Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on Business Process Management

BPM 2021: Business Process Management: Blockchain and Robotic Process Automation Forum pp 102–118Cite as

Enhancing Blockchain-Based Processes with Decentralized Oracles

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 428))

Abstract

The automation of business processes via blockchain-based systems allows for trust, reliability and accountability of execution. The link that connects modules that operate within the on-chain sphere and the off-chain world is key as processes often involve the handling of physical entities and external services. The components that create that link are named oracles. Numerous studies on oracles and their implementations are arising in the literature. Nevertheless, their availability, integrity and trust could be undermined if centralized architectures are adopted, as taking over an oracle could produce the effect of a supply-chain attack on the whole system. Solutions are emerging that overcome this issue by turning the architecture underneath the oracles into a distributed one. In this paper, we investigate the design and application of oracles, distinguishing their adoption for the in-flow or out-flow of information and according to the initiator of the exchange (hence, pull- or push-based).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.gnosis.io/ Accessed: July 14, 2021.

  2. 2.

    https://augur.net/ Accessed: July 14, 2021.

  3. 3.

    https://chain.link/ Accessed: July 14, 2021.

  4. 4.

    The implemented prototypes of the oracles used in the experiments are available at: https://github.com/DavideBasile1810355/Decentralized_Oracles/.

  5. 5.

    Rospten explorer: https://ropsten.etherscan.io/. Accessed: July 14, 2021.

  6. 6.

    Solid Web: https://solid.mit.edu. Accessed: July 14, 2021.

References

  1. Ahram, T., Sargolzaei, A., Sargolzaei, S., Daniels, J., Amaba, B.: Blockchain technology innovations. In: 2017 IEEE Technology Engineering Management Conference (TEMSCON), pp. 137–141 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Al-Breiki, H., Rehman, M.H.U., Salah, K., Svetinovic, D.: Trustworthy blockchain oracles: review, comparison, and open research challenges. IEEE Access 8, 85675–85685 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Beniiche, A.: A study of blockchain oracles. CoRR abs/2004.07140 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Breidenbach, L., Cachin, C., et al.: Chainlink 2.0: next steps in the evolution of decentralized oracle networks (2021). https://research.chain.link/whitepaper-v2.pdf

  5. Buterin, V., et al.: A next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform. White paper 3(37) (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Cai, T., Yang, Z., Chen, W., Zheng, Z., Yu, Y.: A blockchain-assisted trust access authentication system for solid. IEEE Access 8, 71605–71616 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Dannen, C.: Introducing Ethereum and Solidity: Foundations of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Programming for Beginners, 1st edn. Apress, New York (2017)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  8. Diii Ciccio, C., et al.: Blockchain support for collaborative business processes. Inform. Spektrum 42(3), 182–190 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A.: Fundamentals of Business Process Management. 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56509-4

  10. Feig, E.: A framework for blockchain-based applications. CoRR abs/1803.00892 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hens, P., Snoeck, M., De Backer, M., Poels, G.: Decentralized event-based orchestration. In: zur Muehlen, M., Su, J. (eds.) BPM 2010. LNBIP, vol. 66, pp. 695–706. Springer, Heidelberg (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20511-8_63

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Hu, Y., et al.: The use of smart contracts and challenges. CoRR abs/1810.04699 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Ladleif, J., Weber, I., Weske, M.: External data monitoring using oracles in blockchain-based process execution. In: Asatiani, A., García, J.M., Helander, N., Jiménez-Ramírez, A., Koschmider, A., Mendling, J., Meroni, G., Reijers, H.A. (eds.) BPM 2020. LNBIP, vol. 393, pp. 67–81. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58779-6_5

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  14. Lo, S.K., Xu, X., Staples, M., Yao, L.: Reliability analysis for blockchain oracles. Comput. Electr. Eng. 83, 106582 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Mammadzada, K., Iqbal, M., Milani, F., García-Bañuelos, L., Matulevičius, R.: Blockchain oracles: a framework for blockchain-based applications. In: Asatiani, A., et al. (eds.) BPM 2020. LNBIP, vol. 393, pp. 19–34. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58779-6_2

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Mendling, J., Weber, I., van der Aalst, W.M.P., vom Brocke, J., Cabanillas, C., et al.: Blockchains for business process management - challenges and opportunities. ACM Trans. Manag. Inf. Syst. 9(1), 4:1–4:16 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Moantly, D.: Ethereum for Architects and Developers: With Case Studies and Code Samples in Solidity. Apress, New York (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Mühlberger, R., et al.: Foundational Oracle Patterns: Connecting Blockchain to the Off-Chain World. In: Asatiani, A., et al. (eds.) BPM 2020. LNBIP, vol. 393, pp. 35–51. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58779-6_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  19. Nakamoto, S.: Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Technical report (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Nofer, M., Gomber, P., Hinz, O., Schiereck, D.: Blockchain. Bus. Inf. Syst. Eng. 59(3), 183–187 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Nóbrega, T., Pires, C.E.S., Nascimento, D.C.: Blockchain-based privacy-preserving record linkage: enhancing data privacy in an untrusted environment. Inf. Syst. 102, 101826 (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ohm, M., Plate, H., Sykosch, A., Meier, M.: Backstabber’s knife collection: a review of open source software supply chain attacks. CoRR abs/2005.09535 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Tijan, E., Aksentijevic, S., Ivanić, K., Jardas, M.: Blockchain technology implementation in logistics. Sustainability 11, 1185 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Xu, X., et al.: The blockchain as a software connector. In: WICSA, pp. 182–191. IEEE Computer Society (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Xu, X., Pautasso, C., Zhu, L., Lu, Q., Weber, I.: A pattern collection for blockchain-based applications. In: EuroPLoP, pp. 3:1–3:20. ACM (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Zheng, Z., Xie, S., Dai, H., Chen, X., Wang, H.: An overview of blockchain technology: architecture, consensus, and future trends. In: BigData Congress, pp. 557–564. IEEE Computer Society (2017)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the reviewers for their precious feedback. The work of C. Di Ciccio was partially funded by the MIUR under grant “Dipartimenti di eccellenza 2018–2022” of the Department of Computer Science at Sapienza and by the Sapienza research project “SPECTRA”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Davide Basile, Valerio Goretti & Claudio Di Ciccio

  2. Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria

    Sabrina Kirrane

Authors
  1. Davide Basile
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Valerio Goretti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Claudio Di Ciccio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sabrina Kirrane
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudio Di Ciccio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Seville, Spain

    José González Enríquez

  2. IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Søren Debois

  3. German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Peter Fettke

  4. Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Pierluigi Plebani

  5. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Inge van de Weerd

  6. TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Ingo Weber

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Basile, D., Goretti, V., Di Ciccio, C., Kirrane, S. (2021). Enhancing Blockchain-Based Processes with Decentralized Oracles. In: González Enríquez, J., Debois, S., Fettke, P., Plebani, P., van de Weerd, I., Weber, I. (eds) Business Process Management: Blockchain and Robotic Process Automation Forum. BPM 2021. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 428. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85867-4_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85867-4_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-85866-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-85867-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation