See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/334615432

A Review of Blockchain Technology and Its Applications in the Business

Environment

Conference Paper · July 2019

CITATIONS READS

4 10,070

3 authors, including:

Thomas Kitsantas Evangelos Chytis

University of Ioannina University of Ioannina
6 PUBLICATIONS   8 CITATIONS    73 PUBLICATIONS   68 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION - FROM VISION TO NEW SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT View project

An Exploratory Study of Blockchain Technology and Its Applications in Business Environment View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Evangelos Chytis on 04 October 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 A Review of Blockchain Technology and Its
Applications in the Business Environment
Thomas kitsantas1, Athanasios Vazakidis2 and
Evangelos Chytis3

1,2University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki Greece, School of Information

Sciences,
Department of Applied Informatics,
[email protected], [email protected]

3University
of Ioannina, Ioannina Greece, School
of Economics & Administrative Sciences, Department of Accounting &
Finance,
[email protected]

Abstract
Blockchain is the technology that can lead to significant changes in our
business environment and will have great impact on the next few decades. It
can change the way we perceive business processes, and can transform our
economy. Blockchain is a decentralized and distributed ledger technology that
aims to ensure transparency, data security and integrity, since it cannot be
tampered or forged.
Most of the current research related to Blockchain Technology is focusing on
its application for cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and only a limited number
of research is targeted at exploring the utilization of Blockchain Technology in
other environments or sectors. Blockchain Technology is more than just
cryptocurrency, and it can have several applications in government, finance and
banking industry, accounting and Business Process Management. Therefore,
this study attempts to investigate and explore its opportunities and challenges
for the current or future applications of Blockchain Technology. Thus, a large
number of published studies were carefully reviewed and analyzed based on
their contributions to the Blockchain’s body of knowledge.

Key words: Blockchain Technology, Ledger, Applications, Business

Paper type: Theoretical paper

JEL: M15, M21, M40

1
 I. Introduction

Blockchain technology is a revolutionary computer protocol used for digital

recording and storing information on multiple computers or multiple nodes. One
of the most important elements of Blockchain is the so-called “Ledger”, which
is similar to a relational database Walport (2016). A Blockchain is a list of
encrypted digital record or transaction, called a block. Each block is then
“chained” to the next block, in a linear, chronological order, using a
cryptographic signature (Bogart & Rice 2015). The blocks contain a copy of the
last transactions since the last block was added (Bogart & Rice 2015). Thus,
the shared block, or ledger, is linked to all participants who use their computers
in a network to validate or confirm transactions, removing the need for a third-
party, (Christidis, & Devetsikiotis, 2016; Porru, et. al., 2017).
Blockchain is used to secure and distribute data in a new and unique way. The
elimination of a central instance in the distributed network implies a radical shift
to direct transactions between non-intermediaries or intermediary services
(Tapscott & Tapscott 2016). Thus, Blockchain can only be updated by
consensus between participants in the system and a transaction can never be
altered or deleted, (Fanning & Centers 2016). Its distributed database cannot
be hacked, manipulated or disrupted in the same way as a traditional,
centralized database with a user-controlled access system.

In other words, the data is immutable and once it has been written to a
Blockchain, nobody, not even a system administrator, can modify or delete it
from the ledger. Since, each data block is time stamped and linked in a
chronological order via a cryptographic signature Walport (2016). Blockchain
Technology can be applied almost in any type of transaction, involving value,
such as money, goods, land ownership, medical records or even votes.

Blockchain does not require data migration in a project; all relevant transaction
data will be stored on the ledger and status will be then derived from it. Since,
Blockchain is a distributed system without a central control point or authority
(Glaser& Bezzenberger 2015; Tapscott & Tapscott 2016) and it is not regulated
by a single control center as there might be with a system administration,
there's no single point of failure. Hence, in an enterprise, theoretically, there
would be no need for an IT professional to monitor security on a blockchain
database.

Despite these possibilities, it’s important to emphasize that Blockchain is a very

new technology. As a result, there are only a small number of instances in
which the technology has been applied Aru (2017). A proven example, could
be the Bitcoins which is the most successful implementation of the Blockchain
Technology, and has confirmed to be a viable solution in creating trust in a
trust-less ecosystem without central authority.

The methods of this this paper were mainly: data collection and grounded
theory. Data collection and ground theory was done in different ways. For
instance, the paper thoroughly searched all published works found in the exiting

2
literature, books, academic journals, presentations, conferences, technical
reports, searching several databases using keywords.

The objective of this study is to present a review of the Blockchain Technology

and its current or future practical applications. Thus, in the next section we
present a systematic literature review to identify current Blockchain applications
and discuss future practical applications.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: Section II presents an

overview of the Concept of Blockchain Technology; Section III describes in
detail the Applications of Blockchain Technology in Business; Section IV
presents the Challenges and Barriers of Blockchain Technology; and finally
Conclusions and Recommendations are drawn in Section V.

II. The Concept of Blockchain Technology

Blockchain Technology is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks,

which are linked and secured using cryptography. Each block typically contains
a cryptographic hash code of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction
data (Bogart & Rice 2015), which as designed so that these transactions are
immutable.

Figure 1: The Concept of Blockchain Technology

Source: World Economic Forum

The Blockchain concept was devised by Nakamoto (2008) and is displayed in

Figure 2. Blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is a distributed
ledger recording technology (Walport 2016), which contains information about
transactions or events. It can record transactions in a transparent, secure,

3
decentralized, efficient, and low-cost way (Schatsky & Muraskin 2015; Bahga,
A., Madisetti, V., 2016; Bahga, A. & Madisetti V., 2014).

Ledger

Block 1 Block 2 Block n

Transaction records

Figure 2: The Concept of Blockchain Technology:

Source: illustration based on Bitcoin (2015) and Nakamoto (2008)

Hence, the Blockchain Technology has the following characteristics: a

distributed ledger, decentralized data management, data security, transparency
and integrity, anti-tampering and anti-forgery, high efficiency, low cost,
programmable features that increase flexibility and reliability and no risk of a
centralized database failure (Glaser & Bezzenberger 2015; Tapscott & Tapscott
2016; Swan 2015).

There are several types of Blockchains, some of the most important are: Public
Blockchain, Private Blockchain and Consortium Blockchain (hybrid
Blockchain). Each type has its advantages and disadvantages, allowing them
to meet the needs of various applications (He et al., 2016; Buterin (2015).
Figure 3 illustrates the Types of Blockchain Technology.

Specifically, using a) Public Blockchain, anyone can transact on the network

transactions which are transparent and are anonymous. A Public Blockchain,
such as bitcoin, is completely decentralized. The system operates based on
users’ consensus; there is no central point of failure. However, Public
Blockchain is vulnerable to system attacks. For instance, an attacker could
recreate and properly chain all the blocks that had been modified, without being
detected by the participants; b) Private Blockchain, the transactions are secret,
the data is not available for public view, but the members are known. In a private
Blockchain network, a participant cannot read or write the Blockchain unless
the participant has a permission or an invitation to join the network. Private
Blockchain is usually used by large companies with permissions defined
between various stakeholders of the enterprise Blockchain. For instance, a
bank can have its own Blockchain network for its private use with restricted

4
access to its various stakeholders such as customers, employees and
suppliers; c) Consortium Blockchain is a hybrid model of both Public and Private
Blockchain. Choosing this model, enterprises or institutions can have their own
Private Blockchain network to share the data among the consortium
participants (such as banks, institutions and other enterprises or firms).

Public Blockchain Consortium Blockchain Private Blockchain

Figure 3: Illustrates the Types of Blockchain Technology

III. The Applications of Blockchain Technology in

Business
The following section is presenting some of the practical applications of
Blockchain Technology in different sectors. Applications have been
categorized into the following groups: Smart Contracts, Government, Financial
industry and Accounting and Business Process Management.

1. Smart Contracts
According to Szabo (1994), a Smart Contract is a computerized protocol that
executes the terms of a contract. Simply, Smart Contract is an ordinary contract,
but it is written in computer code to be executed in the Blockchain environment
Gates (2017). Thus, such agreements in the IT-environment are frequently
referred to as Smart Contracts Savelyev (2017).

A Smart Contract is designed to assure one party that the counterparty will fulfill
his promises with certainty. The Blockchain concept aims to remove third-party
intermediary for transactions. Traditionally this third-party is responsible for
maintaining and executing the contracts and build the trust between any
involved parties (Porru, et. al., 2017). Thus, Smart Contracts can overcome
moral hazard problems such as strategic default, and they can dramatically
reduce costs of verification and enforcement.
One of the most promising areas of implementation of Blockchain Technology
is its use for creating fully automated Smart Contracts, which are performed
without human involvement. Smart Contracts allow for automatic procedures
for repeat transactions, or transactions with a certain level of importance.

5
Blockchain will automatically verify, execute and enforce the contract terms
between agreed parties. These contracts are called Smart because they can
be partially or fully self-executing and self-enforcing Gates (2017).

Some Blockchain Applications of Smart Contracts are the following:

• Contract Management - Blockchain Technology in a Contract

Management provides a solution for companies validating contract
information that could be highly beneficial for organizations and
enterprises of all kinds of businesses, such as in the technical industries
and construction (Christidis & Devetsikiotis 2016). Thus, Contract
Management via Blockchain Technology would allow organizations to
optimize the performance of their supply chains, evaluating vendors and
obtain higher value and shorter lead times Morrison (2016).

 Entertainment - Blockchain within Smart Contract provides a transparent

transference of royalties in real-time distributions to everyone involved in
both the music and film industries (Dair & Beaven 2017).

 Healthcare - The healthcare sector has already taken steps of the use of
Blockchain Technology. Smart Contracts can be used in medical
industries for keeping tabs between payers, providers, and drug
manufacturers. Healthcare providers can set up Smart Contracts for any
payer or supplier, which is then stored in their digital records Mettler
(2016).

 Insurances - Insurance is a new sector for Blockchain Technology where

the industry is estimated to spend more than $2 billion each year on fraud
and compliance. The use of Blockchain Technology has significant
potential for the entire insurance value chain. Certain insurance products
can be automated through Smart Contracts. Blockchain has the potential
to eliminate error, negligence and detect fraud and verify the authenticity
of customers and their policies.

 Blockchain Internet-of-Things - Internet-of-Things (IoT) is a system of

interconnected computing devices to the internet, mechanical and digital
machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique
identifiers with the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring
human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction (Bahga &, Madisetti,
2016). It allows the collection and exchange of data with one another,
(Chen, et al., 2015; Dorri, et al., 2017) using sensors, embedded software,
and a common language to communicate.

Gartner (2017) predicts that there will be 20.4 billion IoT devices by the
year of 2020. With this number of devices to join IoT hubs in the future,
the system could show vulnerability, such as network security, speed, and
affordability. Blockchain Technology deals with the problems mentioned
and strengthens the interconnectedness of IoT. Its network will enable
devices to perform smoothly, securely, and autonomously by creating

6
 Smart Contracts that are only implemented upon the accomplishment of
specific requirements. This encourages better automation, cheap
transfers (no need for third-party to supervise transactions), scalability,
and security (prevents overrides and compromise of network security),
(Christidis & Devetsikiotis, 2016) since Blockchain provides one interface
for all devices to be controlled.

2. Blockchain Technology for Implementing e-Government

The ability of Blockchain Technology to record transactions on distributed

ledgers offers new opportunities for governments to improve transparency,
prevent fraud, and establish trust in the public sector. Blockchain has the
potential to make government operations more efficient by improving the
delivery of public services and increasing trust in public sectors, Konashevych
(2017). Similar, Ølnes, et al., (2017), stated that Blockchain Technology
presents a lot of benefits for governments such as data integrity, improving
transparency, enhance security, preventing fraud, and establish trust and
privacy by recording transactions on distributed ledgers for the state
management system. Thus, a distributed ledger is a unique tool for the
improvement of transparency of the budgetary process and the reduction of
corruption factors.

Using Blockchain Technology, cryptocurrency tools and Smart

Contracts, is possible to build an e-Government. Since a distributed ledger
contains legally valid information, a number of mechanisms and procedures of
interaction between citizens and the state, could be implemented through Smart
Contract. The source code eliminates the risk of unauthorized changes and
ensures the uniqueness of the execution of the contract algorithm at any time
and at any node of the network. Thus, state documents, e-voting, auctions,
public procurement and the registration of companies could be possible through
Blockchain Technology, preventing fraud, establishing trust between the
citizens and the state, and enhancing business performance in the public sector
(Barnes et al., 2016).

In the present, numerous countries such as the USA, China, United Kingdom,
Sweden, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and Estonia announced
Blockchain initiatives to explore its uses in the public sector and in government.
Deloitte Insights (2017) indicated that some of the potential benefits such as
trust and transparency can be especially beneficial for developing countries
since they are more vulnerable to corruption, fraud, and lack of trust than
developed countries.

In closing, adopting Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts will be

possible to implement an e-Government. Thus, e-Government with Blockchain
Technology will significantly reduce bureaucracy, exclude hard copy paperwork,
minimize transaction costs, fully control officials, eliminate fraud, fight corruption
and as a result, it will improve business performance in the public sector.

7
 3. Blockchain Technology for Financial industry

According to Iansiti & Lakhani (2017), Blockchain is a foundational Technology

having the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of transactions and reshape
the economy. Harvard Business Review stated that Blockchain Technology will
do to financial institutions what the internet did to media (Joichi, et al., 2017).

Blockchain was initially developed as the backbone for Bitcoin, which is the
most popular decentralized digital currency Nakamoto (2008). Blockchain is
particularly beneficial for financial transactions and banks, and has the potential
to solve a lot of problems, when it comes to exchanging data, information, and
money (Tapscott & Tapscott 2016). Financial institutions and banks can handle
sensitive information with Blockchain and provide secure services with
minimum risk that can be decentralized and transparent at a low cost Forrest
(2016). Broby & Paul (2017) discussed the importance of Blockchain in the
financial settlements, and in enhancing the reliability of financial statements.
Similarly, Brian (2017) stated that Blockchain as a technology can revolutionize
economic sectors resulting in lower transaction costs, and highlighted
numerous advantages of this technology.

Now days, the leading platforms for Blockchain development in financial

industry are Hyperledgers, an open-source industry consortium formed by the
Linux Foundation, and Ethereum, a custom-built platform that was introduced
in 2013. As of February 2018, more than 1,500 cryptocurrencies have a market
capitalization in excess of $ 400 billion, with Bitcoin accounting for more than $
150 billion.

In closing, financial institutions have realized the potential of Blockchain

Technology comparing to the existing infrastructure and legacy systems.
Blockchain will resolve a lot of problems for the financial industry and boost their
business performance dramatically such as Trade Finance, Smart Assets,
Payments, and Smart Contracts (Tapscott & Tapscott 2016).

4. Blockchain Technology and Real Time Accounting

Digitalization of the accounting system is still in its infancy compared to other

industries, some of which have been massively disrupted by the advances of
the Blockchain Technology. Using Blockchain will improve audit efficiency as
auditors will increase the potential of accounting profession by reducing the cost
of maintaining, providing highly secured environment and reconciling ledgers,
Swan (2015). Blockchain will ensure traceable audit trails, automated
accounting and reconciliations, tracking of ownership of assets and
authenticating transactions.

Specifically, Blockchain Technology can assist accounting by writing the firm’s

transactions directly into a joint register, creating an interlocking system of
enduring accounting records. Since all entries are distributed and
cryptographically sealed, changing or destroying them to conceal activity is
practically impossible. This is similar to transactions that are being verified by a

8
notary, since all entries are distributed electronically and cryptographically
stamp.
Moreover, using Blockchain technology all accounting data could be recorded
permanently with a time stamp, preventing it from being altered. The firm’s
entire joint register would then be visible to customers, suppliers, shareholder,
bank creditors, or any other interested party Swan (2015). Thus, accounting
transactions, balance sheet or income statements could be available at any
time, and would no longer need for someone to rely on company’s quarterly
financial statements, increasing business performance in the organization.

Concerning security issues, all accounting transactions will be digitally time-

stamped with a cryptographic hash code, which is a unique 64-digit alpha-
numeric signature that is recorded to every single transaction. Hash code will
make the transaction immutable and transparent while establishing grater
security. Therefore, blockchain will ensure greater data security and
authenticity of recording to a degree that not even the system administrator
would be able to alter the data written to a Blockchain (Fanning & Centers
2016). Thus, Blockchain Technology has the potential to reshape the nature of
today’s accounting and auditing.

5. Blockchain Technology and Business Process Management

The traditional Business Process Management (BPM) is concerned with the

design, execution, monitoring, and improvement of business processes.
Business processes are the series of events executed by an organization to
deliver a product or a service to customers (Dumas, et. al., 2013). Thus, BPM
assists organizations in improving existing business processes, business rules,
overall efficiency and management.

Business processes consist of two categories, intra and inter-organizational

processes. Intra-organizational processes are those processes within an
organization, whereas inter-organizational processes are those processes that
go beyond the boundaries of an organization (Dumas, et. al., 2013). However,
business processes such as interoperability, flexibility to adapt to changes, lack
of trust and security are not fully addressed in inter-organizational
collaborations between mutually untrusted parties (Pourmirza, et. al., 2017).

Blockchain Technology has the potential to provide a suitable platform to

execute inter-organizational processes in a trustworthy manner. (Hull, R.,
2017). Similar, Milani (2016) stated that Blockchain technology has the potential
to significantly transform business processes. The difference, however, is that
traditional BMP services tend to handle internal workflows within a single
organization only. In contrast, Blockchain technology allows the creation of a
peer-to-peer BPM system that has no central authority Weber (2016), provides
a tamper-proof mechanism for decentralized execution of collaborative
business processes and allows multiple corporations to exchange information
directly with counterparties while guaranteeing the integrity of the process

9
(Porru, et. al., 2017). This is crucial when dealing with regulated transactions
that require specific guideline compliance.
Moreover, (Weber et. al., 2016) proposed that inter-organizational processes
through Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts can code guidelines and
allow organizations to verify and enforce specific steps, ensuring the joint
process performed correctly, by any counterparty on the network without any
mutual trust between nodes. Additionally, Blockchain Technology allows
participants and counterparties to maintain control of their own data, even
though counterparties have enforced rules upon them by the network (Porru,
et. al., 2017).

Concluding, it seems that Blockchain Technology with Smart Contracts have

the potential to significantly change the environment in which inter-
organizational processes are able to operate. Blockchains Technology offers a
way to execute processes in a trust manner, even in a network without any
mutual trust among the counterparty. In addition, combining both BPM and
Blockchain Technology can assist an organization in reaching the next level of
integration and automation of business processes.

v. Challenges and Barriers of Blockchain

Technology
In spite of the numerous potential benefits and application areas of Blockchain
Technologies such as in e-Government, Accounting, Finance BPM and several
others, the literature presents various challenges and barriers that need to be
addressed. The following table 1 summarizes the main advantages and
disadvantages of Blockchain Technology.

Table 1: summarizes the main advantages and disadvantages of Blockchain

Technology.

Advantages of Blockchain Technology

1. Data integrity and Immutability: Participants can (Swan 2015; Fanning &
reduce fraud while strengthening regulatory Centers 2016).
compliance. Once a record has been stored in the
ledger, it can only be deleted after a consensus.
2. Security: All transactions will be digitally time- Swan (2015).
stamped with a cryptographic hash code, a unique
64-digit alpha-numeric signature is recorded
corresponding to every single transaction.
3. High availability and Accessibility: Due to (Bahga & Madisetti,
decentralized networks, Blockchain Technology 2016; Bahga &
data would be complete, timely and accurate. Madisetti 2014).
4. Reliability: Blockchain Technology it is not (Glaser &
regulated by a single control center and there's no Bezzenberger 2015;
single point of failure. Tapscott & Tapscott
2016).

10
5. Decentralization: Blockchain is a decentralized (Christidis &
technology peer-to-peer transaction, removing the Devetsikiotis, 2016;
need for a third-party to intermediate, avoiding all Porru et. al., 2017).
the additional overhead cost and transaction fees.
6. Transparency and Consensus: All transactions (Christidis Devetsikiotis
conducted on the Blockchain Technology are 2016).
transparent by any counterparty and allow for
subsequent audits anytime. The shared ledger
includes the details of the original source,
destination, time and the date of the transactions.
7. Automation: Blockchain Technology uses Smart (Christidis &
Contracts which are self-executed code Devetsikiotis, 2016;
commands that can be stored and executed on Porru et. al., 2017).
Blockchain.
8. Processing Time: Using Blockchain technology (Data flair team 2018).
one can reduce time for processing transactions or
records, approximately from 3 days to minutes or
seconds.

Disadvantages of Blockchain Technology

1. Cost issues: Blockchain Technology has initial (Beck et. al., 2016;
costs and the use is not free of cost which is a (Marsal-Llacuna &
drawback of decentralization. The users have to Luïsa 2017; Angraal et
pay for the transactions and computational power. al., 2017).
2. Data malleability issues: Data malleability is a (Decker & Wattenhofer
potential issue in the Blockchain implementation. 2014; Yli-Huumo et. al.,
The signatures do not provide guarantee of the 2016; Hou 2017).
ownership. An attacker can modify and
rebroadcasts a transaction which can cause
problems in transaction confirmation.
3. Latency issues: Time factor is one of the most (Beck et. al., 2016; Yli-
critical issues in Blockchain implementations, Huumo et al., 2016).
since it is not appropriate for massive transactions,
due to complex verification process
4. Wasted Resources: Requires large amounts of Swan (2015).
energy. The energy spend of mining in the Bitcoin
network is approximately $15 million per day
5. Integration concerns: Blockchain Technology offer (Yli-Huumo et al.,
solutions that require significant changes of 2016).
existing legacy systems in order to incorporate.
6. Immaturity of the Technology: Blockchain is a new (Aru 2017; Ølnes et al.
technology, represents a complete shift to a 2017).
decentralized network and might lead to
organizational transformation, including changes
in strategy, structure, process, and culture.

According to Yli-Huumo et al. (2016), the challenges and barriers are related to
the technological aspects of Blockchain Technology, such as usability,
interoperability, security, computational efficiency and storage size. Many
studies (Ahram et al., 2017; Angraal et al., 2017; Decker & Wattenhofer, 2014;
11
Yli-Huumo et al., 2016), questioned the cyber security issues and threats. Hou
(2017) stated that the blind trust on the part of Blockchain developers, security
and performance are serious issues and drawbacks of Blockchain Technology.
Moreover, Blockchain Technology is not bounded by any international rules and
regulations. Also, with the increasing need for interoperability among large
industries like banks, the technology needs to be compatible with different
legacy systems (Yli-Huumo et al., 2016). The interconnection with the existing
systems is a big challenge today as the current legacy systems and processes
cannot be entirely eliminated and require significant changes of existing legacy
systems in order to incorporate (Yli-Huumo et al., 2016).

Additionally, Blockchain Technology is not appropriate for massive transactions,

due to complex verification process, (Beck et. al., 2016). In Blockchain
Technology, in order to provide security, all transactions will have to be digitally
time-stamped with a cryptographic hash code, a unique 64-digit alpha-numeric
signature to record each single transaction, which consumes a lot of computing
power and time.

Furthermore, some scholars recommend that the benefits of Blockchain

adoption into public or private services must be identified carefully since the
cost might be higher than the benefits for developing, running and maintaining
the Blockchain Technology, (Marsal-Llacuna & Luïsa 2017; Angraal et al.,
2017). However, the immaturity of the technology itself is at the base of all
existing technological challenges in adopting Blockchain Technology. This can
be understood as something that is common in all new technology
introductions.

In closing, Blockchain adoption might lead to organizational transformation,

including changes in strategy, structure, process, and culture. This
transformation requires organizational members’ cooperation and commitment
in order to enable the organization to survive and to improve the level of
performance and effectiveness.

VI. Conclusion and Recommendations

From a theoretical perspective, based on the literature review, Blockchain
Technology has high value and good prospects in resolving problems of data
integrity, improving transparency, enhance security, preventing fraud, and
establish trust and privacy. Blockchain Technology can bring revolution in the
areas of Finance, Accounting, e-Government, BPM, insurance, entertainment,
trading platforms, healthcare, internet-of-things, as well as law firms and others.
Hence, Blockchain Technology has a huge potential in introducing innovative
solutions, depending on the area or the sector of its implementation, since
economic efficiency and social benefits can be achieved through technical
innovation and applications.

However, implementing Blockchain Technology at organizations in different

industries, could prove to be very costly. Migrating or moving legacy systems
require a significant amount of investment from organizations. Adopting the
Blockchain Technology, at this early stage, organizations will have to deploy a

12
unified platform to support such hybrid application architecture, incorporating
Blockchain and legacy systems. Thus, they need to deepen their
understanding of Blockchain Technology, its value, its opportunities, and its
risks. As a result, there are only a small number of instances in which the
technology has been applied with these systems.

Therefore, Blockchain Technology may not replace legacy systems or old

applications soon. However, Blockchain can certainly be a complementary
application to legacy systems and may even lead to the development of new
systems in the near future.

In conclusion, more intensive research in this area of Blockchain Technology is

necessary to advance the maturity of this field, since it is still in the exploratory
stage and there are many legal and technical issues to be resolved. Therefore,
this review offers a useful starting point for future research themes for the
development of Blockchain application, and assist practitioners and
researchers.

13
References

Ahram, T. et al., (2017). Blockchain technology innovations. 2017 IEEE

Technology & Engineering Management Conference (TEMSCON) (Jun. 2017),
137–141.
Angraal, S. et al., (2017). Blockchain Technology: Applications in Health
Care. Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes. 10, 9 (Sep. 2017),
e003800. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.117.003800.
Aru I., (2017). Full Stack Development Tools Lowering Blockchain
Entry... News Cointelegraph. Available at:https://cointelegraph.com/news/full-
stack-development-tools-lowering-blockchain-entry-barriers.
Bahga, A., Madisetti, V., (2016). Blockchain Platform for Industrial
Internet of Things, Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, No. 9, pp.
533-546.
Bahga, A., Madisetti, V., (2014). Internet of Things: A Hands-On
Approach, Atlanta.
Barnes A., Brake C., & Perry T., (2016). Digital Voting with the use of
Blockchain Technology Team Plymouth Pioneers - Plymouth University.
Beck R., Stenum Czepluch, J., Nikolaj Lollike, N., & Malone, S., (2016).
Blockchain-the Gateway to Trust-Free Cryptographic Transactions. In ECIS.
Research Paper 153.
Bogart S. & Rice K., (2015). The Blockchain Report: Welcome to the
Internet of Value, http://www.the-
blockchain.com/docs/The%20Blockchain%20Report%20-
%Needham%20(huge%20report).pdf.
Broby, D., & Paul, G., (2017). Blockchain and its use in financial
settlements and transactions. The Journal of the Chartered Institute for
Securities and Investment (Review of Financial Markets), 53-55.
Buterin V., (2015). On Public and Private Blockchains. Ethereum Blog.,
https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/08/07/on-publicand-private-blockchains/.
Accessed 28 Nov 2016.
Chen F., Deng P., Wan J., Zhang D., Vasilakos A. V., & Rong X., (2015).
Data mining for the internet of things: Literature review and challenges,
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 11 431047.
Christidis, K. & Devetsikiotis, M., (2016). Blockchains and Smart
Contracts for the Internet of Things, IEEE Access, 4, 2016, pp. 2292–2303.
Dataflair team, (2018). Advantages and disadvantages of Blockchain
Technology (online). Available from: https://dataflair.training/blogs/advantages-
and-disadvantages-of-blockchain/
Dorri A., Kanhere S. S., & Jurdak R., (2017). Blockchain in internet of
things: challenges and solutions, arXiv preprint, arXiv:1608.05187.
Düdder, B. and Ross, O., (2017). Timber tracking: Reducing complexity
of due diligence by using blockchain technology (position paper). CEUR
Workshop Proceedings (2017).
Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J., Reijers, H., (2018).
Fundamentals of Business Process Management. Springer Berlin, Berlin.
Fanning, K. & D.P., Centers, (2016). Blockchain and Its Coming Impact
on Financial Services”, Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 27(5), pp.
53–57.

14
 Forrest P., (2016). Blockchain and non-financial services use
cases.Linkedin.https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blockchain-non-financial-
services-use-cases-paul-forrest.
Gates M., (2017). Blockchain: Ultimate guide to understanding
blockchain, bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, smart contracts and the future of money.
Create Space Independent Publishing Platform, 2017.
Glaser, F. & Bezzenberger, L., (2015). Beyond Cryptocurrencies—A
Taxonomy of Decentralized Consensus Systems. 23rd European Conference
on Information Systems, Munster, 1-18.
Iansiti, M., & Lakhani, K. R., (2017). The truth about blockchain. Harvard
Business Review, 95(1), 118-127.
Marsal-Llacuna & Maria-Lluïsa (2017). Future living framework: Is
blockchain the next enabling network? Technological Forecasting and Social
Change. December (Dec. 2017), 0–1.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.12.005.
Mettler M., (2016). Blockchain technology in healthcare: the revolution
starts here.IEEE 18th International Conference on e-Health
Networking, September 14–16. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE.
Milani, F.P., L. García-Bañuelos, and Dumas M., (2016). Blockchain and
Business Process Improvement.
M. O’ Dair & Beaven Z., (2017). The Networked Record Industry: How
Blockchain Technology Could Transform the Record Industry. Strategic
Chamnge 26, no. 5, 472-480.
Morrison A., (2016). Blockchain and smart contract automation: How
smart contracts automate digital business.
http://www.pwc.com/us/en/technology-forecast/blockchain/digital-
business.html
He D, Habermeier K, Leckow R, Haksar V, Almeida Y, Kashima M,
Kyriakos-Saad N, Oura H, Sedik TS, Stetsenko N, and Verdugo-Yepes C.,
(2016). Virtual Currencies and Beyond: Initial Considerations (No. 16/3).
International Monetary Fund. Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Hou, H., (2017). The application of blockchain technology in E-
government in China. 2017 26th International Conference on Computer
Communications and Networks, ICCCN 2017, 1–4.
Hull, R., (2017). Blockchain: Distributed event-based processing in a
data-centric world. Proceedings of the 11th ACM International Conference on
Distributed and Event-based Systems, DEBS 2017, Barcelona, Spain, June 19-
23.
Ølnes, S. et al. (2017). Blockchain in government: Benefits and
implications of distributed ledger technology for information sharing.
Government Information Quarterly. 34, 3 (Oct. 2017), 355–364.
Joichi I., Neha N., & Robleh A., (2017). The Blockchain Will Do to the
Financial System What the Internet Did to Media. Harvard Business Review.
Nakamoto S., (2008). Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
Porru, S., Pinna, A., Marchesi, M., & Tonelli, R., (2017). Blockchain-
Oriented Software Engineering: Challenges and New Directions”, 39th
International Conference on Software Engineering Companion, pp. 169–171.
Pourmirza, S., Peters, S., Dijkman, R., Grefen, P., (2017). A systematic
literature review on the architecture of business process management systems.
Information Systems 66, 43-58.

15
 Savelyev S. (2017). Contract law 2.0:‘Smart’contracts as the beginning
of the end of classic contract law. Information & Communications Technology
Law.
Schatsky D. and Muraskin C., (2015). Beyond Bitcoin. Blockchain is
coming to disrupt your industry. Deloitte University Press.
Swan M., (2015). Blockchain: Blueprint for a new economy. O'Reilly
Media, Inc, Sebastopol, CA, U.S.A.
Tapscott, D., & Tapscott, A., (2016). Blockchain Revolution: How the
Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business and the World. New
York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Tapscott D, Tapscott A., (2016). The impact of the blockchain goes
beyond financial services.Harvard Business Review.
Understanding the basics of blockchain in government | Deloitte Insights
(2017),https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/public-
sector/understandingbasics-of-blockchain-in-government.html. Accessed:
2018-01-09.
Walport M., (2016). Distributed Ledger Technology: Beyond Blockchain.
UK Government Office for Science, Tech. Rep, pp. 19.
Weber, I., X. Xu, R. Riveret, G. Governatori, A. Ponomarev, and J.
Mendling, (2016). Untrusted Business Process Monitoring and Execution Using
Blockchain. Springer, Cham, 9850.
Yli-Huumo, J. et al., (2016). Where is current research on Blockchain
technology? A systematic review. PLoS ONE. 11, 10 (Oct. 2016), e0163477.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163477.

16

View publication stats