Skip to main content

Blockchain for Business Applications: A Systematic Literature Review

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Book cover Business Information Systems (BIS 2018)

Abstract

Blockchain technology is widely known as the technological basis on which bitcoin is built. This technology has created high expectations, as transactions of every kind are executed in a decentralized way, without the need of a trusted third-party. Blockchain real business applications are currently limited mostly to financial services but many R&D projects in companies and corporations try to amplify the areas of blockchain implementation. In this paper, we conduct a systematic survey with the aim of pointing out the areas in which blockchain technology applications and services are being developed both in the public and private sector. In the results, we discuss the disruptive effect that this technology could bring to various business sectors as well as the concerns regarding the development of the blockchain technology.

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
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

Institutional subscriptions

References

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

    Google Scholar 

  2. Suhaliana bt Abd Halim, N., Rahman, M.A., Azad, S., Kabir, M.N.: Blockchain security hole: issues and solutions. In: Saeed, F., Gazem, N., Patnaik, S., Saed Balaid, A.S., Mohammed, F. (eds.) IRICT 2017. LNDECT, vol. 5, pp. 739–746. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59427-9_76

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  3. Bhardwaj, S., Kaushik, M.: Blockchain—technology to drive the future. In: Satapathy, S.C., Bhateja, V., Das, S. (eds.) Smart Computing and Informatics. SIST, vol. 78, pp. 263–271. Springer, Singapore (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59427-9_76

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Ølnes, S., Jansen, A.: Blockchain technology as s support infrastructure in e-government. In: Janssen, M., Axelsson, K., Glassey, O., Klievink, B., Krimmer, R., Lindgren, I., Parycek, P., Scholl, Hans J., Trutnev, D. (eds.) EGOV 2017. LNCS, vol. 10428, pp. 215–227. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64677-0_18

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. García-Bañuelos, L., Ponomarev, A., Dumas, M., Weber, I.: Optimized execution of business processes on blockchain. In: Carmona, J., Engels, G., Kumar, A. (eds.) BPM 2017. LNCS, vol. 10445, pp. 130–146. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65000-5_8

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  6. Probst, L., Frideres, L., Cambier, B., Martinez-Diaz, C.: PwC Luxemburg: Blockchain Applications and Services, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Union (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bloomberg Article. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-17/goldman-google-make-list-of-most-active-blockchain-investors. Accessed 21 Dec 2018

  8. Keele, S.: Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. Technical report, Ver. 2.3 EBSE Technical report. EBSE (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  9. O’Leary, K., O’Reilly, P., Feller, J., Gleasure, R., Li, S., Cristoforo, J.: Exploring the application of blockchain technology to combat the effects of social loafing in cross functional group projects. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Open Collaboration - OpenSym 2017 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3125433.3125464

  10. Wu, T., Liang, X.: Exploration and practice of inter-bank application based on blockchain. In: 2017 12th International Conference on Computer Science and Education (ICCSE) (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Wu, L., Meng, K., Xu, S., Li, S., Ding, M., Suo, Y.: Democratic centralism: a hybrid blockchain architecture and its applications in energy internet. In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Energy Internet (ICEI) (2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICEI.2017.38

  12. Bocek, T., Rodrigues, B., Strasser, T., Stiller, B.: Blockchains everywhere - a use-case of blockchains in the pharma supply-chain. In: 2017 IFIP/IEEE Symposium on Integrated Network and Service Management (IM) (2017). https://doi.org/10.23919/INM.2017.7987376

  13. Shae, Z., Tsai, J.: On the design of a blockchain platform for clinical trial and precision medicine. In: 2017 IEEE 37th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS) (2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDCS.2017.61

  14. Toyoda, K., Mathiopoulos, P., Sasase, I., Ohtsuki, T.: A novel blockchain-based Product Ownership Management System (POMS) for anti-counterfeits in the post supply chain. IEEE Access 5, 17465–17477 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2720760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Zhang, J., Xue, N., Huang, X.: A secure system for pervasive social network-based healthcare. IEEE Access 4, 9239–9250 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Tsai, W., Blower, R., Zhu, Y., Yu, L.: A system view of financial blockchains. In: 2016 IEEE Symposium on Service-Oriented System Engineering (SOSE) (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Munsing, E., Mather, J., Moura, S.: Blockchains for decentralized optimization of energy resources in microgrid networks. In: 2017 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA) (2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/CCTA.2017.8062773

  18. Mettler, M.: Blockchain technology in healthcare: the revolution starts here. In: 2016 IEEE 18th International Conference on e-Health Networking, Applications and Services (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kshetri, N.: Blockchain’s roles in strengthening cybersecurity and protecting privacy. Telecommun. Policy 41, 1027–1038 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2017.09.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Sikorski, J., Haughton, J., Kraft, M.: Blockchain technology in the chemical industry: machine-to-machine electricity market. Appl. Energy 195, 234–246 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Castellanos, J., Coll-Mayor, D., Notholt, J.: Cryptocurrency as guarantees of origin: simulating a green certificate market with the Ethereum Blockchain. In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Smart Energy Grid Engineering (SEGE) (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Aitzhan, N.Z., Svetinovic, D.: Security and privacy in decentralized energy trading through multi-signatures, blockchain and anonymous messaging streams. IEEE Trans. Dependable Secure Comput. 1 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1109/TDSC.2016.2616861

  23. Imbault, F., Swiatek, M., de Beaufort, R., Plana, R.: The green blockchain: managing decentralized energy production and consumption. In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering and 2017 IEEE Industrial and Commercial Power Systems Europe (EEEIC/I&CPS Europe) (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Hou, H.: The application of blockchain technology in e-government in China. In: 2017 26th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN) (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Dubovitskaya, A., Xu, Z., Ryu, S., Schumacher, M., Wang, F.: How blockchain could empower ehealth: an application for radiation oncology. In: Begoli, E., Wang, F., Luo, G. (eds.) DMAH 2017. LNCS, vol. 10494, pp. 3–6. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67186-4_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  26. Ølnes, S.: Beyond bitcoin enabling smart government using blockchain technology. In: Scholl, H.J., Glassey, O., Janssen, M., Klievink, B., Lindgren, I., Parycek, P., Tambouris, E., Wimmer, Maria A., Janowski, T., Sá Soares, D. (eds.) EGOVIS 2016. LNCS, vol. 9820, pp. 253–264. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44421-5_20

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  27. Alboaie, S., Cosovan, D.: Private data system enabling self-sovereign storage managed by executable choreographies. In: Chen, L.Y., Reiser, H.P. (eds.) DAIS 2017. LNCS, vol. 10320, pp. 83–98. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59665-5_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  28. Grumbach, S., Riemann, R.: Distributed random process for a large-scale peer-to-peer lottery. In: Chen, L.Y., Reiser, H.P. (eds.) DAIS 2017. LNCS, vol. 10320, pp. 34–48. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59665-5_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  29. Wijaya, D.A., Liu, J.K., Suwarsono, D.A., Zhang, P.: A new blockchain-based value-added tax system. In: Okamoto, T., Yu, Y., Au, M.H., Li, Y. (eds.) ProvSec 2017. LNCS, vol. 10592, pp. 471–486. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68637-0_28

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  30. Zhao, Z., Chan, T.-H.H.: How to vote privately using bitcoin. In: Qing, S., Okamoto, E., Kim, K., Liu, D. (eds.) ICICS 2015. LNCS, vol. 9543, pp. 82–96. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29814-6_8

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  31. Sun, J., Yan, J., Zhang, K.: Blockchain-based sharing services: what blockchain technology can contribute to smart cities. Finan. Innov. 2 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Polyzos, G., Fotiou, N.: Blockchain-assisted information distribution for the Internet of Things. In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Information Reuse and Integration (IRI)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Hyvärinen, H., Risius, M., Friis, G.: A blockchain-based approach towards overcoming financial fraud in public sector services. Bus. Inform. Syst. Eng. 59, 441–456 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-017-0502-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Zhao, H., Zhang, Y., Peng, Y., Xu, R.: Lightweight backup and efficient recovery scheme for health blockchain keys. In: 2017 IEEE 13th International Symposium on Autonomous Decentralized System (ISADS) (2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/ISADS.2017.22

  35. Guo, Y., Liang, C.: Blockchain application and outlook in the banking industry. Finan. Innov. 2 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-016-0034-9

  36. Zhao, J., Fan, S., Yan, J.: Overview of business innovations and research opportunities in blockchain and introduction to the special issue. Finan. Innov. 2 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Mengelkamp, E., Notheisen, B., Beer, C., Dauer, D., Weinhardt, C.: A blockchain-based smart grid: towards sustainable local energy markets. Comput. Sci. Res. Dev. 33, 207–214 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00450-017-0360-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Augot, D., Chabanne, H., Chenevier, T., George, W., Lambert, L.: A user-centric system for verified identities on the bitcoin blockchain. In: Garcia-Alfaro, J., Navarro-Arribas, G., Hartenstein, H., Herrera-Joancomartí, J. (eds.) ESORICS/DPM/CBT -2017. LNCS, vol. 10436, pp. 390–407. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67816-0_22

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  39. Liu, P.T.S.: Medical record system using blockchain, big data and tokenization. In: Lam, K.-Y., Chi, C.-H., Qing, S. (eds.) ICICS 2016. LNCS, vol. 9977, pp. 254–261. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50011-9_20

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  40. Azouvi, S., Al-Bassam, M., Meiklejohn, S.: Who Am I? secure identity registration on distributed ledgers. In: Garcia-Alfaro, J., Navarro-Arribas, G., Hartenstein, H., Herrera-Joancomartí, J. (eds.) ESORICS/DPM/CBT -2017. LNCS, vol. 10436, pp. 373–389. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67816-0_21

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  41. Bashir, M., Strickland, B., Bohr, J.: What motivates people to use bitcoin? In: Spiro, E., Ahn, Y.-Y. (eds.) SocInfo 2016. LNCS, vol. 10047, pp. 347–367. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47874-6_25

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  42. Vandervort, D., Gaucas, D., Jacques, R.S.: Issues in designing a bitcoin-like community currency. In: Brenner, M., Christin, N., Johnson, B., Rohloff, K. (eds.) FC 2015. LNCS, vol. 8976, pp. 78–91. Springer, Heidelberg (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48051-9_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  43. Lamberti, F., Gatteschi, V., Demartini, C., Pranteda, C., Santamaria, V.: Blockchain or not blockchain, that is the question of the insurance and other sectors. IT Professional 1 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  44. Vo, H., Mehedy, L., Mohania, M., Abebe, E.: Blockchain-based data management and analytics for micro-insurance applications. In: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM on Conference on Information and Knowledge Management - CIKM 2017 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Turk, Ž., Klinc, R.: Potentials of blockchain technology for construction management. Procedia Eng. 196, 638–645 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.08.052

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Steger, M., Dorri, A., Kanhere, S., Römer, K., Jurdak, R., Karner, M.: Secure Wireless Automotive Software Updates Using Blockchains: a proof of concept. Adv. Microsyst. Autom. Appl. 2017, 137–149 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  47. Rimba, P., Tran, A., Weber, I., Staples, M., Ponomarev, A., Xu, X.: Comparing blockchain and cloud services for business process execution. In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA) (2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSA.2017.44

  48. Forbes article. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/09/21/whats-holding-blockchain-back-from-large-scale-adoption/#267d559d2309

  49. Conoscenti, M., Vetrò, A., De Martin, J.C.: Blockchain for the Internet of Things: a systematic literature review, pp. 1–6 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  50. Xu, Y., Li, Q., Min, X., Cui, L., Xiao, Z., Kong, L.: E-commerce blockchain consensus mechanism for supporting high-throughput and real-time transaction. In: Wang, S., Zhou, A. (eds.) CollaborateCom 2016. LNICST, vol. 201, pp. 490–496. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59288-6_46

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  51. Delmolino, K., Arnett, M., Kosba, A., Miller, A., Shi, E.: Step by step towards creating a safe smart contract: lessons and insights from a cryptocurrency lab. In: Clark, J., Meiklejohn, S., Ryan, P.Y.A., Wallach, D., Brenner, M., Rohloff, K. (eds.) FC 2016. LNCS, vol. 9604, pp. 79–94. Springer, Heidelberg (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53357-4_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  52. ISO. https://www.iso.org/committee/6266604.html

  53. Roadmap for blockchain standards – Report. http://www.standards.org.au/OurOrganisation/News/Documents/Roadmap_for_Blockchain_Standards_report.pdf

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ioannis Konstantinidis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Konstantinidis, I., Siaminos, G., Timplalexis, C., Zervas, P., Peristeras, V., Decker, S. (2018). Blockchain for Business Applications: A Systematic Literature Review. In: Abramowicz, W., Paschke, A. (eds) Business Information Systems. BIS 2018. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 320. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93931-5_28

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93931-5_28

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93930-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93931-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics