1-s2.0-S2772662223001844-main

Decision Analytics Journal 9 (2023) 100344
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Decision Analytics Journal

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dajour
A comprehensive review of blockchain technology: Underlying principles

and historical background with future challenges
Gautami Tripathi a ,∗, Mohd Abdul Ahad a , Gabriella Casalino b
a Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India
b
Department of Computer Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger technology that has revolutionized businesses, industries, and
Blockchain technology commerce by eliminating the need for a central storage and control authority. Blockchain presents time-
Consensus algorithms stamped and immutable blocks of data that are not owned by any single entity but rather managed by a
Decentralized distributed ledger
group of nodes or computers where each block is secured and linked using cryptographic principles. The
Immutability
immutable and decentralized nature of blockchain has redefined trust, ownership, identity, and financial
Cryptography
Transparency
systems by providing a secure, fast, transparent, and pseudo-anonymous solution. This paper provides a
comprehensive review of blockchain technology focusing on the historical background, underlying principles,
and the sudden rise in the popularity of blockchain technology. The paper also discusses the various consensus
algorithms of blockchain technology. Next, the paper focuses on the various application areas and prospective
use cases of blockchain technology with the underlying challenges and issues. Further, the paper presents some
unconventional use cases of blockchain technology. The study also reviews state-of-the-art articles to provide
a comprehensive overview of the various aspects of blockchain technology in varied domains. The comparison
between traditional database systems and blockchain technology is presented, and the appropriate scenarios
where blockchain-based solutions may or may not provide the best solutions are also discussed. Further, it
discusses some of the most infamous security breaches that impacted the blockchain industry in the recent
past.
Contents
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1. Brief timeline of blockchain and related technologies ................................................................................................................................ 2
1.2. Major contributions ................................................................................................................................................................................ 3
1.3. Methodology .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Related works.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
3. Blockchain technology........................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
4. Blockchain concepts ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
4.1. Consensus .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
4.1.1. Proof of Work (PoW): ............................................................................................................................................................... 5
4.1.2. Proof of Stake (PoS): ................................................................................................................................................................ 5
4.1.3. Delegated PoS: ......................................................................................................................................................................... 5
4.1.4. Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (pBFT):................................................................................................................................ 5
4.1.5. Proof of Activity (PoACT): ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
4.1.6. Proof of Burn (PoB):................................................................................................................................................................. 5
4.1.7. Proof of Capacity (PoC): ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
4.1.8. Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET):................................................................................................................................................... 6
4.2. Decentralized distributed nature .............................................................................................................................................................. 6
4.3. Immutability .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
5. Taxonomy and generations of blockchain............................................................................................................................................................. 7
5.1. Blockchain vs traditional databases .......................................................................................................................................................... 8
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (G. Tripathi), [email protected] (M.A. Ahad), [email protected] (G. Casalino).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dajour.2023.100344
Received 20 March 2023; Received in revised form 17 October 2023; Accepted 18 October 2023
Available online 20 October 2023
2772-6622/© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
G. Tripathi, M.A. Ahad and G. Casalino Decision Analytics Journal 9 (2023) 100344
6. Use-cases of blockchain technology ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8

6.1. Blockchain application areas ................................................................................................................................................................... 9
6.1.1. Banking and finance ................................................................................................................................................................. 9
6.1.2. Governance.............................................................................................................................................................................. 9
6.1.3. Healthcare ............................................................................................................................................................................... 9
6.1.4. Insurance................................................................................................................................................................................. 11
6.1.5. Logistics and supply chain management ..................................................................................................................................... 11
6.1.6. Internet of things ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12
6.1.7. Voting ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
6.1.8. Energy .................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
6.1.9. Education ................................................................................................................................................................................ 12
6.1.10. Travel and hospitality............................................................................................................................................................... 12
6.1.11. Food and agriculture ................................................................................................................................................................ 12
6.1.12. Identity management ................................................................................................................................................................ 13
6.1.13. Intellectual Property (IP) .......................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.1.14. Real estate............................................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.1.15. Transportation ......................................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.1.16. Entertainment .......................................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.1.17. Waste management and tracking ............................................................................................................................................... 14
6.1.18. Stock trading ........................................................................................................................................................................... 14
6.1.19. Auctions and crowdfunding....................................................................................................................................................... 14
6.1.20. Plagiarism and copyright .......................................................................................................................................................... 14
6.1.21. Antiques and weapon trading .................................................................................................................................................... 14
6.1.22. Tracking of donation and charity............................................................................................................................................... 14
6.1.23. Blockchain-based passwordless authentication............................................................................................................................. 14
6.2. Use cases where blockchain can be avoided ............................................................................................................................................. 14
7. Issues and challenges with blockchain ................................................................................................................................................................. 14
7.1. Scalability.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
7.2. Energy consumption ............................................................................................................................................................................... 15
7.3. Security and privacy ............................................................................................................................................................................... 15
7.4. Adoption issues and integration with the legacy systems ........................................................................................................................... 16
7.5. Absence of universally accepted rule and regulations ................................................................................................................................ 16
7.6. Costs and efficiency ................................................................................................................................................................................ 16
8. Conclusion and future scope ............................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Declaration of competing interest ........................................................................................................................................................................ 17
Data availability ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 17
References......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
the potential of blockchain is immense, there are some issues and

1. Introduction challenges that need to be resolved for its widespread adoption.
Blockchain technology has revolutionized the digital transformation 1.1. Brief timeline of blockchain and related technologies
of contracts, transactions, and records which form the defining struc-
ture of the economic, political, social, and legal systems that govern Blockchain is a digital distributed ledger that secures and links
this world. The first generation of blockchain technology started with the digital records called ‘‘blocks’’ using cryptographic techniques.
the introduction of bitcoin by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in Although the term blockchain gained popularity in the year 2008
the year 2008 [1], which introduced the concept of blockchain and with the introduction of Bitcoin cryptocurrency [1], its underlying
marked the deployment of cryptocurrencies in financial applications principles and concepts have been in use since the 1980s. In the year
involving cash, like digital payment systems. The second-generation 1983, David Chaum proposed the concept of blind signatures [3], a
blockchain was marked with the introduction of smart contracts that new form of cryptography that allowed the automation of payments
provided functionality beyond cash transactions like stocks, loans, and and constrained third parties from identifying the payee, amount, and
smart property. The third-generation blockchain had a broader appli- time of payment. Later, in the year 1991, the concept of timestamped
cation area that introduced blockchain-based solutions for applications documents was introduced by a group of researchers who were trying to
beyond banking and finance and provides services in the areas of secure digital documents by stamping the documents with the date [4].
healthcare, government, science, etc. In less than a decade, blockchain In 2004, Harold Thomas Finney II (Hal Finney) introduced the Reusable
technology has already seen three generations and is paving the way to Proof of Work (RPoW) [5]. It was in 2008 when blockchain made its
enter the fourth generation with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital public debut with a paper titled ‘‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic
intelligence. The sudden popularity and growth of the technology can Cash System’’ outlining the development of a secure and transparent
be estimated from the fact that in the year 2010 Laszlo Hanyecz, currency without the involvement of a bank or central party [1]. The
ordered two Papa John’s pizzas worth approximately 30$ for 10,000 first bitcoin transaction took place in the year 2009 when a transaction
bitcoins. In the year 2018, the same bitcoins were estimated to be over of 10 BTC (BitCoin) was done to his friend Hal Finney [6]. This
$80 million [2]. This shows the exponential growth in technology and marked the beginning of the first generation of blockchain technology.
cryptocurrencies. In the year 2010, the world’s first bitcoin exchange was set up by
Blockchain has the potential to digitally transform the way the the name ‘‘Bitcoin market’’ [7]. In 2013, Vitalik Buterin proposed
world transacts by allowing the contracts to be digitally embedded in the concept of smart contracts in his white paper ‘‘Ethereum: The
databases that are transparent and provide security against tampering. Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform’’ [8].
This key attribute of blockchain technology eliminates the need for In 2015 Ethereum launched its blockchain [9]. The Linux Foundation
third parties and intermediaries like banks, lawyers, etc. Although launched Hyperledger the same year which provides a set of tools for
2
finance, healthcare, education, governance, supply-chain, agriculture,

and energy. This paper presents the state-of-the-art of blockchain tech-
nology and gives a comprehensive overview of its historical background
and evolution journey. The paper also presents in detail the various as-
pects of blockchain technology, its application areas, and the challenges
faced.
The manuscript is organized into eight sections. To begin with,
the paper sets the stage for the reader to understand the historical
background and the timeline of events resulting in the popularity
of blockchain technology. Section 2, provides the details of the past
research and studies conducted in the field of blockchain technology.
Section 3, presents a general introduction to blockchain technology
including the structure of blocks and the basic working mechanism
of a blockchain. Section 4, highlights the underlying concepts of the
technology focusing on the key attributes of blockchain. The section
also presents an analysis of the various consensus algorithms. The
taxonomy and generations of blockchain are discussed in Section 5.
The section further provides a comparison between the traditional
databases and blockchain-based on multiple characteristics. Section 6
presents the use-cases of blockchain technology. It also provides a
discussion on passwordless authentication using blockchain technology.
The section also discusses the appropriate scenario for the implemen-
tation of blockchain technology over traditional systems. The various
challenges and issues related to the adoption of blockchain technology
are discussed in Section 7. The section also discusses the security threats
and their root causes. Lastly, Section 8 presents the conclusion and
future scope.
1.2. Major contributions
The presented work provides a comprehensive analysis and survey

of blockchain technology covering all aspects from the background,
history, needs, roles, issues, applications, and challenges. The major
contributions of the paper are as follows
• Highlighting the key challenges and issues in the large-scale

adoption of blockchain technology
An exhaustive discussion on the issues and challenges associated
with the mass adoption of blockchain is presented covering the
various technical, social, environmental, and economic aspects.
• Discusses the consensus algorithms used in blockchain tech-
nology in various application areas.
The major consensus mechanisms are identified and their respec-
tive pros and cons are highlighted.
• An extensive discussion about the key application areas of
blockchain technology is presented focusing on the current
state-of-the-art.
A detailed discussion on the state-of-the-art blockchain imple-
mentations across multiple domains including decision analytics,
healthcare, data management etc.
• Highlights the application of blockchain technology in pass-
wordless authentication
• Discussion about appropriate use-cases and situations where
blockchains should be avoided.
Fig. 1. Key events in blockchain technology [6–14].
Even though blockchain technology is finding its applications
in varied domains, there are several situations and applications
where blockchain technology is not preferred. In this paper,
we have identified these use-cases where the use of blockchain
the creation of blockchain [10]. In 2016 the DAO project was built on
technology must be avoided. To the best of our knowledge, these
top of Ethereum which raised US$ 150 million [11]. Later, in the same
kinds of use-cases are not discussed in any of the related articles.
year, it was attacked causing a loss of around US$ 50 million [12].
Fig. 1 presents the major events in the development and widespread 1.3. Methodology
popularity of blockchain technology [6–14].
Ever since its inception in the year 2008, blockchain technology has A systematic literature review was conducted to retrieve the most
gained attention from across the globe. Today, many nations are adopt- relevant state-of-the-art in blockchain technology as per PRISMA 2020.
ing this technology to bring reforms across various sectors including Initially, the search query was run on ScienceDirect and IEEE Xplore
3
databases. There were 5938 and 872 articles returned by the search in domains like routing. The work presented in [31] discussed the
query which were then further refined using the inclusion and exclusion use of blockchain for identity authentication in a decentralized system
criteria given below. After that, a period between 2015 to 2023 has for routing registration. There are many notable kinds of research
been selected to further narrow down the number of relevant works and studies about the various aspects of technology like research
of literature. Finally, a total of 93 articles were shortlisted which challenges [32], potential in industry 4.0 [33,34], and contribution
fulfilled all the desired criteria for conducting the review. These articles towards a circular economy [35].
were primarily focusing on the issues and challenges of blockchain In [36] a comprehensive survey of blockchain technology focuses
technology and the application areas of blockchain technology. on the taxonomy, consensus algorithms, applications, and challenges.
The paper further discusses the advances for tackling the challenges and
Search Key phrases: Applications, Challenges, and Issues of blockchain
gives an insight into the future directions for blockchain technology. A
technology
detailed overview of blockchain technology is presented. The different
Databases: ScienceDirect and IEEE Xplore. generations of blockchain are discussed comprehensively. The work
also focuses on the advanced concepts and terminologies associated
Initial Query Results: ScienceDirect: resulted in 5938 items, and IEEE
with blockchain and the limitations of the technology. The work pre-
Xplore resulted in 872 items.
sented in [37] discusses blockchain as an attractive technology to solve
Inclusion Criteria: The following criteria were used to include the existing financial and non-financial problems. In [38] the architecture
articles for conducting the review and key characteristics of blockchain technology are discussed. They
have also discussed and compared some of the widely used consensus
• Time line: between 2015 to 2023 algorithms.
• Types of Articles: review, research, book chapters, edited books In, [39] the potential of blockchain in the finance sector is discussed
• Article Venue: journals, International Conferences, Magazine, and compare the blockchain boom to the internet of 1989’s and claimed
Edited Books, Book Chapters that blockchain will have the same effect on banking and finance as
• Access Type: Open Access and subscription-based the internet had on media. Despite its rising popularity blockchain
• Keywords: blockchain consensus mechanisms, blockchain appli- technology has received mixed reviews from the research community.
cation in healthcare, education, pharmacy, transportation, lo- The mainstream adoption of the technology is still a distant dream.
gistics, food and agriculture, banking, finance, IPR (Intellectual Many factors including the organizational, technical, business, and
Property Rights), copyrights, entertainment and IoT etc. market interact and influence each other and have a joint impact on
the adoption of blockchain [40]. The Covid-19 crisis created a unique
Exclusion Criteria: The following criteria were used to exclude the opportunity to develop blockchain-based applications and solutions for
articles minimizing supply chain failures, record keeping, fighting counterfeit
drugs, contact tracing, and patient identity [41].
• Articles beyond the year range Although blockchain technology provides significant advantages
• Articles in the pre-publication stage over traditional approaches in multiple application areas, it comes
• Editorials, notes, and other short type of publications. with its own set of challenges like scalability, electricity consumption,
• Articles where the title did not match the desired keywords/subject. etc., and hence requires careful planning and understanding of the
• Articles where the abstracts did not focus on the subject. use cases before the implementation. The key ideas of blockchain
technology like decentralization, transparency, immutability etc. can
2. Related works be utilized to ensure the privacy and security of the data generated
by smart city infrastructure and services. The work presented in [42]
In the last few years, blockchain technology has been extensively discusses how blockchain technology provides security in smart cities.
explored across multiple domains. The introduction of bitcoin in the In education, blockchain technology can facilitate the open sharing of
year 2008 attracted the attention of industry experts and academia records [43], a decentralized online education model, and an equi-
and paved the way for blockchain-based solutions. Today, the rise of table education model for all [44]. Blockchain technology also finds
blockchain applications spans multiple domains beyond cryptocurren- application in promoting gender equality and the inclusion process
cies like healthcare [15,16], agriculture [17], education [18], supply in corporate governance models [45]. Blockchain technology has the
chain [19], fashion and textile industry [20], energy [21], Internet of potential to play a significant role in applications like cab sharing [46],
Things (IoT) [22], Transportation [23] etc. In a report published in sustainable tourism [47], culture and heritage preservation [48], blood
the Harvard Business Review [24], it was discussed how blockchain donation [49], waste management [50], accounting and auditing [51,
technology can have a strong impact on various processes like the 52], marketing [53] etc.
internet. In another report, it is estimated that with companies like Although blockchain technology provides significant advantages
IBM, Microsoft & Accenture driving the blockchain development, the over traditional approaches in multiple application areas, it comes with
blockchain market is headed to touch the $60 billion mark by 2024 and its own set of challenges like scalability, sustainability, electricity con-
is headed to revolutionize international trade and transactions [25,26]. sumption etc., and hence requires careful planning and understanding
The evolution of blockchain technology over the years is presented of the use cases before the implementation [51].
in [27].
The parallels between blockchain technology and the TCP/IP (Trans- 3. Blockchain technology
mission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) are discussed in [28,29]
highlighting how blockchain can lower the cost of transactions as Blockchain is a digital distributed ledger that stores data in the
TCP/IP has lowered the cost of connections. Once in the mainstream form of blocks that are linked together using a cryptographic func-
of business blockchain will bring about a radical shift in the economy. tion. Although similar data structures have existed for a long time,
The work in [30] presents a blockchain-based data management system blockchain technology was truly conceived and defined only in the year
that allows users to have control and ownership of their personal data. 2008 [1,54]. Blocks are the containers of data that define a piece of
The proposed system is made of three entities namely users, services, digital information consisting of transactions along with the timestamp
and nodes. The model uses transactions to store, share, and query and cryptographic functions. A block consists of a header and a list of
data. Two types of transactions are used in the system Taccess and transactions. The block header contains metadata that includes the hash
Tdata for access control management and data storage and retrieval of the previous block, timestamp, nonce, and Merkle tree root. Fig. 2
respectively. The benefits of blockchain technology are also explored shows the basic structure of a block.
4
4.1.1. Proof of Work (PoW):

PoW works on the principle of a solution that is very difficult to
identify but easy to verify. Most of the blockchain implementations use
this PoW as their consensus mechanism. Here the new nodes are created
by solving a complex problem. This process is highly compute-intensive
and requires lots of computational capabilities [55–58].
4.1.2. Proof of Stake (PoS):

The proof of Stake consensus mechanism requires the validators to
stake their ETH. Validators play the same role as miners in the PoW
consensus mechanism. For the ethereal blockchain, the minimum stake
value to become a validator is 32ETH. In PoS consensus the validators
are selected at random to create the blocks and validate the blocks
created by others. In both cases, the validators are rewarded [55–58].
Fig. 2. Block structure in a blockchain.
4.1.3. Delegated PoS:

The DPoS consensus algorithm was developed by Daniel Larimer. It
A block is identified using either the block hash or the block height.
provides a modification on the conventional PoS consensus by main-
Block hash is the hashID of the block that is generated while the block
taining an election system to choose the nodes called witnesses for
height defines the positioning of the block in the block chain. Merkle
tree gives the digital fingerprint of the entire set of transactions. These verifying the blocks [55–58].
blocks are linked together to form the blockchain structure. The block
header contains a field to store the hashID of the previous block in the 4.1.4. Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (pBFT):
chain [54]. Fig. 3 shows the arrangement of blocks in a blockchain. The (pBFT) algorithm was introduced by ‘‘Miguel Castro’’ and ‘‘Bar-
Whenever a user requests a new transaction from their wallet
bara Liskov’’. The pBFT consensus algorithm is used in Hyperledger
application, it is broadcast. The newly requested transaction is added
Fabric and Zilliqa. pBFT works by replicating a practical Byzantine state
to a pool of unconfirmed transactions from where it is picked up by
the miners. The miners on the network select the transactions and machine that tolerates malicious nodes (Byzantine faults). The nodes in
mine them to create a new block to be added to the blockchain. A a pBFT system communicate to bring all honest nodes to an agreement
block consists of the selected transactions along with some metadata of the system state [55–58].
associated with the block. The miner finds a hash output for the block
and broadcasts the block with its signatures. The other nodes in the
4.1.5. Proof of Activity (PoACT):
network verify the signature of the block to establish its validity. Once
PoA combines the PoW and PoS consensus algorithms. The initial
the validity is confirmed a consensus is reached to add the block to
the existing blockchain. Every other block that is added on top of this mining process is the same as the PoW mining. However, once the
block is considered as the confirmation for the block [26,27,54]. Fig. 4 block is mined the PoS consensus is used to select a random group of
presents the process of the addition of blocks in the blockchain. validators who then validate the newly mined block [55–58].
4. Blockchain concepts
4.1.6. Proof of Burn (PoB):
4.1. Consensus PoB provides an energy-efficient alternative to the PoW consensus
algorithms. In PoW consensus, the mining power of a miner is deter-
Consensus mechanisms form the backbone of any blockchain-based mined by the number of coin burns. The higher the coin burns more is
application. The decentralized nature of the blockchain requires a set the mining power of a miner [55–58].
of rules to identify a way for the users to agree on a particular state.
This set of rules is provided by the consensus mechanisms. The first
consensus algorithm Proof of Work (PoW) was introduced for the 4.1.7. Proof of Capacity (PoC):
Bitcoin blockchain [53]. Since then, several consensus algorithms have The PoC consensus decides the mining rights by using the dedicated
been introduced to address the demands of blockchain applications. hard drive space of the mining devices. The possible solutions are stored
The common consensus approaches are described in the following in the hard drive of the mining devices in advance. The algorithm
subsection. employs a two-step process of plotting and mining [55–58].
Fig. 3. Arrangement of blocks in a blockchain.
5
Fig. 4. Addition of blocks in the blockchain [26,27].
Table 1
Categories of consensus algorithms [55–59].
S.No Categories Examples of consensus algorithms
1 Proof of Work ∙ Proof of Work
∙ Proof of Meaningful Work
∙ Hybrid Proof of Work
∙ Delayed Proof of Work
∙ Proof of Work Time
2 Proof of Stake ∙ Proof of Stake (PoS)
∙ Secure Proof of Stake (SPoS)
∙ Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)
∙ Proof of Stake Time (PoST)
∙ High-Interest Proof of Stake (HiPoS)
3 pBFT AND BFT ∙ Albatross
∙ Asynchronous BFT
∙ BFTree
∙ Federated Byzantine Agreement
∙ LibraBFT
4 DAG ∙ Blockflow
∙ Hashgraph
5 Trusted Computing • Proof of Elapsed Time
6 Hybrid ∙ Proof of Authority
∙ Proof of Activity
7 Proof of Capacity/ Space ∙ Proof of Existence
∙ Proof of History
∙ Proof of Location
Fig. 5. Types of blockchain.
4.1.8. Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET):

The PoET consensus is based on a fair lottery system concept. It uses is public or private, and secondly, the permissions associated with the
a randomly generated waiting time for deciding on the mining rights. joining, read, write, and commit operations. Based on these aspects the
Each participating node in a PoET system waits for a random amount blockchain architecture and solutions are developed for the users. Open
of time. The node to complete the wait time first gets to commit the and closed blockchains are based on the write permissions while the
new block to the blockchain [55–59]. public and private blockchains are based on the read permissions. Fig. 5
Table 1 gives an overview of the different categories of consen- shows the architectural options for the blockchain solutions based on
sus algorithms based on some common features and implementation the above-mentioned aspects [60–62].
procedures. The public and private blockchains are generally defined in terms of
Consensus is at the core of the much-hyped blockchain disruption who can write data. Considering the read and write permissions these
that helps to bring the participants to an agreement on the contents blockchains can further be categorized as open public, closed public,
of the blockchain in a decentralized distributed manner and trust-less open private, and closed private as shown in Table 3 [59–62].
environment. Table 2 discusses the advantages and disadvantages of
various consensus algorithms used in different blockchain platforms
4.3. Immutability
and applications.
4.2. Decentralized distributed nature Immutability is one of the key attributes of blockchain technology
that makes it highly secure and tamper-proof. Every transaction that is
Blockchain architecture depends upon two major aspects. Firstly, verified and added to a block is timestamped and cryptographically se-
the ownership of the data infrastructure citing whether the blockchain cured using a hash function. The hashing process is irreversible i.e. the
6
Table 2
Advantages and disadvantages of popular consensus algorithms [55–59].
S.no. Consensus algorithm Advantage Disadvantage Example
1 Proof of Work Secure, reduces the chances for Computationally intensive, Slow, Bitcoin, Ethereum
Denial-of-service attack requires lots of energy, potential for 51%
attack by obtaining computational power
2 Proof of Stake Computationally less intensive, Nothing at stake problem, stakeholders Peercoin
Energy efficient, difficult to attack, can join power to form centralized
authority, potential for 51% attack by
obtaining enough stake
3 Delegated Proof of Stake Energy efficient, fast Moves towards centralization Bitshare, EOS
4 Delayed Proof of Work Energy efficient, improved security, PoW and PoS based solutions can be Komodo
adds value to other chains used as support chain
5 Proof of Authority Fast, Energy efficient Permissioned VeChain
6 Proof of Weight Highly scalable and customizable Hard to Incentivize Algorand
7 Proof of Reputation Efficient results for Private and Only used in private and permissioned GoChain
permissioned blockchains blockchains
8 Proof of Space Energy efficient, prevents Denial of Incentive issue Spacemint,
Service attack Burstcoin
9 Proof of Elapsed time Low cost of participation Not apt for public blockchains Hyperledger
Sawtooth
10 Proof of Importance Better stake evaluation, resistant to No significant qualitative advantage with NEM
arbitrary manipulation. PoI gaming over actors with the same
balance who do nothing.
11 Proof of Stake Velocity Encourage ownership and velocity Used as a part of Reddcoin ecosystem Reddcoin
and not stand alone
12 Proof of History Provides an agreement on time, Computational complexity Solana
Supports horizontal scaling
13 Proof of Believability Decentralized, Fast Finality achieved Security issue may arise due to one IOST
node. Verification
14 Proof of Burn Expensive computer equipments no Resources are wasted needlessly as Slimcoin, TGCoin
needed mining power is given to those who
burn money.
15 Proof of Activity Prospective solution to hyperinflation Energy inefficient, no provisions to Decred
remove double signing
16 Proof of Time Produces in the passage of time Energy inefficient Chronologic
removing the dependency of future
values on third party
17 Proof of Existence Inexpensive way to verify the Energy inefficient POEX.io,
existence of a document at a HeroNode,
particular time DragonChain,
18 Byzantine Fault Tolerance Scalable, Fast Used in Private and Permissioned Stellar, Ripple,
blockchains Hyperledger Fabric
19 Proof of Retrievability Lower communication complexity Clients need to invest in storage along PermaCoin,
with the computational resources Microsoft
20 Ouroboros Highly secure, Neutralizes selfish Energy inefficient Cardano
mining as honest behavior
approximates Nash equilibrium
21 Delegated Byzantine Fault Fast, Scalable Multiple root chains can occur Neo
Tolerance
22 Stellar Consensus Protocol Low Latency, Flexible trust, Energy inefficient Stellar
Asymptotic Security, Decentralized
Control
23 RAFT Multi-Language Implementation Used in Private and Permissioned IPFS Private
blockchains Cluster, Quoram
24 Directed Acyclic Graphs Scalable, energy efficient, Finality Smart contract implementation through IOTA, Hashgraph,
Achieved fast oracle only Nano
output string generated cannot be reverse-engineered to determine the falsified. The immutability property of blockchain technology helps
input data and any slight change in the input will change the hash in achieving complete data integrity, easy and simplified auditing,
value. Hashing of a new block also requires metadata from the previous increased efficiency, trust, and data provenance.
block for generating the block hash which results in the formation
of a back-linked chain of blocks. Once validated and added to the 5. Taxonomy and generations of blockchain
blockchain a block cannot be modified as it will result in an avalanche
effect that will try to change all the blocks on the blockchain in a Blockchain can roughly be categorized into three types namely,
cascading manner eventually invalidating all the blocks. This makes public, federated or consortium, and private as discussed in Table 4.
the blockchain tamperproof and ensures that once a block is added This classification is done based on the different features and services
to the blockchain its data cannot be modified, forged, replaced, or provided by the blockchain [60–69]
7
Table 3
Blockchain based on read (R) and write (W) permissions [59–62].
Open Closed
PUBLIC ∙ Anyone can join ∙ Anyone can join
∙ anyone can read ∙ anyone can read
∙ Anyone can write and commit ∙ Authorized participants can write and commit
∙ Hosted on Public servers ∙ Medium Scalability
∙ Anonymous
∙ Low scalability
PRIVATE ∙ Only Legitimate users can access for R, W. ∙ Only Legitimate users can access for R, W
∙ Hosted on private server ∙ Only network operators can write and commit
∙ High Scalability ∙ Very High Scalability
Table 4
Comparisons of various types of blockchains [60–65,67–69].
Properties Public blockchain Federated blockchain Private blockchain
Type Distributed Decentralized Partially Centralized
Participation in Consensus All miners can participate in Only the pre-selected nodes One centralized authority takes decisions on
consensus participate in consensus who will participate in consensus
Read Permissions Public Restricted for Outsiders but Consent of administrator is required
public within themselves
Efficiency Low High High
Energy consumption Very High Moderate Low
Immutability Impossible to tamper Could be tampered Could be tampered
Nature Permissionless Permissioned Permissioned
Network Actors Do not know each other Preselected Group of nodes Know Each other
Speed Slow Moderate Fast
Security More Secure Moderately Secure Less Secure
Privileges No privileges are set, anyone All participants are equally Single Administrator defines the rules
can participate privileged
Examples Bitcoin, Ethereum, LiteCoin Hyperledger, Corda, B3i MONAX, Multichain
Table 5
Generations of blockchain [63–65,67–69].
Generations of blockchain
I II III IV
Examples Bitcoin, Litecoin Ethereum Cardano, IOTA, Nano Still in the development stage
e.g. Insolar, Aergo, DeepBrain
China, SingularityNet
Consensus PoW PoW PoS Provisions for Variable
Mechanism Consensus mechanism
Energy Requires more energy Requires less energy as Very Low Low
Requirements compared to I generation
Cost High Cost Medium Cost Low Cost Cost Effective
Smart No control over the Provisions for smart Supports smart contract with Supports Smart Contracts
Contracts transactions, unavailability of contracts, dApps Intrinsic verification
smart contracts mechanism
Scalability Uses Lightening Can use Sharding for Highly scalable with Highly Scalable with AI based
Challenges improving scalability concepts like Sharding and blockchain mechanism for
with zero knowledge proofs providing digital intelligence
Speed Time Consuming Time Consuming High speed Very High
The advancement in blockchain technology is inevitable and as 5.1. Blockchain vs traditional databases
a result, we already have three generations and the fourth one is
knocking at our doors. The first generation of blockchain started with This section presents a comparison between traditional databases
the introduction of Bitcoin and is more aligned towards the financial and blockchain-based storage mechanisms as present in Table 6
domain specifically cryptocurrencies. The second and third genera- [63–75].
tions have a broader domain focusing on the industrial applications of
blockchain technology. The fourth generation of blockchain technology 6. Use-cases of blockchain technology
may combine emerging technologies like artificial intelligence to create
a blockchain as a service (uBaaS) platform [70]. Table 5 provides an This section discusses the various application domains of the
overview of all the generations of blockchain technology and its key blockchain technology. Due to the unique features of blockchain tech-
features. nology, it has been adopted widely in multiple domains including
8
Table 6
Blockchain Vs traditional databases.
S.No Characteristics Traditional databases Blockchain
1 Architecture Client Server Peer to peer
2 Authority Centralized Distributed/Decentralized
3 Control Administrator Consensus (e.g. PoW, PoS)
4 Permissions Permissioned Public, Permissioned, Hybrid
5 Disintermediation Data is centrally administered by a DBA Trustless and decentralized; No need of intermediaries
to validate and authorize the stored data
6 Robustness Single point of failure No single point of failure or control
7 Audit trail of all data instances History of records and ownership of digital History of records and ownership of digital record.
record not available. Data can be updated and Data is traceable to its source. A new block added for
modified. any new addition or modification
8 Data Handling CRUD RW
9 Data Storage Tables Blocks
10 Public Verifiability Data integrity is low Data Integrity and Transparency is maintained
11 Transparency Database administer decides what is visible to Public Blockchains Supports data transparency
the public
12 Integrity Data can be subjected to malicious attacks Supports data Integrity
13 Data Persistence Non-Persistent Immutable
healthcare, supply chains, agriculture, food and beverages, transporta- in the banking and finance industry include cross-border payments,
tion, education, etc. The blockchain technology has many significant share trading and stock exchanges, identity verification, efficient and
use cases across all domains. Today many startups and businesses are transparent syndicated lending, and standardization in the accounting,
coming up with innovative solutions based on blockchain to cater the bookkeeping, and auditing process. Further, blockchain-based decen-
key issues in areas like supply chain management, healthcare, educa- tralized crypto hedge funds can help in inviting more investors and
tion, agriculture, finance etc. Table 7 provides the recent developments participants.
in the blockchain technology [68–154]. The table presents the idea of
using blockchain in various domains along with the significance and 6.1.2. Governance
associated challenges [68–154]. Blockarray developed the project trust History shows that the governance model changes with societal and
to provide solutions for the handouts material carriers and eliminated technological reforms. Earlier in the 19th century, the capitalist model
the requirement of manual document keeping. Maersk is enhancing the of governance saw a transition to the more democratized bureaucratic
supply chain visibility for companies like Highland Food, which deals in model of governance that still has its imprint on the current governance
meat products. Using the Tradelens Application Programming Interface model. However, with the changing needs and requirements, govern-
(API) integration the stakeholders can track the shipments in real-time. ments today are opting for new technologies to bring revolutionary
Tradelens was jointly developed by Maersk and IBM. Another startup changes in the way they function. With the rapid digitization of records,
Shipchain based on the ethernet blockchain model is enhancing the
there is a need to protect sensitive data and streamline various pro-
global supply chain by allowing the stakeholders to track the shipments
cesses including financial transactions to reduce fraud and corruption.
all over the world. Big companies like FedEx have collaborated with
A blockchain-based digital governance model can help to overcome the
Hyperledger to use blockchain for dispute resolution. DLA is using
issues associated with the centralized and hierarchical legacy gover-
blockchain to improve US army logistics.
nance models by ensuring a decentralized platform that gives everyone
Initially introduced as a technology to secure and handle the fi-
equal access to the government and reestablishes trust [137–140].
nancial sector blockchain today has its applications across multiple
Many governments across the globe are exploring this new technology
domains. Even though not a fully matured technology, blockchain has
to transform their work by reducing accountability and increasing
already created a revolution in business, industry, finance, and other
trust. The National Research Council of Canada is using an Ethereal-
major domains as mentioned in [62–152].
based blockchain platform to ensure transparency in the government
The integration of blockchain in the many domain areas is still in its
funding in the Industrial Research Assistance Program [153]. Cook
embryonic stage but has gained rapid popularity as it is conceived from
County, Illinois (USA), is using blockchain to keep land records more
already existing and well-understood techniques like cryptography,
securely [154]. In Mexico, the public administration leveraged the po-
record keeping, decentralization, and timestamped documentation [62–
tential of blockchain to ensure transparency in public contracts through
152].
project HACKMX [155]. In the USA, DARPA is using blockchain to
6.1. Blockchain application areas strengthen the existing cybersecurity [156]. In the current scenario,
blockchain has a broad spectrum of applications in governance ranging
This section presents the applicability of blockchain technology in from education to healthcare, voting to tax collection, and smart cities
various domains. Further, the various use cases where the integration to finance.
of blockchain-based solutions can be avoided are also discussed.
6.1.3. Healthcare
6.1.1. Banking and finance The healthcare industry has seen many technological interventions
Since its inception in 2008, Blockchain technology has disrupted in the last few years. However, despite the constant efforts by the
the financial sector and is still leading its way to realize its full po- Community Health Information Management Enterprise (CHIME) and
tential in the banking and finance sector [101–106]. A recent white the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS),
paper published on the ‘‘World Economic Forum’s’’ website claimed there is still no reliable identification mechanism for patients which
that by the end of 2025, almost 10% of the global GDP will be increases the chances of patient record mismatch in electronic health
stored on blockchain [106]. Some of the major use cases of blockchain records. Another major challenge that the healthcare industry faces is
9
Table 7
Recent advances in blockchain technology.
S.No Ref Application area Core idea Significance Examples Challenges
1 [77–82] Logistics and Tracking and tracing of ∙ Shipment tracking Yojii, BLOCK High implementation and
Supply chain raw materials, ∙ Transparent Processes ARRAY, operational costs, not
intermediaries and finished ∙ Dispute management MAERSK, feasible for smaller
products from inception till ∙ Inventory monitoring SHIPCHAIN organizations
it reaches the end users. and management
∙ Payments
2 [83–92] Healthcare and Securing Electronic Health ∙ Health supply chain MedChain, Lack of standard data
Pharmaceuticals Records, Storing and share ∙ Counterfeit BURSTIQ, capturing and sharing
of records in a secured and Drug detection PATIENTORY, procedures and
privacy preserved manner. ∙ Finance and Insurance NEBULA mechanisms, data
Ensure tamper proof, management GENOMICS, ownership and privacy
traceable and ∙ Patient data MEDI- issues
non-repudiation-based management CALCHAIN
mechanism for health ∙ Medical data and
record and patient data. device history
Identifying counterfeit tracking
medicines, Tracing and
tracking of medicines
supply chain
4 [93–97] Food and Reducing food wastage, ∙ Traceability of Food HARA, Absence of Standard
Agriculture improving food supply supply chain Bananacoin rules and regulations,
chain, Tracking and ∙ Quality control lack of technical
tracing of food from farms ∙ Payments knowhow, digital divide
to households. Logistics
[98–100] Energy Tracking energy ∙ Transparent Energy Electrify, grid Authentication and
consumptions and metering + verification involve high
distribution ∙ Tracking and Tracing compute energy and
of energy costs, cyberattacks on
consumption grids
∙ Promoting clean
energy
∙ P2P energy trading
6 [101–106] Banking and Loan approvals and ∙ Cryptocurrencies, Xenchain, Absence of Standard
Finance tracking, crypto-based ∙ Asset management, ChromaWay operating procedures and
banking transactions, fraud ∙ Trade processing & regulations
detection and mitigation settlements,
mechanisms, Tracking ∙ Insurance,
Money Laundering etc. ∙ Payments
∙ Fraud Detection
Know your customer
7 [107–110] Transportation Tracking and tracing, Fuel ∙ Autonomous vehicle DACSEE High implementation and
and logistics monitoring, Expediting monitoring and operational costs, not
payments, proving management feasible for smaller
equitable opportunities for ∙ Road Safety organizations
big and small ∙ Payments
transportation players ∙ Liability management
8 [111–113] Real Estate Land Titling, ensuring trust ∙ Decentralized title PROPY Legality of process
in citizen for real estate registry including in land titling,
transactions, Ensuring ∙ Land Registry registry process etc.
Transparency in real estate
9 [114–118] IPR and Smart Contract based • Archiving of records Ascribe Legal issues including
Copyrights approaches to identify IPR data storage and
and copyright ownerships
infringements in software,
music, education, fashion
and manufacturing
industries etc.
10 [119–122] Education Approaches for identifying ∙ Student Record and Shikapa, High implementation
the authenticity of identity management Cubomania, costs, lack of trained
Marksheets and other ∙ Certificate, Badges NTok-X, manpower
Degree Certificates. and awards Vivagogy,
Decentralized, Privacy authentication Edgecoin
preserved and customized ∙ Payments
lesson plans, results and ∙ Plagiarism detection
other educational facilities.
(continued on next page)
information blocking. The large volumes and sensitive nature of medi- hospital-centric interoperability where hospitals manage and monitor
cal data require efficient data handling that includes effective data stan- all patients’ records and medical data. The key aspects of blockchain
dards, security and privacy protocols, transparency, and immutability. technology like data provenance, tamper-proof nature, transparency in
Today, most smart healthcare systems are organization-specific with processes, and security can play a major role in the transition from
10
Table 7 (continued).
S.No Ref Application area Core idea Significance Examples Challenges
12 [123–126] e-Voting Privacy preserved and • Secure, immutable Luxoft, uport, High cost of
secure voting mechanisms and trusted voting Follow my authentication and
for individuals and mechanism Vote, verification as PoW
organizations Blockchain requires higher compute
Voting capabilities
machine,
CommitCoin,
VOATZ
13 [127–131] Entertainment Protecting and managing • Reducing Piracy Artbit, OTT content filtering and
and Multimedia the digital audio/video Copyrights and MEDIACHAIN, viewer’s certifications
content Royalties Management MADHIVE,
OPEN MUSIC
INITIATIVE
14 [132–136] Identity Better authentication and ∙ Increased processing LifeID, Sovrin, High implementation
Management verification speed Tykn, CIVIC costs
∙ Reduced loss, theft
and frauds
Portable and reliable
identities
15 [137–140] Governance Improved governance ∙ Record Management Illinois Lack of expertise and
∙ Subsidies monitoring Blockchain technical knowhow
and tracking Initiative
Reducing corruption
16 [141–144] Internet of Securing IoT devices • Transparent IoT FILAMENT, Absence of standard
Things ecosystems HYPR, XAGE operating procedures.
Reduced cybersecurity SECURITY
threats in IoT systems
17 [145–147] Decision and Distributed Secured and ∙ Big Data based AI and Complexities in
Data Analytics Privacy Preserved data Perspective Analytics Blockchain are Consensus algorithms
storage for permissioned used in
Blockchain supply combination to
chain provide
∙ Quality and Control improved
Analysis using decision
Blockchain making
[148–152] Smart Cities Security and Privacy, • Privacy preserved and Light weight Interoperability, Data
Issues and Challenges Secured Smart city cryptography Security, Message
ecosystem for IoT devices, Exchange etc.
Multi Factor
Authentication
(MFA),
passwordless
authentication
organization-driven data management to patient-centric management parts, pets, voices, etc. Considering the gaps in the visibility created
of data. Although the integration of blockchain into the existing smart due to the dependencies on multiple individuals and departments the
healthcare systems raises concerns related to the confidentiality of insurance industry is highly vulnerable. The major issues faced by the
sensitive medical data especially on public blockchains, speed, and insurance sector include the constant threat of fraud, inefficient infor-
scalability aspects, still many notable innovations can be achieved mation exchanges, middlemen, multiple data sources, manual claims
by blockchain [15,16,83–92,157]. Many blockchain experts hold a review and processing of information, and data thefts. In January
viewpoint that the confidentiality issue related to medical data can be 2015, Anthem Insurance companies, one of the largest health benefits
resolved by saving the hash on the blockchain while the actual data is companies became a victim of data theft that resulted in the exposure
maintained off-chain. The increasing incidents of data theft and security of data records of 78.8 million customers that cost the company around
breaches have resulted in some strict regulatory compliances about $375 million [159]. Embracing blockchain technology can provide
medical data. In such a scenario blockchain technology can provide promising solutions to overcome these issues in the insurance sector
an effective solution to meet the evolving demands and guidelines of by the use of smart contracts, cryptography, and automation. The
the smart healthcare systems. Many healthcare organizations, govern- insurance policies can be transformed into smart contracts that can as-
ments, and startups are working to integrate the concepts of blockchain sure trust, transparency, and automation [101–106,159–163]. openIDL
in the existing systems to achieve high security and privacy of medical network by the American Association of Insurance Services built on
data. MedChain is using the concepts of blockchain technology to store the ‘‘IBM Blockchain’’ platform improves the accuracy and efficiency
healthcare data securely [158]. of the process by streamlining the requirements and automating the
processes [163].
6.1.4. Insurance
The increasing popularity of insuring things apart from medical 6.1.5. Logistics and supply chain management
bills, homes, and cars has resulted in the insurance industry being The logistics and supply chain industry are one of the most talked-
susceptible to fraud and trust issues. With the increasing demands about use cases of blockchain technology. The support for audit trail
of people, the insurance industry today has expanded to insure body and tamper-proof history of records makes it a better choice for supply
11
chain and logistics [107–110]. The traditional businesses were based and talked about. The energy sector is continually threatened regarding
on trust between individual parties but with the advent of technology grid security and network connections due to the increasing digitization
and modernization of businesses, there was a significant disruption in and interconnections. A report by the world economic forum, PwC,
the traditional processes. The integration of blockchain into existing and Stanford woods institute for the environment has highlighted more
supply chain processes will significantly decrease the incidence of than 60 use cases of the decentralized distributed ledger technology
fraud and cargo thefts by providing a single platform to ensure the in saving the planet and promoting energy efficiency and sustain-
authenticity, transparency, history, and origin of records. This will ability [98–100]. Today, many blockchain-based real-world projects
benefit all stakeholders including manufacturers, suppliers, auditors, are implemented in the energy sector. Grid+ is a blockchain-based
customers, and logistic partners, and will address their largely varying project that helps to achieve reduced home energy costs by developing
interests and third parties [107–110]. Many organizations are using hardware and software that are energy efficient [169]. Another venture
the key concepts of blockchain technology to make the existing supply called ONDOFLO works in the oil and natural gas sector.
chains more efficient and reliable. In one of its several blockchain-
based applications, IBM is working to tackle the problem of counterfeit 6.1.9. Education
drugs in Africa by using blockchain technology to make end-users more With the advent of technology, the education sector has witnessed
confident in making their choices [164]. a significant shift from a centralized learning environment to a peer-
to-peer system of interaction that occurs online. Today, the education
6.1.6. Internet of things community is harnessing modern-day technologies to bring transforma-
The applications of IoT have seen exponential growth since its tions in the teaching and learning processes [119–122,170]. With the
inception and have come a long way spreading itself across multiple increasing popularity of online learning platforms like Google’s GAFE,
sectors [141–144]. Gartner in its report has predicted that the number Amazon’s textbook rental platform, and Massive Open Online Courses
of installed IoT devices will reach a 27.4 billion mark by 2025. Today, (MOOCs) available on platforms like Edx and Coursera, MIT etc, there
IoT has enabled us to fill the gap between the real world and the digital is a need for enhanced security and privacy to ensure anonymity, im-
world and has brought reforms in multiple sectors. With such a large mutability, transparency, and integrity. Distributed ledger technology
number of connected devices that are generating, and exchanging data, can be leveraged to minimize the challenges faced by the education
there is a need to focus on the security and integrity of the shared industry. Blockchain technology sets the stage for collaborations be-
data. With such complex interconnections between devices, there is tween educational institutions and businesses and also eliminates the
an increased chance of internal and external data threats resulting in chances of fraud that occurs in manual processes by providing a digital
data loss and tampering. The Mirai Botnet DDoS attack was one of record of students’ credentials that are immutable. It also ensures the
the most threatening attacks on IoT devices that affected the Internet safety of important documents in cases of wars, climatic catastrophes,
services across the East Coast of America [165]. In another case in and economic collapses. In a recent case of the Covid-19 pandemic,
September 2017, FDA recalled over 500K IoT-based pacemakers after the education sector saw a paradigm shift from personalized face-
a severe loophole was detected that may cause the tampering of the to-face teaching and learning to a completely online mode. In such
medical device implanted in human bodies resulting in life-threatening unprecedented situations, blockchain-based solutions can ensure the
consequences [166]. The security breaches in the Internet of Things safety of important teaching and learning resources and academic
devices in the past were possible because of the architectural gaps. In degrees, certificates, and other credentials [119–122].
traditional IoT systems, a centralized architecture is used where all the
information is stored in a central cloud. Today, with the increasing 6.1.10. Travel and hospitality
number of connected devices, there is a need for decentralized secured Blockchain technology has shown tremendous potential in revo-
mechanisms like blockchain technology to store the information in IoT lutionizing the travel and hospitality business. The technology offers
systems. numerous applications for storing, validating, authorizing, and pro-
cessing digital transactions. The key characteristics of the blockchain
6.1.7. Voting help to maintain a distributed database of records, enhance security,
The introduction of Blockchain in the voting process will clear the eliminate the need for third parties, and enhance the ease of access-
air around the common misconceptions that the online voting process ing information from anywhere. Many companies in the travel and
cannot be implemented securely and efficiently. Blockchain technology hospitality business are adopting blockchain to enhance their existing
offers security, accuracy, trust, transparency, and immutability to the processes. TUI, one of the prominent names in the tourism industry has
entire electoral process [123–126]. The recent Iowa Democratic cau- adopted blockchain in their project BedSwap [171], which maintains
cuses of 2020 have raised some serious questions on the reliability a record of hotel bed inventories in real-time. Blockchain makes this
and credibility of the technology enabling voting processes. The entire inventory available without any intermediaries. LockChain [172] is
process suffered criticism due to the failure of an app and lack of another blockchain-based platform that works on a subscription model
transparency. This incident has highlighted the need for a technological that allows companies to rent out properties without any middleman
intervention that can support transparency, anonymity, efficiency, and and a zero percent commission policy. Today, many hospitality com-
immutability in the electoral process. Although with any new technol- panies are using blockchain to manage their loyalty programs and
ogy, there comes a pool of unforeseeable hurdles considering all that reward tokens. In another application, blockchain is used to imple-
the distributed ledger technology has to offer, blockchain can prove to ment home-sharing platforms. Beenest provides such a platform that
be a potential game-changer. Currently, many startups and even gov- connects hosts and guests to facilitate stays without intermediaries
ernments are exploring this new technology for implementing a secure and commissions [173]. Blockchain also provides solutions for booking
and tamperproof voting system. Luxoft is applying blockchain concepts and baggage tracking. Many well-known airlines like Lufthansa are
to develop a decentralized voting application ensuring a reliable voting adopting blockchain to assist their processes in booking and baggage
mechanism [167]. tracking.
6.1.8. Energy 6.1.11. Food and agriculture

According to a report published by Global Market Insights Inc, A report by pwc China claimed that the fraud in the food and agri-
blockchain technology will reach a mark of USD 18 billion in the cultural industry causes a loss of around 30–40 billion globally [174].
energy market by 2025 [168]. Out of the many application areas of The major challenge faced by the agricultural sector is to track the
blockchain technology, the energy sector is one of the least explored agri-products which are majorly managed and coordinated by third
12
Fig. 6. Unconventional use-cases of blockchain [176–193].
parties. The integration of blockchain technology into the existing smart contracts. The complexity of the approval process and the long
process can result in significant transformations and automation in key list of laws governing IP make it a tedious task to maintain and verify
functional areas [175]. The introduction of blockchain will help to the trail of audits and ownerships. Blockchain can help to manage
remodel the existing supply chains, payments, and tracking processes. copyrights by providing tamperproof evidence of the complete chain
The distributed ledger provides an immutable record of events right of ownership and ensuring fair remuneration and efficiency in the exe-
from the procurement of seeds and raw materials to the time the cution of royalties and copyrights [176,177]. IP-dependent businesses
crops are harvested and food products are supplied for sale and reach like entertainment, media, advertising, and software can create great
consumers. With the increased suspicions about the quality of food and value using the blockchain platform that will provide a secure way to
authenticity of products, consumers are more aware of the origin and manage sales, copyrights, licensing, and contracts.
quality measures of the food and underlying processes. The authenticity
of raw materials and agricultural inputs is of primary concern to
6.1.14. Real estate
consumers around the globe. Blockchain has the potential to address
The real estate industry was traditionally concerned with the mid-
all these issues by ensuring a list of immutable records. It also helps to
dleman/broker connecting the sellers with the potential buyers for any
eliminate the need for intermediaries resulting in decreased delaying
increased profits [93–97]. It also helps to manage the government transactions. This entire transaction process included a commission/
subsidies in the agriculture sector ensuring that the farmers are getting brokerage. Most of these transactions were offline involving face-to-
their share. With producers and consumers brought to a single platform, face communication between the stakeholders. With all things manual,
the logistics and supply chain process, and the marketing and sales there were high chances of fraud along with a broker fee. Today, with
processes are also enhanced. technologies like blockchain the entire real estate transaction process
can be digitized with enhanced security and benefits. Smart contracts
6.1.12. Identity management can be executed between the seller and buyer of the assets for all
Identity and access management is one of the most promising use transactions thus eliminating the need for the middleman [111–113].
cases of Blockchain technology [132–136]. The current state of identity Further, real estate assets can be tokenized and traded on a digital
management involves paper-based identity cards and certificates and platform. This will help the buyers to directly contact the sellers.
in some cases digital id proofs like thumb impressions, RFID tags, etc. Tokenization of assets will further facilitate the fractional purchasing
stored in a centralized server or cloud storage in the respective organi- of properties. Once tokenized the assets can be easily liquidated.
zations. These centralized servers and cloud storage are vulnerable to
data theft and hacking. Identity management and access systems need 6.1.15. Transportation
secure and reliable tools for authentication and authorization. The digi- Blockchain technology has the potential to address the existing is-
tal identity records in these systems should be secure, private, portable, sues in transportation like dispute resolution, administrative efficiency,
and verifiable from anywhere irrespective of the location. The key at- shipment tracking, etc. by allowing close coordination between the
tributes of blockchain technology like decentralized distributed nature, stakeholders [107–110]. The technology helps to easily coordinate the
immutability, and cryptographic hash functions provide a potential documents on the digital distributed ledger. This helps in ensuring
solution to address these major concerns and provide an authentication the easy availability of authentic and immutable data across multiple
and authorization mechanism based on zero-knowledge proof allowing
checkpoints in transportation systems. Further, shipment tracking helps
a user to prove identity without revealing the personal and private de-
increase the efficiency of logistics operations.
tails. This provides a level of anonymity and transparency in the entire
verification process. Blockchain has enormous potential to transform
the existing identity management process by adding significant value to 6.1.16. Entertainment
the current state of identity owners, identity issuers, and identity ver- The key characteristics of blockchain technology like immutability,
ifiers. LifeID uses blockchain principles to provide a universal account trust, transparency, etc. can benefit the entertainment and media in-
associated with an individual’s identity [194]. dustry by bringing significant changes in the way the various media
contents are created, shared, consumed, and monetized. The adoption
6.1.13. Intellectual Property (IP) of blockchain can further help in fighting the piracy in entertainment
Blockchain technology can provide an efficient platform to de- and media industry and regularize the copyright and distribution of
termine the creator-ship, origin, and ownership of Intellectual Prop- royalties [127–131].
erty [114–118,176,177]. IP rights management and transfer of technol- Apart from the above classical use-case of blockchain technology,
ogy can be simplified securely and credibly by using digital distributed there are several unconventional use cases where blockchain tech-
ledger technology. Further, Blockchain can be used as a digital registry nology can provide vital benefits. Fig. 6 presents some of those use
for IP owners to seamlessly manage royalties for their inventions using cases [176–193].
13
Fig. 7. Challenges in blockchain adoption.
6.1.17. Waste management and tracking 6.2. Use cases where blockchain can be avoided
Blockchain technology can be used to track and trace the waste from
the source to the disposal site creating an immutable, transparent, and Although there are several unprecedented use-cases and application
tamper-proof mechanism of waste management life cycle [176,177]. areas of blockchain technology, however, we should be careful about
adopting this technology in all domains. It seems that blockchain
6.1.18. Stock trading
technology can be applied to any field of application, however, this is
Stock trading can be revolutionized with the help of blockchain
technology. An optimal mechanism can be created using blockchain not always true. Therefore, we should be well aware of when and why
technology for automated and decentralized sales and purchases of to use blockchain technology. Following are a few situations where the
stocks in real-time. Integrating blockchain technology in the trad- use of blockchain can be avoided [197–201].
ing software provides faster transaction speed and lowers the costs
involved [178,179]. • Legacy blockchain solutions suffer from scalability bottleneck,
therefore whenever we are aware that the system is going to
6.1.19. Auctions and crowdfunding be scaled significantly and quite often, it is not advisable to use
Blockchain technology ensures transparency, accountability, and blockchain technology.
security in crowdfunding. It further improves transaction time and the • Whenever there are frequent updations in transaction’s terms
costs involved. As auctions involve bidding, the use of blockchain tech- and conditions, it becomes highly difficult, costly, and time-
nology provides a tamper-proof and immutable mechanism wherein the consuming to create a different smart contract for individual
bidding prices cannot be tampered with and thus helps in providing a transactions.
fair auction process [180,181].
• For real-time applications, blockchain technology is still con-
sidered a slow alternative. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid
6.1.20. Plagiarism and copyright
Academic integrity can be maintained through the help of blockchain blockchain in real-time application domains.
technology in the education domain which can be used to detect and • In blockchain-based transactions, it is difficult to reverse a trans-
deter plagiarism. Further, the ownership can be proved to determine action if the need arises. However, there are situations where
the original writer of the content and thus prevent any copyright or a transaction needs to be reversed, so in such cases, blockchain
plagiarism attempts [182–184]. must be avoided.
• Blockchain is still not a common practice and therefore the
6.1.21. Antiques and weapon trading chances of its deniability are very high.
Blockchain technology enables the verification of original antiques
and can be used to protect ancient artifacts and objects from being
7. Issues and challenges with blockchain
cloned by ensuring their provenance [185–188].
6.1.22. Tracking of donation and charity Blockchain technology today faces many challenges and potential
The unaccounted donations and charity amounts can be easily limitations that are both internal and external [202–212]. The ma-
traced and tracked through the help of blockchain-enabled systems. jor challenges faced by blockchain can be seen from the perspective
This can ensure a curb on black money and money laundering in- of the developers, users, and policymakers. The implementation of
stances [189–193]. blockchain-based solutions faces issues related to low scalability, lim-
ited interoperability, lack of standardization, and shortage of skilled
6.1.23. Blockchain-based passwordless authentication
developers. Further, at the organizational level, there is still a lack of
The concept of blockchain-based Decentralized Digital Identities
awareness, understanding, lack of governance, and regulatory protocols
(DID) can be used to provide passwordless authentication mechanisms
for enhancing user experiences. The biometric-based authentication about the technology. Considering the various issues, challenges, and
approaches mitigate the weaknesses and limitations of the rudimen- associated costs the blockchain implementation is facing a productivity
tary password-based authentication approaches. A blockchain-based paradox. Today, blockchain is coping with the technical issues related
secured and privacy-preserved application can be created that can be to the underlying technology, thefts and security, general perception,
used to capture biometrics (fingerprints, face recognitions etc.) of the regulations, and mainstream adoption. Fig. 7 highlights some of the
users to provide seamless authentication [195,196]. major challenges faced by blockchain technology [202–212].
14
7.1. Scalability
Scalability is one of the prime concerns that restrict the mass

adoption of blockchain technology. Bitcoin can currently handle 3–7
transactions per second (tps) while Ethereum can handle 15 tps. This
is significantly less as compared to the other competitors like Visa
which handles approximately 1736 transactions per second (is capable
of handling more than 24,000 transactions per second Based on testing
conducted in August 2010 with IBM). The current blockchains need to
scale to avoid delays for consumers and businesses else the industry
infrastructure will be unable to cope. Bitcoin cash (BCH) quadrupled
the size of the blockchain to 32 Mb in May 2018 to keep pace with the
increasing market demands. However, this upgrade has mixed reviews
from the blockchain community. On one hand, the increased block size
makes it superior to the bitcoin blockchain, on the other hand, the
change also makes operating the full node expensive. There exist some
other techniques like lightning, sharding, and off-chain to resolve the
scalability issue of the blockchain. However, blockchain scalability is
an issue that still needs an efficient solution.
The scalability issue comes bundled with other blockchain attributes Fig. 8. Root causes of security threats in a blockchain.
like throughput, latency, propagation time, block size, and block time.
Throughput defines the number of transactions a blockchain can sup-
port. It can mathematically be presented as the product of the number
In a study performed for over six months from January 2018
of blocks per second and the number of transactions per block.
to June 2018 [214,215], the average energy consumption of mining
𝐵𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑇 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 cryptocurrencies was greater than that of mining the actual metals.
𝑇 ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑝𝑢𝑡 = 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 ∗ 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓
𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘 The mining process resulted in 3–15 million tons of CO2 emissions. A
Now for an efficient system, the throughput should be maximum. study published in the ‘‘Nature Climate Change’’ by the University of
In this case, the throughput can be maximized by either increasing Hawaii [214,215] states that the CO2 emissions due to bitcoin mining
the block size or by increasing the block rate. In both cases, there can push global warming to 2 degrees in the coming three decades.
will be a direct effect on the inner node latency and the propagation The entire process of mining a valid block is based on large com-
time where Latency can be defined as the amount of time to wait putations to calculate the right value of the nonce. This continuous
till a transaction is complete and Propagation time defines the time block mining cycle incentivizes the miners which further motivates
taken by a new block to reach the other nodes in the network. As them to mine new blocks. This whole process results in large energy
the size of the blockchain grows the storage, bandwidth, and computer consumption. Today, the entire bitcoin network consumes more energy
power requirements also grow. The increase in block size leads to an than some of the countries in the world [213–215].
increase in the amount of data that needs to be verified by other nodes
thus increasing the propagation time. [210] described this scenario 7.3. Security and privacy
using the scalability trilemma that involves decentralization, security,
and scalability aspects of a blockchain. A blockchain platform that Over the years many cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based compa-
balances all three factors is challenging. The bigger block size creates nies have suffered security breaches resulting in heavy financial losses
a centralized system as it requires high computing power and longer and even shutdowns. Many kinds of research and studies have been
to transmit across a network and verify. Scalability remains an issue. reported on the security aspects of blockchain technology [215–222].
In the recent past, some new solutions were proposed to overcome or With the popularity of the technology and billions of investments, it
at least mitigate the issue of scalability with the blockchains. These has been in the eyes of hackers who are continuously looking out for
solutions are categorized as first-layer and second-layer solutions. First- vulnerabilities in the system. In the last few years, several incidents
layer solutions like sharding, increasing block size etc. are based on were reported where attackers were successful in executing attacks
modifying the blockchain structure while second-layer solutions like causing a loss of over billions. The root causes of these security threats
sidechains focus on methods that can be implemented outside of the are summarized in Fig. 8.
blockchain. The various first- and second-layer solutions to scalability Blockchains which gained popularity as a non-hackable technology
issues in blockchain are discussed in [209–212]. Recently, the ISO has have seen several security breaches over the past few years where
made some efforts in the area of blockchain and Distributed Ledger billions were lost in the hands of hacks and cybercrimes. A Hong
Technology (DLT) standards ISO/TC 307 [213]. Kong-based Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex lost over 120 000 bit-
coins worth over $72 million in 2016 [223,224]. In November 2017,
7.2. Energy consumption Tether announced that $31 million was removed from its treasury
wallet [225]. A ‘‘South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Youbit’’ filed
The mining process especially in public blockchains requires a lot for bankruptcy in December 2017 after a hack caused it to lose around
of energy in the form of electricity consumption translating into carbon 17% of its assets [226]. Earlier the same year in April Youbit lost over
footprints [214,215]. Since its inception in the year 2009, blockchain $73 million to a cyber-attack [227]. In the same year, Slovenian-based
technology has brought revolutionary changes in the way things work. NiceHash was hacked causing $62 million in losses [228,229]. In one
However, all these advantages come with a much higher cost in the of the most talked-about hacks in the blockchain world, Mt. Gox lost al-
form of high carbon footprints. Proof of Work is a scheme based on an most 840000 bitcoins out of which only 200 000 were recovered [229].
SHA-256 hashing algorithm, which produces a cryptographic hash with Coincheck a leading Japanese cryptocurrency exchange suspended the
a value less than a target nonce. The highly competitive process of min- NEM coin services due to a hack that absconded over 500 million NEM
ing and adding new blocks to the blockchain is computation-intensive tokens causing losses of over $530 million in January 2018 [230]. In
consuming large amounts of energy. the same month, $400 thousand worth of Steller Lumen (XLM) coins
15
were withdrawn from the Blackwallets in a theft reported as a DNS 7.5. Absence of universally accepted rule and regulations
hijack [231]. Later in the year in February 2018, a global cryptocur-
rency exchange Bitgrail was exposed to a cyber-attack resulting in a Blockchain technology is still not considered valid in several coun-
loss of over $150 million of NANO due to a discrepancy in its wallet tries [246]. There is no universally accepted set of rules and regulations
maintenance code [232,233]. The incident was followed by a series for the implementation of blockchain technology [247].
of accusations and conspiracy claims by involved parties that further
raised concerns about the security of the blockchains. In April 2018, an 7.6. Costs and efficiency
Indian cryptocurrency exchange Coinsecure lost bitcoins affecting over
11 000 customers [234]. The hack occurred due to the exposed private The initial setup cost of blockchain is high and thus it becomes
keys while extracting bitcoins. The lost funds were reported to be stored difficult for small and medium-scale industries to integrate blockchain
in the cold wallet. A cryptocurrency trading app Taylor was hacked and solutions in their existing setups. Furthermore, the transaction effi-
all their funds, ETH, and TAY tokens were stolen in May 2018 [235]. In ciency of public blockchain is not good which has a direct impact on
June 2018, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail reported the overall business.
a cyber intrusion affecting NPXS tokens that caused them losses of over
$40 million [236]. The ICO project launched on top of the Ethereum 8. Conclusion and future scope
block, KICKICO suffered a smart contract breach resulting in a loss of
over 70 million KICK with over $7.7 million in July 2018 [237]. A The introduction of blockchain technology has significantly changed
the way transactions are handled. The key characteristics of blockchain
similar theft was reported earlier the same month by BANCOR where
technology like decentralization, immutability, transparency etc. pro-
a compromised wallet was used to breach a smart contract causing
vide immense scope for enhancing the security, reliability, and privacy
damages worth over $13.5 million [238]. In September 2018 Japanese
of the transactions and thus increasing trust amongst the users.
cryptocurrency exchange Zaif reported a loss of 60 billion Yen (approx.
In this work, we presented a comprehensive overview of blockchain
$60 million) in the hands of a hot wallet breach [239]. Later in October
technology, its applications, and the major challenges in its widespread
2018, the Swiss blockchain company ‘‘trade.io’’ was hacked and a cold
adoption. Although blockchain technology is considered a relatively
storage breach resulted in losses of over 50 million TIO (its own cryp-
new technology, historical evidence shows that it is built on well-
tocurrency) worth over $7.5 million [240]. A new kind of malicious
understood and widely accepted cryptographic principles. Blockchain
activity called ‘‘Dusting Attack’’ was observed that attacks the privacy
technology has significant potential to benefit different stakeholders
of the users by sending small amounts called dust to a large number of like businesses, governments, private sector entities, and consumers.
addresses to link these dusted addresses and wallets to individuals and Despite being in its early stages of development, today blockchain has
organizations [241]. Once linked, the information can be misused to seen unprecedented growth and popularity across multiple domains.
reveal the identities of the owners. In October 2018, bitcoin’s samurai However, this popularity comes with its own set of pros and cons.
wallet reported a dusting attack on its users. A cybersecurity firm ESET On one hand, the technology provides transparency and immutability
reported an incident in November 2018 where hackers breached the in transactions through various cryptographic principles while on the
web analytics platform StatCounter targeting the cryptocurrency ex- other hand, issues like lack of regulations governing the use of tech-
change gate.io to steal bitcoins. Later, gate.io discontinued the services nology, scalability challenges, infrastructural requirements etc. result
of StatCounter [242]. A New Zealand-based cryptocurrency exchange in hesitancy towards the use of blockchain-based solutions. A detailed
Cryptopia suffered a security breach in January 2019 resulting in a loss study of the various challenges associated with this technology shows
of over $4.5 million. Later in February 2021, currency worth more than that the mass adoption of blockchain is still far from reality [248].
$60 000 was stolen in a cold wallet breach [243]. In another incident, The paper also presents a detailed study of the major security
a popular wallet and exchange service Coinbase suspended trading breaches in blockchain in the past years and identifies the root causes of
in ETC after a reported deep chain reorganization including double security thefts. The study shows that the majority of security breaches
spending was detected involving approximately $460 thousand [244]. occur due to hot wallet breaches and application vulnerabilities. In
In the same year, Binance discovered a hot wallet breach where hackers the last few years, several cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based com-
were successful in obtaining the user API keys and other potential panies have faced heavy financial losses due to security breaches in
information that caused them a loss of over $40 million [245]. the system. Researchers have also highlighted the impact of covid-19
pandemic on the world of cryptocurrencies [249].
Although the researchers hold different viewpoints related to the
7.4. Adoption issues and integration with the legacy systems
blockchain hype, its popularity is ever-increasing. In the future, the
technology will grow with innovations in the area of improving scal-
Despite the increasing popularity of blockchain technology, its mass
ability and minimizing energy consumption. Moreover, in the future
adoption is still far from reality. The major reasons for this can be cat-
generations of blockchain technology, it can be combined with other
egorized into three classes: General, organizational, and implementa- emerging technologies like Deep Learning and AI to create intelligence
tional. General reasons that adversely affect the adoption of blockchain through smart contracts, consensus etc. Furthermore, there exists a few
into the mainstream include its widespread association with cryptocur- DAG-based systems that are fee-less and tackle the scalability issues to
rencies which makes it susceptible to fraud in the minds of many. Apart a certain extent, however, do not completely eliminate it [250].
from these the environmental aspects associated with this technology Although blockchain technology is highly beneficial for several
like energy consumption also add to this. Besides these when comes application domains, still one should be careful about when to use it
to implementation, it is still an immature technology that faces is- to exploit the actual benefits of the revolutionary technology.
sues related to speed, scalability, integration into the legacy systems, Table 8 given below provides some of the distinctions between when
lack of skilled task force, standard rules, interoperability, and infras- to use blockchain and when it is not a good option to use blockchain
tructure. Organizational issues like technological awareness amongst [216–218,251].
incumbents, employee attitudes and understanding, lack of governance Therefore, it can be concluded that although blockchain promises
and regulations etc., further pose challenges in the mainstream adop- extraordinary benefits for many application domains, it should be
tion of this technology. Also, legacy systems are not apt for han- carefully chosen considering the requirements of the applications and
dling the high energy consumption requirements of blockchain-based the implementation costs involved. Blockchain technology has great
implementations. potential to provide security to transactions. In the future, blockchain
16
Table 8
Blockchain adoption scenarios.
S.No Scenarios Use blockchain Do not use blockchain
1 When the application requires frequent updations of records ✓
2 When High Scalability is required ✓
3 When decentralization storage is required ✓
4 Implementation Cost Issue ✓
5 Transaction Speed is of prime concern ✓
6 Multiple Parties are involved ✓
7 Organization requiring transparency, tracking and tracing ✓
8 Archival Datasets ✓
9 Redundancy is an issue ✓
10 Performance Matters ✓
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Decision Analytics Journal 9 (2023) 100344

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Decision Analytics Journal

A comprehensive review of blockchain technology: Underlying principles

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

6. Use-cases of blockchain technology ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8

the potential of blockchain is immense, there are some issues and

finance, healthcare, education, governance, supply-chain, agriculture,

1.2. Major contributions

The presented work provides a comprehensive analysis and survey

• Highlighting the key challenges and issues in the large-scale

4.1.1. Proof of Work (PoW):

4.1.2. Proof of Stake (PoS):

4.1.3. Delegated PoS:

Fig. 3. Arrangement of blocks in a blockchain.

Fig. 4. Addition of blocks in the blockchain [26,27].

4.1.8. Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET):

(continued on next page)

6.1.8. Energy 6.1.11. Food and agriculture

Fig. 6. Unconventional use-cases of blockchain [176–193].

Fig. 7. Challenges in blockchain adoption.

Scalability is one of the prime concerns that restrict the mass

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