Blockchain Implementation Research Articles

Supply Chain Transparency and Blockchain Design

Companies that are investing in blockchain technology to enhance supply chain transparency face challenges in fostering collaborations with others and deciding what information to share. Transparency over the actions of supply chain partners can improve operational decisions, but sharing own data on the blockchain can put firms at a competitive disadvantage. In this paper, we investigate the resulting questions of when blockchain should be adopted in a supply chain and how it should be designed by analyzing two ways that it can enhance supply chain transparency: making the manufacturer’s sourcing cost transparent to the buyers (i.e., vertical cost transparency) and making the ordering status of buyers transparent to each other (i.e., horizontal order transparency). Given such transparency, firms can design a smart contract that automates transactions contingent on the revealed information and enables them to realize better equilibrium outcomes. We find that blockchain increases supply chain profit only when the manufacturer’s capacity is large and decreases supply chain profit otherwise. If the capacity is sufficiently large to eliminate the buyers’ competition, blockchain leads to a win–win–win and the incentives of all participants are naturally aligned. If the capacity is only moderately large, the manufacturer needs to compensate the buyers to facilitate a blockchain implementation. However, if the capacity is small, horizontal order transparency enabled by the blockchain mitigates the buyers’ overorder incentive to compete for the manufacturer’s capacity and increases double marginalization. For such cases, we show that a blockchain that only enables vertical cost transparency should (and can) still be adopted in a range of small capacity cases, and we propose an access control layer for the logistics data to implement such a blockchain. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, operations management. Funding: J. Liu was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 72101110] and The MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences [Grant 20YJC630084]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4851 .

A Theory of Secure and Efficient Implementation of Electronic Money

Scalable and secure implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) has been a challenge. Blockchains provide high operator-independent security and enable central banks to outsource CBDC operations while retaining control over the amount of circulating money. Scalability of blockchain depends on the possibility of decomposing the blockchain. We study how the choice of money scheme: accounts, bills, or unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) influences the existence of secure and decomposable blockchain implementations of CBDC. We give formal definitions to money schemes, their decompositions, atomic decompositions inspired from the properties of blockchain implementations. For our formalism, we use tools from universal algebra and category theory. We present a general decomposition theory and conditions under which money schemes have atomic decompositions. Bill money schemes meet these conditions but account and UTXO schemes do not. Bill schemes enable scalable and secure implementations of CBDC while the more traditional schemes have some issues.

Blockchain empowerment in construction supply chains: Enhancing efficiency and sustainability for an infrastructure development

The construction sector is now experiencing a significant transformation, primarily motivated by the need to enhance operational efficiency and promote sustainable practices. The emergence of blockchain technology has been seen as a disruptive factor that has the potential to fundamentally transform the field of supply chain management within the construction industry. Nevertheless, the extent to which this technology has revolutionized the sector has yet to be extensively investigated. The primary objective of this study is to address the existing research void by examining the impact of blockchain technology on enhancing the capabilities of building supply chains. This study employs a thorough examination of empirical case studies and a survey conducted among 136 industry professionals to explore the many functions of blockchain technology in augmenting efficiency, transparency, and traceability within building supply chains. The significant constructs were found having impact on blockchain implementation for construction supply chains are, Transparency and Traceability (β = 0.202, ρ = 0.000, t = 42.560), Smart Contracts for Automation (β = 0.232, ρ = 0.000, t = 62.596), Quality Assurance and Compliance (β = 0.230, ρ = 0.000, t = 64.704), Dispute Resolution and Accountability (β = 0.235, ρ = 0.000, t = 79.533), Supplier Management and Verification (β = 0.251, ρ = 0.000, t = 49.404).

Enhancing blockchain security through natural language processing and real-time monitoring

We describe implementing and testing a security monitoring system for Blockchain-based applications by performing Log Analysis through natural language processing (NLP) techniques and enabling queries via REST API. The study focuses on the Hyperledger Fabric framework, a highly reliable and scalable open-source software platform for private blockchains. The real-time monitoring system aims to detect and prevent attack scenarios on the network structure and smart contracts, such as DDOS, Sybil, and Eclipse. The vulnerability analysis is extended to inspecting Docker containers to detect network-based attacks. Although the case study focuses on Hyperledger Fabric, the techniques used are general and applicable to all Blockchain-based systems and fulfill the need to provide adequate monitoring capabilities for blockchain implementations.

Selling mode choice and blockchain adoption in an e-commerce platform with information disclosure

Many e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon and JD.com, consider product information disclosure as a crucial retail strategy. However, due to potential consumer distrust in the disclosed information, these platforms may employ blockchain technology to validate the information and alleviate consumers’ doubts. This study presents a game-theoretical model to investigate the interaction among the manufacturer’s choice of selling mode, the platform’s decision regarding blockchain adoption, and information disclosure strategies in the presence of information asymmetry. Optimal pricing and information disclosure strategies are derived, and the impact of various parameters on the equilibrium results is analyzed. We find that the consumers’ privacy concerns and blockchain implementation costs both have negative effects on the equilibrium retail price, disclosed information amount and profits of the manufacturer and platform. Moreover, we also find that the introduction of blockchain has different effects on a platform’s pricing and information disclosure strategies depending on the market size. In addition, conditions are identified under which the manufacturer selects the optimal selling mode and the platform makes an optimal decision on blockchain adoption. The findings demonstrate that the cost of consumers’ privacy concerns and the commission rate play significant roles in determining the equilibrium selling mode selection and blockchain adoption strategies.

RETRACTED: An enhanced consortium blockchain diversity mining technique for IoT metadata aggregation

Over the last two decades, Internet of Things (IoT) networks have grown exponentially. Although the devices have relatively low memory, resource, and processing capability, the trend is that nodes generate a large volume of data. That is where cloud technology comes into play to provide storage space. Because of its centralized nature and robustness, a large network operating with cloud assistance may be vulnerable. Due to rigid access control policies, the devices may be vulnerable to malicious activity. On the other hand, cloud technology provides a platform for such a security system to operate. A centralized secure architecture fails to consider mobile and edge devices within the context of these criteria. This raises numerous concerns about trusting third-party cloud intermediaries, which cause security and privacy leaks. The goal of this research is to look into the problem of blockchain consensus algorithms and their applicability in IoT with cloud-native infrastructure in the Ethereum and MultiChain variants. The significant challenge is scaling the core layer without sacrificing decentralization, security, or public verifiability. This type of testbed is used to investigate the impact of architectural design and consensus models in a lightweight IoT environment. Consensus in each IoT transaction remains the most important aspect of blockchain-enabled IoT networks. When the ledger is updated without privacy protection, transaction-oriented breaches can occur. Current practices for integrating finite IoT network resources into infrastructure-oriented blockchain implementations are flawed due to they are willing to sacrifice data security and integrity in order to save time and energy. This encourages researchers to investigate an improved lightweight block verification approach to the blockchain functional framework, that decreases processing needs, network latency, and network overhead substantially. As a result, the layer-3 consensus promotes blockchain to include the block with a 35% improvement in base layer block time efficiency and a 56% increase in throughput.

Health Block: A Blockchain Based Secure Healthcare Data Storage and Retrieval System for Cloud Computing

Data in healthcare domain is highly sensitive in nature. Besides, there is need for maintaining integrity of such data. Blockchain technology has emerged to solve the problem of data integrity and non-repudiation with immutable storage in distributed repository. Thus secure data storage and retrieval in cloud environments is made possible using blockchain implementation. There are many existing healthcare systems with blockchain integration found in the literature. However, there is need for a system that supports complete set of operations that are governed by smart contracts. Another important consideration is that end users should be able to operate healthcare system without the need for knowledge of blockchain technology. Towards this end, in this paper, we proposed a Blockchain based secure healthcare data storage and retrieval system known as HealthBlock for cloud computing environments. We defined smart contract with underlying structures and functions using Solidity language for Ethereum blockchain platform. We also proposed and implemented an algorithm known as Healthcare Transactions over Blockchain (HToB). This algorithm supports secure blockchain based data storage and retrieval governed by smart contracts. Our system is evaluated using user-friendly web based client application. The experimental results showed that our system is able to ensure data integrity and non-repudiation besides reaping all benefits of blockchain technology.

Is Africa ready to join the blockchain revolution: a feasibility study

This study assesses the readiness of African governments to adopt blockchain technology, which has gained global recognition since the emergence of bitcoin in 2008. The paper examines whether African governments, given their political, economic, and social challenges, are prepared to embrace the blockchain revolution. The research focuses on a feasibility study of several African countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, and the Central African Republic, using a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods. The author draws on Jennifer Bridges' four interdependent elements of a feasibility study, which include political feasibility, economic feasibility, technical capacities, and legal and regulatory compliance.
 The study examines how blockchain technology can provide transparent and reliable systems to combat corruption and mismanagement in government structures, which contribute to poor service delivery in the region. Furthermore, the research evaluates the potential positive and negative outcomes of blockchain implementation on African development, such as an increase in foreign direct investment and productivity, and a reduction in wasteful expenditure.

Decentralized Multi-Layered Architecture to Strengthen the Security in the Internet of Things Environment Using Blockchain Technology

Smart devices are connected to IoT networks and the security risks are substantial. Using blockchain technology, which is decentralized and distributed, 5G-enabled IoT networks might be able to tackle security issues. In order to simplify the implementation and security of IoT networks, we propose a multi-level blockchain security model. As part of the multi-level architecture, the communication between levels is facilitated by clustering. IoT networks define unknown clusters with applications that utilize the evolutionary computation method coupled with anatomy simulation and genetic methodologies. Authentication and authorization are performed locally by the super node. The super node and relevant base stations can communicate using local private blockchain implementations. A blockchain improves security and enhances trustworthiness by providing network authentication and credibility assurance. The proposed model is developed using the open-source Hyperledger Fabric blockchain platform. Stations communicate securely using a global blockchain. Compared to the earlier reported clustering algorithms, simulations demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm. In comparison with the global blockchain, the lightweight blockchain is more suitable for balancing network throughput and latency.

Linkages between technologies and supply chain performance: benefits, power and risk reduction

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the combined impact of the Industry 4.0 blockchain and industrial internet of things technology (IIoT) technologies on the development of supply chain linkages associated with power, benefits and risk reduction and the ultimate impact of the linkages on supply chain performance.Design/methodology/approachA structural model with blockchain and IIoT as antecedents to the supply chain power, benefits and risk reduction linkages and the linkages as antecedent to supply chain performance is theorized. Data collected from 303 US manufacturing managers are analyzed using a covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB/SEM) methodology.FindingsThe CB/SEM results indicate that blockchain technology does not directly impact implementation of the linkages. Rather, implementation of blockchain technology supports implementation of IIoT technology, which strengthens supply chain linkages, thereby improving supply chain performance.Research limitations/implicationsTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to provide empirical evidence that Industry 4.0 technologies such as blockchain and IIoT strengthen linkages among supply chain partners related to power, benefits and risk reduction and that those stronger linkages lead to improved supply chain performance. It should be noted that this study is based on data from managers representing only one sector (manufacturing) and one country (USA). Replication based on data from other sectors and countries is needed to support generalization of the results.Practical implicationsPractitioners are provided with empirical evidence that the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies such as blockchain and IIoT support supply chain management. These technologies facilitate data and information sharing among supply chain partners, enabling the integration and coordination of business processes throughout the entire supply chain.Social implicationsThe ultimate customers of supply chains benefit when supply chain partners work together efficiently and effectively. The implementation of blockchain and IIoT digital technologies lead to improve linkages among supply chain partners driving improvements in both efficiency and effectiveness, thus benefiting customers and society.Originality/valueIndustry 4.0 technologies are relatively new with the promise of improved supply chain performance. The efficacy of Industry 4.0 technologies as mechanisms to enhance information sharing is demonstrated based on the results of this study.

The Meta-Fusion

Blockchain technology and the metaverse are revolutionizing digital experiences by merging secure, cryptographic systems with shared virtual spaces. These advancements have immense potential across various sectors, including social interaction, education, and commerce. Despite these enhancements, current research remains fragmented. Thus, a comprehensive exploration of this domain is needed. This article conducts a systematic mapping study to understand research trends, challenges, and opportunities in the blockchain-based metaverse. The authors scrutinized 43 articles, categorizing them based on research themes and methodologies. Their analysis revealed a significant focus on technical aspects like blockchain implementation in virtual worlds and the design of virtual economies. The authors also found research that explores the social and cultural impacts of the blockchain-based metaverse. This study, thus, underscores the potential of the evolving field, emphasizing the need for research to fully understand its technical and societal implications. It also stresses the importance of evaluating the long-term sustainability, scalability, and potential risks associated with this promising, complex domain.

A survey and conceptual of Internet of Things system for remote healthcare monitoring

Introduction: Healthcare monitoring is a part of medical treatment. This research aims to increase the interoperability of the healthcare monitoring process. So that user does not need to go to the hospital and check their condition with the doctor directly. Methods: This was a qualitative study. The sample was doctors, inpatients, and outpatients. We proposed a concept of Internet of Things platform architecture that could monitor and record patient health. The features we provided are monitoring, immutable data recording using NoSQL database and blockchain by implementing Change Data Capture, and data analytics. Result: In this research, we proposed the Matter protocol for data communication. Matter protocol opens the possibility of increasing Internet of Things interoperability. On the other hand, implementation of blockchain could increase the security in the data at rest step, we also increase traceability by implementing Change Data Capture in the NoSQL database and store all data to the blockchain. Conclusion: Our proposed conceptual system could be used for building healthcare monitoring using an Internet of Things system that needs high interoperability and low energy consumption. The outpatient activity could be monitored in their own house or anywhere, and the patient does not need to go to the hospital to check their health.

Will the blockchain solve the supply chain resilience challenges? Insights from a systematic literature review

Frequency and severity of supply chain disruptions are increasing, and new solutions for improving supply chain resilience (SCRES) are demanded. Operations managers and scholars place great hopes on recent technological innovations, particularly blockchain technology. However, the current literature lacks a comprehensive review at the intersection of SCRES and blockchain, making it difficult to understand the relations between both fields holistically. This research gap was addressed by systematically analyzing 72 peer-reviewed papers. More specifically, the link between specific blockchain characteristics, SCRES antecedents, and supply chain risk types was explored. The results reveal that visibility and validation are the most relevant blockchain characteristics for improving SCRES. The SCRES antecedents agility, collaboration, and supply chain (re-)engineering can all benefit from blockchain implementation, whereas the effect on risk management culture is widely unexplored. While there is consensus on blockchain’s usability for mitigating security, operational, and supply risks, the effect on demand risks requires further attention. To facilitate the practical implementation of this paper’s results, the findings served as a foundation for discussing SCRES opportunities from well-known blockchain applications such as smart contracts and tracking solutions. Moreover, seven future research avenues and managerial implications are presented.

Implementation of Blockchain Technology Across Different Domains of Dentistry: A Systematic Review.

Blockchain technology has gained attention as a potential solution for improving data security, privacy, and interoperability in various industries, including healthcare. In the field of dentistry, the implementation of blockchain holds promise for transforming dental practice and management. However, a comprehensive evaluation of the existing literature regarding the implementation of blockchain technology in dental practice is lacking. This systematic review aimed to assess the current evidence on the implementation of blockchain technology in dental practice and management. A systematic literature search was conducted using major databases to identify relevant studies. The search strategy included keywords related to blockchain technology and dentistry. The investigation was performed as per the PRISMA guidelines. Studies reporting on the implementation, adoption, and outcomes of blockchain technology in dental practice and management were included. Quality assessment and data extraction were performed following predefined criteria. The initial search yielded a multitude of articles, and after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, six studies were included in the systematic review. The studies explored various aspects of blockchain technology implementation in dental practice, including data security, interoperability, supply chain management, and patient consent management. Furthermore, the use of blockchain-based systems showed potential benefits in enhancing supply chain management efficiency and patient consent authentication. This systematic review provided insights into the current state of blockchain technology implementation in dental practice and management. The findings suggested that blockchain technology has the potential to enhance data security, privacy, and interoperability in dental practices. However, further research and real-world implementation studies are needed to fully understand the impact of blockchain technology on dental practice and to address the existing challenges.

Blockchain implementation in the academic administration service system

Blockchain implementation in the academic administration service system

Identifying an Optimal Model for Blockchain Technology Adoption in the Agricultural Sector

Background: Blockchain adoption in agriculture is facing challenges. Some of its key challenges include lack of regulatory framework and unclear policies. Methods: This quantitative research based on a survey aims to examine the factors that influence blockchain implementation in the agricultural sector. Several theories including the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), and the technology readiness index (TRI) were drawn upon to determine the factors influencing Blockchain adoption. The study was undertaken in Australia with 358 agricultural supply chain experts. Results: A range of novel findings were generated. While perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude positively influenced Blockchain adoption, discomfort and insecurity were considered deterrents. Conclusions: The results can be used by relevant practitioners to improve the supply chain management for agriculture business. The findings can also inform a new direction for the research on the agricultural supply chain and the literature on logistics.

DIGITAL ENTITIES COMMUNICATION WITHIN A BLOCKCHAIN-ENABLED INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Nowadays the blockchain is considered to be an integral part of intelligent transport systems. Intelligence of a transport systems allows to increase road safety, wisely utilize systems’ resources and provide additional services to participants. However, blockchain implementations for intelligent transport systems must be adopted to the peculiarities of such systems. This work analyzes existing blockchain solutions, their features, advantages, drawbacks, and presents a consortium type blockchain implementation for an intelligent transport system. This implementation includes a two-layered architecture of digital entities interaction, consideration for digital entities distribution over the layers, consensus mechanism selection and its implementation, trust model considerations, and a block structure for the proposed blockchain implementation. The article also brings the solution to the single point of failure vulnerability of the proposed blockchain system. Thus, the paper covers key aspects of a blockchain design for an intelligent transport system.

Improving the implementation of quantum blockchain based on hypergraphs

Improving the implementation of quantum blockchain based on hypergraphs

Mjolnir: Breaking the Glass in a Publicly Verifiable Yet Private Manner

This paper formally investigates the problem of unauthorized yet required access to electronically protected information, a.k.a. Break-the-Glass (BtG) access. Reflecting on the rising deployment of such protocols in the current digitized healthcare system, we present Mjolnir1, a blockchain-based BtG framework that offers accountability of unauthorized accesses by healthcare practitioners, dependable right of notification to patients, and privacy of healthcare records accesses. Mjolnir is a smart contract-based protocol which provides undisputed public verifiability of the identity of BtG access entities while maintaining their anonymity except from concerned individual patients, hence protecting the patients’ privacy. We employ an application specific non-interactive cryptographic zero knowledge proof system which ensures that the signing entity (healthcare practitioner) belongs to a given authorized group and that the anonymity of their identity is only revocable by a given opening entity (patient). The security of our system relies on the hardness of the discrete logarithm and decisional Diffie-Hellman problems in elliptic curve groups, and the utilized proof system requires no trusted setup. We formally define and prove the security goals of Mjolnir, provide a proof of concept blockchain implementation on Ethereum, and report on performance experiments and comparisons with other generic zero knowledge proof systems.

Digital twin-driven SDN for smart grid: A deep learning integrated blockchain for cybersecurity

Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled Smart Grid (SG) network is envisioned as the next-generation network for intelligent and efficient electric power transmission. In SG environment, the Smart Meters (SMs) mostly exchange services and data from Service Providers (SPs) via insecure public channel. This makes the entire SG ecosystem vulnerable to various security threats. Motivated from the aforementioned challenges, we incorporate Digital Twin (DT) technology, Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Deep Learning (DL) and blockchain into the design of a novel SG network. Specifically, a secure communication channel is first designed using an authentication method based on blockchain technology that has the ability to withstand a number of well-known assaults. Second, a new DL architecture that includes a self-attention mechanism, a Bidirectional-Gated Recurrent Unit (Bi-GRU) model, fully connected layers, and a softmax classifier is designed to enhance the attack detection process in SG environments. To deliver low latency and real-time services, the SDN is next employed as the network’s backbone to send requests from SMs to a global SDN controller. DT technology is finally integrated into the SDN control plane, which stores the operating states and behavior models of SMs and communicates with SMs. The efficiency of the proposed framework is demonstrated by the blockchain implementation used in the SG network to assess computing time for the various numbers of transactions per block. Finally, the numerical results based on the N-BaIoT dataset shows better intrusion detection.