systems (IS)/information management (IM) scholars with respect to innovation characteristics, organizational characteristics, environmental characteristics, and user acceptance characteristics. Further, the paper explores several areas of future research and directions that can provide deep insights for overcoming challenges and for the adoption of blockchain technology.

PloS one, 2016

Blockchain is a decentralized transaction and data management technology developed first for Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The interest in Blockchain technology has been increasing since the idea was coined in 2008. The reason for the interest in Blockchain is its central attributes that provide security, anonymity and data integrity without any third party organization in control of the transactions, and therefore it creates interesting research areas, especially from the perspective of technical challenges and limitations. In this research, we have conducted a systematic mapping study with the goal of collecting all relevant research on Blockchain technology. Our objective is to understand the current research topics, challenges and future directions regarding Blockchain technology from the technical perspective. We have extracted 41 primary papers from scientific databases. The results show that focus in over 80% of the papers is on Bitcoin system and less than 20% deals with other Blo...

IEEE Access

Recently, Blockchain-based applications have become immensely popular because of limited reliance on a single entity, unlike a centralized system. However, reaching a consensus among blockchain networks is a challenging and vital aspect of blockchain-based applications. There are various types of blockchain networks for different kinds of application scenarios. Among all of them, the consensus algorithm is the most crucial part of reaching an agreement in the complex blockchain network. Over the years, researchers have focused on dealing with the challenges like distributed computing, storage, transaction speed, security, validity, interoperability, and many more. However, only some of them are appropriate for all domains. Therefore, this paper presents an extensive study of different types of consensus protocols used in existing blockchain solutions with the strength and limitations of each algorithm. We also provide an inherent comparison among different algorithms to understand consensus protocol selection better. Moreover, we investigate operational and interoperability issues in existing blockchain-based applications to understand challenges and provide recommendations for future developers. INDEX TERMS Blockchain, consensus algorithm, interoperability, cross-chain transactions, architecture, operational issues, applications, research directions. I. INTRODUCTION T HE blockchain concept was first introduced by Haber and Stornetta [1], which is considered one of the technologies with the most potential. After that the introduction of Bitcoin by Nakamoto [2], it has attracted intense attention from all over the world. In Blockchain systems, different cryptographic protocols, like hash functions, digital signatures, etc., are used to maintain the authenticity and security of the data. Blockchain is a distributed ledger system that keeps data secure from unauthorized access. Blockchain technology allows users to add, view, and validate transactions to the distributed ledger. These transactions often take place with the consent of all involved users. Blockchain uses a consensus mechanism to ensure that all transactions are accurate. In a trustless environment, blockchain provides users with desirable qualities like decentralization, autonomy, integrity, immutability, verification, fault-tolerance, anonymity, auditability, and transparency, which have received significant academic and industrial attention recently years [3]-[6]. However, the blockchain system is trustless and ensures blockchain-enabled trust through other cryptographic peerto-peer communication in the decentralized network. Further verification and validation mechanisms are employed

Periodicals of Engineering and Natural Sciences (PEN), 2019

As the Bitcoin keeps increasing in value compared to other cryptocurrencies, more attention has given to Blockchain Technology (BT), which is the infrastructure behind the Bitcoin, especially on its role in addressing the problems of the classical centralized system. As a digital currency, Bitcoin is dependent on the decentralized cryptographic tools and peer-to-peer system. The digital currency implements a distributed ledger using Blockchain when verifying any type of transaction. In this paper, the aim is to describe how digital currency networks such as Bitcoin provides a "trust-less" platform for users to embark on money transfers without necessarily depending on any central trusted establishments such as payment services or financial institutions. Furthermore, this work comprehensively overviewed the basic principle that underly BT, such as transaction, consensus algorithms, and hashing. This study also provided a novel classification for blockchain types according to their system architecture and consensus strategy. For each type, our contribution was provided with an example, which clearly describes the blockchain features and the transaction steps. Our classification intended to help researchers understand and choose the blockchain for their application. The paper ends with the discussion of the differences between each type