Information Processing and Management 58 (2021) 102397

A Survey on Blockchain for Information Systems Management and

Security
David Berdika, Safa Otoum⁎,b, Nikolas Schmidta, Dylan Portera, Yaser Jararweha
a
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, USA b College of Technological
Innovation, Zayed University, Dubai, UAE

ARTICLEINFO ABSTRACT
Keywords: Blockchain technologies have grown in prominence in recent years, with
blockchain many experts citing the potential applications of the technology in regard to
information different aspects of any industry, market, agency, or governmental
systems blockchain organizations. In the brief history of blockchain, an incredible number of
applications achievements have been made regarding how blockchain can be utilized and
information the impacts it might have on several industries. The sheer number and
systems security complexity of these aspects can make it difficult to address blockchain
distributed potentials and complexities, especially when trying to address its purpose
architecture and fitness for a specific task. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive
review of applying blockchain as a service for applications within today’s
information systems. The survey gives the reader a deeper perspective on
how blockchain helps to secure and manage today information systems. The
survey contains a comprehensive reporting on different instances of
blockchain studies and applications proposed by the research community
and their respective impacts on blockchain and its use across other
applications or scenarios. Some of the most important findings this survey
highlights include the fact that blockchain’s structure and modern cloud-
and edge-computing paradigms are crucial in enabling a widespread
adaption and development of blockchain technologies for new players in
today unprecedented vibrant global market. Ensuring that blockchain is
widely available through public and open-source code libraries and tools will
help to ensure that the full potential of the technology is reached and that
further developments can be made concerning the long-term goals of
blockchain enthusiasts.
1. Introduction

Nowadays, blockchain has become an incredibly prominent and promising technology altogether. Proponents of
blockchain suggest that technology has virtually unlimited applications across any number of different fields such as
banks, energy, IoT, health, media, and more (Chen, Srivastava, M.Parizi, Aloqaily, & AlRidhawi, 2020). With an
D. Berdik, et al. Information Processing and Management 58 (2021) 102397
architecture that promotes security features and structure that renders it incredibly difficult to create fraudulent
records, blockchain has the potential to take over nearly any domain. Though blockchain-based tools and
applications may differ across domains, the general structure of blockchain approaches is relatively similar.
In its most basic implementation, blockchain is a distributed ledger. Transactions made for blockchain are nearly
tamper-proof through hashing and distributed algorithms. Generally, individuals can view the historical transactions
provided through a

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (D. Berdik), [email protected] (S. Otoum), [email protected]
(N. Schmidt), [email protected] (D. Porter), [email protected] (Y. Jararweh).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2020.102397
Received 14 June 2020; Received in revised form 20 September 2020; Accepted 21
September 2020 0306-4573/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
blockchain, but it is nearly impossible to change historical transactions within the ledger. This is in part due to its
distributed nature, but also due to other factors as well (Fanning & Centers, 2016a).
The general ledger of a blockchain is typically stored in a peer-to-peer fashion. When a change to a historical
transaction happens, the change would have to propagate to most of the ledger holders. Additionally, this change
must clear a proof-of-work concept which curtails machines with high processing power from overriding the ledger
history. Moreover, blockchain has certainly developed the potential for security and reliability in many information
systems. Blockchain first appeared in the early 2000s merely as a concept. The idea was relatively straightforward
and was primarily based on the idea that by distributing a series of records across a larger group of recipients that
there would always be a readily-available source through which the integrity and accuracy of a set of records could
be established and verified against. The technology was relatively slow at getting off the ground, as no true
blockchain- based utilities had been developed at the time. In 2009, the release of “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic
Cash System” authored by Satoshi Nakamoto revolutionized blockchain (Nakamoto, 2009).
Nakamoto, (Nakamoto, 2009), put forth the concept of a currency that existed strictly in a digital space built upon
a blockchain architecture. The transactions of any given piece of electronic coinage could be fully self-contained and
verified against any other who had maintained a record of that in advance. Bitcoin made a name for itself, but in
doing so, it also brought blockchain into the limelight with it. Many questioned the security of the technology and
whether it was a lasting architecture or simply another dotcom bubble, but more ambitious agents started working
to study this architecture and determine how to integrate the technology into other domains.
Many early studies of blockchain were focused on the success of Bitcoin. Having a real, tangible blockchain
application accessible to nearly anyone was an astounding find for financial speculators and academics alike.
Tracking the trends of bitcoin, in turn, showed the upward scalability and stability of blockchain-based applications.
A successful use case such as this led to an ideal situation for academics to request funding to expand on and explore
larger and more complex uses for blockchain. Although many were able to find beneficial uses and improvements,
there were also situations and experiments that reported on several negative and undesirable effects stemming
from the blockchain.
Generally, blockchain allows for the elimination of intermediate third parties because of the public trust it
facilitates. Transactions can be honed and verified on a granular level as well. This facilitation allows for a significant
change in the verified infrastructure for transactions. Such transactions enable better trails of information in
respective information systems. This will likely provide promise for more detailed analytics and reaction within
market spaces. The concept of smart contracts echoes this idea in a practical fashion. As these approaches and
concepts are generally applicable to any technology-oriented domain, a comprehensive survey of blockchain
applications is an exhaustive and ever-changing effort.

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1.1. Scope of this Survey

Blockchain denotes a different paradigm of transaction and record handling used primarily to facilitate validation
and trust between a variety of entities. The general concept of blockchain is synonymous with transactional data
and is translatable to many different security implementations.
Blockchain becomes increasingly important when combining hardware and software utilities to form an all-
encompassing information system. More generally speaking, information systems rely on a cohesive organization of
tools, hardware, software, and people to work together and collectively process and redistribute information to
appropriate parties. Issues can arise though when only certain groups have the authorization to engage with a set
of data, such as the strict limitations established regarding healthcare records and other personally identifiable
information and protected health information. There are plenty of instances where blockchain technology and the
inherent structures and architecture fail to provide the desired security, scalability, and other perks commonly
discussed in parallel with blockchain. Some cases suggested that blockchain was not truly as scalable as previously
thought, critiquing certain key issues and proposing solutions (Dasaklis, Casino, & Patsakis, 2018a). Diversity and
desirability made it so that blockchain could be applied nearly anywhere, and discourse was thick and uncontrolled,
covering nearly every aspect of business, industry, finance, and governance, among others. As a result, we focus on
blockchain as it applies to information systems.
We have analyzed a collection of documents and generated a survey regarding the use of blockchain as a tool for
application within information systems. The survey contains a brief report on several different instances of
blockchain study or application and their respective impacts on blockchain and its use across other applications or
scenarios.

1.2. Existing Surveys

Within the information systems domain, the practicality and usefulness of the blockchain concept have been
researched through many underlying industries. Blockchain architectures and their implementations within
information systems are a proposed means by which to reduce the overhead costs, whether those be time, effort,
or finances, associated with appropriately managing these sets of data. To the authors’ knowledge, we are the first
to provide a systematic survey of blockchain-based information systems management. Other available surveys are
domain or field specific like blockchain for smart cities, health, banking and Internet of Things (IoT).

1.3. Survey Contributions

We have analyzed a collection of documents and generated a survey regarding the use of blockchain as a tool for
application within information systems. The survey contains a brief reporting on several different instances of
blockchain study or application and their respective impacts on blockchain and its use across other applications or
scenarios. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: • • • Extensive survey carried out regarding the use
of blockchain within information systems.
We conducted the first blockchain-based information system
analysis. We addressed all issues in the information systems
management area.

1.4. Survey Organizations

The following discourse contains our analysis and understanding of blockchain and its implications as well as
impacts on information systems altogether.
Summaries of our analyses are presented below:

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1.4.1.Section 1: Introduction
This section includes background and reasoning for why we focused our search into the relationship between
blockchain and information systems. The contributions are presented in Subsection 1.3.

1.4.2.Section 2: Blockchain and Information Systems

Section 2 delved further into a presentation on some finer nuances of the relationship between blockchain and
information systems. This section provides a setup detailing the overall role of information systems, followed by a
section detailing common aspects of information systems. This section is generally applicable to many different
information systems in many different domains. As such is the case, we reference some common technologies and
use cases, though we in no way cite every possible scenario or application, as there are far too many for this to be
possible. The section closes with a brief discussion of how blockchain can serve to fulfill the goals of an information
system and describes its relationship among the various units that exist among information systems.

1.4.3. Section 3: Blockchain-based Information Systems Challenges

In section 3, we provided an overall summary of blockchain uses and studies from the inception of blockchain
through the present within the domain of information systems. Subsection 3.1 focuses on four major areas:
Information Systems, Reducing Third Parties, Increasing Interoperability, and Efficiency. These four sub-domains
have been selected and presented first due to their prominent role in the objectives of this survey, as well as their
frequency among blockchain uses.
The final portion of subsection 3.1 highlights situations in which the efficiency of an information system can be
improved upon by blockchain use. Often the effort is expended to ensure the authenticity of a client before a
transaction is made, but blockchain readily provides this with minimal effort. In addition to this example, this
subsection details further opportunities for improvement.
Subsection 3.2 expands upon the impact blockchain can have concerning the application of Fault Tolerance (FT),
compatibility issues, and broadening use within information systems. FT has plagued many applications and systems
until recently. Loss of data can be detrimental for a company or agency. Blockchain natively organizes itself among
many distributed devices to ensure that no record is ever permanently lost or deleted unless explicitly ordered, as
per the specifications of an implementation. This has downsides to it, however, and similar remarks can be made
regarding the use of blockchain due to compatibility issues that emerge through its use. Articles that identify and
advise suggestions for improvement of blockchain implementations are discussed. Efforts to broaden the use of
blockchain are also discussed, and similarly, issues related to the widespread adoption of blockchain technologies
are reported on as well as suggestions to improve and expand their use.
Subsections 3.2 and 3.3 identify instances related to Validation of Data and Transaction Integrity, as well as the
relationship between information systems and the supply chain. Data validation provides peace-of-mind for
businesses and agencies like that of identification and authentication concerning users. By ensuring that data is
accurate and appropriate, an incredibly easy task to implement through blockchain technology, groups can be
assured of the information their decisions are based on. This extends into relationships in which products or
properties may be transferred to or from one to another. Being assured of the integrity and sanctity of a transferred
item allows businesses to operate more effectively and efficiently. Together, these two components help to
integrate the business’s supply chain and ensure that appropriate tasks are being complete to stay operational.

1.4.4.Section 4: Findings, Analysis, Thoughts, Future Directions, Suggestions & Advice for Future Research
In Section 4, we present an analysis of the most critical aspects reported upon. The significance of each discovery
or article is discussed, as well as how blockchain is integrated and the role this plays. This portion of the report
analyzes how effective certain tasks are and how they can be improved upon. This section, though based on the
reported information, is based on our own understanding and subject to our judgement biases regarding how
further developments regarding blockchain should be addressed. Figure 1 represents the overview summary of the
sections and subsections.

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2. Blockchain and Information Systems

In this section, we discuss at length how blockchain technologies interact with information systems. We first
describe processes and practical applications of information systems in general, as well as contemporary approaches
to these types of systems. We then

proceed to discuss how blockchain implementations can be used to further improve upon or develop modern
information systems.

2.1. Role of Information Systems

Information systems serve a fundamental role in modern society. Information systems, broadly speaking, refer
to hardware, digital applications, storage, communication systems, internet utilities, and nearly any other aspect of
the technological infrastructure of a business, organization, government, school, or other group which form the
notion of big data structure and management (Gordon & Catalini, 2018)(Otoum, Kantarci, & Mouftah, 2019). Studies
of information systems generally investigate and discuss the process by which the system itself is implemented and
deployed to ensure that all relevant parties involved in the system can procure their desired information effectively.
As such, the computational prowess of certain technologies, while still significant, are often less critical than
concerns about the dissemination and accessibility of the information controlled by the system, which is usually of
greater importance to researchers of information studies. An information system, in one of the most generic forms,
controls business

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Fig. 2. Information Systems Control Process.

workflows, data storage, and data retrieval and access as shown in Fig. 2.
Information systems are generally applied in numerous different disciplines, and all their involved applications
differ. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for example, focus on collecting, storing, organizing, and manipulating
geographic information including latitude and longitude coordinate points, property boundaries, street systems, and
more. Healthcare information systems might provide utilities for healthcare providers to communicate information
safely and securely about patients to appropriate parties, as well as developing identification and authentication
schemes to ensure the identity of all involved parties (Lu & Xu, 2017).
Another healthcare information system is presented in Wu et al. (2019a) which proposed the use of blockchain
in the healthcare industry to allow for patient health records to be shared across entities in a decentralized fashion
while still ensuring the security and integrity of the data.
Approaches to information systems require the understanding of the critical business workflow as well as human
behavior to ensure the most easily accessible platform is established and utilized for the conveyance of information
to appropriate parties (Jiang et al., 2018). Analysis of this interdependent relationship helps promote interoperability
between users and ultimately determines what applications or tools will be used to convey information in these
types of systems. Understanding of this also suggests that strong application or structural changes occurring in
information systems are difficult to adopt, as there is a strong tendency for users of a system to resist and ultimately
reject a change. This resistance is even more prevalent when an issue (whether perceived, intended, or unintended)
in the new or updated system makes its use difficult, time-consuming, or otherwise undesirable for the involved
parties (Al-Jaroodi & Mohamed, 2019).
Because of the ubiquitous and prominent use of information systems throughout numerous domains, working to
improve them and ensure that they function at peak performance using the most efficient and readily available
technology is of the utmost importance. As such, decisions need to be made that consider not only the most
promising future developments but also reflect on the current understanding of information systems, their use, and
other such topics. By analyzing how they are used in addition to analyzing how to improve upon them, we hope to
provide a far-reaching blueprint that any group can use to implement the most effective information system possible
in that domain.

2.2. Implementations of Information Systems

Information systems, in their diverse array of tasks, implementations, and objectives, can necessitate a more
focused, nuanced application in some situations. Though in some cases this may call for a specialized solution, many
often follow some general patterns.

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Information systems can be implemented in incredibly diverse and unique ways, each having its own benefits
and drawbacks. Many information systems utilize some form of one or more relational databases as the primary
asset storage solution. Databases have been used throughout various applications and tools due to their high
storage capacity, logging and recovery features, and speed at resolving search queries. Commonly used database
application software includes MySQL, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, and PostgreSQL, among many others.
Each of these provides similar features for managing and relating stored data, in addition to providing access for
data retrieval systems and editing. Databases, however, do suffer from certain drawbacks. Particularly, in single-
database systems, the quantity and scale of the data become a hindrance to users due to difficulties in accessing it,
whether those difficulties arise from access time on the asset storage solution or filtering results within the data
retrieval system (Anjum, Sporny, & Sill, 2017). Issues that arise from multiple-database implementations usually
pertain to inconsistencies between databases that may arise for any number of reasons.
In addition to the use of databases, workflow management systems are becoming an increasingly popular tool in
information systems. Workflow management systems are a component of the business workflow that serves to
better control the processes which deliver data, products, or other information from its origin or source, whether
that be raw collected data, a deliverable from another sector or agency, or any number of other potential spawns,
to its ultimate resting point within the system’s storage solution. Examples of workflow management systems may
include products such as Trello, Workflow Manager for ArcGIS, Windows Workflow Foundation, and YAWL. These
tools can be used to automate the movement of assets between employees or departments, monitor active projects,
determine locations for efficiency improvements, as well as numerous other activities. Often this architecture
requires a series of roles or rules assigned, which, unfortunately, fail to capture the complex relationships among
entities that necessarily exist among these data and items (Beck, Avital, Rossi, & Thatcher, 2017). Improvements to
these assets would necessitate that the entire system contains a diverse and feature-rich set of data that is both
accessible and intuitive for its users to manage.
Applications or software programs that make use of readily available data are often the goal of information
systems. Whether presenting this information to a set of users in some form or another, generating an output
product from this information, or otherwise manipulating the information presented, applications that leverage the
automation available through information systems are critically important to businesses, agencies, or other
institutions as the result of their labors. Applications that can leverage the full potential of information systems are
capable of providing a strategic advantage to the business or agency that developed it by integrating all aspects of
the process into one single utility to ensure no aspects are overlooked or otherwise left incomplete (Dasaklis et al.,
2018a). To ensure that the most effective software solutions are being used and implemented requires continual
iterative development and research into the most effective solutions (Mettler, 2016).

2.3. Incorporation of Blockchain Technologies

As suggested, innovation within information systems provides a means by which to provide more effective
solutions to an

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organization’s problems, which in turn often yields a more lucrative result in the long run. Businesses often
appreciate the ability to maximize the efficiency of products and processes. As such, including innovative
technologies like blockchain within their information system implementations and working to leverage the potential
benefits of the technology are both relatively straightforward suggestions. Blockchain uses across varying sectors
and industires. Reproduced from a study performed by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance as shown in
Fig. 3.
The decision to incorporate blockchain technologies into information systems enables groups to take advantage
of the incredible variety of uses that blockchain entails. Blockchain, being such a general-purpose approach to
manipulating data, allows for it to be utilized within any number of systems for a wide variety of purposes, provided
that the implementation making use of it has some degree of understanding or maturity regarding its use, as
suggested by Wang et al (Fanning & Centers, 2016b). As abstract as blockchain implementations can be, ensuring
an appropriate use case is necessary to promote functional implementations and reduce or prevent occurrences in
which blockchain implementations perform less admirably than contemporary utilities.
Blockchain has been implemented in a wide array of utilities. Similarly, due to the diverse number of use cases
information systems readily and regularly control, blockchain has debuted in an equally wide and diverse number
and genre of applications and domains. GIS, finances, insurance, property transfer, and a myriad of other realms
have worked tirelessly to implement blockchain (Guo, Shi, Zhao, & Zheng, 2018). The results of these approaches
have differed as one might expect, but the significance of blockchain’s unyielding capacity to single-handedly
approach and perform in any domain regardless of the material or data incorporated in the instantiated information
system cannot and should not be ignored.
Blockchain, with its diverse set of tools and interwoven communication and consensus requirements, allows
blockchain-based applications and tools to work more readily with other existing systems in many cases. Though
still novel, approaches are underway to develop metrics and techniques to appropriately measure and compare the
effectiveness of blockchain utilities and applications (Wu et al., 2017a). These new measures will be able to provide
ample utility through which to discover the most effective means by which to implement blockchain tools across
any system or application. This will assist agencies and developers alike in enabling the identification of the least
intrusive means by which one can convert to a blockchain-based software product or tool in an actively functioning
system.
Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology serves as an incredibly new and profound innovation replacing the
modern database- driven architecture common to many software products. By distributing the record among
several distinct entities, blockchain implementations reduce the risk of a critical failure impacting an entire system,
often referred to as a unit or agent’s “bus factor”. Studies of blockchain implementations that serve to replace
databases have been conducted and work to highlight the appropriateness and fitness of blockchain as a solution
to a particular use case (Liang, Zhao, Shetty, Liu, & Li, 2017).
Similarly, the incorporation of blockchain implementations provides similarly lucrative and incentivizing promises
for blockchain to stake a claim in data retrieval systems and end-goal applications. The concept and use of the
Internet of Things (IoT) provide abundant use cases for blockchain utilities. Enabling end-user devices to
communicate with one another directly reduces the latency of interactions with databases or servers, and improves
capacity for tools to be integrated more fully and holistically with one another regardless of the scale of the system
(Liang, Weller, Luo, Zhao, & Dong, 2019; Zhao, Chen, Liu, Baker, & Zhang, 2020). This also serves to reduce risk
factors associated with any device by ultimately negating the potential for lost data through the incorporation of it
throughout the hardware and software composing the network.
Blockchain technologies, while still a novice in their roles, provide abundant instances through which to improve
upon current implementations of information systems. What follows is a survey of numerous recent applications of
blockchain technologies, their results, and impacts. Following this, we provide our analysis of blockchain systems,
highlighting several factors that we feel are critically important in the widespread adoption of blockchain throughout
the information systems domain.

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3. Blockchain-based Information Systems Challenges

In this section, we discuss blockchain-based information systems challenges at length. We start by describing each
challenge and

Fig. 4. Information technology challenges - Conceptual RepresenationRepresntation.

then review the related works. Fig. 4 shows a conceptual representation of blockchain infromation systems
challenges.

3.1. Information Systems, Third Parties reduction, Interoperability enhancement,and Efficiency

Information systems, as one might expect with this being the topic of this survey, highlights applications of
blockchain and information systems, promoting notable uses and innovations made in parallel. Reducing third
parties highlights situations where blockchain can be used to mitigate the impact of third-party agents, applications,
or other items. Oftentimes, businesses, agencies, or other groups that maintain information systems rely on third-
party agents or tools to perform some task. This requires a network of trust to exist among involved parties and
becomes more crucial as sensitive information is involved. Blockchain, as this subsection details, provides
opportunities for improvement and a more secure integration of third-party products while mitigating the risk of
supplying those parties with sensitive information. Increasing interoperability similarly encourages the promotion
and adoption of blockchain by encouraging a common means by which agents and involved parties can
communicate with one another using blockchain transaction ledgers and integrated networks to ensure the
authenticity of each involved member.
As it currently stands, a variety of information systems within a breadth of industries could benefit through the
adoption of blockchain through data validation, transaction integrity, and efficiency. For instance, there is always an
incentive to limit transaction processing time while also increasing user convenience. Ideally, validation and integrity
should not be compromised with the adoption of new systems. Additionally, there should be a noticeable
convenience difference for the end-user as well.
In the healthcare industry, there are a wide variety of different systems that implement differing standards for
interaction (Zheng et al., 2018). As a result, there is an interoperability challenge within the healthcare system to
communicate openly based on a shared communication standard. The implementation of blockchain would
ultimately help by facilitating that standard so that disparate systems could more easily communicate with each
other, mitigating overhead in the industry’s information systems (Puthal et al., 2018).
The proposal in the industry would be to use indexing for specific patient records or transactions instead of
implementing blockchain across the extensive and persisted data. This will help mitigate the overhead through the
blockchain method. Accordingly, the user would have the capability to generate their unique digital signature.
Through already implemented methods like certification validation, a healthcare ledger could be read or appended
to by the user in a secure fashion (Linn & Koo, 2016).
Additionally, the proposed security implementation of blockchain within the healthcare industry could provide
patient access at a controlled, granular level to other parties. This can be updated periodically and is less vulnerable
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than other techniques of security to falsification problems. This can help facilitate better collaboration for real-time
problems associated with an individual. Constantly, their data can be better analyzed, and potentially problematic
conditions can be mitigated (Linn & Koo, 2016).

3.1.1. The interoperability

Currently, there are goals to facilitate easier interaction within the healthcare industry. Under recent legislation,
the Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA) has been trying to encourage more interoperability
throughout medical systems. In large, complicated, and disparate systems, there is certainly a willingness to change
the underlying architecture of base information systems. The concept can only happen under a shared standard that
the blockchain would provide. Perhaps incremental, blockchain as one architectural implementation could address
data access, privacy, and interoperability problems in both public and private healthcare information systems
(Randall et al., 2018).
As it currently stands, there are many benefits to a potential blockchain transition with healthcare that are a
natural byproduct of data validation and transaction integrity. Homing in on the actual process of healthcare can be
frustrating, but there already exists large process costs for patient interaction. For instance, there are many parts of
the process within the healthcare system that requires identical information already requested by a similar party.
As it currently stands, an individual request for patient information naturally takes time that is not instantaneous.
With multiple parties requesting the same information from different departments or sectors of the industry, the
problem is exacerbated.
The actual relationship between blockchain and interoperability can be defined through foundational
interoperability, structural interoperability, and semantic interoperability. Foundational interoperability is the
hands-off approach to the concept.
Fundamentally, communication should happen without an interpretation of data. Structural interoperability, on the
other hand, provides an expected schema and enforces it. Finally, semantic interoperability is the interpretation of
semantical data (Zhang et al., 2017). These interoperability concepts coalesce to form the essence of what
blockchain should provide from a decentralized standard.
Decentralized apps have implemented such a standard for reducing interoperability by significant margins. Any
app that supports such a concept should support key fundamental concepts such as HIPAA compliance (based off of
those mentioned data transfer standards), Turing completeness, support for user identifiability and authentication,
structural interoperability, scalability, cost- effectiveness, and should be patient-centered (Zhang et al., 2017).

3.1.2.The efficiency
There are a lot of criteria that blockchain should muster before becoming a minimal viable product within the
healthcare domain. Ideally, the implementation should be intuitive, reduce costs, and bolster disparate system
communication. There are clear proposals to provide these metrics of incentive, according to modern proposals. For
instance, there is a proposed system that focuses on storage efficiency and maintenance (Vora et al., 2018).
The proposal contains a practical implementation of blockchain implemented secure health records. As an
instance, the proposal creates full nodes, light nodes, and archive nodes. These nodes lightly address the problem
of abundant storage overload (mentioned before). Archival will happen for all transactions, but the distinction
between nodes is necessary for efficient message communication. Further, the database manager and the cipher
manager will handle storing hashes of transactions and will ensure integrity (Vora et al., 2018).
In the system, there are patient and care provider nodes that help regulate access control mechanisms (similar
to increased granular control). These nodes are also used to indicate unique transactions that will be stored in the
blockchain. As the consensus contract guides interaction changes in the system, the service contract keeps track of
access permissions. Finally, the owner contract details transactions with a particular owner while the permission
contract states permissions of transactions (read, write, transfer, and owner) (Vora et al., 2018).
The work in Halloush and Yaseen (2019) proposes a means of using blockchain in conjunction with attribute-
based access control to develop a system that could be used for “preserving intellectual property law and practice.”

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The purpose of the system would be to allow for tracking the authenticity and the origin of intellectual property to
assist in resolving intellectual property disputes.
A similar work as in Halloush and Yaseen (2019) proposed the use of blockchain to detect (Benbelgacem,
Guezouli, & Seghir, 2020), “Ǫunlawful manipulation for copyrighted works”. The paper proposes “Ǫan architecture
of a distributed information retrieval system on a peer-to-peer network as the specific architecture of its node.”
Although the subject of this paper is very similar to the work proposed in Halloush and Yaseen (2019) with some
difference in the adopted approach.
The culmination of these fundamental technological concepts ensures access control, ease of use, increased
interoperability, and reliability. The fundamental nature of the proposal contains moderately complicated
architecture, but nothing impossible. It should be noted as well that the technology proposed has a lot of flexibility
for implementation features. While it features many new blockchain aspects in its technological proposal, it still
relies on fundamental concepts to operate.
Through blockchain, differing parties, granted the permissions needed to access patient records, can access
needed information instantly. Such access can limit outdated information—a problem that is prevalent in the
current system. There are also added benefits of transparency within the healthcare interaction chain. Increased
visibility of past patient interactions is possible through blockchain not only to the user but to all parties that need
the information to make decisions. Any new information or events added to the blockchain would be immediately
visible to those with the correct access to their information. This can likely form better- facilitated decisions through
up-to-date data access (Mettler, 2016).
Naturally, there is an abundance of additional benefits that could potentially be a byproduct of blockchain
implementation. Accordingly, there is more control granted to the user (Dasaklis et al., 2018b; Mettler, 2016). The
end-user of a healthcare blockchain application can enact greater access control but can also expect greater privacy
and reliability within their healthcare information system stream. Additionally, users can expect better decisions to
be made from additional parties that now have access to their information with fewer restrictions. As an additional
benefit, services, prescriptions, and diagnosis can face additional forms of verification and validation as they are
more available and less subject to tampering.

3.1.3. Third-parties
An implemented pipeline could have already been proposed. For instance, some arbitrary third-party provider
generates a request for patient access. Through the access-control mechanisms in place, they are either granted or
denied such access. The transaction request is appended to a blockchain network that also includes previous
transactions related to doctors or other medical professionals and their corresponding patients. There is no third
party needed in this instance, as confidentiality, availability, and integrity were observed throughout the process
(Guo et al., 2018; Liang et al., 2017).
Of course, the benefits of technology need to have a base requirement from implicative use. In total, there needs
to be a variety of factors that guarantee system reliability, functionality, and reliability. While there are many
benefits of blockchain technology integration with industries such as healthcare IoT such as heightened
interoperability, there are also stark requirements to provide a base infrastructure of features for a given system
that is using blockchain.
For there to be a practical implementation of blockchain within the healthcare information system infrastructure,
there should exist a variety of factors for any implemented system. For instance, decentralization should be a key
factor for the system as it is the essence of blockchain technology. As a side effect, there should also be
authentication of data. In other words, transient data should have some sort of security within the system that
implements blockchain. These are fundamental privacy concerns that are paramount to most any industry (Dwivedi
et al., 2018).
The work in Toufaily, Zalan, and Dhaou (2019) briefly explores the pros and cons of industry adoption of
blockchain. The paper concludes that in many industries, organizations would benefit from the implementation of

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blockchain, however, these organizations are reluctant to do so due to limited knowledge of the technology. It
proposes several solutions to this barrier to entry.
As a side effect of these base infrastructure components of a given system, the anonymity of users, security of
data, intrusion detection, and data storage are also key concerns (Otoum, Kantarci, & Mouftah, 2020; Otoum,
Kantarci, & Mouftah, 2020). The fundamental mechanisms for how information flow is conducted is the base
component for a solid foundational blockchain-implemented information system. As it is difficult to implement
those mechanics into an already disparate system, many proposals provide at least some of these base offerings
within their system proposals.
For instance, a proposed system architecture includes layers of modular design. First, there is a web/cloud
platform layer (laced with public API access). Second, there is a cloud middle-ware layer that is interactive with HTTP
servers and smart contract APIs. Finally, there is a blockchain network layer that implements the fundamental
mechanics provided through the technology. In the proposed architecture, there are partitioned proposals for
individual functions of blockchain. For instance, blockchain capabilities are divided into smart contracts such as
registry, patient data, and permissions contracts. These contracts facilitate the appropriate access of patient data
from all parties involved (granular control) Theodouli et al. (2018).
In a different proposal, the infrastructure takes a similar, modular approach to blockchain integration with
healthcare information systems. Their proposal details a three-layered management system. These layers comprise
data-usage/management and secure storage layers. Accordingly, the data usage layer, as it is currently defined, is
the top-level interaction mechanism used for the actual healthcare applications. On the other hand, the data
management layer is an access layer that is implemented like a firewall in traditional systems. Finally, the storage
layer is a layer that utilizes the actual blockchain technology, providing ease-of-access and security (Yue et al., 2016).
These two system architectures discussed are very similar. They are practically implemented with step-by-step
algorithms on how to do so. They both reduce a need for third-party interaction, increase interoperability, refine
security, and provide a system that is intuitive and rigidly defined. Additionally, the layers of architecture follow
traditional patterns of implementation for blockchain. A traditional 3-step system does seem practical, especially in
industries like healthcare that utilize disparate information systems.
In a sense, the actual implementation of blockchain systems within, for instance, healthcare information systems
are becoming more popular. The general use of blockchain within the healthcare industry currently seems to be
with data sharing, accessing health records, and granular access control. As a result, blockchain’s potential in such
an information system has hardly been exploited as a fundamental mechanical system (Holbl et al., 2018). There is
also an indication that better predictive algorithms, laced with artificial intelligence, can help a patient through their
procedures and interactions through an industry (Wang et al., 2018).
In total, the healthcare industry would benefit from blockchain through the basic principles promised in security.
Data validation, transaction integrity, and efficiency are all positively affected by blockchain technology. Data
security with both the insertion and retrieval of data from the blockchain would be significantly improved. As an
additional consequence, the interoperability challenges currently impacting the healthcare industry would likely
improve as well. As an effect of these changes, granular-level accessibility to health records, process overhead
elimination, and better decision making and real-time analytics with instantaneous data will become available
(Mettler, 2016).

3.2. Fault Tolerance, Compatibility Issues, and Broadening Use

The decentralized architecture unique to blockchain implementations provides a great deal of security and
stability. However, the novelty and infancy of present blockchain technologies have also led several to doubt the
capacity of blockchain to appropriately handle data at the scale most businesses will need to effectively utilize it.
The decentralized architecture is useful in security contexts, providing some degree of inherent security by
requiring each alteration to be updated across the entire record. This makes it difficult for any forgeries or
falsifications to occur without being detected and scrutinized easily (Pilkington, 2016). By providing such

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mechanisms for security innate in the architecture itself, blockchain differentiates itself strongly from traditional
client-server approaches.
Blockchain technologies are also expanding in their applications with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT)
(Pavithran, Shaalan, Al-Karaki, & Gawanmeh, 2020; Zhao et al., 2020). Blockchain implementations incorporated
with IoT devices help to reduce the risk of “Big Brother”-style issues. Most modern IoT implementations maintain
data in a centralized location, which can cause issues with server outages or data loss related to centralization
components. By distributing data across a device-agnostic platform through blockchain technology, IoT
implementations can maintain information consistently without the worry of a single point of failure.
Unfortunately, blockchain technology is not nearly as secure as it may seem. Though the blockchain community
is actively working to improve upon these faults (Halpin & Piekarska, 2017). The architecture comes with several
inherent security risks, and those same features that make it appear to be secure also weigh it down. The distributed
ledger technology is limited in its scalability to larger systems (Eklund & Beck, 2019). Systems with differing
computing resources may find incompatible ledgers between one another. If two participants find a discrepancy in
the ledger and are unable to diagnose this as an issue pertaining to the computer architecture as opposed to a ledger
discrepancy, transactions may be inappropriately halted, cancelled, or otherwise discontinued.
Likewise, issues can arise relating to the communication between participants a ledger. Computational resources
relating to time occur in conjunction with space. Countless modern applications require an appropriate response to
occur within a given timeframe, and financial applications often necessitate this as a security precaution. Blockchain
implementations could be adversely impacted simply because different machines running these tools have different
processors and other hardware components (Dang et al., 2019).
Some blockchain implementations may also suffer due to the type of data being stored. This problem can occur,
for example, when storing large types of data such as lidar scans or other items that often take several gigabytes or
terabytes of data. Similar issues are encountered when scaling between machines (Wang, Wang, & Zheng, 2019).
This type of issue may also combine negatively with other scaling issues to further reduce response time and
performance.
The volatility of blockchain-based currencies is also a threat to their widespread use. Bitcoin has shown a highly
volatile history of changes in value in response to various circumstances. A separate study conducted by Beck et
al.Beck et al. (2017) suggests that blockchain’s volatility is a common occurrence in any implementation and requires
a solution or moderation approach to be developed and incorporated into its use in order to prevent such
fluctuations from occurring regularly (Beck, Czepluch, Lollike, & Malone, 2016). This study incorporated a newly
developed prototype blockchain currency and monitored its use in practical applications. Blockchain enthusiasts
have been working to improve upon consensus protocols needed to maintain consistency between all instances on
a central ledger (Zhang & Lee, 2019). Consensus protocol improvements may become an important improvement
in enhancing blockchain implementations and reducing these types of issues. This becomes increasingly important
when blockchain technology is incorporated among numerous IoT devices to ensure that all connected components
are integrated and reporting accurate information.
Crux has been suggested as an improved fault tolerance algorithm for blockchain implementations (Li, Peng,
Yang, Zheng, & Pan, 2018a). Crux measures several voters among components of the system to get an approval
through the system and does so with more flexibility than algorithms currently implemented in EOS, Etherium, and
Bitcoin at present. Security and rate of transfer are also reported to be more effective in Crux implementations.
Distributed databases functioning within or alongside may also improve response times and communications
among decentralized participants in a blockchain network (Muzammal, Qu, & Nasrulin, 2019). These sorts of
databases may be able to restore ledger components in serious disasters related to the loss of network components
in a blockchain utility. These types of tools also allow for auditing of data between transactions, or in instances
where data has been lost or destroyed.
Because of these concerns, any effort to broaden the use of blockchain must make it more accessible and
available to additional users. Dubovitskaya et al. suggest that blockchain technologies are still vulnerable despite
their inherent security measures and suggest that combining blockchain applications with modern cryptographic
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techniques will increase security and promote a wider adoption of the technology (Dubovitskaya, Novotny, Xu, &
Wang, 2019). Additionally, regulation of the technology, including standardization of practices and encryption
schemes to be used, will also make these technologies more accessible to a wider audience as well as raising industry
confidence in the technology as a viable tool.
Another study by Hughes et al. indicates that blockchain may be capable of assisting the UN in meeting several
of its Sustainability Development goals (Yogesh, 2019). If the UN were to widely adopt a blockchain implementation,
their prominence as a world leader would likely encourage or perhaps even compel other nations, agencies, and
organizations to integrate with or adopt similar technologies. In any event of a larger agent making use of blockchain,
there are certainly higher chances of other groups following suit.
Other works have proposed different blockchain-supported applications, such as the works presented in Abuidris,
Kumar, and
Wenyong (2019); Alfandi, Otoum, and Jararweh (2020); Aloqaily, Bouachir, Boukerche, and Ridhawi (2020a); Bore
et al. (2017); Bouachir, Aloqaily, Tseng, and Boukerche (2020); Lawrenz, Sharma, and Rausch (2019); Lawrenz, Stein,
Jacobs, and Rausch (2020); Ridhawi, Aloqaily, Boukerche, and Jararweh (2020); Saadat, Rahman, Nassr, and Zuhiri
(2019); Tseng, Wong, Otoum, Aloqaily, and Othman (2020); Tseng, Yao, Otoum, Aloqaily, and Jararweh (2020); Zeng,
Zhang, and Liu (2019) and (Yan, Shen, Cao, & Dong, 2020). In (Zeng et al., 2019), the researchers proposed an
implementation of a blockchain system for maintaining a park. They used the park cleaning management as an
example, the proposed system could be generalized to work as a management tool for housekeeping and device
maintenance as well.
In Bore et al. (2017), the paper proposed an implementation of a blockchain-based school information hub. The
goal of this system is intended for improving the management of school records in developing countries. The paper
uses Kenya’s school system as a case study. Moreover, the work in Abuidris et al. (2019) presented a brief survey of
various blockchain-based e-voting systems. The paper describes the various proposed systems and concludes with
a comparison of, “… the security and privacy requirements of the existing e-voting systems based on blockchain.” In
Saadat et al. (2019) the crowdfunding problems platforms are targeted. The paper highlights issues such as non-
regulated campaigns leading to fraud as well as extremely delayed projects. Following the identification of these
problems, the paper proposes the use of blockchain-based smart contracts that could prevent fraud and ensure that
projects are completed within a reasonable timeframe.
A theoretical discussion of how blockchain could be implemented sustainably to improve smart grids and supply
chain management has been introduced in Lund, Jaccheri, Li, Cico, and Bai (2019).
Blockchain’s significant differences from other technologies suggest that it will require some degree of innovation
to be widely adopted. Hawlitschek et al. discuss these differences in detail and promote the idea of developing a
trusted interface, akin to a bank, for working with blockchain currencies and transactions (Hawlitschek, Notheisen,
& Teubner, 2018). Developing a group akin to a face or a mascot for blockchain in this manner may continue to
increase its popularity among users.
Woodside et al. indicates that the disruptive nature of blockchain, regarding present-day banking systems, is
another factor preventing widespread adoption (Woodside, 2017). To promote further adoption of blockchain in
these types of systems would require a smooth transition from one system to another. This necessitates that
confidence in the system is built for users and outsiders alike. Businesses require trust to make a decisive decision
to transition and do so to ensure their survival. Likewise, investors are less inclined to invest for similar reasons.
Until both parties can be assured of the stability of a blockchain currency or economic system at use within an
industry, little change will occur.
R. Werner et al. Werner, Lawrenz, and Rausch (2020) presented a Blockchain Analysis Tool of a Cryptocurrency.
Their works explained that although cryptocurrencies have developed a reputation for being an anonymous means
of carrying out financial transactions, it is technically possible to trace transactions because the logbooks of the
transactions are publicly available. The authors presented a tool which can be used to simplify the process of
performing an analysis on this log, thus simplifying the process of deanonymizing the transactions.

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An application of Blockchain Technology in Constructing Network Threat Intelligence System (TIS) is presented in
Xuan, Tang, Wang, and Yang (2020) which acknowledges the need ǣǪto build a healthy and efficient cyber threat
intelligence ecosystemǥ to aid in protecting networks. According to the paper, there are currently limitations to
building such a collection of knowledge due to how easy it is for ǣǪresearchers and organizations to conduct
intelligence collectionǪǥ and form ǣinformation islands.ǥ This paper proposes the development of a blockchain-
based system that could be used to allow security researchers to share threat intelligence information in a
decentralized fashion, allowing for the curation of larger and more diverse network datasets.
For those more interested in research regarding consensus algorithms used in blockchain applications. Mingxiao
et al. provide an in-depth analysis of consensus algorithms used throughout blockchain utilities. The review covers
the structure of consensus algorithms generally used in blockchain. Later, guidance on appropriate selection
methods for determining the most effective consensus algorithm for a task is provided. To close, a discussion of the
difficulties imposed by consensus algorithms and goals for improvement is held (Mingxiao, Xiaofeng, Zhe, Xiangwei,
& Qijun, 2017).
To incorporate more users into a blockchain architecture, Xiong et al. promote the idea of integrating blockchain
systems with edge computing. In such a manner, Xiong et al. suggest that mobile users could be able to provide a
necessarily large and resilient hardware network to integrate into a blockchain system to provide a distributed
network of devices. The article continues to propose some significantly decisive approaches to economically manage
the resources of devices incorporated into the edge computing network. The feasibility of this approach is described
in detail as a prototype network is constructed and experiments are conducted to validate claims made regarding it
(Xiong, Zhang, Niyato, Wang, & Han, 2018). Abdellatif and Brousmiche, to promote additional security, and thus
increase the user base for blockchain-based tools, provides a study in which the vulnerabilities of smart contracts
and verification techniques are analyzed (Abdellatif & Brousmiche, 2018). A proposal is presented regarding how to
most effectively formally validate the integrity of a smart contract in its active environment. This formalization is
applied to a sample smart contract network and is thoroughly analyzed in context to determine the effectiveness of
this sort of approach.
In another effort to broaden the use, Francisco and Swanson suggest that there are serious ethical concerns and
serious human rights violations in numerous supply chain implementations across the board (Francisco & Swanson,
2018). Blockchain, they suggest, has the capacity and potential to provide an alternative means through which
auditing and human rights groups can verify that an agency is operating in full compliance with laws and regulations
regarding these types of behaviors. In creating a transparent supply chain, the intent is to highlight these violations
and ensure that they are swiftly handled. In contemporary instances, supply chain practices permit an agency or
group to completely isolate the supply chain from the final product. In a blockchain implementation, the data stored
in the chain can operate as a type of “certificate of authenticity” regarding the business or organization’s humane
practices. Francisco and Swanson produce a conceptual model of their design and highlight implementations that
relate to their goals.
Cha et al. highlight that blockchain can be used to enhance privacy in IoT-driven fields (Cha, Tsai, Peng, Huang, &
Hsu, 2017). IoT devices are often widely dispersed in a geographical sense, which can make them more vulnerable
to being damaged, stolen, or otherwise compromised. Blockchain Connected Gateways are proposed as a solution
to reduce the chance of information in these areas from being compromised. By requiring access to a blockchain
network, records and authenticity of users or information can be validated against an entire network of trusted
agents instead of simply trusting the authentication provided by one. This increase in trust among involved parties
helps to improve upon the trust contained in the network as a whole and therefore serves to promote the blockchain
implementation, and likewise blockchain, altogether.
A work by Yaron et al. Kanza and Safra (2018) presents three common problems with ride-hailing services: the
preservation of location privacy, customer and driver identity privacy, and dishonest customers who will attempt to
use the service without paying. This paper proposes a blockchain-based ride-hailing service which would solve all
three of these issues while also allowing riders to be matched with vehicles in a decentralized fashion without the
need to rely on a third-party entity to manage the network.
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A report by Wang et al. promotes the idea that crowdsensing applications that incorporate blockchain provide
an additional means by which to incentivize accurate response in crowdsensing applications and scenarios (Wang et
al., 2018). Crowdsensing relies on the use of many decentralized users to engage in data analysis through, often,
mobile applications. In some cases, however, crowdsensing parties provide unauthentic or deceptive responses to
queries or surveys. To mitigate this, the proposal suggests that a blockchain-based currency can be distributed
alongside the crowdsensing application and provided to users who respond veritably and authentically. These
decisions can be made and validated by a series of assessment data that can be accessed through the decentralized
network and updated as necessary. Not only can a currency provide incentives to engage with the crowdsensing
application, but it also enables a higher degree of security and authentication regarding the privacy of all involved
users. The study presents a thorough analysis of a theoretical simulation to show the feasibility of the system.
The notion that blockchain can help innovate and improve the development of smart cities has also been explored
to some length (Jararweh, Otoum, & Al Ridhawi, 2020)(Al Ridhawi, Otoum, Aloqaily, Jararweh, & Baker, 2020). Hakak
et al. discuss how blockchain can be implemented to work alongside the development of smart cities (Hakak, Khan,
Gilkar, Imran, & Guizani, 2020). In doing so, providing the public with a great deal of information and use cases for
blockchain will encourage the use of the technology by government agencies and the general public as well. This
report discusses a conceptual architecture for establishing privacy in smart city applications through a case study
regarding potential uses. This is combined with several situational real-world smart city

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implementations to compare and contrast the conceptual version with. Several research challenges related to these
items are also addressed in the discussion.
Table 1 summarizes the sets of blockchain-supported applications through the literature and outlines the period
of publications. We presented the healthcare, industrial big data, and critical infrastructures.
A discussion is also held regarding the application of blockchain alongside traditional public key infrastructure
implementations. Moh et al. propose enhancements to contemporary cloud-based systems that incorporate
blockchain into their designs. This implementation would allow for virtually completely consistent access to record
systems Moh, Nguyen, Moh, and Khieu (2020). Besides, the nature of the proposed enhancements helps to reduce
the potential attack surface of the information system. The article further discusses the use of replicated state
machine partitioning and consensus algorithms to effectively analyze how this impacts the system. This proposal
allows a blockchain to be “sharded” and further decentralized to mitigate the potential for data loss when security
is violated.
Mamun and Khan work to further encourage the use of blockchain alongside IoT devices, citing the ability to
make a system more “secure and transparent” (Mamun & Khan, 2020). The paper discusses a use case for blockchain
application towards work safety. The proposal incorporates a group mutual exclusion protocol to be used alongside
consensus resolution algorithms. The discussion suggests that a single-token architecture that enables a stakeholder
to update a ledger would allow for all involved nodes to come to a consensus together without any potential for
outside intervention, as some implementations of blockchain may require. Attributes of the system can be tailored
to better suit any implementation, including elements of the system such as throughput and waiting time. Together,
this works to ensure that no aspect of a system suffers from starvation to an excruciating degree. The paper also
discusses the application of this solution towards the extended group mutual exclusion problem.
A blockchain model has been discussed regarding the Paris Agreement’s carbon market mechanism. Presented
by Franke et al., the paper lists several requirements that would need to be met to develop an optimal approach to
the Paris Agreement’s tasks using blockchain (Franke, Schletz, & Salomo, 2020). Restrictions and challenges
encountered in previous approaches to the task are reported upon and are transformed into a new consensus and
decision algorithm that could be incorporated alongside any number of blockchain implementations. In particular,
the criteria are tested with two common blockchain implementations: Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric. These two
were selected on account of their application in public and private use, respectively. The results of these test
candidates help to indicate the transparency of the system, as well as promoting automation where applicable and
preventing duplication of materials where unnecessary. Overall, this study indicates that blockchain uses alongside
commercial practices can assist in the development of a more environmentally friendly agency. This, in turn,
promotes the use of blockchain by the general public and overall, the widespread use of the technology.
The authors in (Kanaan, Abumatar, Mohammed, & AL-Lozi, 2019) presented a systematic review of the
management and business process journals. Their study found that management of information systems adopting
blockchain technology are easily acceptable in e-commerce applications.
Di Giuda et al. work to analyze the use of blockchain in the AEC sector by addressing how blockchain solutions
could be used as a solution to issues and concerns that have plagued the field for decades (Di Giuda, Pattini, Seghezzi,
Schievano, & Paleari, 2020). The open ledger and accessibility of resources involved suggest that a blockchain system
would provide an infrastructure through which to promote trust and the sharing of data throughout a network of
associated parties. In turn, this would also assist in creating a more transparent workflow that benefits not only the
AEC groups but also end-users by tracking concerns throughout the system. In addressing the closeness of AEC to
BIM and CAD, the paper suggests that a movement in this direction within the AEC sector would eventually lead to
a transition in the latter two as well. Overall, this suggests that the highly integrated construction sector would do
well to benefit from a movement in this direction.
Transitions towards safer energy usage throughout the world have also been studied in conjunction with
blockchain (Ali, Aloqaily, Alfandi, & Ozkasap, 2020; Aloqaily, Boukerche, Bouachir, halid, & Soibia, 2020b). Ahl et al.
provide a case study concerning the usage of blockchain within Japan’s effort to reduce the use of fossil fuels and
promote decarbonization (Ahl et al., 2020). The report provides an argument through which all aspects of an agency
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and society need to be analyzed to better address the situation. The discussion leads into one of more fully
integrating all aspects of the system and calls for a blockchain-based distributed system to be developed and
implemented to track and more fully monitor changes throughout. Blockchain is praised for its scalability throughout
the discussion and is ultimately suggested as a forward approach.
A report by Hou describes how the development of blockchain systems in Chinese governmental institutions and
departments have led to serious changes across the board (Hou, 2017). Being able to develop a widely used system
that is rapidly growing and immediately integrated with the public is exactly the sort of approach blockchain
technologies need to adopt to move forward. In this article, Hou describes some of the challenges that this specific
implementation has encountered and describes an approach to refine these implementations. Specifically, these
changes focus on methods that consider the practical matters necessary to make such an improvement.
Khaqqi et al. report on the implementation of blockchain with an effort to address the global pollution concerns
of many industries through a case study relating to carbon emissions (Khaqqi, Sikorski, Hadinoto, & Kraft, 2018).
Again a popular topic, being able to address these issues through a blockchain implementation performs further
development towards a widespread and more easily-accepted and understood blockchain globally. The focus on
this piece is in a reputation or merit measure that is reported and managed through the distributed ledger, as a
means by which to monitor the success of a carbon reduction program of a participating industry.
Similar to other metrics reported in other articles, human resources agencies, common to nearly all businesses
and lines of industry, need to monitor, manage, and validate sensitive information about the individual. Wang et al.
describe how these types of resources can be managed in a blockchain system in conjunction with traditional human
resources management practices (Wang et al., 2017). Developments made regarding this type of operation may be
able to reduce the business expenditures related to onboarding processes and actions taken regarding validating
this information. This would also serve to render blockchain tools more commonplace, as ensuring all employers are
in a system would assuredly increase exposure to those in any domain of industry.
Bannerjee, another tool that serves to provide insight into the entire means by which a company’s supplies are
obtained, promotes a system that combines blockchain within supply chain operations(Banerjee, 2018). Similar to
previous measures, this allows consumers to take an active role in monitoring the ethical measures taken by a
company to promote better environmentally conscious decision-making processes. This discussion also considers
the use of blockchain on the part of the distributor or distribution agency that enables the entire process to function.
By focusing on all aspects of the supply chain distribution network, Bannerjee gives emphasis to a domain that few
others have reached out to thus far.
Liu et al. describe the relationship and union of blockchain systems and big data with medical and healthcare
record systems (Liu, 2016). The discussion in this article focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of blockchain-
driven systems. In this study, tokenization is also considered, which is a major focus point of the study. Providing
access or authentication tokens can be critical to ensuring appropriate access control systems are established. In
turn, this type of approach compounds upon the native security systems provided by a distributed architecture.
Implementing blockchain and healthcare systems also helps to better improve the overall acceptance of blockchain.
Similar to Human Resources approaches discussed by Wang et al, healthcare systems are crucial to any member of
society and an implementation that takes these into account will assuredly work towards broadening the use of
blockchain overall.
Yang et al. describe a means by which to incorporate blockchain into vehicular systems (Yang, Yang, Lei, Zheng,
& Leung, 2019). This would be a critical development for self-driving autonomous vehicles and would enable the
ability to ensure and validate the authority of a message instructing an action to be taken on part of the vehicle.
Passengers who utilize these services can be assured that the network monitoring and managing these devices is
not subject to outside interference. Public services such as this leveraging blockchain provides ample room to
introduce blockchain systems to the public, especially younger groups that leverage these services more. The study
proposes a system in which a trust value can be calculated across the network and allow this to be used to effectively
make a decision.

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Nagothu et al. provide insights into a system that leverages blockchain for micro-services (Nagothu, Xu, Nikouei,
& Chen, 2018). Often implemented as web applications or smaller specialized industries, micro-services provide a
means by which to ensure the integrity of a product developed in this way. This study discusses the potential for
their incorporation within other systems, such as Smart Cities and how blockchain can be leveraged in these
platforms. A security system, as exemplified in the study, could utilize a blockchain-based system of micro-services
to ensure the integrity of a video source, for example, and ensure that no alteration has occurred. This overall serves
to better the public and acts largely as a new and innovative way to widen the use of blockchain.
Overall, we can see that a great number of situations provided opportunities for blockchain to expand. Though
there are certainly issues blockchain would need to overcome before being more widely implemented in these
domains, it remains unquestionable that blockchain is a worthy candidate for exploring. Its ability to address fault
tolerance through the distributed ledger system and a strong and diverse network of hardware and software
resources enable it to be used in an incredibly fruitful and novel manner. By promoting blockchain in situations
where it can increase the end user’s awareness of issues about the public consciousness, most notably
environmental awareness, blockchain can serve as a strong tool for forward-thinking and development. In the use
of blockchain to highlight these concerns, it becomes a more well-respected tool that businesses, agencies,
organizations, institutions, governments, and more can implement. As a result of widespread growth and awareness
of blockchain, solutions to some of the issues that have arisen can be identified, resolved, and implemented. Though
blockchain may be, at present, implemented scarcely in only a small number of domains, it has more than proven
itself as a capable and thorough approach. Only by working to improve its spread and use throughout a more diverse
set of disciplines can we reach a point where we more fully can identify and address the more serious flaws of
blockchain systems.
In Zhang, Huang, and Jiang (2019a), the authors proposed the use of blockchain in the context of monitoring high-
speed railways to prevent the falsifying of data collected by sensors along such railways.
In moving forward, we need to be cautious, as there is always room for error alongside improvement.
Blockchain’s fault tolerance issues, though minimal, can still stand to be dangerous and in some cases catastrophic
towards businesses. Movements to incorporate blockchain in a more diverse space of the economy will work
towards the benefit of reducing these issues, as well as continuing the global development of effective solutions to
these problems as they arise.

3.3. Data validation and Transaction Integrity

Due to blockchain being, by design, decentralized, the technology is a wonderful candidate for validating data
and maintaining the integrity of transactions. Currently, the approaches used in the industry for doing this are not
decentralized. Instead, they rely on a trusted third party. This is, of course, a less-than-perfect system for achieving
the desired goal. How can we be sure that our trusted third party can, in fact, be trusted?
The obvious answer, of course, is that trusted third parties cannot truly be totally trusted. So long as we are
dependent on a trusted third party, we are vulnerable. What happens if the third party is not actually trustworthy
and is instead malicious? What happens if the third party truly is operating in good faith, but gets compromised?
The answers to both of these questions are simple: if our trusted third party cannot be trusted for any of the
aforementioned reasons, the entire process which relies upon the trust that was bestowed on that third party is, in
turn, compromised as well. It is in cases like this where blockchain really shines, as it allows us to provide a means
of ensuring validation and integrity of whatever we are aiming to achieve without having concern for the integrity
of the third party.
One approach to ensuring transaction integrity is through the use of the concept of “smart contracts.” As the
name would imply, the goal of smart contracts is to enable the use of blockchain to verify that two parties have
signed a contract. The contents of the contract would be presented in an electronic format, and both parties would
digitally sign the content. The blockchain component to this approach would rely on the blockchain to verify that
the signatures on the contract are legitimate. The blockchain could then later be used, if necessary, to resolve any

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disputes that could arise by ensuring the legitimacy of the digital signatures in a secure, decentralized fashion
(Abdelhamid & Hassan, 2019).
While the integrity and validity of a transaction are of course very important for business dealings, the importance
of these is arguably even greater for government functions such as national elections. In their paper, Fatrah, Kafhali,
Haqiq, and Salah (Fatrah, El Kafhali, Haqiq, & Salah, 2019), present a proof-of-concept system that could be used for
verifying the integrity of a country’s voting system. In the paper, they present a means of identifying each voter with
a digital signature that, when used to place a vote, is used to verify that the vote is legitimate. Additionally, the
authors argue that moving to such a system would boost voting rates as a result of citizens’ increased trust in the
electoral system as well as a reduced cost for national elections. The paper argues that by implementing blockchain
technology in an election system, trust of citizens in the electoral system would be increased due to the fact that
the election system is now decentralized and no longer dependent on trusting centralized parties to not alter the
ballot counts either through human error or deliberately malicious intent. This benefit is of course not entirely
without its own issues.
A work that targeted the trust through digital technologies has been presented in Gerth and Heim (2020) in which
it begins with the premise that online consultancy services, as currently implemented, require customers to place a
great deal of trust in the hands of the service provider. The paper proposes the use of blockchain in such services to
improve customer safety.
Notably, this point is only true for cases in which the government has effectively explained the concept of
blockchain technology and decentralization in the context of elections to the given country’s citizens. If the change
is not presented to the public in a relatively easy and comprehensive fashion, public opinion on the electoral system
is likely to be unaltered. This could also be an actively negative situation: if the government does an actively poor
job at presenting the change to the public, it is almost certain that public perception of the electoral system will
become increasingly negative, as blockchain is a topic that, to most non-technical people, is shrouded in mystery
and secrecy. From a financial perspective, the argument the paper makes is that by relying on a decentralized system
to ensure the integrity of the election process, the government would not need to invest in external third parties to
act as auditors of the integrity of the process (Fatrah et al., 2019).
Another paper by Awalu, Hook, and Lim Awalu, Kook, and Lim (2019) proposes a blockchain-based voting system
as well, however, unlike the previous paper, their paper focuses on designing a system that can be scaled up and
down depending on the size of the election. Fundamentally, their proposed system is not different than the one
discussed in the previous paper. As with the aforementioned paper, this paper proposes a means of identifying each
voter with a digital signature that can be used to verify that the vote is legitimate. Since this paper, unlike the
previous one, proposes a system that can be used at any scale while the previous one only discusses national
elections, there is also a greater focus by the authors on scalability (Awalu et al., 2019).
Aside from the proposed uses of blockchain to maintain the validity and integrity of data, there are also proposed
ways to help ensure that a blockchain system is well-designed for optimal stability and scaling. One such proposal
comes from Pandey, Ojha, Shrestha, Kumar, and Nepal under the name “BlockSIM” As the name implies, BlockSIM
is an open-source tool for designing and simulating blockchain systems. The goal of the project is to enable
developers that are interested in using blockchain to have a way to quickly simulate and improve their system
without the need to develop a functional prototype which could take a great deal of time and money. While the
project that this paper proposes is not a solution to directly improve on ensuring the validation and integrity, it is
still important to mention when discussing doing this, as the project is intended to reduce the time and money
needed to develop systems to ensure integrity and validation. This makes BlockSIM an important tool for further
research and development of blockchain applications to scenarios such as these, as it will encourage researchers
that are working under limited time and/or financial constraints to pursue further development of these
technologies (Pandey, Ojha, Shrestha, & Kumar, 2019).
The work in Gopalan, Sankararaman, Walid, and Vishwanath (2020) has investigated the blockchain-based
scalability issue. The paper begins with the premise that blockchain scalability is a regularly overlooked problem and

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presents an approach which could be used to identify how well a given blockchain system would scale given the
number of peers.
Another proposed use of blockchain to maintain data integrity involves the use of blockchain not to maintain the
integrity of the actual data, but rather, the integrity of the access control system used to grant permission to data
stored on a cloud system. In their paper, Sohrabi, Yi, Tari, and Khalil propose a system that would make use of keys
assigned to each user that, when provided for authentication, would verify the legitimacy of those keys by checking
them against a decentralized, blockchain network. The paper proposed, “...distributing the access control tasks to
smart contracts over a decentralized network, i.e. blockchain” and using a “...Shamir secret sharing scheme to
manage the encryption keys”. As is the case with essentially all blockchain-based approaches to data integrity and
validation that we discuss in this paper, the current, standard approach to access control systems is to use a
centralized database to store information related to the credentials that a user must present to authenticate to a
cloud-based system or service. The proposal that is presented in this paper suggests using blockchain technology to
work around this (Sohrabi, Yi, Tari, & Khalil, 2020).
The work in Nizamuddin, Salah, Azad, Arshad, and Habib ur Rehman (2019) proposes a version control system
based on blockchain. The system proposed in the paper, “Ǫis based on utilizing Ethereum smart contracts to govern
and regulate the document version control functions among the creators and developers of the document and its
validators.”
Interestingly, several researchers have proposed a way to secure the validity and integrity of not the data being
processed by the blockchain itself, but rather, to secure access to the blockchain itself. Sahan, Ekici, and Bahtiyar
present such a proposal in their paper. In their paper, they describe a multi-factor authentication system using
biometrics and password authentication to secure the private keys of users on a blockchain network. Although it
may not initially seem so, this is an extremely important development for maintaining the security of blockchains,
as it is technically possible that without any authentication mechanism in place, private- public key pairings used
for a given blockchain may be acquired. In practice, this is unlikely to occur, but it is technically possible that given
a sufficiently high number of public-private key pair generations using the same algorithm, a key pair of a given
user on a blockchain could be inadvertently revealed. If this were to happen, the person who obtained the key
pairing would then have the ability to masquerade as that given user on the blockchain if no additional
authentication measures are in place to ensure that the key pairing truly does belong to that user (Şahan, Ekici, &
Bahtiyar, 2019).
Researchers have also demonstrated a useful way in which blockchain may be used for ensuring the integrity of
financial accounting processes. According to the paper by Mantelaers, Zoet, and Smit (Mantelaers, Zoet, & Smit,
2019), accounting is currently handled using a double-entry approach in which both parties of a given transaction
make two equal and offsetting entries. This paper proposes making use of blockchain to perform a so-called “triple-
entry method” in which both parties continue to use a double-entry approach, but the transaction is confirmed by
a decentralized blockchain. The paper discusses that with the current standardized double-entry approach, it is
possible either honest human error or malicious intent could result in a book-keeping imbalance between the two
parties that are involved in the transfer of money. Interestingly, this approach does not have a trusted third-party
component to it as was discussed earlier. Instead, occasional audits by a third party are intended to verify legitimacy.
It could be argued that this occasional audit serves as a trusted third party, but since this third party does not actively
monitor transactions, it can be brought into question. This is where blockchain would serve as a great accessory to
the transactions. By introducing a blockchain to this process, the process would, in effect, have a “trusted third
party” present that was not previously present, but is decentralized and therefore superior to a trusted third party
(Mantelaers et al., 2019).
Blockchain technology has also been shown to be effective in ensuring property ownership. Researchers
Goderdzishvili, Gordadze, and Gagnidze discuss a real-life application of blockchain to achieve this. Specifically, they
discuss the country of Georgia and its use of blockchain technology to verify ownership of property within the
country. The paper does not extensively discuss the technological aspects to Georgia’s system, but rather, focuses
instead on how, by implementing such a system, the government can “...ensure transparency and reliability of
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government-owned registration systems and increase trust in them, as well as enhance enforcement of rule of law,
protection of basic proprietary human rights, reduce costs and increase efficiency and effectiveness of registration
process.” The paper goes on to discuss that, by introducing the system, the cost is reduced not just because of less
infrastructure required to maintain data in the way that a centralized system would require, but also is reduced
because there is less of a need for a support team. Since the data is stored, managed, and processed in a
decentralized fashion, the burden of maintaining the previously centralized system is removed (Goderdzishvili,
Gordadze, & Gagnidze, 2018).
Blockchain technology can also be applied meaningfully to healthcare infrastructure for securing and maintaining
the integrity of patient records, but when working with something as critical as healthcare systems, it is important
to ensure that any major changes that are made to existing, stable infrastructure are, in fact, improvements to said
infrastructure and can be relied upon. In their paper, Kassab, DeFranco, Malas, Destefanis, and Neto discuss how
introducing blockchain technology to healthcare infrastructure would impact the industry. The paper discusses how
the technology could be used to do things such as maintain patient records in a decentralized fashion, although it
also discusses drawbacks to using blockchain technology for healthcare applications, such as speed and scalability.
Another important issue that needs to be addressed is the matter of ensuring compliance with healthcare laws. This
issue is further complicated when one considers that such laws will vary throughout the world and therefore,
designing a standardized system to approach this would be a major challenge.
For example, consider the United States’ Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act which deals
extensively with ensuring the protection and privacy of patients’ medical records. If a decentralized system is being
used for storing patient records, it is important to ensure that the blockchain is either contained in a private
environment which can only be accessed by trusted individuals or is stored in a manner that would prevent any
arbitrary user with access to the chain from being able to read the data (Kassab, DeFranco, Malas, Destefanis, &
Graciano Neto, 2019).
Blockchain technology could also have potentially useful applications for ensuring the integrity of data being
transmitted across a named data network. In a standard implementation, named data networking relies on each
data object to be digitally signed by the creator using a certificate issued by a trustworthy third party. In their paper,
Lou, Zhang, Qi, and Lei propose, “...a blockchain-based key management scheme in NDN to address the problem of
lack of mutual trust between sites without trust anchors.” If this approach were to be implemented, the need for a
trusted third party to perform verification and validation would be eliminated from the infrastructure. As has been
mentioned numerous times throughout this paper, doing this would be a great advantage for improving the security
of the infrastructure since it would no longer be necessary to rely on a third party (Lou, Zhang, Qi, & Lei, 2018).
Perhaps one of the most obscure, yet still useful applications of blockchain technology that has been researched
is the application of blockchain technology to prevent odometer fraud. The paper on the subject, written by
Chanson, Bogner, Wortmann, and Fleisch, details a proof-of-concept odometer fraud prevention system with the
intended goal of demonstrating how blockchain technology can allow for user data to be collected and analyzed
while still allowing users to have control over their data and retain their privacy. The proposed fraud prevention
system, “...records mileage and GPS data of cars and secures that on the blockchain, which strongly hinders
odometer fraud”.
Mobile devices are commonly used to collect a great deal of information from their users for various purposes
such as targeted advertising and data aggregation. This data is extremely valuable to the collectors, but in many
cases, users are not rewarded for the data that is collected. To encourage users to share more data, digital
marketplaces are emerging to allow users to sell their data to interested customers. These marketplaces are risky
for customers to use, however, because of dishonest users. The paper (Nguyen, Ghinita, Naveed, & Shahabi, 2019)
proposed a blockchain-based solution to this problem.
The paper goes on to state that users, “...own and control their data while at the same time data integrity is
ensured. This facilitates the certification of that data.” Although the system that the researchers propose in this
paper has never been implemented in a real-world scenario, it is useful in explaining how blockchain technology can
be applied to ensuring that data ownership and privacy can be retained by the original creators of the data, while
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also ensuring that while keeping that data private, the data is not maliciously altered by the originators of said data.
This is an extremely important development, as it allows for developers of systems to be less invasive of privacy
than any system that is currently standardized in the industry. The paper acknowledges that there is currently, to
the authors’ knowledge, no such way of achieving this type of privacy without the use of blockchain technology
(Chanson, Bogner, Wortmann, & Fleisch, 2017).
Researchers have also proposed the use of blockchain for maintaining transaction integrity for making purchases
from a distributed big data marketplace. In a paper by Nasonov, Visheratin, and Boukhanovsky, a proposal for how
to go about doing this is presented (Nasonov, Visheratin, & Boukhanovsky, 2018). In this paper, the authors propose,
“...a distributed big data platform that implements a digital data marketplace based on the blockchain mechanism
for transaction integrity (Nasonov et al., 2018).”
Another application of blockchain technology for validation of data integrity is presented in a research paper
written by Dai, Young, Durant, Gong, Kang, Krumholz, Schulz, and Jiang (Dai et al., 2018). In this paper, the authors
present a platform by the name of TrialChain that, they propose, could be a blockchain-based platform for validating
research data in large-scale biomedical research studies. In this paper, the authors explain that they,
“...implemented a private blockchain using the MultiChain platform and integrated it with a data science platform
deployed within a large research center.” The platform was then used to ingest and store research data that was
generated in the research center. This paper is important because it demonstrates a fundamental benefit of
blockchain technology: ensuring the accuracy, validity, and security of data on an extremely large scale. It is of course
possible for data of this sort to be managed without the use of a blockchain, but doing so is a very tedious task. It is
prone to human error, and depending on how regularly backups are taken, can also be prone to hardware failure.
This paper argues that by using a blockchain to maintain such types of data, these issues can be alleviated (Dai et
al., 2018).
The work in Shi, Yi, and Kuang (2019) discussed image copyright protection and names several problems with the
current approaches used to manage image copyrights. The paper lists some problems including the long audit cycle,
lack of substantive review, difficulty in proof, high cost, and centralized storage. It proposes the use of blockchain
to store feature sets extracted from images using the SIFT algorithm. The paper’s results suggest that the system
has advantages over current image rights management such as automated similar infringement detection,
decentralized storage, traceability, and tamper-proof storage.
In (Liu et al., 2020), the paper presents the use of blockchain as a means of ensuring the integrity, security, and
privacy of data that is collected for use in data science experiments. Rather than present a specific implementation
of this, the paper discusses the pros and cons of implementing blockchain in the field of data science.
To this point, most of the papers that we have referenced have discussed how to apply blockchain technology to
validating and ensuring data integrity in very specific and narrow contexts such as odometer monitoring and election
management. Not all research on this subject, however, has been so narrowly focused. In a paper written by
Zikratov, Kuzmin, Akimenko, Niculichev, and Yalansky, a general set of best practices is presented for ensuring data
integrity when making use of blockchain technology. The paper explores, in a very broad sense, “...the blockchains’
activity in terms of how to store, retrieve, and share files in a decentralized network”. The paper also focuses on
other important facets of blockchain technology such as speed, efficiency, security, scalability, and practicality for
making use of it in a real-world scenario (Zikratov, Kuzmin, Akimenko, Niculichev, & Yalansky, 2017). In a
decentralized blockchain community, blockchain transactions are not free to perform. This can discourage members
of the decentralized blockchain community from being active participants in it. This paper (Lange,
Słupczyundefinedski, & Klamma, 2020) proposes ǣǪa reputation- based reward system for decentralized
infrastructures. This system takes into account several aspects of a user’s contribution and her reputation, and on
this basis calculates the reimbursement for her efforts.ǥ
Perhaps one of the most interesting applications of blockchain technology with a focus on validity and integrity
of data comes from a paper published by Wilkinson, Lowry, and Boshevski. In this paper, the authors present a
conceptual, blockchain-based approach for decentralized storage of files under the name “MetaDisk.” The paper’s

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abstract describes MetaDisk as, “...an open-source software project seeking to prove conceptually that cloud storage
applications can be made more decentralized, more secure, and more efficient.”
The paper goes on to explain that the long-term goal of the project is to finish building their prototype for a
decentralized network and follow it up with developing a web application that provides an interface for users to
conveniently use blockchain technology for file storage. The project proposal also included plans for building an API
to allow users with a more technical background to build on to the decentralized platform and add features and
functionality without a need to extensively understand the underlying inner- workings of the blockchain. It is
important to note that the proposal that the authors outline in this paper is more than just a mere proposal, but
rather, MetaDisk is being actively developed and, as the authors state at the end of their abstract, “MetaDisk’s
ultimate objective is to provide a set of tools that will allow Storj to integrate more easily with traditional platforms
and user.” As of this writing, the Storj service is active and publicly available for users (Wilkinson, 2014).
At the time of the writing of this paper, the world is amid a pandemic that has disrupted daily life in unimaginable
ways. All over the world, countries are effectively shut down, and only services that are deemed essential by various
government entities around the world are operating. This major event has placed supply chains under a great strain
as people rush to buy household goods in fear of a shortage. This strain on supply chains resulted in the World
Economic Forum releasing a so-called “blockchain toolkit” This toolkit aims to function as a real-world application
of some of the research-based discussions about applying blockchain technology to managing supply chain networks
that we discussed previously in the paper. In the news article by Castillo which discusses the announcement and
release of the toolkit, he quotes project head Nadia Hewett as referring to this as proof-of-concept being applied to
a real-world scenario. Given that this is a real-world application of blockchain to ensuring supply chain integrity in
the context of a real-world problem, this demonstrates a strong case for the use of blockchain technology (Castillo,
2020).
The authors in Khan, Ahmad, and State (2019) explore the social and economic impact of blockchain on society.
It discusses the benefits of blockchain such as allowing fractional payments and aiding in poverty alleviation as well
as the negatives of blockchain such as aiding in criminal activity.
Another approach to ensuring data integrity by making use of blockchain technology comes from Kalis and
Belloum (Kalis & Belloum, 2018). In their paper, they propose a blockchain-based hash validation technique. The
proposed model stored the aggregated data separately from the blockchain and then allows a data identifier along
with a hash of the aggregated data to be forwarded to the blockchain. The paper continues to describe several
potential use cases for implementing such a system. Based on the information gained from exploring these use
cases, the researchers conclude that blockchain-based hash validation helps in detecting accidental and malicious
activities that were done to the collected data (Kalis & Belloum, 2018). Another research paper, written
independently by Kalis, also explores making use of blockchain technology to validate data integrity. In this paper,
Kalis explores the idea of making use of blockchain technology to secure the integrity of data and settings applied
to the business application by building an audit trail to log alterations to data and settings over time. In the paper,
Kalis acknowledges that the idea of an audit trail to do something such as this is not a new one and has been
implemented by companies for years now, but the current implementations used rely on a centralized log. This is
problematic in the same way that relying on a trusted third party is problematic. Specifically, anyone with sufficient
permissions could access the audit trail and illicitly modify it to either remove any indication of unwanted changes,
or malicious attribute such changes to another, innocent individual. Modifying the approach to building audit trails
to make use of blockchain would allow this process to become decentralized, and therefore, more trustworthy and
resistant to malicious manipulation (Castillo, 2020).
On the subject of audits, a recently-published paper by Cheng Cheng and Huang (2020) discusses the idea of
making use of blockchain technology in the context of performing accounting audits. This same topic was addressed
earlier on in the paper by another researcher. This paper discusses the idea of using blockchain for making
accounting audits as well but does so in a slightly different context. Instead of looking at specific ways in which it
may be applied, this paper performs a, “...comparative study on the blockchain audit application of the international
“big four firms and Chinese firms...” This paper does not propose a concrete approach to the management of
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accounting audits via the use of the blockchain, but rather, makes potential suggestions for how to best go about it
Cheng and Huang (2020).
Another work for adopting blockchain in the management has been proposed in Ismail, Hameed, AlShamsi,
AlHammadi, and AlDhanhani (2019) which proposed the potential application of blockchain for management of UAE
University. The focus of this paper was on only one university and it could be adapted to fit the needs of universities
all over the world.
Another interesting proposal for how to use blockchain technology to secure data comes from a paper from Rosa,
Barraca, and Rocha. In this paper, the researchers propose making use of blockchain technology in the context of
senior care services to allow for the ease of sharing of important personal information across a variety of platforms
and services. Their proposal would, for example, enable senior care homes to easily acquire patient information
from other healthcare networks. This is of course already possible, but the data in question is at risk of alteration
either through honest human error or malicious intent (Rosa, Barraca, & Rocha, 2019).
So far, we have explored two research papers that discuss making use of blockchain technology in the context of
securing financial transactions. Yet a third paper authored by Wu, Liu, and Xu discusses this even further (Wu, Liu,
& Xu, 2019b). In their paper, the researchers explore how the introduction of blockchain technology to the auditing
process would impact the industry. What makes this paper stand out from the other two is its discussion of so-called
“permissionless” and “permissioned” blockchains. The paper details the similarities and differences between these
two blockchain types, discusses the impacts of using either in the context of auditing, and interestingly, also provides
recommendations to auditors on how to adapt to the implementation of blockchain in the auditing process (Wu et
al., 2019b).
Another work (Nygaard, Meling, & Jehl, 2019) has proposed a distributed storage system for permissioned
settings based on blockchain. The proposal uses blockchain, “Ǫto form verifiable contracts between clients and
storage providers, specifying what should be stored, and when stored data can be deleted”.
Yet another paper, which also discusses the use of blockchain technology in the context of securing data, comes
from Ahmad, Saad, Bassiouni, and Mohaisen. In this paper, the researchers present yet another proposal that
discusses how blockchain technology could be useful in the context of securing and maintaining the integrity of audit
logs for information technology within an enterprise setting. The researchers refer to the approach that they present
as Block-Audit. In the paper, the authors explain that Block-Audit is, “...a scalable and tamper-proof system that
leverages the design properties of audit logs and security guarantees of blockchains to enable secure and
trustworthy audit logs.” As part of their work, the researchers implemented their proposed design using Hyper-
ledger, and based on the results of said implementation, concluded that “...conventional audit logs can seamlessly
transition into Block-Audit to achieve higher security, integrity, and fault tolerance” (Ahmad, Saad, Bassiouni, &
Mohaisen, 2018).
Given that this paper is a survey of blockchain technology, it seems fitting to include an existing survey on
blockchain technology in our research. This survey comes from Zhang, Xue, and Liu in which they discuss numerous
existing research that explores how blockchain can be applied to ensuring the integrity and security of the
information which is being stored on the chain. Based on the numerous publications that the authors explored, they
conclude that the benefits that blockchain technology provides to securing data are numerous (Zhang, Xue, & Liu,
2019b).
3.4. Information Systems and the Supply Chain

The general concept of the supply chain is comprised of business-to-business sales, logistics, and materials
management. With a wide variety of interactions between systems (and some would argue disparate systems), the
flow of materials and its occurring transactions could benefit from a reformed system such as blockchain. As with
the previous topics discussed, there should be a way to utilize the accessibility, privacy, and integrity that is
associated with the blockchain technology within the supply chain system.
The origin or provenance of a product such as food has become more important due to changes in certain
conditions. For instance, users may have a preference for origin, or there may be strict laws that ban distribution or

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collection from certain areas (Tama et al., 2017). Unfortunately, current supply chain systems do not possess this
capability of provenance due to a lack of system communication (Westerkamp et al., 2018).
Additionally, tracing provenance may be additionally critical to provide authenticity and ownership. The quality
and validity of the transaction are definitively crucial for the supply chain. As a result, a provided distributed ledger
of transactions would create a tokenization of goods, recipes for good transformation, certified goods, and roles. The
tokenization of goods provides a way to guarantee supply chain inputs and outputs through a certified trust. Origins
can be traced, and products of mixed inputs can be generated as another block in the blockchain. With each
transaction, another entry is defined (Westerkamp et al., 2018).
Raw materials and metals are an important part of supply chains, however, in many cases, these materials and
metals are sourced in an “inefficient and antiquated” fashion, which results in “…critical data omissions, security
vulnerabilities, and even corruption.” Specifically, mining supply chains struggle with “traceability, transparency,
[and] interoperability” to name a few. The work in Mann, Potdar, Gajavilli, and Chandan (2018) presented a
potential application of blockchain for resolving these issues within the mining industry.
The general case of supply chain traceability, however, can be traced to product safety and quality. By knowing
the general origin of a product, problems can be found in more rapid succession. For instance, problems with food
can be traced more quickly due to the transactions maintained through blockchain (Tama et al., 2017). The benefits
of food safety through simple provenance cannot be understated and have certainly paid dividends in their foremost
concepts. As data is decentralized, high-quality, durable and reliable, transparent, immutable, and fault-tolerant
(Sudhan & Nene, 2017).
Since the supply chain utilizes the concept of logistics in its fundamental mechanism of operation, it suffices to
analyze the benefits of logistics as well. As there is a complicated communicative mechanism with logistics (the
network of system interaction), logistics can naturally utilize many of the fundamental blockchain concepts to its
advantage. For instance, transaction verification can help mitigate confusion and duplicated information. As a result,
creating a logistical transaction has the potential to be cheaper for a given enterprise. Finally, disparate logistical
systems would have access to additional information that can help provide greater insight and analytics into the
already utilized assets (Perboli et al., 2018).
With business in general, blockchain can provide a compliance standard for product usage. For instance,
transaction verification along with logistics can guarantee certain standards are met with systematic restrictions
(Anjum et al., 2017). This can lead to an ease inaudibility and quick verification of proper use. RFID tags are a perfect
example of a new standard being legitimately implemented–making tracking and auditability easier for all parties
involved.
Already, there have been usages of origin tracing through RFID devices. The origin can additionally provide a
realistic product differentiation for their consumers. For instance, if a business can guarantee provenance for a given
product, they can claim a heightened quality of their product. Additionally, it may provide eligibility for certain tax
reductions if they use sources that are encouraged through legislation. Generally, there is a desire to have a great
deal of granularity for product traceability (Lu & Xu., 2017).
Finally, there is a concept of smart contracts and party agreements without the need for a third-party source.
With an accepted transaction on the blockchain, there is little room for dispute–leading to higher transparency and
reliability within transactions. Moreover, any disparate companies or systems can interact on a shared capability
through the blockchain that would prove ideally proficient within the concept of reliability (Lu & Xu., 2017).
For instance, there are ways to shield from potential litigation over agreed-upon contracts. With the assurances
of blockchain, transactions are finalized in a ledger that cannot be edited. As a result, there is no dispute over what
was supposed to be provided (at least through the confounds of human error). There are definitive human
interactive capabilities that would form from a potential dispute with regards to the supply chain. Moreover, the
finalized nature of these transactions is an added benefit of integrating blockchain with supply chain and logistics.
Recent proposals have brought the practicality of blockchain integration with the supply chain into sight.
Accordingly, existing systems typically suffer from a lack of distributed visibility (and the configurations of these
systems enforce more restrictions). Additionally, information from modern centralized provenance systems is not
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generally verifiable in the same way that a blockchain information system would be (as there is generally no central
authority to do so). This is not a problem in larger systems since generally they own the entirety of their supply
chain, but smaller and medium-sized businesses face a significant cost (Beck, 2017; Wu et al., 2017b).
In some proposals, there is also a need to provide privacy to transactions from a central authority. This concept
was mentioned before through the healthcare implementations of blockchain and its associated encryption
techniques. However, there is a way to implement public and private ledgers in association with specific
transactions. In such a system, hashes are used in the public ledger–whereas they may point to an entry in the
private ledger containing an arbitrary event associated with that hash. In a sense, it is a distributed implementation
of event storage. The structure is still bounded by the general benefits of blockchain even with the differentiation
of private and public ledgers (Wu et al., 2017b).
On a more practical implementation, there is an analysis of blockchain and the interaction of composite materials
within manufacturing. Raw materials, semi-finished materials, components, structures, and OEM products can all
have an associated transaction node associated with them. Those nodes would be stored in a record of transfer or
a distributed ledger (the native essence of blockchain’s record-keeping mechanism). Further, ownership transfer
changes as each part of the manufacturing and supply chain process progresses. Individual requests for process or
item inspections can also be represented as the blockchain has provided the history of the products’ provenances.
Quality and availability can be taken into account with full transparency (Mondragon et al., 2018).
With the proposed information flow and the utilization of blockchain along the way, the primary benefits can also
lead to benefits through things like smart contracts. As a by-product, there are term clarification and conditions,
automatic supplementations for products, and optimization for industry capacity (on a distributed scale). These
benefits pertain primarily to the supplier or manufacturer, but there are also retailer benefits. For instance, an
automatic supplement of materials, distributor verification and selection based on the transaction. Finally, there is
an optimization of both transportation and delivery on the logistics side of processing (Nakasumi, 2017).
There are additional proposals for blockchain integration within the supply chain. For instance, as previously
discussed healthcare systems, there are three-tiered proposals that could potentially provide for the practical
implementation of blockchain. For instance, you could divide the interaction processes between actors, edges, and
an associated blockchain cloud. The actors interact with some API to interact with the edge part of the system. From
that point, the fundamental interactive logic is handled between both the front- facing and back-facing APIs (in this
case, the cloud containing the actual blockchain). In the usual fashion of blockchain implementation, transactions
are guaranteed through the supply chain processes such as delivery, processing, retailing, and consumption (Caro
et al., 2018).
In another proposal, there is a more complicated architecture implemented for blockchain information within
the supply chain pipeline. To start, there is a public ledger/network and a private ledger/subnetwork. Naturally,
these networks differ in usage, as a private network would be used on a more granular interaction. These needs
would work on a more integrated, company-specific basis as well. The public nodes/ledger implementation would
oversee the entire transaction. Additionally, there is more transactional, business-specific information stored within
a private ledger. There can also be a higher volume of data. A given supplier, carrier, or customer can access both
the private and public ledger, giving access to real-time, immutable data within the blockchain. Moreover, there are
monitors and admin nodes that maintain transaction integrity and system monitoring (Li et al., 2018b).
Generally, the proposed interaction in blockchain follows a pattern of accessibility and transparency. Consisting
of a public and private ledger, there are more reliability and trust within the blockchain-implemented supply chain
system. Another proposal, for instance, utilizes public APIs to implement and utilize smart contracts. Each
transaction is stored on a blockchain that is relatively publicly accessible. As a result, authority organizations,
producers, processors, distributors, retailers, and consumers have a mechanism for seeing the traceability of
products. There are also registration and digital profile mechanisms put in place for access control, but the basic
implementation of the supply chain follows the usual structure (Tian, 2017).
As it currently stands, there are a lot of topics of interest within the integration of blockchain and supply chain.
For instance, the three topics of interest were traceability of supply chains (previously mentioned provenance),
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information security related to supply chain systems, and finance-related matters for the supply chain. Moreover,
these topics are adequately covered through a blockchain integration and additional benefits such as provenance
and financial auditing are realized within the implementation of the mentioned blockchain/supply chain integration
systems (Tribis et al., 2018).
In conclusion, the blockchain concept can benefit the supply chain and associated logistics industries profoundly.
For instance, knowing the provenance of a material can help with safety and regulations. In addition to being
compliant with local laws, the supply chain can provide analytical capabilities that far extend the current systems
that exist. With greater transaction capabilities, there are also fewer third-party intermediaries needed. Smart
contracts and party agreements through blockchain can also help eliminate potential lawsuits and disputes over
contracts. General reliance on previous steps in the supply chain can be observed as transactions are more verifiable.
As a result, the benefits that the supply chain can provide to all types of businesses are quite considerable (Al-
Jaroodi & Mohamed, 2019).
Table 2 summarizes the sets of challenges, proposed solutions through the literature and outlines the period of
publications.

4. Findings, Analysis, Thoughts, Future Directions, Suggestions & Advice for Future Research

Through this discussion, we have highlighted many of the different benefits, concerns, developments, and other
interesting aspects of blockchain and its history and changes. To better address and narrow the discussion, in this
section, we highlight the various findings of each section and develop our ideas regarding where future research
into blockchain should continue. Fig. 5 shows the most opne issues and research future directions.

4.1. Information Systems, Reducing Third Parties, Increasing Interoperability, and Efficiency

The integration of blockchain technology can have a profound effect on reducing third parties, increasing
interoperability, and boosting efficiency. As an example, we looked at healthcare-related information systems. With
the healthcare industry, there are many problems with communication. With an abundance of bureaucracy and
safety standards, there are serious limitations for communications between disparate information systems. This
underlying example of the healthcare industry is a small glimpse of how the individual benefits of integration can be
fully realized.
Table 2
Blockchain-based Information systems issues and proposed solutions
Issue Reference IDs Year
Third Parties reduction, Zheng et al. (2018), Puthal et al. (2018), Linn and Koo (2016),
Interoperability enhancement,and Randall et al. (2018), Zhang et al. (2017), Vora et al. (2018),
Efficiency Mettler (2016), Mettler (2016),
Dasaklis et al. (2018b), Liang et al. (2017), Guo et al. (2018),
Dwivedi et al. (2018),
Theodouli et al. (2018), Yue et al. 2016-2020
(2016), Holbl et al. (2018),
Wang et al. (2018)
Fault Tolerance, Compatibility Issues, Pilkington (2016), Dang et al. (2019), Eklund and Beck (2019), 2016-
and Broadening Use Halpin and 2020
Piekarska (2017), Pavithran et al. (2020), Wang et al. (2019),
Yogesh (2019),
Hawlitschek et al. (2018), Woodside (2017), Mingxiao et al.
(2017), Xiong et al. (2018), Abdellatif and Brousmiche (2018),
Francisco and Swanson (2018), Cha et al. (2017),

29
D. Berdik, et al. Information Processing and Management 58 (2021) 102397
Wang et al. (2018), Hakak et al. (2020), Moh et al. (2020),
Mamun and Khan (2020), Franke et al. (2020), Di Giuda et al.
(2020), Ahl et al. (2020), Kanaan et al. (2019),
Beck et al. (2016), Zhang and Lee (2019), Li et al. (2018a),
Muzammal et al. (2019),
Dubovitskaya et al. (2019), Hou (2017), Khaqqi et al. (2018),
Liu (2016),
Yang et al. (2019), Nagothu et al. (2018), Wang et al. (2017),
Banerjee (2018)
Data validation and Transaction Abdelhamid and Hassan (2019), Fatrah et al. (2019), Awalu et 2016-
Integrity al. (2019), 2020
Pandey et al. (2019), Sohrabi et al. (2020), Şahan et al.
(2019), Mantelaers et al. (2019),
Goderdzishvili et al. (2018), Kassab et al. (2019), Lou et al.
(2018),
Chanson et al. (2017), Nasonov et al. (2018), Dai et al. (2018),
Zikratov et al. (2017),
Wilkinson (2014), Castillo (2020), Kalis and Belloum (2018),
Cheng and Huang (2020),
Rosa et al. (2019), Wu et al. (2019b), Ahmad et al. (2018),
Zhang et al. (2019b)
Information Systems and the Tama et al. (2017), Westerkamp et al. (2018), Sudhan and 2016-
SupplyChain Nene (2017), 2020
Perboli et al. (2018), Anjum et al. (2017), Lu and Xu. (2017),
Wu et al. (2017b), Beck (2017), Mondragon et al. (2018),
Nakasumi (2017), Caro et al. (2018),
Li et al. (2018b), Tian (2017), Tribis et al. (2018), Al-Jaroodi
and Mohamed (2019)

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D. Berdik, et al. Information Processing and Management 58 (2021) 102397
In the total analysis of this topic, it seems that a reduction in third parties and increased interoperability can help
with widening access control capabilities as well as giving the end-user and interacting parties more ability to access
what once was siloed information. The benefits for the healthcare industry, as for many others, seem to indicate
that a majority of the benefits would be seen through easier message communications. A shared communication
standard can realistically make a noticeable difference in timed responses and access.
There is also a reduction in duplicity. With a more accessible system, access to real-time information can be used
to make better definitive decisions. Currently, there is a considerable amount of delay for updated results. with
greater communication capability, a user will be safer–and an intermediary will be able to make more informed
decisions. This will prove crucial to many industries as decisions based on faulty, delayed information can lead to
bad results.
There are already many proposals for implementing blockchain to reduce third parties and increase
interoperability. The decentralized apps, for instance, have a focus on hashing mechanisms for all transactions.
With the concept of varying types of nodes and storage mechanisms, reliability, ease-of-use, accessibility, and
privacy are easily observed. The various proposals outlined throughout this document provide clear, practical
implementations of blockchain. Though there is an overhead cost with it for smaller business entities, there are
certainly many positive benefits.
In the consideration of what benefits would be provided. A decentralized system is perfect for tamper-proof
history, third party reduction, and increased interoperability. By the very nature of blockchain, there is a wide variety
of trust mechanisms that parties can rely upon. Because of this, a standard implemented interface can be
considerably system agnostic. Additionally, the reliable and shared standard is easily observed in blockchain
integration.

4.2. Fault Tolerance, Compatibility Issues, and Broadening Use

Developments regarding Fault Tolerance in blockchain systems have been rather remarkable in making progress
since the advent of the technology. Blockchain has demonstrated itself as a superior technology in terms of
maintaining data in a diverse and fluid system, as well as for moving and manipulating data. The largest concerns
come from the structure and maintainability of these systems. Unless a company has a large system or establishment
readily available, it can be difficult to develop a network necessary for the growth and development of blockchain-
based technology. The best option for these groups is to leverage web technologies and cloud and edge computing
networks to develop a sufficiently functional network. The primary issue related to this, however, is that it forces
company data outside of the network and into the hands of a server owned by a third party.
Utilizing third party services is very commonplace among businesses, and even more so when referring to code
or other technology and applications in general. Cloud services in particular are known for relying on hosting data
offsite and on the servers of a larger business. This architecture and its continual growth, while effective at working
to develop functional enterprises, tend towards a common thread within many industries - rampant monopolization
and oligarchical tyranny. Before continuing, one should note that blockchain is not necessarily a destructive
technology, nor is any innovation. The application of any technology can be beneficial to society or detrimental
based on any number of factors. The notion being put forth here is that blockchain necessarily encourages
distributed computing at the level where a small business or startup would have difficulty implementing such a
system independently. This comes strictly from its primary fault tolerance mechanism - widespread distribution of
assets.
Likewise, compatibility issues between implementations are minimized again through the use of existing
platforms and cloud or edge computing architectures. It becomes incredibly simple to implement blockchain
through services which provide the architecture and technology through the most common commercial cloud
computing platforms. Again, these issues make it prohibitive for smaller startups to develop and implement their
independent blockchain technologies and tools. Just like learning a new language, whether for programming or
interpersonal dialogue, common conventions exist and are followed without a thought. Small businesses will often

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only find developers who know common cloud computing architectures, and this makes it difficult to establish a
new platform.
The point of this discussion is to broaden use by suggesting movements and research into areas that make
blockchain applications more easily accessible to the layman, as opposed to the entrepreneur. Therefore, it is
recommended that the development of easily- accessible, open-source blockchain tools, libraries, and products that
allow developers to establish an integrated network of blockchain tools across a series of devices that can each be
implemented to a specified degree is pursued. In this manner, we not only improve and spread the use of blockchain,
but we provide more immediate control of data and resources to the original data consumer. This continues to
reduce the impact third parties have, especially regarding data leaks, hacking attempts, and other such issues.
Regardless of the security of blockchain itself or a system, by hosting data on a third party’s servers, one immediately
loses the security that comes with owning and managing that data independently. Though there is some concern to
be had regarding the security of this approach as well, it is important to have both options available for an educated
developer to develop the most appropriate solution to a given problem. As it currently stands, blockchain has only
one truly feasible implementation that removes these options.
Though this does contain some strongly pejorative language in the direction of cloud computing agencies and
platforms, they are an important technology to have available, and the intent is not to dismiss this. The intent is to
raise awareness of a growing trend in technology and propose that blockchain, and as well as any other technology,
provide options for those who wish to use it, rather than suggest only one valid and viable approach. Future research
into blockchain should consist of software, applications, and tools that allow agencies and organizations to
implement blockchain at the local level rather than the corporate. Anyone can easily develop a webpage sporting a
relational database as the backend, provided some time, money, and energy. Blockchain should be no exception,
especially given some of the advantages the technology has over other contemporary tools.
To address the fault tolerance issues of blockchain, its users should be able to access data and create their copies
on their machines. Compatibility issues can be addressed with custom solutions, so long as they are effective and
sound ones. The accessibility of blockchain exists primarily in the cloud, and this causes concerns. The most effective
means by which to improve upon blockchain is to make it a tool available to anyone. Further research should expand
upon blockchain-based integration into, for example, Python and Java libraries that allow several devices to
communicate with each other through a few simple lines of code, and not require a robust knowledge of a cloud
storage solution offered by one or more cloud providers. It is only in this manner that we can hope to continue work
and developments to better address the faults common to the blockchain.

4.3. Validation of Data and Transaction Integrity

Regarding the use of blockchain technology for validation of data as well as ensuring transaction integrity, our
findings indicate that numerous approaches to the use of the technology have been both theorized and, in some
cases, practically implemented.
One such research paper discusses the use of blockchain technology to ensure that contracts are upheld.
Although the methodology that the paper discusses is theoretical and has not been truly implemented, the paper
makes a strong case in favour of making use of blockchain technology for the use of maintaining contract integrity.
Even without a real-life implementation of the tools that the paper describes, the paper makes a very strong case
for the benefits of using the technology to ensure that there is no attempt by either the first party or second party
in a contract to breach it. Additionally, it cannot be denied that the use of a decentralized system as opposed to
relying on a so-called trusted third party, which can of course be not trustworthy for a variety of reasons, is
preferable.
Several of the papers that we reviewed as part of our broad survey discussed the use of blockchain technology
as a means of ensuring the integrity of voting functions. Some papers have focused on the use of blockchain for
ensuring the security of national elections while the others focused on the use of the technology for ensuring the
security of voting on a variety of scales, ranging from boardroom voting to national elections. The papers highlight

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the benefits of using a decentralized system to ensure that votes are not duplicated or edited either through
legitimate human error or deliberately malicious intent. Some papers take this a step further and address the issue
of scalability. Based on the information that is presented in the reviewed papers, it would appear that although the
use of blockchain technology could indeed be useful for securing elections on a variety of scales, there could be an
issue with scalability issues preventing the implementation from being effective without further research on the
subject.
Perhaps the most practical use of blockchain that is presented in the reviewed papers is the use of the technology
for securing access control for cloud-based systems. Although the presented systems in such papers are theoretical
ones, which make a strong case in favour of the benefits of using a decentralized system to manage access control.
In a theme that has been repeated numerous times throughout the reviewed papers, the paper’s primary argument
is that by using a decentralized system for authentication, the overall security of the access control system, and the
safety of the underlying components which the system protects, is dramatically improved since there is no longer a
need to rely on a trusted third party to ensure the integrity of the process. Given how frequently this argument is
used in the numerous papers we have surveyed as well as the diverse way in which this argument was used, we
believe that it is reasonable to say that this argument presents a strongly positive stance on the use of blockchain
technology in this context.
Several papers that we surveyed as part of our work discuss the benefits of using blockchain technology in the
context of business dealings and financial transactions. In particular, some papers look at making use of blockchain
technology to ensure the integrity of account processes. The argument that such papers present for making use of
blockchain within this context are very strong because of the similarities that it shares with the much-repeated
argument about increased security through phasing out trusted third parties in favor of a decentralized system.
What makes this paper different, however, is that it argues that by implementing such a system, the security will be
increased by adding a layer of security that was not previously present. This is because the current method used for
managing to account does not rely on actively verifying that a transaction is a balanced transfer of money from one
entity to another. Instead, money is transferred and only an occasional audit takes place. By adding a blockchain
component to this process, an active monitoring solution is added that would be comparable to a trusted third party
in a non-blockchain implementation. Given that this increases the integrity of the process, it seems reasonable to
argue that implementing a blockchain component in such a process would be a very useful thing to do.
Although most of the work in the papers that we have surveyed present theoretical implementations of
blockchain technology to ensure the integrity and validity of whatever systems or data it is protecting, few present
real-life implementations of the technology that do so. One of the few papers that do so discusses a real-life use
case in which the country of Georgia implemented blockchain technology as a means of verifying property
ownership. The paper argues that by doing this, the country was able to increase citizen trust in a government-
managed registration system as well as reduce costs and increase the efficiency of the registration process. Given
that this paper transcends a theoretical system and instead focuses on a real application of the technology that was
successful, it is effectively impossible to argue against the use of blockchain within this context.

4.4. Information Systems and the Supply Chain

For the information systems, blockchain, and supply chain integration, the interesting utility was found for a
variety of industries. For starters, the provenance of a product is a crucial necessity for many businesses. Due to
local laws, preference, tax reductions, and other incentives to determine provenance, blockchain can provide an
ability to track a product’s origin more easily. Provenance can be especially useful for the entire supply chain
including logistical factors. From any given point, a product can be independently verified, and transactions would
not be alterable.
As with many of the benefits of healthcare, there is a definitive need to reduce third parties, increase
interoperability, and reduce confusion across the supply chain. For instance, due to the unalterable ledger, many

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benefits eliminate duplicity and altered information that currently exists within current supply chain systems. As a
result, better analytical confidence would be available.
Currently, there are systems in place such as RFID that mimic the benefits of blockchain technology. There are
also many proposals of how blockchain would be implemented within the logistics and supply chain realm. Notably,
such systems ensure better compliance standards, product traceability, and smart contract initiation. With such a
technology, there is less room for dispute–reducing potential lawsuits. Using unalterable contracts or smart
contracts, companies can agree on all aspects of the logistics involved with an order.
With more reliable contracts, businesses would be able to conduct transactions with more confidence in the
result. For instance, a guaranteed contract allows for a definitive product without deviation. A product is produced
and delivered to the next industry customer, a supplier or consumer, with confidence that the initial specifications
and agreements were followed with high confidence. With the culmination of provenance capabilities, the supply
chain would likely be able to trace problems with a deliverable much faster.
With that said, there is not a great deal of benefit generated from blockchain within the business realm. Of course,
there is some benefit–but many small and medium-sized businesses would accumulate too much of an overhead
cost to realistically implement integrated blockchain technology. Larger businesses are at more of an advantage as
they often operate and own the entirety of their supply chain. In total, however, such an implementation does not
make sense for the business industry given the up-front costs.

4.5. Overall Findings

The full potential of blockchain has not yet been reached. Though many different applications of the technology
have been researched and explored, there are still plenty of opportunities for developments to be made. The most
beneficial tool for blockchain would be a commonly accepted and widely available tool that would allow for easier
implementation of blockchain to be made at a lower level. Creating open-source blockchain tools and libraries for
common use would enable smaller industries to incorporate the technology without being coerced into a
commercially available cloud- or edge- computing environment. In this way, blockchain can be harnessed and made
more widely available. In doing so, the public confidence and understanding of the technology can be improved and
expanded upon, leading to a self-sustaining cycle of growth and forward movement for blockchain-driven software,
tools, and applications across the board. Implementing blockchain into corporate-level information systems in this
manner will help to define its strengths and weaknesses more fully to all.

5. Conclusions

In this survey, the relationship of blockchain and information systems has been explored and analyzed. The
history of both blockchain and information systems is described in detail. The function and role that information
systems play in modern enterprises and applications are also explored to describe the objectives of the survey more
fully and to describe how information systems can be improved through the use of blockchain technology. We then
proceed into a survey describing several different applications, studies, tools, and research that have worked to
incorporate the two in some new way or have an implication of some sort that could work towards the benefit of
either.
Our survey is divided into four sections, touching upon numerous aspects of the relationship between blockchain
and information systems. In the first section, blockchain and its potential to impact information systems are
explored. The objective of reducing reliance on third parties, and thereby increasing the security of the information
communicated through a blockchain-driven application is expanded upon. Efforts by blockchain researchers and
others to improve upon the efficiency and interoperability of blockchain tools are also discussed. In the second
section, the discussion turns to focus more on issues pertaining to fault tolerance and compatibility issues, as well
as exploring ways in which to broaden the use of blockchain and make tools running on the blockchain more readily
accessible to the public. Blockchain has a few issues pertaining to the computing power and throughput of the
individual component devices. Modern solutions reach towards cloud computing to address these concerns, though
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these may be incapable of addressing the needs of growing businesses, due to their upkeep costs. Solutions that
work to make blockchain more accessible need to be explored and expanded upon more readily. Other findings that
are relayed pertain to issues of validation of data and transactions, as well as the implications of incorporating
blockchain within supply chain management tasks. These concerns work towards the improvement of blockchain’s
use and appeal among the public by making blockchain a tool that helps the public decide and monitor the true
nature of a business or agency. By working to move the blockchain more to benefit the public, blockchain will
become a more well-renowned technology and turn into something much more powerful than it is at present.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

David Berdik: Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Safa Otoum: Investigation, Writing
- original draft. Nikolas Schmidt: Investigation, Writing - original draft. Dylan Porter: Investigation,
Conceptualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Yaser Jararweh: Supervision, Investigation,
Resources, Writing - review & editing.

Declaration of Competing Interest

There’s no financial/personal interest or belief that could affect the objectivity of the submitted research results.
No conflict of interests exist.

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