Blockchain

i
Telegram Channel @nettrain

Blockchain Technology and
Applications

Blockchain Technology and
Applications
Edited by
Pethuru Raj
Kavita Saini
Chellammal Surianarayanan

First Edition published 2021
by CRC Press
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Contents
Editors................................................................................................................vii
Contributors........................................................................................................ix
1 Distributed Computing and/or Distributed Database Systems..............1

K. P. ARJUN, N. M. SREENARAYANAN, K. SAMPATH KUMAR,
AND R. VISWANATHAN
2 Blockchain Components and Concept..................................................21

M. R. MANU, NAMYA MUSTHAFA, B. BALAMURUGAN,
AND RAHUL CHAUHAN
3 Blockchain and IoT Security.................................................................51

D. PETER AUGUSTINE AND PETHURU RAJ
4 Consensus Algorithms – A Survey.........................................................65

R. INDRAKUMARI, T. POONGODI, KAVITA SAINI,
AND B. BALAMURUGAN
5 Optimized Digital Transformation in Government Services

with Blockchain....................................................................................79
R. SUJATHA, C. NAVANEETHAN, RAJESH KALURI,
AND S. PRASANNA
6 Blockchain and Social Media..............................................................101

SAUGATA DUTTA AND KAVITA SAINI
7 Assessing Security Features of Blockchain Technology......................115

T. SUBHA
8 Merger of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain................................139

POOJA SAIGAL
9 Identification of Blockchain-Enabled Opportunities

and Their Business Values: Interoperability of Blockchain ................159
N.S. GOWRI GANESH
v
vi ◾ Contents
10 Enabling Digital Twin through Blockchain: A Strategic

Perspective...........................................................................................185
RITIKA WASON, BROTO RAUTH BHARDWAJ, AND VISHAL JAIN
11 Blockchain for Securing Internet of Things (IoT) Applications..........213

PRAMOD MATHEW JACOB AND PRASANNA MANI
12 Bitcoins and Crimes ...........................................................................223

M. VIVEK ANAND, T. POONGODI, AND KAVITA SAINI
Index............................................................................................................247

Editors
Pethuru Raj works as the chief architect in the Site

Reliability Engineering (SRE) division of Reliance Jio
Infocomm Ltd. (RJIL), Bangalore. He previously worked as
a cloud infrastructure architect in the IBM Global Cloud
Center of Excellence (CoE), IBM India Bangalore for four
years. Prior to that, he had a long stint as a TOGAF-certified
enterprise architecture (EA) consultant in Wipro Consulting
Services (WCS) Division. He also worked as a lead architect
in the corporate research (CR) division of Robert Bosch,
Bangalore. In total, he has gained more than 17 years of IT industry experience
and 8 years of research experience.
He finished the CSIR-sponsored PhD degree at Anna University, Chennai,
and continued with the UGC-sponsored postdoctoral research in the Department
of Computer Science and Automation, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Thereafter, he was granted a couple of international research fellowships (JSPS and
JST) to work as a research scientist for 3.5 years in two leading Japanese univer-
sities. He has published more than 30 research papers in peer-reviewed journals
such as IEEE, ACM, Springer-Verlag, Inderscience, etc. He has contributed 35
book chapters thus far for various technology books edited by highly acclaimed and
accomplished professors and professionals.
Kavita Saini is presently working as an associate professor,

School of Computing Science and Engineering, Galgotias
University, India. She received a PhD degree from Banasthali
Vidyapeeth, Banasthali. She has 16 years of teaching and
research experience and supervising M.Tech. and PhD
scholars in various areas.
Her research interests include web-based instructional
systems (WBIs), software engineering, blockchain, and
database. She has published various books for UG and PG
courses for various universities including M.D. University,
Rohtak, and Punjab Technical University, Jallandhar.
vii
viii ◾ Editors
She has published 22 research papers in national and international journals

and conferences and delivered a technical talk on “Blockchain: An Emerging
Technology,” “Web to Deep Web,” and other emerging areas.
Chellammal Surianarayanan is an assistant professor of

Computer Science in Bharathidasan University Constituent
Arts & Science College, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu,
India. She earned Master of Science in Physics, Master of
Technology in Information Technology, and a doctorate in
computer science. She worked on the discovery and selection
of semantic web services. She has published research papers
in Springer Service-Oriented Computing and Applications,
IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, International
Journal of Computational Science, Inderscience and SCIT
Journal (Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology), etc. She has produced
book chapters with IGI Global and CRC Press. She is a life member in professional
bodies such as the Computer Society of India, IAENG, etc.
Before coming to academic service, Chellammal Surianarayanan served as
Scientific Officer in the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Department
of Atomic Energy, Government of India, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India. She was
involved in the research and development of various need-based embedded sys-
tems and software applications. Her remarkable contributions include the develop-
ment of an embedded system for a lead shield integrity assessment system, portable
automatic air sampling equipment, an embedded system of detection of lymphatic
filariasis in its early stage, and the development of data-logging software applica-
tions for atmospheric dispersion studies. In total, she has 21+ years of academic and
industrial experience

Contributors
M. Vivek Anand is a research scholar in the Department of

CSE, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh,
India. He received an M.E. in Software Engineering from
Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in 2013, and a
Bachelor of Engineering in the stream of Computer Science
from Anna University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in 2011.
He has more than five years of teaching experience. His
research interests are the Internet of Things and blockchain.
K. P. Arjun is a research scholar in the Department of

CSE, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh,
India. He received an M.Tech. in Computer Science and
Engineering from the University of Calicut, Kerala, in 2016.
His research interests are big data analytics, cloud comput-
ing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learn-
ing. He has authored over five research papers in various
national and international journals and conferences. His
publications are indexed in SCI, Scopus, Web of Science,
DBLP and Google Scholar.
D. Peter Augustine is presently working as associate profes-

sor, Department of Computer Science, at CHRIST (Deemed
to be University). He received a B.Sc. degree from St.
Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, in 1997, an M.C.A. degree
from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli,
in 2000, and completed his doctorate degree at CHRIST
(Deemed to be University), Bangalore. He has overall expe-
rience of 19 years with 3 years in industry, and 16 years in
the teaching field. His research interests include cloud com-
puting, medical image processing and big data analytics. He
has published papers in Scopus-indexed international journals and conferences.
ix
x ◾ Contributors
His research interests include artificial intelligence, IoT and big data analysis in the
area of healthcare and data mining, and human computer interaction. He has writ-
ten chapters for books focusing on some of the emerging technologies such as IoT,
data analytics and science, blockchain and digital twin.
B. Balamurugan completed his PhD at VIT University,

Vellore, and is currently working as a Professor in Galgotias
University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He has 15 years
of teaching experience in the field of computer science.
His area of interest lies in the fields of the Internet of
Things, big data and networking. He has published more
than 100 international journal papers and contributed book
chapters.
Broto Rauth Bhardwaj works as Head, Research and

Entrepreneurship Development at Bharati Vidyapeeth
University, New Delhi. She completed her post-doctoral the-
sis at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA.
She has a PhD and MBA from IIT, Delhi. A gold medal-
ist from IIT Delhi, she has more than 16 years of indus-
try and teaching experience. She has published more than
100 papers in national and international journals. She
has eight PhD scholars under her. One of them has been
awarded and two have submitted their theses. She has orga-
nized management development programs, faculty development programs and
motivational programs for the US government and has undertaken such assign-
ments with Hopkins County College, USA.
Rahul Chauhan is currently a student and pursuing a

B.Tech. in Computer Science from Galgotias University,
Uttar Pradesh, India. He is also pursuing a specialization
in Data Analytics. He is currently in the team of bdverse,
where he is developing a package to analyze biodiversity
data. His area of interest is data science and making voice-
based applications. He was selected in Google Summer of
Code 2019 and is currently an Alexa Student Influencer. He
loves teaching and has conducted hundreds of workshops
all over India. He is currently working on creating a shiny
dashboard that allows a non-technical person to use the capabilities of R in visual-
izing datasets.

Contributors ◾ xi
Saugata Dutta received his Bachelor of Computer Science

from Alagappa University, Tamil Nadu, India, and received
his Master of Computer Science from Punjab Technical
University, Punjab, India. He has four publications in
the field of network security and blockchain technology.
He is presently doing research in blockchain technology
at Galgotias University, Greater Noida, India, and is asso-
ciated with an IT company as Head of Department in
Information Technology.
N. S. Gowri Ganesh received his B.E. degree in Electronics

and Communication Engineering and M.E. in Computer
Science and Engineering from Bharathiar University,
Coimbatore, India, in 1993 and 2000, respectively, as well
as a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from Anna
University, Chennai, in 2015.
In 1993, he joined the Numeric Power Systems Ltd., an
uninterrupted power supply manufacturing industry and
worked in the Research and Development, Production and
Quality Department. He worked as Senior Technical sup-
port engineer for technical support (offshore) cases for Sybase Inc. He worked as a
Lecturer at the Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India,
and R.R. Engineering College, Tiruchengode, India, between 2001 and 2004. In
2004, he worked as Senior Lecturer at Siva Subramania Nadar College, Chennai,
India. He joined the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)
as Senior Engineer in 2006. He worked in various open source projects and was
involved with the first seed version of the Indian version of Linux – BOSS (www.
bosslinux.in). He was the SEPG Head for acquiring CMMI Level 3 for C-DAC,
Chennai, India. He is presently working as Professor and Head of Department of
Information Technology, at Malla Reddy College of Engineering and Technology,
Hyderabad, India, from 2016. He is a Life Member of the Indian Society for
Technical Education (ISTE). He is also a member of the International Association
of Engineers (IAENG) and Computer Science Teachers association (CSTeachers.
org). He was one of the coordinators for the First International Conference on Soft
Computing and Signal Processing (ICSCSP 2018) that Springer held at the Malla
Reddy College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad. His research interests
are cloud computing, Provenance, Blockchain, IoT, and web services.

xii ◾ Contributors
R. Indrakumari is presently working as assistant profes-

sor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, at
Galgotias University, Uttar Pradesh, India. She received a
B.E. degree from Madurai Kamaraj University, India, in
2001 and an M.Tech. in Computer Science and Information
Technology from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University,
Tirunelveli. She has overall experience of 15 years, with 4
years in industry and 11 years in the teaching field. Her
research interests include data mining, big data, data ware-
housing and tools like Tableau and QlikView. She has pub-
lished papers in international journals and conferences.
Pramod Mathew Jacob completed his B.Tech. in

Computer Science and Engineering from Kerala University,
Thiruvananthapuram, India. He possesses an M.Tech. in
Software Engineering from SRM Institute of Science and
Technology, Chennai, India. Presently he is working as
assistant professor in Providence College of Engineering,
Chengannur, Kerala, India. He is also pursuing a PhD at
Vellore Institute of Technology (Deemed to be University),
Vellore, India. He has teaching experience of six years and research experience of
three years. He has published ten papers in various international journals and con-
ferences. His areas of interest include software engineering, software testing and
the Internet of Things.
Vishal Jain is currently working as associate professor with

Bharati Vidyapeeth’s Institute of Computer Applications
and Management (BVICAM), New Delhi, Affiliated to
GGSIPU and Accredited by AICTE, from July, 2017
to date. He joined BVICAM, New Delhi, in 2020 and
worked as Assistant Professor from August, 2010, to July,
2017. He received the Young Active Member award for the
year 2012/2013 from the Computer Society of India. His
research areas include the semantic web, ontology engineering, cloud computing,
big data analytics and ad-hoc networks.

Contributors ◾ xiii
Rajesh Kaluri completed his PhD in Computer Vision at

VIT University, India. He obtained a B.Tech. in CSE from
JNTU, Hyderabad, India, and did an M.Tech. in CSE from
ANU, Guntur, India. Currently he is working as an assistant
professor (senior) in the School of Information Technology
and Engineering, VIT University, India. He has 8.5 years
of teaching experience. He was a visiting professor in
Guangdong University of Technology, China, in 2015 and
2016. His current research is in the areas of computer vision
and human–computer interaction. He has published research papers in various
reputed international journals.
K. Sampath Kumar is a professor in the School of

Computing Science and Engineering, Galgotias University,
Greater Noida, UP, NCR Delhi, India. He completed his
PhD in Data Mining from Anna University, Chennai,
India, and obtained his M.E. from Sathyabama University,
Chennai, India, in 2005. He has over 17 years of teaching
experience. His expertise is in big data, cloud computing,
IoT, artificial intelligence and real-time systems. He has
published more than 50 research articles in international
journals and conferences.
Prasanna Mani completed his M.S. in Computer Science

and Engineering and received his doctorate in Software
Engineering, both from Anna University, Chennai, India.
Presently he is working as Associate Professor in Vellore
Institute of Technology (Deemed to be University), Vellore,
Tamil Nadu, India. He possesses teaching experience of
about 20 years from various reputed colleges and universi-
ties. He has published nearly 25 papers in various national
and international journals. He is guiding research scholars
in the area of software testing and is an eminent reviewer of various international
journals. He has also authored a book for cracking interview questions of C pro-
gramming. His areas of interest include software engineering, software testing, the
Internet of Things, etc.

xiv ◾ Contributors
M. R. Manu is currently working as a Computer Science

Teacher in the Ministry of Education, Abudabi, UAE.
He worked as an assistant professor in the School of
NCR Delhi, India. He completed an M.E. in Computer
Science and Engineering from Anna University Taramani
Campus, Tamil Nadu, India, and is currently pursuing a
PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from Galgotias
University, NCR Delhi, India. His areas of interest are big
data, networks and network security. He has undertaken
different research projects in networks specialization and published 16 papers in
various international and national journals. He is currently writing a monograph
and book chapters with CRC Press, Springer, and Elsevier publishers.
Namya Musthafa is currently pursuing an M.E. in

Computer Science and Engineering from the Royal College
of Engineering and Technology, Kerala, India, where she
received a B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering in
2017. Her areas of interest are big data and machine learn-
ing. She has published in around three international journals
indexed by Scopus.
C. Navaneethan is currently working as associate professor

in the School of Information Technology and Engineering,
Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.
He pursued his undergraduate degree in Engineering with
Computer Science and Engineering as Specialization in
April 2004. He was awarded Honors in his M.E. CSE in
July 2006 and completed his PhD in wireless sensor net-
works from Anna University, Chennai, India, in 2017. He
has published and presented in many national and interna-
tional journals/conferences. His current areas of research
activities include wireless sensor networks and network security. He is a research
paper reviewer in conferences at the national and international levels and also a life
member in professional bodies like ISCA, IAENG, IACSIT and CSTA.

Contributors ◾ xv
Pooja Saigal is presently working as associate professor,

School of Information Technology, at Vivekananda Institute
of Professional Studies (affiliated to GGSIP University),
New Delhi, India. She received her PhD degree in Machine
Learning from South Asian University (established by
SAARC), New Delhi, India, in 2018. She holds a Master’s
degree (2004) and Bachelor’s degree (2001) in Computer
Applications. She is University Topper of M.C.A. class of 2004 and was awarded a
Gold Medal by the erstwhile President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, for her out-
standing performance in the M.C.A. program. She got Distinction in all 32 courses
of her M.C.A. She secured First Rank in University in her B.C.A. and was awarded by
the Chief Minister of Haryana. She has total experience of over 16 years in teaching
information technology and computer science subjects at postgraduate and under-
graduate levels, with successful records of accomplishments. This includes research
experience of four years at South Asian University, New Delhi, India, and indus-
try experience of six months with the National Informatics Center (NIC), Delhi
Secretariat, New Delhi. Her research interests include artificial intelligence, machine
learning, optimization and image processing. She is UGC-NET qualified in com-
puter science. She is a reviewer of SCI-indexed journals: Neurocomputing (Elsevier),
Neural Networks (Elsevier) and IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, among others. She
has published research papers in international journals and conferences of high repute.
T. Poongodi works as an associate professor in the

School of Computing Science and Engineering, Galgotias
University, NCR Delhi, India. She completed her PhD in
Information Technology (Information and Communication
Engineering) from Anna University, Tamil Nadu, India.
Her main research areas are big data, the Internet of Things,
ad-hoc networks, network security and cloud computing.
She is a pioneer researcher in the areas of big data, wire-
less networks and the Internet of Things and has published
more than 25 papers in various international journals. She has presented papers
at national/international conferences, published book chapters in CRC Press, IGI
Global and Springer, and edited books.
S. Prasanna received his B.E. degree in Computer Science and

Engineering from University of Madras, Chennai, India, in
2001, and an M.E. degree in Computer Science and Engineering
from Anna University, Chennai, India, in 2006. He completed
his Doctor of Philosophy in Vellore Institute of Technology,
Vellore, India. He has published more than 15 papers in reputed
journals and conferences. He is currently associate professor
with the School of Information Technology and Engineering in
Vellore Institute of Technology. His areas of interest are data mining, soft computing,
artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.
xvi ◾ Contributors
N. M. Sreenarayanan is a research scholar in the Department

of CSE, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh,
India. He received an M.Tech. in Computer Science and
Engineering from the University of Calicut, Kerala, India,
2016. His research interests are artificial intelligence,
machine learning, neural networks and deep learning. He
has authored over five research papers in various national and
international journals and conferences. His publications are
indexed in SCI, Scopus, Web of Science, DBLP and Google
Scholar.
T. Subha is presently working as associate professor,

Department of Information Technology, at Sri Sai Ram
Engineering College/Anna University, Chennai, India. She
received a B.E. in Computer Science and Engineering from
Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India, in 2000,
an M.Tech. in Information Technology from Sathyabama
University, Chennai, India, in 2009, and completed her doc-
torate degree in Anna University, 2018. She has overall expe-
rience of 19 years in teaching. Her research interests include
network security, cloud computing and cyber security. She has
published 40 papers in international journals and conferences.
R. Sujatha completed a PhD at Vellore Institute of

Technology, Vellore, India, in 2017 in the area of data
mining. She received her M.E. degree in computer science
from Anna University, Chennai, India, in 2009 with uni-
versity ninth rank and completed a Master of Financial
Management from Pondicherry University, India, in 2005.
She received her B.E. degree in computer science from
Madras University, Chennai, India, in 2001. She has 15 years
of teaching experience and serves as an associate professor
in the School of Information Technology and Engineering
in Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India. She has organized and attended
a number of workshops and faculty development programs. She is actively involved
in the growth of the institute by contributing in various committees at both the
academic and administrative levels. She gives technical talks in colleges for sympo-
siums and various sessions. She acts as an advisory, editorial member and technical
committee member in conferences conducted in other educational institutions and
in-house, too. She has published a book titled Software Project Management for col-
lege students. She has also published research articles and papers in reputed jour-
nals. She used to guide projects for undergraduate and postgraduate students. She

Contributors ◾ xvii
currently guides doctoral students. She is interested in exploring different places and
visit the same to know about the culture and people of various areas. Her areas of
research include data mining, machine learning, image processing and management
of information systems.
R. Viswanathan works as a professor in the School of

Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. He received his doc-
toral degree in Computer Science and Engineering from VIT
University in 2016. He has 10+ years of experience working
in academia, research, teaching and academic administra-
tion. His current research interests include artificial intel-
ligence, machine learning, cloud computing, Internet of
Things and data mining. He guided more than five research
scholars for PhD in various domains. He has authored over
50 research papers in various national and international journals and conferences.
Ritika Wason works as associate professor at Bharati

Vidyapeeth’s Institute of Information Technology and
Management, New Delhi, India. She has also been the
recipient of many awards and honors for her academic
and research work during her academic career. A certified
Mendeley (a reference management tool) trainer, she has
successfully conducted many workshops offering Mendeley
training to participants. She also serves several other respon-
sibilities, for example as resident editorial board member for
the International Journal of Information Technology [an offi-
cial publication of Bharati Vidyapeeth’s Institute of Computer Applications and
Management (BVICAM)], New Delhi, by Springer (the world’s largest publisher
of scientific documents) w.e.f. Volume 09 Issue 01 from January, 2017 under ISSN:
2511-2104 (Print Version); ISSN: 2511-2112 (Electronic Version). She is also the
editor for the monthly magazine CSI Communications of the esteemed Computer
Society of India (CSI). With almost a decade of teaching experience, she has always
been an active researcher. She has authored four books on Software Testing and
.Net Technology. She has also published many research papers as well as book
chapters in national and international journals, conference proceedings, bulle-
tins and edited books. A life member of the Computer Society of India (CSI) and
Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), she also serves as a reviewer of
international/national journals and a member of the technical committee of several
international/national conferences. Since June, 2019, she has also been working as
the editor for CSI Communications, a monthly theme-based national publication
covering technical articles of current interests and reports of conferences, symposia
and seminars.

Chapter 1
Distributed Computing
and/or Distributed
Database Systems
K. P. Arjun, N. M. Sreenarayanan,
K. Sampath Kumar, and R. Viswanathan
Contents
1.1 Introduction to Computing..........................................................................2
1.2 Evolution of Distributed Computing............................................................3
1.2.1 Centralized Computing ....................................................................3
1.2.2 Decentralized Computing.................................................................3
1.2.3 Parallel Computing............................................................................4
1.3 High-Performance Distributed and Parallel Computing...............................4
1.3.1 Parallel Computing............................................................................4
1.3.1.1 Bit-Level, Instruction-Level and Task-Level Parallel
Computing..........................................................................5
1.3.2 Distributed Computing.....................................................................5
1.3.3 Architecture of Distributed Computing.............................................6
1.3.3.1 Physical Architecture of Distributed Computing.................6
1.3.3.2 Software Architecture of Distributed Computing................8
1.4 Comparison of Distributed Computing with State of the Art.....................10
1.4.1 Distributed Computing versus Parallel Computing.........................10
1.4.2 Distributed Database Systems..........................................................11
1.4.3 Traditional versus Distributed Databases.........................................11
1.4.4 Distributed Computing and Blockchain..........................................12
1
2 ◾ Blockchain Technology and Applications
1.5 Distributed Computing Environment of Blockchain..................................12

1.5.2 Distributed Computing Architecture...............................................13
1.5.2.1 Client–Server Architecture................................................14
1.5.2.2 Peer-to-Peer Architecture...................................................15
1.6 Distributed Ledger in Blockchain...............................................................16
1.6.1 Computing Power and Breakthroughs in Cryptography..................16
1.6.2 Public and Private Blockchain.........................................................17
1.7 Conclusion..................................................................................................18
References............................................................................................................18
1.1 Introduction to Computing
Computing involves process-oriented step-by-step tasks to complete a goal-oriented
computation. A goal is not a simple or single rather there may be more than one
goal. Normally we can say that a goal is a complex operation that is processed using
a computer. A normal computer contains hardware and software; and computing
can also involve more than one computing environment in hardware like worksta-
tions, servers, clients and other intermediate nodes and software like a worksta-
tion Operating System, server operating system and other computing software.
The computing in our daily life includes sending emails, playing games or making
phone calls; these are different kinds of computing examples at different contextual
levels. Depending on the processing speed and size, computers are categorized into
different types like supercomputers, mainframes, minicomputers and microcom-
puters. The computing power of a device is directly proportional to its data-storing
capacity.
All software is developed in a sequential way which means that before develop-
ing software to solve a large problem, we split the problem into smaller sub prob-
lems. These sub problems broken down step by step or in a flowchart are called
algorithms. These algorithms are executed by the central processing unit (CPU).
We can call this serial computing, as the main task is divided into a number of
small instructions, then these instructions are executed one by one. But in the
main, this serial communication is a huge waste of the hardware other than the
CPU. The CPU is continuously taking instructions and processing those instruc-
tions. The hardware contributing to processing that specific hardware is used for
that particular time only, and for the remaining time that hardware is idle.
So to overcome the deficiencies in resource utilization and improve the comput-
ing power we moved into another era of computing called parallel computing and
distributed computing. The insight of distributed computing is in solving more
complex and larger computational problems with the help of more than one com-
putational system. The computational problem is divided into many tasks, each of
which is executed in different computational systems that are located in different
regions.

Distributed Computing and/or Distributed Database Systems ◾ 3
1.2 Evolution of Distributed Computing

Distributed computing [1] is concurrent processing of multiple processes at the
same time. Distributed computing works on various very important concepts like
multiprogramming and multitask programming. Finally distributed computing
has been included in the branch of computer science and engineering since the
1970s. Since then many international conferences like the Symposium on Principles
of Distributed Computing (PODC), International Symposium on Distributed
Computing (DISC), etc. and international workshops like the International
Workshop on Distributed Algorithms [2] on Graphs have been conducted.
1.2.1 Centralized Computing
The name “centralized computing” refers to computing that occurs in a central
situated machine. The specifications of the central computing server machine
include high computing capabilities and sophisticated software. All other com-
puters are attached to the central situated machine and communicate through
terminals. The centralized machine [3] itself controls and manages the peripher-
als, some of which are physically connected and some of which are attached via
terminals.
The main advantage of centralized system is greater security compared to other
types of computing because the processing is only done at the centrally located
machine. All the connected machines can access the centralized processing machine
and start processing their own task by using terminals. If one terminal goes down,
then the user can use another terminal and log in again. All the user-related files
are still available with that particular user login. The user can resume their session
and complete the task.
The main and most important disadvantage of the centralized computing sys-
tem is that all computing and storage is done at centrally located machine. If the
machine fails or crashes the entire system will go down. It affects the performance
evaluation on unavailability of service.
Figure 1.1 shows a block diagram of centralized computing. Centralized sys-
tems are somewhat related to client–server programming [5]. The client has mini-
mum computing power, but for advanced and high-level computing, client requests
for the server. The server computes the request received from the client and sends
the response back to the client.
1.2.2 Decentralized Computing
In centralized computing, a centrally located powerful system provides comput-
ing services to all other nodes connected. The disadvantage is that all processing
power is located at one entity. Alternatively, the burden at the central level can
be shared by the nodes connected on the network. In decentralized computing

Figure 1.1 Centralized computing.
[6] a single server is not responsible for the whole task. The whole workload is
distributed to the computing nodes so that each computing node has equal pro-
cessing power.
1.2.3 Parallel Computing
To overcoming the deficiencies in resource utilization and improve the computing
power we moved into another era of computing called parallel computing. The
name “parallel” means that more than one instruction can be executed simultane-
ously. It requires the configuration of a number of computing engines (normally
called “processors”) and related hardware and also software configuration.
1.3 High-Performance Distributed
and Parallel Computing
1.3.1 Parallel Computing
In a CPU, a main task is divided into a number of small instructions, and then
these instructions are executed one by one. The main problem with the serial com-
munication is wastage of large amount of resources in terms of hardware and soft-
ware resources. CPU continuously receives instructions and process them. The
hardware involved in serial processing remains idle in case there are no instructions
to be processed.
To overcome the deficiencies in resource utilization and to improve the com-
puting power we moved into another era of computing called parallel computing
[7]. The name “parallel” means that more than one instruction can be executed
simultaneously. It requires the configuration of a number of computing engines

Figure 1.2 Different levels of parallel computing.
(normally called “processors”) and related hardware and also software configura-
tion. Figure 1.2 shows the levels of parallel computing.
1.3.1.1 Bit-Level, Instruction-Level and Task-Level

Parallel Computing
Figure 1.1 depicts the parallel computing at various levels. The levels are bit-level,
instruction-level and task-level. It is a complex type of computing because here we
are adding more than one processor and the processors are supporting hardware
and software. So in serial we deal with only one instruction and processor, but the
challenges split the whole work into small pieces, and these small tasks are given to
different computational machines. Every computation machine is independent and
concurrently processing with the help of the others. Each machine deals with its
own task and finally collaborates with the others as a single unit. Parallel comput-
ing added over all coordination of the execution engines [8] is one of the multifac-
eted problems. Parallel computing can be utilized to convert real-world scenarios
to more convenient formats.
The main utility of parallel computing is in solving real-world problem-as more
complex, independent and unrelated events will occur at the same time, for exam-
ple, galaxy formation, planetary movements, climate changes, road traffic, weather,
etc.
The advantage of fast computing is helpful in various high-end applications, for
example, faster networks, high speed data transfer, distributed systems and multi-
processor computing [10], etc.
1.3.2 Distributed Computing
The distributed computing insight lies in solving more complex and larger com-
putational problems with the help of more than one computational system. The
computational problem is divided into many tasks, each of which is executed in

Figure 1.3 Message-passing method.
different computational systems that are located in different regions. Different

computational systems located at different places communicate through strong
base network communication technology. There are many communication mecha-
nisms that have been adopted for strong and secure communications like message
passing, RPC and HTTP mechanisms, etc.
Another way we can describe distributed computing is as different compu-
tational engines which are all autonomous, physically present in different geo-
graphical areas, and communicating with the help of a computer network. Each
computational engine is called an autonomous system. Each autonomous system
has its own hardware and software. Actually they will not share their hardware or
software with another system that is located in another region. But they are con-
tinuously communicating by using the message-passing mechanism.
The main idea behind distributed computing is overcoming the limitations of
computing like low processing power, speed and memory. Each computer is con-
nected by using a single network. The duties of each computing engine are to do
the assigned jobs and communicate to peer computers that are connected in the
network.
A feature of the connected nodes or computers is that each one has its own
hardware including memory, processor and IO devices, and software like operating
systems and distributed software.
The entirety of communication happens through the message-passing mecha-
nism. Figure 1.3 represents the message-passing mechanism.
1.3.3 Architecture of Distributed Computing

1.3.3.1 Physical Architecture of Distributed Computing
Distributed computing has much architecture related to the application and com-
plexity of algorithms proposed at the software and hardware levels. At the high

Figure 1.4 Physical block diagram of distributed computing.
model, interconnection of running state of the processes on the connected CPUs in

the network. Figure 1.4 shows a physical representation of distributed computing.
All distributed computing uses one of the architecture types listed below. Each
architecture type is slightly different from the others depending on the basis of the
computing.
There are mainly two type of architecture; we can normally say that one is
tightly coupled or loosely coupled. The name “tightly coupled distributed architec-
ture” means that all nodes or machines are connected through a highly integrated
network. It seems like all the computing engines work as a single machine. This
architecture creates an illusion of a single machine but in the background different
machines are connected via a fast network and memory is shared through dis-
tributed shared memory (DSM) without using the message-passing technology.
Distributed shared memory (DSM) creates an illusion in this architecture of shar-
ing memory in a network of connected nodes. Actually sharing memory is a big
challenge because we have to consider the traffic across the network. The next archi-
tecture, “loosely coupled”, does not share any hardware like memory processing
power. The nodes just communicate together.
Other variations of architecture are client–server, three-tier, n-tier and peer-
to-peer. The first one, client–server architecture, involves normal communication
between the client and server. The client requests data from the server and then
formats and displays it to the user. The second type is normally used for web appli-
cation development. The result of this architecture simplifies the web application
development. The third type is n-tier architecture, which is also used for enterprise
web application development. This type of architecture is highly responsible for
the success of the software framework for creating web applications. The last type,
peer-to-peer architecture, includes any specific system or one system that provides

services or manages network resources. All the work is equally divided among all
the machines and each machine will serve that particular responsibility assigned
only for that machine, which is called a peer. It acts as both server and client.
1.3.3.2 Software Architecture of Distributed Computing

1.3.3.2.1 Layered Architectures
Layered architectures involve the division of responsibilities among software com-
ponents and the placement of components at different locations in computers.
Layered architectures divide the whole task into different levels, and each level
communicates with the others and gives services to both upper layers and lower
layers. The OSI model is a well-known example of layered architecture. The com-
munication between each layer to adjacent layers, either the upper layer or lower
layer, is in sequential order. So the communication request follows in the bottom to
top order, and the response follows from top to bottom order. Figure 1.5 shows the
layered architecture of distributed computing.
Figure 1.5 Layered architecture of distributed computing.

Figure 1.6 Object-based architecture of distributed computing.
The advantage of this architecture is that there is a sequential order for request
and response. Each layer has its already predefined duty so there is no confusion
about processing the request. We can easily update or replace each layer according
to our application without affecting the entire architecture. Figure 1.6 represents
the basic architecture style of a distributed system.
1.3.3.2.2 Object-Based Architectures
This style of architecture is used for loosely coupled arrangements of systems. This
loosely coupled system [12] cannot follow the sequential order architecture like
layered. In this architecture each component is referred to as an object; each object
in a system communicates with other objects through an interface.
Objects are the incorporation of data and methods into a single unit.
Communication flows from one object of a system A to an object in a system B
through remote procedure call. Examples of this method are CORBA, DCOM,
.Net Remoting and Java RMI. It is the one of most important architecture types in
large software systems.
1.3.3.2.3 Event-Based Architectures
Nodes or components communicate on the basis of the proliferation of events.
Components are connected through an event bus. An event bus carries the pub-
lished and subscribed events from other components. The main advantage of this
architecture is decoupled space. There is no need for the communicating compo-
nents to explicitly refer to each other. Another important aspect is that it is coupled
in time which means components can communicate at the same time. Figure 1.7
represents event-based architecture of distributed computing.

Figure 1.7 Event-based architecture of distributed computing.
Figure 1.8 Shared data space architecture of distributed computing.
1.3.3.2.4 Shared Data Space Architectures

This is also called data-centered architecture. Here a common repository is shared
between all the components that are connected in the network. This common
repository has two states, either active or passive. The repository is like a database.
Information from all nodes is persistently stored. The shared repository contains
persistent data. The main idea is that subscribed components can send and receive
data accordingly. Figure 1.8 represents shared data space architecture of distributed
computing.
1.4 Comparison of Distributed Computing

with State of the Art
1.4.1 Distributed Computing versus Parallel Computing
The results of distributed computing and parallel computing are same in the aspect
of efficiency ant performance because both of them are interrelated apart from

differences in the the placement of the hardware. In a distributed system, the com-
puters are placed in different locations and communicate through a network. But
in parallel computing all the computing hardware is combined to make a single
device. In parallel computing a huge single memory is shared between computing
engines, i.e. processors. Each computing station utilizes that memory with effi-
cient synchronization. Here each processor works independently of the others. In
distributed computing, each computing node has its own processor and memory
like single autonomous computing nodes. The advantages of parallel and distrib-
uted computing are high-performance parallel computation [13] by using shared-
memory multiprocessors and the use of parallel computing algorithms, while the
coordination of a large-scale distributed system uses distributed algorithms.
1.4.2 Distributed Database Systems

In the above we discussed distributed computing and its features. In all comput-
ing methods the data are stored in a centralized fashion and computing is done in
a distributed fashion. A distributed database management systems (DDBMS) is a
collaboration of multiple databases that are located in different physical locations
and connected through a network. These distributed databases are locally inter-
linked or part of a whole database system. The distributed database systems are
widely used in data warehousing. Distributed databases are mainly used to manage
data in networks, data confidentiality and data integrity.
1.4.3 Traditional versus Distributed Databases

Database systems are the collection of data, storage of data, management of
data and finally distribution of the data to various related applications. In the
past, punch cards were used for data storage. The first database was designed by
Charles W. Bachman in 1960. Next the well-known company IBM implemented
their own DBMS called IMS. Likewise many other companies released their own
paid and unpaid software in the market, and different types of DBMS are also
available.
The difference between the traditional DBMS and distributed DBMS is that
distributed DBMS are the modified or latest updated version of traditional DBMS.
In each development of DBMS, introduced new features were introduced that were
very useful for the users as well. Nowadays many database products are available
in the market. The main difference is that the traditional database management
systems used only a single machine and a single software instant can access the
database. These problems are addressed by distributed computing, as databases
are available in different machines connected through a network. Any device can
access the distributed database [14] within the network software. All types of que-
ries can be generated from different machines connected in the network, and the
distributed database system can execute the query and return back the result.

1.4.4 Distributed Computing and Blockchain

Distributed computing methods are one of the basic computing principles that
drive the blockchain mechanism. Generally now everyone has a basic idea of a
blockchain as a large network of computers which can authenticate and verify huge
transactions. However, the internal mechanism of distributed computing can lead
to a better base for blockchain technology. It can also help to make more informa-
tion by focusing on working scenarios of distributed computing technologies.
1.5 Distributed Computing Environment of Blockchain

Generally, distributed computing methods are like a network of computers work-
ing together as a single system. The systems can be located close to one another
and with a wired network as part of a single local network. Other networks such as
blockchains widely use geographically dispersed computers networks.
Distributed computing has been used for far longer than blockchain mecha-
nisms. The use of computers in education and research grew very early, requir-
ing computers to connect to one another, sharing hardware such as memory and
printers. In the 1970s the first local area networks were established with many
systems. The first distributed computing machines were local area networks such as
Ethernet, a group of networking hardware technologies developed by Xerox. Now
it is widely distributed and everyone make use of it. Each time you join a new Wi-Fi
connection, you are entering into a new computer network scenario.
In 21st century, the usage of distributed systems and distributed computing
technologies has vital roles in solving real-world problems. Each unit of problem
phases is connected to the others and finally derive appropriate solutions (Figure 1.9).
A blockchain is a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, which is a slightly different kind
of distributed system [15] than that illustrated in the example. Now distributed
systems are groups of independent nodes connected with others in a specified man-
ner in order to produce a common result, and they are strictly structured in such
a way that these groups appear to be a single well-defined system for the end user.
Through these networks, each system can communicate with the others by
messages and responses. The main advantage is that communication between each
system provides synchronization as well as an error-free environment. Most of the
distributed systems are effectively bounded with synchronous messaging channels.
By analyzing each node, the following can be found:
◾◾ The nodes are largely programmable, autonomous, asynchronous and

failure-free.
◾◾ Each node has its own storage and computing processor. They have shared
memory and can operate concurrently.

Figure 1.9 Ethernet connections.
◾◾ The nodes are interconnected with others to offer services, and share or store
data (e.g. blockchain).
◾◾ All nodes communicate with others by using messages.
◾◾ Every node in the distributed system is capable of sending and receiving mes-
sages to and from the others.
1.5.2 Distributed Computing Architecture

There are mainly two types of architecture:
1. Client–server architecture
2. Peer–peer architecture

Figure 1.10 Client–server architecture.
1.5.2.1 Client–Server Architecture
In client–server architecture, the main entities are:
1. Server
2. Clients
Server: An entity that is purely responsible for offering services to the client;
servers provide services like storage, data processing, deploying applica-
tions, etc.
Client: A client is an entity that communicates with the server in order to
complete its local task. They are normally connected to the server on the
Internet (Figure 1.10).
This architecture is a good example of a service-oriented system.

The biggest disadvantage of this type of architecture is that the complete system
is dependent on the central single point (server). If the server goes down, then the
whole system stops.
In this architecture, there is different layered architecture [16] in which, accord-
ing to the purpose, several layers can be added on the client side as well the server
side in order to accomplish the system requirements, security and complexity.
Commonly used layered architecture types include two-tier and three-tier archi-
tecture. Each architecture type has its own characteristics to provide maximum
security to participants.

Figure 1.11 Peer-to-peer architecture.
1.5.2.2 Peer-to-Peer Architecture
P2P architecture is a network of inter-connected systems in which they are capa-
ble of sharing resources and information. Every system connected to the network
is referred to as a node or “peer”. This type of architecture can be used in block-
chain technology, transportation services, education, e-commerce, banking and
finance, etc.
Advantages of P2P architecture are:
1. It can be easily configured.

2. It is easy to install.
3. All the nodes are capable of sharing resources with other nodes and can com-
municate with other nodes present in the network.
4. If any single node goes down it will not affect the complete system.
5. Maintaining such architecture is comparatively cost-effective (Figure 1.11).
Blockchain technology works on the principle of peer-to-peer architecture;

it helps the technology to be more powerful, secure and efficient. Blockchain
can be used for many industrial purposes but it is most commonly used in
“cryptocurrencies”.
A peer-to-peer network is centric when it comes to managing transactions
within a blockchain. All the nodes can communicate with others and transact with
the others in the blockchain. All peer-to-peer networks are decentralized, and a
blockchain is also a decentralized application. This characteristic makes the block-
chain technology more secure than other technologies and very hard to hack or
break into. But the most complicated part is that backups and security must be
provided to each node individually, and there is no centralized entity to manage all
the nodes in the architecture.

1.6 Distributed Ledger in Blockchain

A distributed ledger is like a database that is manually shared and synchronized
across multiple nodes, sites, institutions or geographies. It will provide transactions
with public witnesses, by making a cyber-attack even more difficult. The objects at
each node of the network can access the data shared across that distributed network
and have an identical copy of them. Any changes made to ledgers are reflected to all
other nodes in fractions of time.
1.6.1 Computing Power and Breakthroughs in Cryptography

A distributed ledger of any transactions or contracts is established in decentral-
ized form across different locations and people, eliminating the need for a single
central authority to keep a barrier against manipulations. All the data on it are
stored securely using cryptographic techniques. Once the data/information are
stored, it becomes an immutable database, which is one of the basic rules of the
network.
The abstraction at the center of blockchain systems is the notion of a ledger, an
invention of the Italian Renaissance developed to support the double-way-entry
book-keeping system, a distant precursor of modern cryptocurrencies [16]. A led-
ger is just an indelible, append-only-log of transactions between various parties
(Figures 1.12 and 1.13).
Figure 1.12 Centralized ledger.

Figure 1.13 Distributed ledger.
Real-world examples of distributed ledgers:
◾◾ Government procedures
◾◾ Institutions
◾◾ Corporate work
◾◾ Issuance of passports
◾◾ Licenses
◾◾ Voting procedures
◾◾ Finance
◾◾ Agreements
◾◾ Identity cards
While the distributed-ledger technology has more advantages, it’s at an early stage
and is still being explored. The future of centuries-old ledgers is the decentralized
ledger.
1.6.2 Public and Private Blockchain

The difference between private (permissioned) blockchain systems, where objects
have reliable and authorized identities and only strictly vetted parties can par-
ticipate, and public (permissionless) blockchain systems, where objects cannot be
reliably identified and anyone can participate, is critical for making sense of the
blockchain landscape.
Private blockchains [17] are better for business applications, particularly in
regulated industries, like finance, subject to know-your-customer and anti-money-
laundering regulations. Moreover, private blockchains also tend to be better at

governance. Most prior working methods on distributed algorithms have focused

on system participants having reliable identities.
Public blockchains are better for applications such as Bitcoin [18–19], which
guarantee that nobody can decide or control who can participate in the scenario,
and participants may or may not be eager to have their identities known. Each node
can act as an independent workstation along with computing systems.
1.7 Conclusion
The application of the blockchain mechanism is enhanced day by day with different
mechanisms and computing techniques. Many of the internet-based methodolo-
gies are now using the advantages of distributed systems as well as the blockchain
mechanism. Once submitted any data in the system will be safe forever, which
enables many applications in the field of finance and other related sectors. Some of
the areas are the following:
VeChain is a blockchain platform which aims to enhance business operations
by improving the tracking of products and processes. BitGold is a 2005 proposal
that resembles Bitcoin’s consensus system and incorporates hashes. A cryptocur-
rency can be defined as a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography. A cryp-
tocurrency is very difficult to counterfeit because of this security feature. Digital
copy is a duplicate record of every Bitcoin transaction that has taken place over a
peer-to-peer network.
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Chapter 2
Blockchain Components
and Concept
M. R. Manu, Namya Musthafa,
B. Balamurugan, and Rahul Chauhan
Contents
2.1 Evolution of Blockchain .............................................................................22
2.1.1 Architecture of Blockchain .............................................................23
2.1.2 Blocks in Blockchain ......................................................................24
2.2 Types of Blockchain ...................................................................................24
2.2.1 Public Blockchain............................................................................24
2.2.2 Private Blockchain...........................................................................26
2.2.3 Consortium or Federated Blockchain..............................................28
2.3 The Logical Components of Blockchain......................................................29
2.4 Core Components of Blockchain Architecture............................................31
2.4.1 Ledger Management........................................................................32
2.5 Smart Contracts and Their Applications.....................................................35
2.6 Applications of Smart Contracts ................................................................37
2.6.1 Financial Services and Insurance.....................................................37
2.6.2 Mortgage Transactions....................................................................38
2.6.3 Supply Chain Transparency.............................................................38
2.6.4 Medical Research.............................................................................38
2.6.5 Digital Identity and Records Management......................................38
2.6.5.1 Peer Network and Membership Management....................39
2.6.5.2 Inviting and Removing Members in a Peer Network.........39
21
2.7 Applications and Implementation of Blockchain........................................ 40

2.7.1 Blockchain Technology in Finance..................................................41
2.7.2 What Can Blockchain Do for the Financial and Banking
Industries?........................................................................................41
2.7.2.1 Fraud Detection................................................................ 42
2.7.2.2 Know Your Customer (KYC)........................................... 42
2.7.2.3 Payments.......................................................................... 42
2.7.3 Problems in Implementing Blockchain in Financial Services.......... 42
2.8 Blockchain Security in Online Voting.........................................................43
2.8.1 Challenges in E-Voting Applications for Blockchain........................43
2.8.1.1 Blockchain-Based Certification........................................ 44
2.8.1.2 Working Insight............................................................... 44
2.8.1.3 How to Verify Documents on a Blockchain..................... 44
2.9 Building a Blockchain.................................................................................45
2.9.1 Generations of Hashes.....................................................................45
2.9.2 Let Us See How You Make Your Own Hash Function in Python..... 46
2.10 API Creation for Blockchain.......................................................................47
2.10.1 So, What Is API?.............................................................................47
2.10.2 How to Integrate Blockchain APIs in a Website...............................47
References............................................................................................................49
2.1 Evolution of Blockchain
The blockchain has evolved since 1991, starting with Stuart Haber and W Scott
Stornetta’s work on cryptographically secure chain of blocks, the first work on a
cryptographically secured block chain where no one tampered with time stamp of
document. Then in 1992, the system was upgraded with the Merkle tree approach,
which optimized and combined all tasks into a single one. In the year 2008 block-
chain gained relevance due to a group of people named Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi
Nakamoto is the accredited brain behind the digital ledger technology. The new
concepts and approaches evolved into the blockchain mechanism for transforma-
tion towards digital data utilization in the year 2009. In the beginning it was devel-
oped to support Bitcoin. Decentralized data using a decentralized database are the
core components of blockchain. The need for Bitcoin increased drastically so block-
chain made immediate changes to the Internet. The Russian-Canadian transferred
money in form of Bitcoin scripting language.
The decentralized nature of the blockchain mechanism can make any language
readable by computer rather than third party, which will generate smart contracts.
The Ethereum projects are useful in efficient transaction management systems. The
security of transaction through the blockchain methodology produces different
digital transaction systems such as Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, Ethereum, and light
coin ripple which can handle huge numbers of transaction per second.

Blockchain Components and Concept ◾ 23
In the years 2013–2015 the system developed to Ethereum development with

version blockchain 2.0. It provides for the recording of books as well as contracts.
This can develop the decentralized application efficiently. In the year 2018 a new
version of blockchain evolved: blockchain 3.0. It supports the leveraging capabili-
ties of blockchain. The new blockchain application is called NEO, which is an open
source platform first developed in China. For further upgrades with the Internet
of Things, IOTA was developed. It supports the Internet of Things ecosystem for
digital transactions.
2.1.1 Architecture of Blockchain
The blockchain provides a peer-to-peer distributed ledger mechanism for transac-
tion management in a secure manner. Each ledger is a block which is interlinked
to other blocks in the structure. The databases are shared among each other in a
distributed way. There is a timestamp server for controlling the databases and each
block is associated with a reference to the previous block. This reference is also
managed by a hashing mechanism for security (Figures 2.1 and 2.2).
Figure 2.1 Evolution of blockchain.
Figure 2.2 Structure of blockchain.

2.1.2 Blocks in Blockchain
Blocks are the basic units of the blockchain. A block is a basic data structure for
transaction distributed to other monetary control. The blocks contain a block
header which verifies the validity of the block. It contains metadata which describe
the block. The metadata information of a block are mentioned below:
a) Version filed: Which describes the current version of the block.

b) Previous block header hash: References the previous block’s parent block.
c) Merkle root: Cryptographic hash of all transactions involved in this block.
d) Nonce and nbits: The number of times the process repeated so that it
becomes a complex task
2.2 Types of Blockchain
The concept of cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin) introduced the idea of blockchain into the
spotlight; it is a database that protects the data from tampering and analysis. The
blockchain is still a rising technology, so it is difficult for us to understand its work-
ing without getting into its code and details. Blockchain is a new and more secure
connected network as compared to others.
Blockchain is an encrypted repository of digital information. A blockchain has
a decentralized and distributed style of network of computers. Hence its hosting
on a distributed network of systems allows secure transactions to occur across a
blockchain with little possibility of fraudulent activities. A blockchain allows users
to track assets across individuals. To accommodate all kinds of users there are three
major types of blockchains. The three types of blockchains are:
◾◾ Public blockchain
◾◾ Private blockchain
◾◾ Consortium or federated blockchain
Note: The consortium or federated blockchain is a hybrid of the public and private
blockchain. It is partly decentralized. The consensus process is controlled by a pre-
selected set of nodes, for instance, financial institutions (Figure 2.3).
2.2.1 Public Blockchain
As the name indicates the public blockchain is the blockchain for and of the public.
There is no one in charge, and anyone can take part in the processes like reading/
writing/auditing the blockchain. These types of blockchain are open and transpar-
ent, meaning anyone can review anything at any given instance on a public block-
chain. This idea will raise the question that if no one is in charge of anything here

Figure 2.3 Types of blockchain.
then how are the decisions taken on these types of the blockchain? It is done by any
of a variety of decentralized consensus mechanisms. Here are some of examples for
decentralized consensus mechanisms:
◾◾ Proof of work (PoW)
◾◾ Proof of stake (PoS)
There are three things we have to be aware of, that make a public blockchain really
public. They are as follows:
◾◾ The code to operate a public blockchain is openly available so that anyone

can download the code and start running a public node on their local device,
validating transactions in the network and participating in the consensus
process. This gives anyone the right to participate in the process that deter-
mines which blocks get added to the chain and what the current shape and
size of the blockchain is.
◾◾ Anyone can be part of transactions in the network. Hence the transactions
should go through as long as they are valid.
◾◾ Anyone can access and read transactions using a block explorer. Transactions
are transparent but anonymous (Figure 2.4).
From the figure we can understand that anyone can participate in a public block-
chain, without permission.
Examples of public blockchains include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Dash, and
Litecoin, among others.

Figure 2.4 Public blockchain.
On Bitcoin and Litecoin blockchain networks
◾◾ Anyone can run BTC/LTC full node and start mining.

◾◾ Anyone can make transactions on the BTC/LTC chain.
◾◾ Anyone can review/audit the blockchain in a blockchain explorer (Table 2.1).
The nature of the public blockchain leads to two major implications.
1. Everyone can potentially shatter current business models through the reduc-
tion in the use of intermediaries.
2. By using a blockchain, we do not necessarily have to maintain servers or have
system administrators. Hence we can minimize the cost of creating and run-
ning decentralized applications or DApps.
2.2.2 Private Blockchain
A private blockchain as its name indicates is a private asset of an individual or an
organization. Unlike a public blockchain, a private blockchain has an in-charge who
monitors important tasks such as read/write or whom to selectively give access to
read or vice versa. A private blockchain is also known as a permissioned blockchain
as it has restrictions on who can access it and also who can participate in transac-
tion and validation. Only previously chosen entities have permissions to access the

Table 2.1 Public vs. Private vs. Consortium Blockchain

Consortium or Federated
Public Blockchain Private Blockchain Blockchain
Anyone can run Not everyone can run Selected members of the
BTC/LTC full node a full node consortium can run a full
node
Anyone can make Not everyone can Selected members of the

transactions make transactions consortium can make
transactions
Anyone can review/ Not everyone can Selected members of the

audit the review/audit the consortium can review/
blockchain blockchain audit the blockchain
Examples: Bitcoin, Example: Bankchain Examples: r3, EWF

Litecoin, etc.
Figure 2.5 Private blockchain.
blockchain. How are these entities are chosen? It is done by the respective authority
and are given permission by the chain developers while building the blockchain
application. An important consensus is achieved on the whim of the central in-
charge who can give mining rights to anyone or not give them at all. Suppose there
is a need to grant permissions to new users or revoke permissions from an existing
user, then it can be taken care of by the network administrator (Figure 2.5).

Private blockchains are mostly used in database management and auditing,

among other fields. Their uses are internal to a single company, and so the compa-
nies will not want the data to be accessible to the public. They use blockchain tech-
nology by setting up groups and participants who can verify transactions internally.
However, private blockchains may scale better and comply better with the secu-
rity and privacy regulations of governmental data. A private blockchain runs the
risk of security breaches just like in a centralized system. Thus, they have certain
security advantages, and other security disadvantages, like a coin has two sides.
Blockchain is still in the emerging stages, so it is conjecture how this ground-break-
ing technology will evolve and be adopted. Some examples of private blockchains
include MONAX and Multichain.
The important advantages of private blockchains are minimal transaction
costs and data redundancies as well as easier data-handling and more automated
compliance functionalities. That’s what makes it centralized again where various
rights are exercised and vested in a central trusted party but yet it is crypto-
graphically secured from the company’s point of view and more cost-effective for
them. But it is still debatable if such a private thing can be called a ‘blockchain’
because it fundamentally defeats the whole purpose of blockchain that Bitcoin
introduced to us.
◾◾ Example: Bankchain
In such types of blockchain:
◾◾ Not everyone can run a full node and start mining.

◾◾ Not everyone can make transactions on the chain.
◾◾ Not everyone can review/audit the blockchain in a blockchain explorer.
Similarly as we observed for public blockchains, here also we can encounter some
key implications of the implicit nature and characteristics of private blockchains.
◾◾ Reduction in transaction costs and data redundancies

◾◾ Simplified data-handling and more automated compliance mechanisms
2.2.3 Consortium or Federated Blockchain

A consortium blockchain is like a hybrid of public and private blockchains. In this
type of blockchain, some nodes control the consensus process, and some other
nodes may be allowed to participate in the transactions. In other words, this type
of blockchain can be used when organizations are ready to share the blockchain,
but restrict data access to them, and keep it secure from public access. That is, it
possesses the characteristics of a public blockchain as the blockchain is being shared

by different nodes, and also it behaves like a private blockchain by restricting the
access to the blockchain from the different nodes. Therefore, it is partly public and
partly private.
A consortium blockchain consists of two types of users. They are:
1. The users who have control over the blockchain and decide who should have
permission to access the blockchain
2. The users who can access the blockchain
Here instead of a single authority in charge, you have more than one in charge.
Basically, you have a group of companies or representative individuals coming
together and making decisions for the benefit of the whole network. Such groups
are also called consortiums or a federation, hence the name consortium or federated
blockchain.
For example, let’s suppose you have a consortium of the world’s top 20 finan-
cial institutes; you have decided in the code that only if a transaction or a block
or decision is voted/verified by more than 15 institutes then it should get added to
the blockchain. So it is a way of achieving things much faster, and you also have
more than one single point of failures which in a way protects the whole ecosystem
against a single point of failure (Figure 2.6).
◾◾ Example: r3, EWF
In such a blockchain:
◾◾ Members of the consortium can run a full node and start mining.
◾◾ Members of the consortium can make transactions/decisions on the chain.
◾◾ Members of the consortium can review/audit the blockchain in a blockchain
explorer.
2.3 The Logical Components of Blockchain

Cryptocurrencies are the technology that is built on blockchain to enable a shared
distributed tamper-proof ledger to be viewed by anyone with the corresponding
software. Unleashing blockchain technology from its application to cryptocurren-
cies is very important in understanding the broader implications and applications
of blockchain technology. Differentiating the two will be helpful in understanding
why there is such excitement about blockchain-inspired ruptures. Bioinformatics,
governance, banking, trading, society, politics, and even the very structure of the
Internet itself are suited for disruption. Generally, blockchain technology will bring
disintermediation among everything.

Figure 2.6 Federated blockchain.
To understand blockchain technology applications deeply it is necessary to under-

stand the logical components of a blockchain ecosystem and the duties of each com-
ponent. The four main components of any blockchain ecosystem are given below:
◾◾ A node application
◾◾ A shared ledger
◾◾ A consensus algorithm
◾◾ A virtual machine
1. Node Application
Each computer inter-connected through the Internet needs to install
and run a computer application specific to the ecosystem they desire to
participate in. For example using the case of Bitcoin as an ecosystem,

each computer must be running the Bitcoin wallet application. In some

blockchain applications, like Bankchain, participation is restricted and
requires special permissions to join (referred to as permissioned block-
chains). Bankchain only permits banks to run the node application.
But in the Bitcoin ecosystem anyone can download and install the node
application and also participate in the ecosystem.
2. Shared Ledger
The distributed ledger is a data structure managed inside the node appli-
cation. Once you have the node application running, you can view the
respective ledger (or blockchain) contents for that ecosystem. Interaction
is done according to the rules of the ecosystem in which it resides. You
can run as many node applications as you like and are permitted to use,
and each will participate in their respective blockchain ecosystems. It is
important to note that the number of ecosystems you are a participant in
doesn’t matter as you will only have one shared ledger for each ecosystem.
3. Consensus Algorithm
The consensus algorithm is implemented as a portion of the node
application, by providing the ‘rules of the game’ for how the ecosystem
will arrive at a single view of the ledger. Different ecosystems have differ-
ent methods for attaining consensus depending on the desired features
of the ecosystem. Participation in the consensus-building process, the
method for determining the ‘world state’ of the ecosystem, can be vested
in a number of different schemes: proof-of-work, proof-of-stake, proof-
of-elapsed-time; each method qualifies nodes as honest in a different way
before participation in the consensus-building process.
4. Virtual Machine
A virtual machine is a representation of a machine (real or imaginary)
created by a computer program and operated with instructions embodied
in a language. It is an abstraction of a machine, held inside a machine.
To some degree we are already are accustomed to the abstraction of real-
world objects and entities as virtual objects in a computer. Think of a but-
ton in a graphical user interface of an application. You press the button
on the screen and the state of the program inside the computer changes.
Another example might be your driver’s license as it is represented in a
government computer. It is an abstraction of your real-world legal autho-
rization to operate a motor vehicle, and it is largely what counts these
days, rather than the real-world physical printed driver’s license.
2.4 Core Components of Blockchain Architecture

◾◾ Node – user or computer within the blockchain architecture (each has an
independent copy of the whole blockchain ledger)

Figure 2.7 Blockchain applications.
◾◾ Transaction – smallest building block of a blockchain system (records, infor-

mation, etc.) that serves as the purpose of the blockchain
◾◾ Block – a data structure used for keeping a set of transactions which is dis-
tributed to all nodes in the network
◾◾ Chain – a sequence of blocks in a specific order
◾◾ Miners – specific nodes which perform the block verification process before
adding anything to the blockchain structure
◾◾ Consensus (consensus protocol) – a set of rules and arrangements to carry
out blockchain operations (Figure 2.7)
2.4.1 Ledger Management
The blockchain is the underlying technology behind technology like Bitcoin. A
distributed ledger is essential as it is a list of all events and transactions entered onto
it and is held simultaneously by each node in the network. Whenever a new event
or transaction is added to the ledger, encryption is done to everything; by adding
to the ledger, the task becomes complex. The ledger is both visible to everyone in
the network and also secured so that people can’t tamper with it. Every new piece
of information added to this ledger is added as a ‘block’. This block is mathemati-
cally encrypted and is approved to be added to the ledger according to a series of
consensus protocols, that is, ways of approving additions and protecting against
fraud or double spending without the need for a centralized authority (Figure 2.8).
A distributed ledger is a database that is decentralized as it is distributed across
several distinct computers or nodes. Here every node will maintain the ledger, and
if any data changes happen, the ledger will get updated. The updating takes place
independently at each node. Through the ledger along with a little of computer
code, you can create ‘smart contracts’. These are a series of clauses which are added

Figure 2.8 Ledger management with consensus.
to the ledger and powered by computer code. When the clause in the ledger is met,
the computer code activates and the next step of the contract is triggered.
All the nodes are equal in terms of authority. There is no central authority or
server managing the database that makes the technology transparent. Every node
can update the ledger, and other nodes will verify its existence. This property of
distributed ledgers makes them an attractive technology for the financial industry
or any other industry looking for more transparent technology and those who need
technology which is far from central authority.
By using distributed ledgers, there is no need for centralized authority. It is a
network of ledgers or contracts that is maintained by nodes. The nodes that can
be merged into blocks which make it even easier to maintain larger distributed
network ledgers. Even without a central authority, all the information stays secure.
To enable the distributed network, technology such as cryptography is required to
assign the data with cryptographic signatures and keys for use. Anything that is
stored on the distributed ledger is immutable. Immutability makes it even harder
for hackers to try to hack distributed ledger networks such as Bitcoin. Additionally
the absence of a central authority means that it is also free from any intentional
change as well (Figure 2.9).
Three major steps are involved:
◾◾ To initiate a payment, entity A digitally signs a proposed update to the shared

ledger with cryptographic tools, to transfer funds from its account on the
ledger to entity B’s account.

Figure 2.9 Ledger management in distributed network.

◾◾ Upon receiving the transfer request, other nodes authenticate entity A’s iden-
tity and validate the transaction by checking to make sure that entity A has
the necessary cryptographic credentials to make an update to the record in
question. Validation would include, among other things, verifying that entity
A has sufficient funds to make the payment. Nodes also take part in the con-
sensus process to agree on the payments that should be included in the next
update to the state of the ledger.
◾◾ After the update has been accepted by the nodes, the properties of the asset
are modified such that all future transactions regarding the asset must be
initiated using the cryptographic credentials of entity B.
2.5 Smart Contracts and Their Applications

Smart contracts are translations of an agreement consisting of terms and condi-
tions into a computational code, which is script. The developers write the script in
a programming language like Java, C++, etc. in such a way that it lacks ambiguity
and does not lead to interpretation. It is a mechanism that involves digital assets
and two or more parties. And here some or all of the parties deposit assets into the
smart contract, and the assets automatically get redistributed among those parties
according to a formula based on certain data, and it is not known at the time of
initializing a contract.
A smart contract is a set of lines of code that is uploaded and stored to check a
contract’s validity and containing a set of rules under which the parties who share
the smart contract agree to interact with each other. It is automatically executed
when previously determined and defined terms and conditions are met. The smart
contract code facilitates, verifies, and enforces the conference or performance of an
agreement or transaction. It is the simplest form of decentralized automation.
The smart contract is defined and executed inside a distributed blockchain. And
also every transaction and contract execution should happen inside the blockchain.
There are certain steps to enable smart contract execution:
◾◾ During the coding procedure, blockchain developers write the smart con-
tract as a script using a programming language, and also implement the logic
behind the contract so that when a given action or transaction occurs, the
script enables the following step.
◾◾ Once the contract is coded completely, the script is sent out to the block-
chain. Execution of the code is done by a distributed network. Typically
those computers that are already made available for computation can execute
the contract, and the output of this execution should be the same for identical
input regardless of the computer where it is executed.
◾◾ Several conditions can be coded, and final smart contract users may choose
the conditions that are needed for their smart contract.

Execution of contract is run in a peer-to-peer manner; it is relatively similar to

decentralization. Simple users connected to the Internet may act as clients; hence,
they have to install the client in the computer. We refer to this principle as mining,
and the computers used to run the program are called nodes.
The main difference between a smart contract and a traditional contract is that
the former doesn’t rely on a third party; cryptographic code enforces it. At the initial
level, these are programs that run according to how the developers have set them up
to run. For an example we can consider a vending machine where we are going to
implement a smart contract mechanically. It verifies the following characteristics:
◾◾ No third-party involvement in the transaction

◾◾ When a coin is inserted into the machine and a product is selected, it delivers
the product directly to us as long as the terms and conditions are met; here
the condition is: Our coin has the same or higher value than the product that
we want to purchase.
Benefits of smart contracts

The benefits of smart contracts go hand-in-hand with blockchain.
◾◾ Speed and accuracy: Smart contracts are digital and automated, so you won’t
have to spend time processing paperwork or reconciling and correcting the
errors that are often written into documents that have been filled manually.
Computer code is also more exact than the legalese that traditional contracts
are written in.
◾◾ Trust: Smart contracts automatically execute transactions following prede-
termined rules, and the encrypted records of those transactions are shared
across participants. Thus, nobody has to question whether information has
been altered for personal benefit.
◾◾ Security: Blockchain transaction records are encrypted, and that makes them
very hard to hack. Because each individual record is connected to previous
and subsequent records on a distributed ledger, the whole chain would need
to be altered to change a single record.
◾◾ Savings: Smart contracts remove the need for intermediaries because partici-
pants can trust the visible data and the technology to properly execute the
transaction. There is no need for an extra person to validate and verify the
terms of an agreement because it is built into the code.
Advantages:
◾◾ The cost is minimized by removing intermediaries.

◾◾ Contract execution time is reduced; every action is executed automatically
according to coded rules.

◾◾ Automatic process: A third party is not involved to enable contract.

◾◾ By removing intermediaries, the cost of money transfers can be lowered.
◾◾ It uses a transparent system: Anyone can have access to the blockchain.
◾◾ Protects data and transaction from fraud. It is impossible to change or update
the data inside a blockchain and still maintain a coherent chain.
◾◾ The decentralization aspect prevents the system from collapse which is the
case when a centralized system is down.
2.6 Applications of Smart Contracts

Smart contracts also allow for more complex transactions to be carried out between
two anonymous parties without the need for a central authority, enforcement sys-
tem, or legal guidance. This means a smart contract can be programmed to enable
a wide variety of actions. Smart contracts can be used to allow an entire world of
new applications designed to solve many real-world problems.
Consider an example of a poet who allows journalists and content creators to
control and manage their digital rights. This means they maintain the ability to
offer up their content on an open marketplace for a fee, or enter into agreements
with clients and be paid as work is completed. No escrow service, lawyers, or agen-
cies are required.
As you can imagine, there are many industries that can benefit from this kind
of technology, such as:
◾◾ Intellectual property
◾◾ The legal industry (contracts, negotiations, etc.)
◾◾ Shipping and logistics
◾◾ Finance/banking
◾◾ Real estate
2.6.1 Financial Services and Insurance

One of the important challenges facing the insurance industry regularly is
fraudulent activities. For insurance companies to overcome this problem there
needs to be an administrative team that looks into claims and ensures their
validity. Smart contracts regulate the impact of this major challenge because
both the insurer and insured can show a bond with each other by an agreement
without the use of notaries, lawyers, and other intermediaries. This cost-sav-
ing opportunity would ultimately be passed down to the end consumer. While
this doesn’t inherently prevent fraud, it can help prevent arguments in court.
However, a blockchain acting as a public ledger and system of record combined
with the benefits of a smart contract would make it much more difficult to slip
under the radar.

2.6.2 Mortgage Transactions
Another important application of smart contracts is in the mortgage industry.
Blockchain technology can allow for buyers and sellers to be automatically con-
nected together in a friction-less, hassle-free process. Construct a smart contract
governing all terms and conditions – evade the need for lawyers, realtors, and other
professionals. This saves both time and money for both sides of the transaction
while also minimizing any potential errors or costs that could otherwise come from
doing things manually.
2.6.3 Supply Chain Transparency

Tracking packages as they move around the world is a difficult task, but smart con-
tracts can simplify it. From the moment a product leaves the factory floor to when
it arrives on store shelves, the transparent nature of this technology can make the
entire process more simple; it clearly shows where exactly every package is along
with where in the supply chain potential errors take place. For example, in the case
of a contaminated shipment, management will be able to see exactly where each
individual product came from and isolate the contaminated goods without throw-
ing away an entire shipment. Not only does this help organizations save costs, but
also it keeps buyers safer.
2.6.4 Medical Research
As researchers in the medical field conduct clinical trials and research potential
cures to diseases such as cancer, effectively sharing data amongst the various insti-
tutions freely and openly is something smart contracts can facilitate. Data can
be freely exchanged without compromising the privacy and data security of the
patients and subjects involved. A smart contract consists of various if–then sce-
narios that work well in this particular use case.
2.6.5 Digital Identity and Records Management

Although in the current era, huge technical companies get away with mining our
data and personal information, in the future this could change severely with the
use of smart contracts. Individuals can own and control their own digital identity,
including passwords, data, digital assets, records, and other details. This would be
really different from our current situation, where often dozens of different institu-
tions, organizations, and parties all have their own individual copies of our personal
information – an obvious security risk. Instead, all these details can be consolidated
and owned by an individual who chooses with whom to share this information
with smart contracts.

2.6.5.1 Peer Network and Membership Management

A blockchain network is in the style of a peer-to-peer network which is running a
decentralized blockchain framework. As we know a network includes one or more
members, who have unique identities in the network. For example, a member might
be an individual or an organization in a consortium of banks. Each member runs
a single or multiple blockchain peer nodes to run chain-code, endorse transactions,
and store a local copy of the ledger.
Consider the case of Amazon Managed Blockchain, that creates and manages
these components for each and every member in a network, and also creates compo-
nents that are shared by all members in a network, such as the Hyperledger Fabric
ordering service and the general networking configuration. The user can choose
different editions of Amazon Managed Blockchain according their wishes and
requirements. This edition determines the capacity and capabilities of the network.
The creator also necessary should create the first Managed Blockchain network
member. Additional members are added through a proposal and voting process.
There is no need to pay for the network establishment, but each member pays
an hourly rate (billed per second) for their network membership. Charges in each
network vary depending on the edition of the network. Each member also pays for
peer nodes, peer node storage, and the amount of data that the member writes to
the network.
The blockchain network remains active as long as there are members participat-
ing in it, and the network is deleted only when the last member deletes itself from
the network. No member or AWS account, even the creator’s AWS account, can
delete the network until they are the last member and delete themselves.
2.6.5.2 Inviting and Removing Members in a Peer Network

Initially an AWS account creates a Managed Blockchain network, but surprisingly
this network is not owned by that AWS account, or any other AWS account. Hence
a Managed Blockchain network is decentralized. To alter the configurations of the
network, members make proposals that all other members in the network vote on.
If another AWS account desires to join the network, an existing member creates a
proposal to invite the account. Other members can vote Yes or No on the proposal.
If the proposal is approved by gaining Yes as majority an invitation is sent to the
AWS account. The account then accepts the invitation and creates a member to join
the network. Similarly when a member in a different AWS account is required to be
removed a proposal for removal is submitted. A principal in an AWS account with
sufficient permissions can remove a member that the account owns at any time by
deleting that member directly, without submitting a proposal for voting.
The voting policy for the network is defined by the network creator when
they create the network. This voting policy determines the basic rules, such as the

percentage of votes required to pass the proposal, and the duration before the vote
expires, etc., for all proposals voting on the network.
Whenever a new member joins the network, one of the first things they must
do is create at least one peer node in the membership. Blockchain networks contain
a distributed, cryptographically secure ledger that maintains a history of transac-
tions in the network that is immutable—it can’t be changed. Each peer node stores
a local copy of the ledger in a distributed manner. Each peer node also holds the
global state of the network for the channels in which they participate, that gets
updated with each new transaction performed in the network. The peer nodes also
interact with each other to create and endorse the transactions that are proposed
on the network. Based on their business logic and the blockchain framework being
used members can define the rules in the endorsement. In this way, every member
can independently verify the transaction history without a centralized authority.
2.7 Applications and Implementation of Blockchain

By now, we all know the working of blockchain. Blockchain creates a ledger of
transactions which is secure, tamper-proof, and can be easily accessible. Like the
Internet, blockchain has no central authority, instead it is a network of transactions
shared over a vast network of users. It is made up of a chain of blocks, where each
block holds data, the hash code of the block, and the hash of the previous block. If
data on any block are changed, then its hash code changes due to which the next
block no longer points to the previous block.
There are six basic steps of blockchain where each step represents different
aspects of blockchain:
1. First, a transaction of some sort is defined. The transaction can be a literal

transaction, such as a user wanting to send money to another user, or can be
less literal, such as a user trying to pass a secure token for identification.
2. Second, this transaction is codified into a block, which is then added to the
network for processing.
3. Third, the block is presented to all distributed members, and is compared
amongst them for integrity and, in some cases, against previous records of
ledgers to prove authoritatively whether or not it is valid.
4. Fourth, the members within the blockchain either deny or approve the block
itself.
5. Fifth, the block is either denied or approved and if approved, the block is
added to the chain of records.
6. In the sixth and final step, the transaction is approved and carried out. In
the case of a financial transaction, the money changes hands; in this case, it
is like a token; the token generated is then verified by network and trusted
throughout the network.

Due to these features, blockchain has a huge number of applications. Some of the
important applications of blockchain are discussed.
2.7.1 Blockchain Technology in Finance

Blockchain for finance is not a very new concept. But the idea of blockchain became
famous when Satoshi Nakamoto used the concept of blockchain in his idea which
he called Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a perfect example of blockchain for finance.
There is no arguing that blockchain got its recognition after Bitcoin. Many
other currencies came into the market when Bitcoin start getting famous. We
called these currencies cryptocurrencies because they use cryptographic functions
such as hash 256, etc.
Here’s a good example of what a single cryptocurrency block may look like:
The blockchain is a very efficient and fail-proof method of verifying a transaction.

It is virtually impossible to fake a transaction in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
To fake a transaction in Bitcoin, one has to alter all the blocks on a blockchain
on every copy of the blockchain. Blockchain also uses a concept called proof of
work. Due to the concept of proof of work, a user has to solve a problem which
requires a high amount of processing power, and only that person who solves the
problem first is allowed to add a new block in the blockchain. The amount of cost
and labor it saves for the global financial market is so appealing that many of the
famous and major financial institutions have already started to invest millions of
resources to research how best to implement it.
2.7.2 What Can Blockchain Do for the

Financial and Banking Industries?
Blockchain has the potential to fully change the financial services that we are using
today. Some of the top factors that blockchain can change in finance are:

2.7.2.1 Fraud Detection
Blockchain is getting bigger because it can handle fraud detection in a way that
our normal banking system can’t. Most of the banking system nowadays is a cen-
tralized system. There is one server that holds records of all the transactions. But
these systems are vulnerable to cyberattacks. If any hacker breaches the system,
then he has full access to make any fraud. The blockchain is essentially a distrib-
uted ledger. In the blockchain, each block contains a timestamp and holds some
batches of individual transactions. These records also contain a link to a previ-
ous block. It is believed that this technology has the power to eliminate some of
the current crimes that are being committed online today against our financial
institutions.
2.7.2.2 Know Your Customer (KYC)

According to Thomson Reuters Survey, financial companies spend anywhere
between $60 million to $500 million to keep up with know your customer (KYC)
and customer due diligence regulations. Blockchain would allow the autonomous
confirmation of one client by allowing one organization to be reached by other
companies so the KYC process wouldn’t have to start over again.
2.7.2.3 Payments
Blockchain division could be highly transformative in the payments process.
Blockchain will give higher security and lower costs to organizations like banks
to process payments between companies and their buyers and even between banks
themselves. In the current reality, there are a lot of intermediaries in the payment
processing system, but blockchain would reduce the need for a lot of them.
2.7.3 Problems in Implementing Blockchain

in Financial Services
Blockchain provides huge numbers of opportunities to improve our financial ser-
vices but before implementing this there are some hurdles which we need to clear
first.
The blockchains that would be used by financial institutions would need to
comply with privacy laws of today and the future and need to ensure the safety of
the data. There are many questions regarding regulatory oversight for this new tech-
nology that need to be sorted out. And any blockchain used in this sector would
need to handle an extraordinarily large data set, therefore scalability is incredibly
important.

2.8 Blockchain Security in Online Voting

Another application for blockchain technology is in e-voting systems. We all know
the importance of fair elections in a democratic country where altering votes is
a serious crime. There are many tools for fair elections such as electronic voting
machines (EVM), but cyberhackers have already proved that they are vulnerable.
In a world of rapidly increasing technological progress, old technology such as
EVM can no longer provide 100% insurance against changes in votes. Blockchain
is fool-proof technology and what is once written is not easy to change forcefully.
This feature of blockchain makes it perfect for voting. By casting votes as transac-
tions, we can create a blockchain which keeps track of the tallies of the votes. This
way, everyone can agree on the final count because they can count the votes them-
selves, and because of the blockchain audit trail, they can verify that no votes were
changed or removed, and no illegitimate votes were added. A similar blockchain-
based mobile voting system had been scheduled to be used in the U.S. state of West
Virginia’s midterm elections, Cointelegraph reported September 27. Following the
early November elections, the state’s Secretary of State noted that 144 military
personnel stationed overseas from 24 counties were able to successfully cast their
ballots on a mobile, blockchain-based platform called Voatz.
In May, Cointelegraph released an analysis of the potential usage of blockchain
technology for elections.
This year, several countries worldwide have announced the consideration of
blockchain-based systems for voting, such as Ukraine, Catalonia, and the Japanese
city of Tsukuba. Back in June, the Swiss city of Zug, commonly known as ‘Crypto
Valley’, conducted a blockchain-powered trial municipal vote, as Cointelegraph
wrote June 9.
Blockchain systems not only have higher security than traditional voting sys-
tems but also open the doors to online voting or e-voting. We all know that block-
chain cannot be altered; there is already some research going on in which people are
trying to perfect e-voting systems.
2.8.1 Challenges in E-Voting Applications for Blockchain

The challenge in this sector is not security or the money required to change the
current system; the main reason we are still using old system is that a resilient
and inclusive voting system should be something a citizen or group of citizens can
understand and replace by pen and paper if it fails. Not everyone is on the Internet;
it is true that many still struggle to vote though EVM, and these technologies
are still new for a huge number of people in developing countries like India. The
system must remain backward-compatible and have realistic fallback options, for
something so sensitive

2.8.1.1 Blockchain-Based Certification
Blockchain can also be used in creating authentic certificates or to verify the
authenticity of certificates. Counterfeiting in certificates has been a longstanding
issue. Not until the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab released
their project of Blockcerts, a technique which is mainly implemented by conflat-
ing the hash value of local files to the blockchain, did an effective technological
approach protecting authentic credential certification and reputation appear, but
there remain numerous issues.
Based on Blockcerts, a series of cryptographic solutions have been proposed to
resolve the issues above, including utilizing a multi-signature scheme to ameliorate
the authentication of certificates exerting a safe revocation mechanism to improve
the reliability of certificates revocation establishing a secure federated identification
to confirm the identity of the issuing institution.
2.8.1.2 Working Insight
When a user presents a document, the technology converts or encodes the docu-
ment into a cryptographic digest or cryptographic hash. Satoshi Nakamoto’s white
paper on Bitcoin carries a permanent hash of
b1674191a88 ec5c dd733e 4240 a 81803105dc 412d 6 c6708 d53ab94fc

248f4f553.
Submitting the same document more than once, for verification, will have the
hash and the transaction markers match each time. If the document contains any
changes, the markers won’t match. The user will also have the power to allow or
disallow said organization or individual from viewing the document.
2.8.1.3 How to Verify Documents on a Blockchain

Currently, there are multiple ways in which one can verify the existence of a docu-
ment on the blockchain. The easiest of them is to re-upload the document to verify
its existence. Upon re-uploading of the document, the proof of its existence is veri-
fied, as the cryptographic digest and the marker for the transaction are also veri-
fied. The other ways are to check the transaction record of the Bitcoin blockchain
to verify the existence of a time-stamped document. Returning to the verification
page of the original time-stamped document also verifies its existence. Thus, the
existence of a time-stamped document on a prior date is proven.
This will help banks, educational institutions, and healthcare industries verify
documents with much less time, cost, and effort.

2.9 Building a Blockchain
Before starting, remember that a blockchain is an immutable, sequential chain of
records called blocks. They can contain transactions, files, or any data you like,
really. But the important thing is that they’re chained together using hashes.
Building a blockchain is not something for which you require a degree; anyone
with basic programming knowledge can create their own blockchain.
2.9.1 Generations of Hashes
By now you may know that each block of a blockchain contains a hash value, which
is changed if someone tries to change a single work in of the page. Each block also
contains a hash of the previous block and the next block, So, if someone tries to
change any value, he/she has to change the hash on every block on the blockchain.
The hash is what makes the blockchain foolproof.
Before starting to build blockchain, we need to get some basic knowledge of
what hashing is in cryptography.
Hashing is generating a value or values from a string of text using a mathemati-
cal function.
In simple words, hashing means taking a string of variable size and converting
it into an output of fixed length. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin use Secure Hashing
Algorithm 256, also known as SHA-256.
Let’s see how the hashing process works. We are going to put in certain inputs.
For this exercise, we are going to use the SHA-256.
As you can see in the image, hashing can take input of any length and generate
fixed output (256-bit output in SHA-256).

It is important to note that a particular string always generates the same hash
output. This hashing method is also used in storing passwords; instead of storing
the passwords of a user in a database, companies store the hash of the password and
whenever the user inputs their password, they compare the hash generated from the
user’s entered text and the hash stored in the database; if both hashes match, the
user is logged in.
Another important thing about hashes is that hashing is a one-way function.
That means if anyone has the hash key of a string, it is impossible to generate that
string back from its hash value.
2.9.2 Let Us See How You Make Your Own

Hash Function in Python
Let us see an example by creating your own hash function in Python. I am assum-
ing you already know how to install and use Python on your system.
First, open Python on your system. You can do this by going to terminal and
typing Python.
This command will put you into the Python REPL, an environment where
you can try out Python commands directly as opposed to writing a program in a
separate file.
Then, type the following. Don’t ignore the tab.
import hashlib
def
hash(mystring):
hash_object = hashlib.md5(mystring.encode())
print(hash_object.hexdigest())
You have now created a function, hash(), which will calculate and print out the
hash value for a given string using the MD5 hashing algorithm. To run it, put a
string in between the parentheses in quotation marks, e.g.:
hash(“AnyString”)
After that, press ENTER to see the hash digest of that string.
You will see that calling the hash function on the same string will always gener-
ate the same hash, but adding or changing one character will generate a completely
different hash value:
hash(“AnyString”) =>
7ae26e64679abd1e66cfe1e9b93a9e85 hash(“AnyString!”)
=> 6b1f6fde5ae60b2fe1bfe50677434c88
In the Bitcoin protocol, the hash functions are a major part of the block hashing
algorithm which is used to write new transactions into the blockchain through the
mining process.

2.10 API Creation for Blockchain

One of the best elements of the blockchain is the fact it is driven entirely by the con-
cept of trust. Each interaction on the blockchain trusts and verifies the transaction,
and depends on the consensus of all nodes to track what is an otherwise untrack-
able, decentralized activity. The API community is likewise driven by trust as a key
concept – and this is why the blockchain is an amazing element of connectivity in
the API stack.
2.10.1 So, What Is API?

API stands for application programming interface. It is a way for software to
exchange functionalities between each other. API is a software intermediary that
allows two applications to talk to each other (Figure 2.10).
2.10.2 How to Integrate Blockchain APIs in a Website

There are hundreds of different APIs available on the Internet which give huge
functionalities to us. In this guide, we shall consider one of the simplest appli-
cations for setting up a blockchain API. An API allows Bitcoin payments to be
accepted on a website. The process depends on Receive Payments API V2 of block-
chain to generate new unused addresses to receive payments for a specific extended
public key (xPub):
◾◾ First, to make a request for an API key, users must set up a wallet at www
.blockchain.info and request an API key at https://api.blockchain.info/v2/
apikey/request/.
◾◾ The next step is to generate an extended public key which is also called xPub. If
you generate a wallet from the address given above, the xPub can be found in:
Settings → Addresses → Manage → More Options → Show xPub
◾◾ Now we generate a unique address for each customer. The basic URL for cre-
ating a new request for every customer is: https://api.blockchain.info/v2/rece
ive?xpub=$xpub&callback=$callback_url &key=$key.
This is an API key which contains three parameters. These parameters are as follows
1. xpub – your xPub.

2. callback_url – a callback URL which is to be notified when a payment is
received.
3. key – your blockchain.info API key which you have created in step 1. Please
note that every call to the server will increment the index by one to avoid
showing the same address to different customers.

Figure 2.10 API creation of blockchain.

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of cryptography and privacy-preserving smart contracts,” In Proceedings of IEEE
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Chapter 3
Blockchain and
IoT Security
D. Peter Augustine and Pethuru Raj
Contents
3.1 Overview ....................................................................................................51
3.2 Understanding Blockchain..........................................................................52
3.3 Towards an Optimized Blockchain for IoT.................................................53
3.3.1 Proof of Work..................................................................................54
3.4 Blockchain – Backbone of IoT....................................................................55
3.5 Security Implications of Blockchain IoT.....................................................57
3.5.1 Better Safety of Data.......................................................................58
3.5.2 Robust Structure Creation...............................................................58
3.5.3 Implementation of Distributed and Parallel Computing..................58
3.6 Blockchain Technology for Large-Scale IoT Systems...................................58
3.7 Blockchain Mechanisms for IoT Security....................................................60
3.8 Blockchain for IoT Security and Privacy: The Case Study of a Smart
Home..........................................................................................................61
3.1 Overview
The fashion of technology merged with the resourceful invention evolving in the
information world in the current scenario is blockchain, which is the breakthrough
of a person identified by the alias Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. But since then,
51
blockchain has gone through radical growth with the assured support in every
dimension of applications in the information technology world. Meanwhile the
question in the minds of everyone who comes across the word of blockchain is
“what is blockchain?”
Blockchain has changed the view of the Internet by making the information
distributed but not copied. Even though the main intention in the invention of
blockchain was for the digital currency, Bitcoin, currently there are many more
effective and efficient uses of the technology that have been explored by the IT
world.
Blockchain can be defined as a decentralized, distributed and public digital trans-
action ledger with the idea of recording those transactions across numerous systems; in
turn, any record of transactions cannot be edited with effect from a date of creation,
without the modification of all succeeding blocks.
A common man can define blockchain in the simplest form as records of data
flowing in with series of time-stamps which cannot be changed and which are orga-
nized by a set of computers, not possessed by any sole unit. The time-stamped record
in the series can be viewed as a block, and by means of cryptographic algorithms,
the blocks are fully bound to one another. Hence, the blocks and the chain of the
interlinked blocks lead to the term blockchain.
Emerging blockchain technology has had a vibrant influence, disrupting
the way IT has been working, because the blockchain network does not pos-
sess any central control. Subsequently it enables a shared and immutable ledger;
the information carried in the record can be accessed by anyone. Henceforth,
the knowledge of any domain put up on the blockchain will be in the public
domain, and anyone involved in any time-stamp in the series is responsible for
their activities.
3.2 Understanding Blockchain
A blockchain requires only infrastructure costs as in any other case. But it does not
require any transaction cost. The underlying mechanism in blockchain is simple,
secured, effective and robust transactions between any two systems by automated
means. It can be viewed as a transaction between any two parties. In this scenario,
the first party namely “A” initiates and requests a transaction from the other party
“B”. The initialization of the transaction is followed by the creation of a block. This
block is broadcasted to all the computers distributed in the network. The block is
verified by all the systems in the network and validated. This verified and validated
block is added to a chain and the chain is stored across the network; the birth of
new exclusive record with a unique history. The transactions are done with verifica-
tion and executed between “A” and “B”. Any scenario which affects a single record
falsely will in turn incorrectly affect the entire chain coupled with the blocks in
millions of instances.

Blockchain and IoT Security ◾ 53
An algorithm for a transaction between any two parties using blockchain:
User A requests a transaction with B.

Block is created to represent the transaction.
Block is broadcasted to all the systems in the network.
Validation of the block is done by all the nodes.
Validated block is added to the chain.
Verification of the transaction is done and executed between A and B.
Let us have an example of a railway system where millions of transactions are

executed every day. Customer can buy a ticket online either through the app or
through the website. Usually the credit or debit card service providers demand a
processing fee for their services. Using the blockchain technology, railway systems
can eliminate the processing fee and even enhance the efficiency of the entire pro-
cess. In this picture the railway system can be seen as “A” and the customer can be
viewed as “B”. The ticket can be an individual block of a record which is validated
and added to the chain. A ticket is autonomously verifiable and immutable like
any financial transaction one carries out in day-to-day life. The entire transaction,
including the particular train route, train network, each ticket sold and each jour-
ney traveled in the route, can be viewed as a record. The people involved in this
transaction to update or modify by any means are completely responsible for the
transaction.
Even smart homes, using the Internet of Things, which produces data from
different sensors, video cameras and any other connected smart home appliances,
can be coupled with blockchain technology for the utmost security of data and
processes. This will be pondered over in the last section of this chapter.
One can understand that blockchain can give better cost savings by avoiding
the middle man. In the case of Ola, let us imagine the adaptation of blockchain
technology which is a big threat for the middle man who is charging additional
fees. This is because the middle man can removed just by encoding the informa-
tion of the transaction occurring. This can lead to the complete avoidance of agents
coming in the middle, who play a vital role in manipulating the costs in different
sectors. This is thanks to the technology of blockchain which cuts the cost for
everyone involved in the transactions in a network.
There is no transaction cost in blockchain technology. So the cost incurred or the
profit earned is absolutely between the end parties alone and there is no middle-man
involvement in any way.
3.3 Towards an Optimized Blockchain for IoT

Before beginning with the optimized blockchain for IoT, one can have an overview
of the IoT and why it needs blockchain technology for its effectiveness.

In the simplest form, we can define IoT as the things which are cable of sending
and receiving data in the world of the Internet for controlling the device or analyz-
ing and manipulating the data shared. IoT begins with home appliances such as
lights, fans, refrigerators, televisions, etc., and broadens to any electronic device
in the network. IoT works with a combination of sensors as the input medium,
software to control it and the network for passing data between any objects in the
network. It meets purposes such as data analysis, cost cutting or predictive analysis
depends on the objective of the implementation.
In this IoT boom, the big giants in the manufacturing sectors such as Samsung,
Siemens and the IT giants like IBM and AT&T are working on the best adaptation
and usage of IoT for automation from the basic predictive maintenance stage to the
high-end data analytics level.
Indeed IoT gives a greater range of advantages in the fields of smart cities, smart
grids and healthcare. Amidst all these countless benefits, there is are serious privacy
concerns raised by the incessant acquisition of volumes of data from the devices
for processing and analyzing. Let us remember the object-oriented programming
concept of data encapsulation. So in this IoT world, we can understand that the
spontaneous flow of incredible volumes of data from numerous devices may lead to
the leakage of data or unauthorized access of data if it does not provide guaranteed
security mechanisms. We can visualize some of the privacy challenges like lack of
central control, heterogeneity in device resources, multiple attack surfaces, context-
specific risks and scale.
As discussed earlier in this chapter, blockchain technology can be used as
an effective tool for the protection of privacy and security of data in the IoT era.
Blockchain security primarily originates from a cryptographic puzzle identified as
proof of work (PoW), used for adding new blocks into the chain. The unfixed pub-
lic key for the users’ identities is used by blockchain to render a high level of privacy.
The salient features of blockchain and its usage in various non-financial applica-
tions can be used for providing distributed privacy and security in IoT.
3.3.1 Proof of Work
This is the most popular algorithm being used by currencies such as Bitcoin and
Ethereum, each one with its own differences.
Even though we can utilize most of these features, blockchain needs to be opti-
mized according the IoT. So the adoption of blockchain by IoT is not straightfor-
ward. The following are some major challenges that must be addressed:
(i) There is an actor to be elected as a leader and the block to be chosen to get
added to the blockchain in proof of work. In such a situation there is a need
to solve a particular mathematical problem to find a solution where resource
requirements are high.

(ii) Miners are the actors with the computing power for most of the time due to
their first solvable capability. In this scenario, scalability issues originate from
the need to achieve consensus among the miners.
(iii) Even if it is not IoT, in the case of cryptocurrency, great deferrals are endorsed
to PoW and mechanisms to avert twofold expenditure.
We can examine the scenario of smart home optimization to understand the afore-
said challenges since we have a case study of the same at the end of this chapter.
Some researchers have proposed different optimization techniques with respect
to the above-mentioned challenges. One of them is a lightweight instantiation of
blockchain without compromising the privacy and security benefits extracted from
blockchain implementation. They have focused on the optimization of resource
ingestion and increasing the network scalability by adopting a hierarchical struc-
ture. The structure for optimization comprises a smart home, overlay network and
cloud storage as three different tiers.
The transactions held among the IoT devices in the smart home are stored in
a private immutable ledger (IL), which can be visualized as a blockchain but with
the difference of central management and symmetric encryption to lessen the pro-
cessing overhead. Another difference in the case of blockchain is that the devices
requiring greater resources mutually create a distributed overlay that instantiates a
public blockchain. The transactions are the communications held between the enti-
ties in the mentioned different tiers which are assembled into blocks. These blocks
are attached to the chain without resolving the PoW, which reduces the appending
overhead considerably. The verified and validated transactions are accessible for the
complete network instantaneously. This mechanism potentially decreases the delay
of IoT transactions, like data access or queries. The possible salient distributed trust
method can be used in the overlay to decrease the processing overhead in authen-
ticating new blocks.
Even supposing the suggested mechanism has been constructed with the idea of
smart home IoT, it can be viewed and tested for similar applications and extended
to different IoT applications.
3.4 Blockchain – Backbone of IoT

As we have discussed earlier in this chapter, IoT has taken a place in the technology
world incorporating cloud-centric frameworks. The cloud giants like IBM, AWS
and Azure follow cloud-based IoT design to portray the analytics done in the cloud
platforms through the communication of devices to the cloud. Everyday there is an
extensive growth in the number of applications and together IoT devices are also
piling up. It will increase 25 and 50 billion in the near future as stated by a report of
Gartner and Cisco. But cloud-based IoT suffers from issues of latency, bandwidth

and connectivity since the computing takes place at the center of the network. The
industrial IoT (IIoT) applications for smart cities, smart factories, smart grids and
smart farms are not compatible with cloud-based architectures due to the aforesaid
issues. Therefore there is paradigm shift towards edge computing-based application
development which may be well-suited for such IIoTs. Edge computing coupled
with IoT can avoid all the issues of latency, bandwidth and connectivity. In this
scenario blockchain can render a great deal of security support for the IIoT along
with edge computing too.
There are concerns about the capability of IoT to protect the limitless number
of devices associated to a network. We can understand this from the evidence pro-
vided by Accenture which conducted an IoT security overview. It says that “The
urgency for viable IoT security solutions grows by the day. At front-of-mind for many
businesses and government leaders lies the same, nagging question: What do we need to
do to secure the IoT?”
There are two major weaknesses to be fixed due to the exponential growth of
usage of IoT devices.
1. The first and foremost is security.

2. Meanwhile IoT needs to enlarge its competences to guarantee fast, consistent
connections continuously. Because if your Amazon Echo momentarily drops
connectivity it may not be a serious issue, but we can imagine how it would
be if a self-driving car lost its signal even for an instant.
In the meantime, the blockchain comes onto the scene as a standby to render a great
deal of support to overcoming these fundamental issues. The most prized crypto-
currencies in the world are being safeguarded by the blockchain. The entrenched
smart contracts and distributed network of the blockchain are substantial solu-
tions for IoT’s safety apprehensions. While centralized servers are vulnerable to the
security risks which demands more security, the risks are spread out in the network
since blockchain works based on distributed computing. But the mechanism of the
distributed ledger concept and the continuous connectivity of blockchain guar-
antees that an issue in one area will not have any influence in any other area. The
blockchain can confirm that IoT devices maintain the availability of the connec-
tion that they need to provide the services that they offer.
As previously mentioned, let us look at the situation of a driverless car intercon-
nected using the concept of IoT. There is a private blockchain used in this scenario
that facilitates safe and concurrent communications from the car initiating with
car startup, status verification and smart agreements to exchange the information
regarding the insurance and repairs service statistics and real-time locality data to
track security.
We can see how the blockchain with distributed ledger technology bridges the
serious breaches in IoT in the above context.

1. A blockchain with a distributed ledger offers the confidence, authenticated

data of proprietorship, clarity and the complete distributed communication
which acts as the backbone for IoT in such distinctive circumstances as men-
tioned earlier.
2. In the scenario of a smart driverless car system, smart contracts with the
insurance companies can be handled effectively and efficiently using block-
chain in a secured manner.
3. Each transaction on the blockchain has a timestamp, and each will be pro-
tected and maintained for future reference at any time.
4. In the fast-growing current trend of using blockchain in IoT, the developers
of IoT will deploy a private blockchain of their own where the transactions
can be put in storage for their explicit applications. The current scenario of
storing the data on central data servers will become capable of writing into
native ledgers that will synchronize with other native ledgers to preserve a
sole, but still protected replica of the fact.
5. As a final point with respect to the blockchain as a backbone of IoT, the great-
est challenge lies in security of communications in IoT.
3.5 Security Implications of Blockchain IoT

Because of the lack of availability of most of the devices in IoT, the capacity of their
availability in network, the variety of devices connected, and the lack of adaptation
of safety standards are great challenges. The non-compliance to the standards of
the devices will contribute more to the data security breaches. It may lead to unau-
thorized access to data from one’s private space. Some researchers are working on a
policy checking method based on the context in the central hub of the network to
be incorporated before accommodating and restarting the session of transaction.
On the other hand, one cannot eliminate the likelihood of gaining access directly
to smart gadgets by bypassing the central hub.
Some other researchers have proposed a safety management provider having
dynamic policies based on the content which may restrict access to the devices and
the data involved in the transactions. Simultaneously it must include security mea-
sures while personal data is allowed to be accessed.
Some researchers have looked into the privacy concerns in smart homes, where
the private data very close to an individual is transferred with respect to the sensors’
usage in the premises and information gathered.
Some application developers have forwarded the idea of limiting the data access
to systems outside the network. We could see some suggestions that the data can be
merged with some cryptographic mechanisms to protect the data. At the same time
this mechanism may add overhead in different levels, and it may not be necessary
in some cases too.

At the outset we can conclude that three major issues need to be resolve with
respect to security and privacy in IoT.
1. Resource optimization: The devices constrained with resources may not be

appropriate for advanced and composite safety procedures.
2. Privacy: Privacy protection while exposing different types of information.
3. Centralization: It may not be suitable for IoT to use centralized mechanisms
since it may add heavy overhead at one end due to high amounts of data.
The novelty in blockchain is fundamentally securing the IoT transitions with a safe
information architecture to take the data and authenticate it. The following three
major characteristics reveal the implications of blockchain coupled with IoT.
3.5.1 Better Safety of Data

Yes, it’s indeed the need for complete protection of data compliance with all the
necessary standards without affecting the originality of the data. Since blockchain
protocols are not meant to store big data as they are not databases, the provision of
“control points” in the blockchain can allow complete control over data access in
every level of change.
3.5.2 Robust Structure Creation

The major shortcoming of the current IoT architecture is “having a right and robust
structure to share the data across the network” which is overcome by a blockchain
which certainly creates the right and robust structure to share the data. Another
huge challenge is inter-industry data transactions which may cause more concerns.
Blockchain can resolve this greater concern, by simple and easy validation, and
authentication.
3.5.3 Implementation of Distributed and Parallel Computing

The challenging implementation of parallel computation along with distributed
processing is generally attributed to artificial intelligence applications. On the other
hand, it is achieved through blockchain which authenticates and validates each
node involved in the networks. Enterprises such as Golem, Hadron, Hypernet,
DeepBrain Chain, iExec, Onai, etc., are attempting to solve these problems.
3.6 Blockchain Technology for Large-Scale IoT Systems

The era of data science has allowed anyone in the field of information technol-
ogy to use data extensively for analysis and making efficient predictions. The other

well-advanced area of IT called cloud computing and its advancements also joins
hands for improvement in the research field of data science. The big data generated
from IoT using cloud-based architecture involving big data analytics will reap the
maximum benefits of business solutions. In this context making all possible elec-
tronic devices communicate with each other in the name of IoT floods data into the
network which may be a local area network, a wide area network or any type of cloud
platform. Let us consider this scenario of coupling these technologies of IoT, cloud
computing and big data analytics for enterprise solutions. Indeed, it is very true that
100% security is expected where one can never find a pitfall to lose the business at any
cost. Figure 3.1 illustrates eight areas across which blockchain enables IoT.
The increasing requirements of IoT and the applications being built on it in associa-
tion with other cutting-edge technologies make IoT a large-scale system. The cloud is
widely used as a central repository for such large-scale IoT systems and the centralized
server methodology cannot be a prudent solution. Most IoT systems that are imple-
mented as of now rely on the centralized server concept. But the truth is that these IoT
systems use the central server through a network with or without wired Internet. It is
necessary for the large-scale IoT systems in view of business development to accomplish
the analysis that requires high processing capabilities which is not realized in the exist-
ing infrastructure. It is evident that having decentralized or distributed network systems
can enhance the existing Internet infrastructure to tackle the huge data processed in
Figure 3.1 Eight areas across which blockchain enables IoT. (From Chemitiganti,
V. 2016. What blockchain can do for the Internet of Things. Vamsi Talks Tech.
Available at http://www.vamsitalkstech.com/?p=3314.)

large-scale IoT systems. The peer-to-peer networking (PPN), distributed file sharing
(DFS) and autonomous device coordination (ADC) functions which make the infra-
structure efficient can be implemented to track the vast quantity of linked and net-
worked devices in co-ordination.
The blockchain because of its robustness can make IoT systems more reliable
and maintain their confidentiality with respect to data. The transactions are also
made faster between peers using blockchain due to its distributed ledger.
When IoT is coupled with blockchain the data flow takes the path from sensors,
network, router, Internet, distributed systems, blockchain and then for analytics
and finally to the end user. There is no possibility of misreading or wrong valida-
tions in data in the distributed ledger because of the tamper-resistant nature of
blockchain.
The following are some of the most important advantages of blockchain
technology:
◾◾ Data protection
◾◾ Safe communication between peers
◾◾ Robust
◾◾ Extremely reliable
◾◾ High level of data privacy
◾◾ Maintaining complete records of actions
◾◾ Storing data of old transactions in smart devices
◾◾ Allows self-directed operations
◾◾ File sharing in distributed manner
◾◾ No room for solitary control power
◾◾ Removing middleman and cost
◾◾ Built-in trust
◾◾ Quickens transactions
3.7 Blockchain Mechanisms for IoT Security

There are various ways in which the IoT suffers with the challenges relating to secu-
rity. Let us see how the blockchain sustains pertaining to intrusion detection and
prevention procedures.
Blockchain because of its record-tracking ability can work as a catalytic agent,
enhancing privacy, security, robustness and consistency. This can keep track of
any number of devices, even millions, connected in the networks of the IoT eco-
system, and sustain their coordination and communication in a well-equipped
manner.
The world’s first search engine of interconnected devices named “Shodan”
supports the user in finding the pitfalls of any IoT device and unveils its

vulnerability for restructuring. Using blockchain in any IoT ecosystem will cer-
tainly boost the trustworthiness by absolutely eradicating some single point of
failure. The hashing algorithms along with cryptographic mechanisms are used
in blockchain, to encrypt the data which can yield the best security mechanisms
while binding it with IoT. Meanwhile, the flip side of the IoT with respect to
the demand of high computing power while using hashing methods and cryp-
tographic techniques is a challenge when combining the blockchain technology
with IoT. But the research is going on to overcome these issues at the blockchain
level itself.
Some researchers like Underwood see blockchain as the healing remedy for the
digital economy where complete security is ensured. Blockchain is considered as
the complete tamper-proofing of data in the world of IoT where trust takes first and
foremost place.
Nasdaq in October, 2015 itself came out with “Nasdaq Linq” with the block-
chain concept to record its transactions with reserved safeties. Because of the advan-
tages of blockchain, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), USA, is
also working with Axoni for the monetary payment facilities such as post-trade
stuffs and trades. The government regulatory boards are also keen on blockchain
for its capability to render safe, secluded, distinguishable simultaneous watching
of trades.
Safeguarding the ongoing operational technology is also of dominant promi-
nence. Therefore, the blockchain can preclude damaging information by handling
and safeguarding industrial IoT gadgets. In this wonderful fully protected scenario,
once a sensor, device or controller is deployed and starts functioning, there is no
room for any modification, and subsequently any changes in the device will be
traced in the blockchain.
3.8 Blockchain for IoT Security and Privacy:

The Case Study of a Smart Home
The major objectives of the smart home are safety, energy economy, reduction of
operational expenses and expediency. Making a home smart reduces the stress on
the residents, saves time and money and avoids the wastage of energy. It improves
the lifestyles of the residents at home.
We have the overview of the smart home setup, which comprises various
devices, processes and mechanisms connected to the Internet (Figure 3.2). Since
we have seen the large-scale IoT systems in the previous topic which includes all
the necessary cutting-edge technologies, we can view a smart home too with those
technologies. In the proposed case study, let us have IoT and cloud computing as
major building blocks integrated to experience the vital power of blockchain.

Figure 3.2 Blockchain-based smarthome system. (From Masak, K. 2018. VIONEX

ICO: Blockchain-based smarthome system. Coin Spectator. Available at: https://
coinspectator.com/news/238572/vionex-ico-blockchain-based-smarthome-
system.)
IoT of smart homes encompasses home appliances such as refrigerators, air-

conditioning, washers, fans, lights, televisions along with internet connection and
mobile appliances management. Various sensors are incorporated with different
devices, and data communication means a lot for future processing and analyzing.
This adds intelligence to the devices at home to quantify the home environments
and the status of the functions of the appliances.
Cloud computing can be devised to deliver effective use of all its services with
respect to power of computation, data storage and applications for constructing,
sustaining and running services at home and gaining access to IoT devices at home
from anywhere at any time.
Smart Home Manager (SHM) acts as a central unit and works as a blockchain,
handling all the transactions. It takes all inward- and outward-bound communi-
cations and makes use of a public key for local transactions with IoT devices and
native storage.
The native information ledger preserves a policy header defined by the home
proprietor to approve the established transactions. Overlay nodes or the devices
inside the home might produce transactions with the purpose of sharing, request-
ing or storing data. We can assume that the cluster head which is the head of a
set of devices, a node in the intersection or the cloud storage can be the adversary.
The adversary is capable of fabricating transactions or deleting the data or making
unwanted links to the nodes or authenticating bogus transactions.

The common network attacks which may focus on the cluster head may be a
denial-of-service (DOS) attack, modification attack, dropping attack or an append-
ing attack which will threaten accessibility for the genuine user.
The study can have a local blockchain connecting the policy header and devices
using a comprehensive Diffie–Hellman algorithm with a shared key. The shared
key should be assigned by the miner to devices for direct communication with each
other to accomplish user control over smart home transactions. Keeping data on
the local storage, each device is required to be authenticated to the storage using
a shared key. The locally stored data can be moved to the cloud storage in what is
known as a store transaction which is an anonymous process. The additional likely
transactions are access and monitor transactions. These transactions are primarily
produced by the home proprietor to observe the home when she/he is outside.
Nevertheless, the adversaries are not capable of breaking the encryption. There
are major threats such as accessibility threats, anonymity threats and authentica-
tion and access control threats.
These threats can prevent the genuine user from having access to the data or
services or they can find the identity of the user to breach the privacy or try to make
the adversary the genuine user.
In the first level of defense, Smart Home Manager finds any data packets that
violate the policies, then these packets will be dropped. The second-level defense is
that any device attached to the local blockchain will be allowed to make a transac-
tion only after genuine authentication at SHM. If any device is found to be genuine
it will be isolated from the network.

Chapter 4
Consensus Algorithms –
A Survey
R. Indrakumari, T. Poongodi, Kavita Saini,
and B. Balamurugan
Contents
4.1 Introduction............................................................................................... 66
4.2 Consensus.................................................................................................. 66
4.3 Lottery-Based Algorithms...........................................................................67
4.3.1 Proof of Work..................................................................................67
4.3.2 Proof of eXercise (PoX)....................................................................69
4.3.3 Proof of Useful Work.......................................................................69
4.3.4 Proof of Stake..................................................................................70
4.3.5 Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS).....................................................71
4.3.6 Leased Proof of Stake (LPoS)...........................................................71
4.3.7 Proof of Elapsed Time.....................................................................71
4.3.8 Proof of Luck (PoL).........................................................................72
4.3.9 Proof of Space or Proof of Storage....................................................73
4.3.9.1 Theory...............................................................................73
4.3.9.2 Burstcoin...........................................................................73
4.3.9.3 SpaceMint.........................................................................73
4.4 Voting-Based Consensus.............................................................................74
4.4.1 Byzantine Fault Tolerance-Based Consensus....................................75
4.4.2 Crash Fault Tolerance-Based Consensus..........................................75
4.5 Conclusions.................................................................................................76
References............................................................................................................76
65
4.1 Introduction
Blockchain is considered one of the technologies with the most potential [1].
Bitcoin, proposed by Nakamoto [2], attracted researchers and industrialist atten-
tion towards blockchain as it has the capacity to eradicate the limitations of the
traditional payment method which depends on a third party. In conventional pay-
ment methods, while making a payment people trust a third party who verifies the
validity of their transactions. In most cases, the third party is not trustworthy as
every transaction is based on a single organization, causing insufficient trust. This
can be addressed by using many independent organizations, which changes the
view from centralization to decentralization. Satoshi introduced the ledger design
that is called block, and contains a verified transaction. Genesis block [3], consid-
ered as the first block, contains the first transactions of Bitcoin.
When a transaction occurs its validity is verified by some nodes. Validity here
refers to the sufficiency of money with the sender and the digital signature of the
sender [4]. After verifying the validity, the block holding the transaction is added
to the chain which can be identified by all other nodes. A node can append a block
holding various transactions by distributing it to other node which requested to add
this node to the current chain. The limitation in this method is that, if every node
requests its preferable node, then there exists a mess in the situation. To avoid this,
the consensus algorithm is introduced, which holds an agreement made between
all nodes about which blocks should be appended, and which nodes are permitted
to append their proposed blocks. Many versions of the consensus algorithm have
been proposed to date.
In this chapter, various variants of the consensus algorithm in blockchain are
discussed with two main types. Initially, the proof-based consensus algorithm is
discussed followed by the voting-based consensus algorithm.
4.2 Consensus
The consensus algorithm is considered as a decision-making procedure for a
group in that individuals participate actively to make and support decisions that
fit well for the rest. In other words it can be thought of as a resolution where the
individuals are supporting the decision. The consensus algorithm is an active
research topic around the world that updates the distributed shared state in a
secure manner. In a traditional distributed system, fault tolerance is achieved by
distributing the shared state across multiple replicas in the network. Based upon
the preset state transition protocol framed by the state machine the updating of
replicated shared state occurs, which is referred to as state machine replication.
The concept behind replication is if one or more node crashes, it will not lose
anything. The main task of the state machine is to make sure that nodes with the
same inputs will produce the same outputs. These replicas contact each other to

Consensus Algorithms – A Survey ◾ 67
construct consensus and consent the finality of the state after a state change is
executed. In blockchain-based applications, the shared state is the blockchain.
Consensus can be implemented through various ways such as lottery-based algo-
rithms like proof of work (PoW) and proof of elapsed time (PoET) or by voting-
based methods which include Paxos and Redundant Byzantine Fault Tolerance
(RBFT). These methods depend upon various fault-tolerance models and net-
work requirements.
In lottery-based algorithms, the winner can be scaled to a huge number of nodes
as they recommend a block and send it to the remaining nodes of the network
for validation. When two or more winners propose a block, the forking method
is invoked to analyze which results in a longer time to finality. In voting-based
algorithms, the result is based on low latency finality. Here, the nodes transfer the
message to other nodes and hence take more time to attain consensus, resulting in
a trade-off between speed and scalability.
4.3 Lottery-Based Algorithms
The lottery-based algorithm is otherwise known as the Nakamoto consensus, after
the founder of Bitcoin. Here a validator is elected, to make decision about the next
node to be appended. The lottery-based algorithm is not an equiprobable distribu-
tion technique, as it has its own probability distribution to the winner. Various
algorithms based on the lottery-based method are discussed as follows.
4.3.1 Proof of Work
Proof of work (PoW) [5] is the initial consensus protocol used for cryptocurrency
that permits the blockchain users to obtain consensus in Bitcoin. This protocol
particularly involves the SHA-256 hashing algorithm, Merkle tree and peer-to-peer
(P2P) network to create, broadcast and verify blocks in the blockchain network.
PoW also incurs costly digital computation since it includes various techniques to
complete the process. The properties of PoW are described below:
◾◾ PoW is developed for permission-less public distributed ledgers and for min-
ing processes; it consumes more computational resources.
◾◾ To construct a new block, a cryptographic puzzle must be solved by the miner,
and the user who solves the puzzle first will avail the reward by broadcasting
the result in the network.
◾◾ The protocol maintains the transactions in each block in a linear fashion and
a block consists of the set of transactions.
◾◾ The cryptographically signed transaction will be accepted only if the signa-
ture is validated and verified in the network.
◾◾ The challenge-response computation process is known as mining.

◾◾ A reward is distributed fairly in this protocol. If the miner is determined with

‘p’ fraction of whole computation power, they would have a probability ‘p’ to
mine the subsequent blocks.
◾◾ If any conflict arises, then the protocol releases multiple branches of blocks;
however the longer one is retained as the trusted branch.
◾◾ The main objective of PoW lies in managing the consensus; a newly entered
node can spot the current state of the network based on the protocol rules [6].
PoW introduces mining that involves a step for validating a block (group of trans-
actions) in the network by displaying the computational proof of the completed
work. Once a transaction is started, the available miners in the network compete
each other to become first by solving a cryptographic puzzle and form the block.
The miner who solves the puzzle successfully broadcasts the solution to the block
among other peers, and the solution is verified to make the new block acceptable on
the chain. Some of the implementation details are described below:
a) Bitcoin: It is the first P2P cryptocurrency that permits two participants to

exchange their payments without any third-party intervention. From the
beginning, it inspired many sectors such as healthcare, governance, the
financial sector, etc. The payments in Bitcoin are exchanged with identity
anonymity and trivial fees. As it is decentralized, it avoids the risk of counter-
parties and is not influenced by any of the policies of financial organizations.
Micropayment channels are allowed in Bitcoin via the native protocol library
[7] and offline lightening network [8]. The computational data can also be
sold through zero knowledge proof to obtain the maximum trust during a
transaction [9]. A multi-signature transaction is also supported to improve
the security level [10, 11].
b) Litecoin [12] is an open-source P2P cryptocurrency implementation based on
proof of work. It utilizes enhanced security algorithms that are both memory-
and computationally intensive. Scyrpt is used to prevent counterfeiting in the
consensus protocol.
c) Other cryptocurrencies implementing PoW are Primecoin, Zcash, Monero,
Vertcoin, etc.
Analysis:
◾◾ PoW is a power-consuming protocol that needs a huge amount of computa-

tion power which is merely a wastage of resources as many efficient protocols
are available.
◾◾ In PoW, the difficulty level also increases and with it the power required to
solve the cryptographic puzzle. Moreover, it becomes inaccessible for solo
miners to actively participate in the network.

Figure 4.1 Structure of proof of work.
◾◾ The protocol is perceived as wasting immense resources due to the extensive

power consumption. Other consensus protocols are preferably recommended
for better output and efficient processing.
◾◾ The requirement of high computational power by PoW also guarantees a high
level of security. An attacker requires 51% of computational power which is
simply impossible considering the difficulty level of this protocol. However,
the PoW is highly vulnerable to Sybil attacks, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks
and selfish mining attacks.
◾◾ An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is the hardware that man-
ages the mining process, and it offers an unfair edge when compared to others
in the network due to its expense (Figure 4.1).
4.3.2 Proof of eXercise (PoX)

It is a conceptual consensus protocol designed for the distributed ledger which
consumes huge computational resources of the system. An attempt is being made to
transform the hash-based PoW puzzle-mining process into a useful output in order
to avoid wastage of resources. A variant of PoW solves real-world computational
problems by considering matrices as an exercise. Several matrix-based real-world
scientific problems in various applications include DNA-RNA matching, image
processing, data mining, etc.
4.3.3 Proof of Useful Work

The conceptual idea was proposed to solve scientific problems focusing on orthogo-
nal vectors (OV) as the proof of work, and it also integrates zero-knowledge proof

concept. With this, the miners can provide only the proof of the solution, not the
solution itself, to the delegated task. The solution becomes available only after the
certain pre-set condition is met in the network.
4.3.4 Proof of Stake
Proof of stake (PoS) is a consensus protocol that selects the validator based on eco-
nomic stake (refers the amount of coins that particular validator owns) and coin
age. It is available in so many variants with significant changes in the base protocol.
The different protocols differ in minimizing the centralization issue and double
spending.
The various properties of PoS are described below:
◾◾ The computational challenge-response process in the protocol is known as

minting.
◾◾ Initially, it was designed for permission-based public distributed ledgers and
focuses on economical based puzzle solutions.
◾◾ The new coins are not being generated in PoS, hence there is no block reward
and only the transaction fee will be taken by the miner in PoS.
◾◾ A new node always requires rules, protocol messages and recent state to reach
the current state of the blockchain network.
◾◾ The miner for a specific block is chosen based on the economic stake in the
network.
◾◾ In PoS, the probability ‘p’ of a validator is directly proportional to the frac-
tion ‘p’ of the stake that the miner owns out of all in the round.
In PoS, the distributed ledger keeps track of the validators with their respec-
tive stake in the network. The validators in PoS invest stake to gain chances to
mine the next block. The chances are higher for the validator who has the higher
stake. The validators will be chosen randomly for block creation. For any cheating
attempt, the stake will get debited in the system. Moreover, the block creation
process in PoW is straightforward, and computational power is not significantly
required.
Ethereum [13] is an open-source blockchain influenced by PoS to reach the con-
sensus. Initially, it was based on PoW cryptocurrency; later the consensus mecha-
nism was shifted to Proof of Stake, and it became more secure and energy-efficient.
Smart contract is available to perform the operation in the blockchain network.
The Ethereum platform provides a blockchain development stack, in which the
developers can construct and deploy distributed apps (DApps). Huge opportuni-
ties are available to form unlimited ideas by using this promising technology in
the blockchain. Other PoS-based cryptocurrencies are Peercoin, Navvcoin, Neo,
Decred, Dash, PivX and Reddcoin.

Analysis:
◾◾ PoS is energy-efficient and profitable for many stakeholders.

◾◾ It is an eco-friendly protocol since it requires a negligible amount of com-
putation. In addition, it does not need any specialized hardware for active
participation.
◾◾ In PoS, more than 50 percent of power is required by an attacker to corrupt
the network, and it is easier when compared to obtaining 51% in PoW. To
prevent such security attacks, an economic penalty approach is followed in
PoS to penalize the colluding participant. In fact, it is very effective because
only major stakeholders can influence the network, and they will try to avoid
penalties in the network. The penalty scheme is successfully implemented in
the Ethereum platform; others have followed different strategies in order to
solve this problem.
4.3.5 Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)

Delegated proof of stake (DPoS): It is viewed as the common variation of PoS, where
the validators are elected by the stakeholders rather being validated by themselves.
DPoS works based on representative democracy whereas PoS follows the direct
democracy. The person who is holding wallet can vote for the validator in order
to create a new block. Validators can be combined with each other to create a new
block instead of competing with each other as in PoS and PoW. It encourages better
opportunities for the distribution of reward as voting for a normal delegate, who
in turn will give rewards back to them, thus results in decentralization. The voters
should ensure the honest attitude of the validator in order to ensure the guarantee
of the stake. BitShares and Steem are the most popular implementations of DPoS.
4.3.6 Leased Proof of Stake (LPoS)

It is the least commonly used variant of PoS focusing on the ‘rich get richer’ issue.
It motivates the participants to lease the stake to vote for the node and the new
block would be created by the node which has more stake. Then the received reward
will be distributed amongst all leasing participants. The system also motivates the
number of leasing participants to achieve rewards, hence improving the protocol’s
security.
Use-cases: The technology is best suited for developing a public transaction sys-
tem. It is more secure and efficient for the construction of public cryptocurrencies.
4.3.7 Proof of Elapsed Time

Proof of elapsed time (PoET) [14] is an efficient consensus protocol that influ-
ences the utilization of a trusted execution environment (TEE). It extends proof

of ownership and proof of time in order to enhance the efficiency of the mining
process by incorporating a fair lottery system. Random waiting time is enforced
for block creation by leveraging the capabilities of TEE. PoET uses Intel-based
hardware (e.g. Intel SGX), and it is specifically designed for permission-less public
distributed ledgers. The participants’ and transaction logs are transparent and veri-
fiable, showing more reliability of the network.
The systematic procedure of this protocol is similar to PoW, but it consumes
less computational resources. The nodes compete among themselves in order to
solve a cryptographic puzzle and search the next block. In the PoET protocol, each
validator is assigned ‘T’ a random wait time to construct the block and it is tracked
by it. The validator who has successfully completed the waiting time can create and
publish the block in the network. The protocol follows both first come first serve
(FCFS) and a random lottery scheme. The entire process relies on Software Guard
Extensions (SGX) which assure trusted code execution in a safe environment (i.e.
Intel Software Guard Extension).
PoET reaches consensus by maintaining the anonymity of the network partici-
pants. A monotonic counter-type hardware is maintained in TEE to protect the sys-
tem from malicious activities which also ensures that only one instance is currently
executing in a single CPU. There may be the chance of creating multiple instances of
‘T’ wait time by the participants in order to boost their luck. The protocol is highly
susceptible to various security attacks and lacks security analysis [10]. Particularly,
Intel Software Guard Extension is vulnerable to rollback attacks [15].
Hyperledger Sawtooth [16] is a modular blockchain introduced by Intel, and
it follows the PoET consensus algorithm for implementing a leader election lottery
system. Parallel processing is followed in transactions for block creation and valida-
tion by using ‘Advance Transaction Execution Engine’. The protocol is highly capa-
ble in providing efficient throughput among a huge network population. Moreover,
it is an enterprise grade protocol that enables the development process of general-
purpose smart contracts.
4.3.8 Proof of Luck (PoL)

Proof of luck (PoL) is a conceptual permissioned consensus protocol based on
trusted execution environments (TEEs) (i.e. Intel SGX) [17]. It extends the func-
tionality of proof of ownership and proof of time, addressing the issues such as
centralization of available consensus protocol (PoS, PoW) and extensive energy
consumption. Moreover, it exhibits low latency of transaction validation, and the
block confirmation time is 15 seconds greater when compared to Ethereum and
significantly 10 minutes less than Bitcoin.
The protocol signals the participants in each round to commit all the avail-
able uncommitted transactions to a new block and the version block is assigned a
numeric value. Later, the voting process is started in which the participants vote for
a number randomly and the node with the highest vote wins the luckiest block. The

other participants in the network stop the mining process and their own block is
broadcasted as soon as the luckiest block is received; hence the network congestion
can be minimized.
4.3.9 Proof of Space or Proof of Storage

Proof of space or proof of storage [18] is an ecofriendly protocol developed to avoid
abuse of resources [19]. It is similar to proof of work but instead of computation it
involves disk consumption.
◾◾ Proof of space is meant for public distributed ledgers, and the free disk stor-
age is considered as the resource.
◾◾ The influence of a miner’s power over the network is directly proportional to
the amount of disk space being contributed.
4.3.9.1 Theory
Proof of storage utilizes disk space to mine a block. It verifies the honesty of a
remote file by distributing a copy of data to a server and computing a challenge-
response protocol to ensure the integrity of the data. The actors in the proof-of-
storage algorithm are the Provers and the Verifiers. Provers are actors who store
data, and Verifiers are actors who authenticate that the Provers are storing the data.
Verifiers usually provide a challenge to the Provers, who in turn solve the challenge
with a proof to the exact proof-of-storage scheme.
Proof of storage generates random solutions called plots in advance using
the Shabal algorithm and saves it on hard drive. This process is called plotting.
Following the plotting process, the miners compare the solutions with the recent
puzzle [20].
4.3.9.2 Burstcoin
Burstcoin is a mineable coin implemented with an eco-friendly proof-of-space
algorithm in 2014. It is a decentralized cryptocurrency and payment system that
depends on space when mining resources [21]. Burstcoin mining is inexpensive,
and it can be performed on a mobile device [22]. The first Turing complete smart
contract which solves computing problems is implemented using proof-of-space
protocol.
4.3.9.3 SpaceMint
SpaceMint is a cryptocurrency, replacing energy-intensive computations associated
with cryptocurrencies by proof of space. Here miners invest disk space instead of
computing power. The mining process takes place in two phases, initialization and

mining. In initializing, the miners contribute N bits of space and create secret key
pairs. The miners publish its space commitment through a special transaction. In
the mining phase, mining is incentivized through block rewards and transaction
fees. Once initialized, each miner attempts to add a block to the blockchain every
time period. SpaceMint holds three types of transactions, namely, payment, space
commitments and penalties. Each transaction is signed by the users and sent to
miners to be added to the block.
4.4 Voting-Based Consensus
In voting-based consensus algorithms, the verifying network should be adjustable
and explicitly known in order to exchange the message without any complication.
In proof-based consensus algorithms, the nodes are allowed freely to unite and
pullout from the network.
The nodes in the voting-based consensus algorithm communicate with each
other prior to adding their own blocks into the chain. The execution process is
same as the conventional fault tolerance method incorporated in the distributed
system [23].
As in any fault-tolerance method, the voting-based consensuses are intended
to work when there is a crash in the nodes and sometimes the nodes are subverted.
When the node crashes, it waits for the information passed by other nodes. In
some cases, the waiting node will not receive any proper message or guidance from
other nodes to make a decision. To prevent this, there should be n + 1 nodes instead
of n nodes to perform uninterrupted operation [24].
In contrast to this, the subverting nodes perform outlandish operations, result-
ing in imprecise output. These issues can be addressed by a classical problem, popu-
larly called the Byzantine Generals Problem developed by Lamport et al. [25].
Here, the concept is that Byzantine generals have occupied an enemy’s camp
by dividing their army force into N groups under N generals, who are capable of
attacking the enemies from various sites. To win, the N groups of armies should
attack at the same time. Before commencing the attack, they should come to an
agreement about the time of attacking by exchanging proper messages, and the
decision is taken by the majority. Regrettably, there is some conspirator among
the general group whose intention is to cheat the other generals by passing diverse
decision to others which causes failure in the attack as some generals are not par-
ticipating in the attack.
The solution for this issue is proposed by Lamport et al. that to tolerate the n
subverted generals, there should be at least 2n + 1 generals to accompany them. The
same scenario is applicable in blockchain in that some nodes can be subverted when
executing the consensus work by propagating diverse results to other nodes. These
bad situations lead to the classification of voting-based consensus algorithms into

1. Byzantine fault tolerance-based consensus which avoids the occurrence of

crashing and subverted nodes.
2. Crash fault tolerance-based consensus which prevents the cases of crashing
nodes.
The consensus algorithms under these sub-categories make an assumption that

among N nodes, there should be at least t nodes (t < N) operating normally. While
in crash fault tolerance-based consensus, t is usually set equal to [N/2 + 1], in
Byzantine fault tolerance-based consensus, t is usually assigned equal to [2N/3 + 1].
4.4.1 Byzantine Fault Tolerance-Based Consensus

Byzantine fault tolerance-based consensus is based on the popular Hyperledger
Blockchain platform [26] used by many enterprises, especially IBM [27]. Castro
and Liskov [28] proposed a variant of Byzantine fault tolerance called the Practical
Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) intended for Hyperledger Fabric [29]. In
Byzantine fault tolerance, there exist two sorts of nodes, namely, a leader node and
validating peers.
Formerly, the validating peers receive the request from the clients to validate
the transactions. After validating, the results are sent to the leader and other peers.
Here the threshold is the batch size is maintained. Based on the time of creation,
the leader arranges the transactions and puts them into a block.
Symbiont [30] and R3 Corda [31] are famous blockchain platforms based on
Byzantine fault-tolerance consensus algorithms proposed by Bessani et al. [32]. In
addition to the procedure of execution, Bessani et al. developed a replica for storing
the log of executed operations in a single machine, which is used for gaining the last
current state, when a node fails, and needs to restart.
4.4.2 Crash Fault Tolerance-Based Consensus

Paxos [33] and Raft [34] is a crash fault tolerance-based consensus used by Quorum
[35] to tolerate crashes. Raft is based on an assumption that every time, [n/2 +
1] of the total nodes work normally. In the Raft consensus algorithm, the veri-
fying nodes take the role of follower, candidate and leader. The communication
among the nodes is made by messages: RequestVote for voting a leader node, and
AppendEntries for transferring the requests to other nodes.
During execution, the requested transactions from the clients are received by
the leader who in turn saves them to a list called log entry. After receiving the
request, the leader sends the AppendEntries message to all followers which con-
tains the transaction log along with previous transaction index. For instance, if the
leader sends the nth transaction, then he should attach the (n – 1)th transaction
details.

Chain [36], a blockchain platform, uses an algorithm called federated which is

based on the crash fault-tolerance consensus algorithm. Here there are n nodes in
the verifying network; among them there are two nodes called the block genera-
tor and block signers. The transactions received from the clients are verified by the
block generator and the valid one is saved in a temporary list. The block generator
considers some requested transactions sequentially and puts them into the blocks
and circulates to all block signers. The blocks received by the signers are verified,
and the valid blocks are signed and sent back to the block generator. If a block is
signed by a majority of block signers, then it is considered as a trustworthy block
and the same is appended to the chain maintained by the block generator. Since
more than one block signer acknowledges the block, if there exists any crash then
the chain could resist the crash fault.
4.5 Conclusions
This chapter provides a survey of some consensus algorithms applicable in block-
chain. The algorithms are categorized into two types, namely, proof-based algo-
rithms and vote-based algorithms. In the proof-based algorithms, the nodes have
to prove its majority to append the blocks which it requires. In the vote-based
algorithm, an agreement is made among nodes regarding the blocks to be appended
to the ledger. The applications of these two types of algorithms are discussed elabo-
rately in the chapter.
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Chapter 5
Optimized Digital
Transformation in
Government Services
with Blockchain
R. Sujatha, C. Navaneethan, Rajesh Kaluri,
and S. Prasanna
Contents
5.1 Overview of Blockchain..............................................................................80
5.2 Blockchain in Traffic Management.............................................................81
5.3 Blockchain for Taxation..............................................................................82
5.4 Blockchain Could Transform the World of Indirect Tax.............................82
5.5 Blockchain Technology for Voting............................................................. 84
5.6 Blockchain for Land Registry......................................................................85
5.7 Blockchain in Health Care..........................................................................87
5.8 Blockchain in Finance.................................................................................91
5.9 Blockchain in Identity Management...........................................................92
5.9.1 Blockchain in Digital Payment........................................................94
References............................................................................................................96
79
5.1 Overview of Blockchain
The blockchain concept relies on cryptography that links the blocks and each block
holds the cryptographic hash of a previous block and timestamp along with data to
be transferred. The openness in the distributed setup is achieved with the help of a
peer-to-peer network. The main idea is that the need for central trusted third party
is obsolete. Each node, another name for block, possesses a complete replica of the
blockchain. Adding a new transaction, that is, adding a block, ensures that block
is appended to all blocks such that transparency is maintained. Tampering with
data is not possible, and the working of a system is flawless when integrated with
blockchain technology. Cryptographic arrangements help in increasing the security
of the transaction in any sort of application. The type of restriction blockchain is
broadly classified into public, private and consortium. The blockchain provides reli-
able, immutable, irrevocable, transparent data available at all times, with reduced
costs because a third party is not required.
Initially starting with the buzz word cryptocurrency, the blockchain has found
applications in various domains in both the public and private sectors across the
globe. A meeting conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) discussed the uses and limitations of blockchain in the pub-
lic sector in October 2018. It mentioned clearly that the blockchain is progress-
ing exponentially. The meeting stats collated by the Illinois Blockchain Initiative in
April 2018 show 203 blockchain initiatives in 46 countries are booming. Among
those initiatives, a few are in exploration, so much at the strategy stage, a few are
in the prototyping and incubation state and a few are up or live. The blockchain is
utilized actively in public sectors like transport management, taxation, voting, land
registration, health care, identity management, digital payment, and the list goes on.
In particular payment systems which do not involve cryptocurrency also need
digital identification. To promote the export–import of a country, identifying
legitimate payment methods is a difficult task and involves dealing with a lot of
complaints. A blockchain-based digital identity that incorporates permissive block-
chain as one of the regulatory nodes that are incorporated in all transactions will
be a viable solution for the government sector.
Health care is a primary concern of all developing countries since there are
many registered alternate medicine practitioners and methodologies, and with
millions of illiterate people, it is cumbersome to maintain and retrieve the health
records of millions for future use for health care schemes. Blockchain can provide a
sustainable solution for the maintenance and retrieval of health records.
Even many of the regulatory mechanisms and departments can be incorporated
with a blockchain which provides a genuine authentic platform without any inter-
mediate intervention to common people.
Blockchain technology sounds like a viable solution for many departments
due to its decentralized distributed self-regulated nature. Even though there are
many critics of the first, most successful system, Bitcoin, by this technology all

Optimized Digital Transformation Using Blockchain ◾ 81
federal governments across the globe understand the potential sustainable benefits
of blockchain technology. The successive improvement blockchain 2.0 and with the
Hyperledger (claimed as 3.0) have addressed the issue of scalability of the block-
chain. So by incorporating blockchain technology, a sustainable, adaptable, decen-
tralized system can be deployed which also consumes fewer resources and requires
almost zero interference from the government. The permissive blockchain will also
ensure that in the name of decentralization the regulator need not totally lose con-
trol. The system can be monitored, and to handle abnormalities the regulator can
enforce actions using a special privilege consensus mechanism which is possible
with blockchain 3.0.
5.2 Blockchain in Traffic Management

Many of the fast-growing countries, as well as developed countries, have many
urban areas and metro cities. The governments of developing and developed nations
are finding out better ways to manage the growing cities and taking effective mea-
sures to curb traffic congestion that leads to over-pollution. So the issue of smart
mobility becomes a nightmare for almost all governments across the globe. The
defined government may provide a framework and handle mobility for their public
transport since they might have complete information about mobility. However,
this kind of centralized system is limited to government-approved transport and
mobility services only. All the urban areas across the globe have huge unaccounted
highly dynamic private vehicular mobility about which centralized traffic man-
agement cannot make any prediction. This added mobility issue will make the
estimates of centralized public transport systems imprecise, and hence the citizens
may be frustrated with inaccurate prediction results by the so-called centralized
mobility management systems. It is quite common that many nations have well-
regulated public rail and road transport services, and there are several web and
mobile applications running presently to address the needs of smart mobility. But
the significant thing is this kind of application mostly does not take into account
a sudden outburst of private unpredictable traffic which may defeat the purpose of
the smart mobility features incorporated in place.
Sharma proposed a sustainable approach that inherently reduces the latency,
and addresses the scalability, privacy and bandwidth issues. Their hybrid architec-
ture has the added advantages of decentralized and centralized architectures. The
privacy and security are assured in the proof-of-work scheme provided (Sharma &
Park, 2018). Singh worked on a theme called intelligent vehicle (IV) which make
use of blockchain technology to create a trusted environment for communication
while assuring privacy. It encompasses a local dynamic blockchain that is compared
with the main blockchain to examine the trustworthiness of the network. The
entire branching process is automated by unbranching and branching algorithms
as well (Singh & Kim, 2018). Chuvan-chi proposed a mobility-aware data approach

(MADA). This work reduces the data dissemination and also the overhead of main-
taining the shared data consistency. Safe time and speed of updating are the sig-
nificant parameters taken for determining the mobility. It reduces the number of
messages that require retransmission and also the duplication of messages. The task
of maintaining data consistency is simplified (Lai & Liu, 2019).
5.3 Blockchain for Taxation

Blockchain is an emerging technology which has gained interest from various
sources like energy industries, startups, financial institutions, supply firms, national
and international governments, etc. These sources are aiming, from different back-
grounds such as voting, taxation and land registration, to identify blockchain,
which has potential drives to bring substantial welfares and innovation. A forum
from the world economy has recognized blockchain technology as one of the major
trends in the forthcoming evolution of the digital world (Beck et al., 2017).
Blockchain technology aims not to have a centralized system across the con-
nected peers so that all the parties can have easy access in a secure environment.
The information that has been stored in the block need not be a currency, and it
can be of any kind of data. Blockchain usually fits into all the different industries
and multiple businesses sectors by which anyone can access information stored on
it (Wijaya et al., 2017).
The key part of the blockchain process is achieving accord among the gather-
ings to add data to the existing block. This technology separates the worldview of
the concentrated accord, and brought together the framework is utilized to lead on
legitimacy. An accord component guarantees that the additional block contains
honest data.
5.4 Blockchain Could Transform the

World of Indirect Tax
A few years ago, there was no single word of blockchain related to finance and
taxation. In recent years, investors and professionals have been aiming to use block-
chain in all the applications of finance (Beck et al., 2017) (Pokrovskaia, 2017).
Various sectors of finance such as trades, banks and exchanges are keenly looking
at the growth of blockchain in finance. Blockchain has just set some pilot projects
in digital payment platforms and many applications are to come in the near future.
The professionals from the tax department have queries like
◾◾ Do the ledgers from the distributed systems remove the need for invoices?
◾◾ How will the government policies levy cryptocurrencies of the individual and
refund and collect the various taxes?

◾◾ Can customs declarations be made automatically instead of by customs bro-

kers and others?
Tax policies and their problems will vary from country to country. In
order for an individual to file their tax, a tax system always encounters some
complicated problems. Someone who knows the tax laws of a tax system are
also not able to perform accurately, since every time the regulations in tax-
ation will be changed. With an increase in regulations, the complexity in
taxation also increases rigorously (Schwanke, 2017). Taxes are collected from
individuals and business people as per the profits that they made in a finan-
cial year. There are also some other specific taxes that are taken such as GST,
sales tax, value-added tax (VAT).
Taxes like GST, VAT, etc. are the vital source of income (Ainsworth & Viitasaari,
2017), (Ainsworth & Shact, 2016) for local administrative organizations and
change contingent upon the item or administration they are exacted on, just as
the region of the locale they are connected to. These kinds of taxes are difficult
to monitor both by administrative organizations and the general population who
need to dispatch these charges. Now and again a huge segment of these expenses
goes unpaid, denying state offices some truly necessary financing (Budish, 2018).
Because of the complications and indeterminacies in the assessment and legiti-
mate frameworks joined with the failure of state offices to demonstrate and follow
these acts of neglect, various high-acquiring elements frequently pull off covering
absurdly low regulatory expenses, while many pay a lot.
Blockchain is very much essential in the field of taxation so that many changes
can easily happen and the efficiency of the taxation system will increase and thereby
every individual tax account will be safeguarded. Figure 5.1 illustrates a working
model of blockchain under the taxation system. Blockchain taxation can be revolu-
tionary by making the following promises:
◾◾ Nobody can modify or disturb the committed blocks of the respective block-
chain system.
Figure 5.1 Working model of blockchain under the taxation system.

◾◾ Immutability creates the origin of the money and thus makes tax calculation
easy.
◾◾ By checking the capital and ownership of the assets owned, the network sys-
tems can be transparently enabled.
5.5 Blockchain Technology for Voting

In the course of the last 25 years, cryptographers have created decision conventions
that guarantee an extreme change in the perspective on election results which are
to be checked completely by the spectators (Adida, 2008). Voting in favor of any-
thing is a standout amongst the most critical approaches to guarantee reasonable
portrayal and equivalent voice; it can end up hard to precisely and effectively moni-
tor every voter’s qualification and authenticity to take an interest. Over this, there
are likewise different issues, including absence of straightforwardness and potential
debasement which debilitate many from casting a ballot by any means.
An e-voting framework must have increased security all together to ensure it is
accessible to voters. However it must be secured against external impacts like alter-
ing votes, and must protect citizens’ votes from being messed with. Numerous auto-
mated ballot-casting frameworks depend on Tor to conceal the identities of voters
(Ayed, 2017). Usually, the voting process is decentralized; this means that there is
no proper trusted agency to conduct the elections online fairly. In the recent past,
many systems of voting have been centralized schemes. Customary databases are
kept up by a solitary association, and that association has unlimited oversight of the
database, including the capacity to alter the stored information, to blue pencil gen-
erally legitimate changes to the information or to include information deceitfully.
In recent years, many traditional voting systems have been used between the
voters and ballots, along with the public-key cryptographic elements and Blind
Signature Theorem (Chaum, 1981). According to the Estonian I-Voting System
(TRUEB, 2013), voting can be done completely by using the Internet along with
a valid government identity card. In this process, if the voter tries to cast a vote
several times then the last vote cast is considered. Finally, the data will be stored in
the election servers.
As of late, the dispersed electronic casting of a ballot dependent on the block-
chain is the potential area to explore (McCorry et al., 2017). Some blockchain-
based ballot-casting frameworks are prevailing now. Be that as it may, the majority
of them simply utilize blockchain as capacity means for casting ballot information,
then apply little scale casting a ballot, followed by open key location in the first
Bitcoin program and is essentially utilized in the client security insurance.
Figure 5.2 represents the formation of a new block by using the hash function
HAS-256 for the information from a new voter and the previous voter. The same
process is further continued by forming the other new blocks along with the crypto
chain (Figure 5.3).

Figure 5.2 Formation of a new block for the voting system.
Figure 5.3 Series of blocks.
The primary exchange added to the square will be an exceptional exchange that
speaks to the voter (Evans & Paul, 2004). Once the exchange begins, incorporating
applicants’ names as the first blocks each proceeds vote in favor of the particular
competitor. In contrast to different exchanges, the establishment won’t consider a
vote. It will just contain the label of the applicant (Noizat, 2015) (Wright & De
Filippi, 2015). With respect to the e-Casting, a ballot framework will permit a dis-
senting vote, where the voter may return a clear poll to show disappointment with all
options or refusal of the existing political framework as well as the race. Each time
an individual votes the exchange will be logged and the blockchain will be restored.
At the outset, our general public is improving and propelling, and it’s basic that
we exploit our innovation to guarantee that our casting ballot forms are as secure
as could reasonably be expected (Wang et al., 2018). The most ideal approach is to
investigate the potential employment of blockchain to improve the decision proce-
dure in general. This disposes of the need for any expert to check and legitimize the
votes (Hanifatunnisa & Rahardjo, 2017). Rather, the disseminated record innova-
tion does that consequently, guaranteeing that each vote is genuine and affirmed.
It might require investment for blockchain to be comprehended and utilized by
everybody, but it’s something to anticipate as our general public keeps on develop-
ing and advancing.
5.6 Blockchain for Land Registry

In various blockchain applications, land registry and settlement is a common thing
in public facilities, in which the land data, for example, the physical status and

associated rights, can be enrolled then announced via blockchain. Furthermore,

every progression made on the land, for example, the exchange of land or else
the foundation of a home loan, can be documented and overseen on blockchain,
thus increasing the effectiveness of open administrations (Zheng et al., 2016).
“Land Administration is the process of determining, recording, and disseminating
of information about ownership, value, and use of land when implementing land
management policies” (UN Economic Commission for Europe, 1996).
On the off chance that proprietorship is comprehended by way of the instru-
ment through which rights to arrive are held, we can likewise talk about land resi-
dency. Land residency mirrors a social relationship with respect to privileges to
arrive; it implies in a specific locale a connection among individuals, and land is
perceived lawfully as a substantial one (Anand et al., 2016). These perceived rights
are on a fundamental level qualified for enlistment, with the reason for existing
being to relegate specific legitimate importance to the enrolled right.
A blockchain-based Land Library framework may appear to offer an answer to
these issues, despite the fact that as a general rule it maybe does not. The genuine
test for these nations will most likely be the underlying recognizable proof of right
holders and the production of real titles. When it is realized who is the genuine
proprietor of a specific package, the responsibility for a bundle can be exchanged
(Vos et al., 2017) (Themistocleous, 2018). This underlying stage won’t be acknowl-
edged by utilizing blockchain. Blockchain is planned as a mutual single wellspring
of trust, to reject (questioned) administrative gatherings and banks. However, it
requires a vacant stage which everybody can concede to as a beginning stage. This
stage will be placed in the primary period of a blockchain, the beginning square.
This beginning stage might be the issue on account of these nations, in light of the
fact that there is no trust, thus there will be no assent by every single invested indi-
vidual. In those cases, a blockchain-based Land Library won’t work (Swan, 2017).
Figure 5.4 shows the framework of blockchain for land registry.
The point of the blockchain is to guarantee the advanced exchange of signifi-
cant worth starting with one gathering, then onto the next. One of the issues of
advanced data is that they tend to be replicated: when somebody has a music record
and sends it to someone else, the two people have a duplicate of the music docu-
ment (McMurren et al., 2018). For the sharing of data, this works fine and dandy,
despite the fact that there is no permit and the craftsman does not get any reim-
bursement (Thomas & Huang, 2017). With regards to the exchange of significant
worth, it can’t be duplicated (effectively). When somebody gives a specific measure
of cash to someone else, it isn’t sufficient for this individual to get a duplicate of the
cash; the responsibility for the cash must be exchanged. The conventional method
to fathom this is to host a confided in third gathering, which monitors the cash: for
the most part a bank. The blockchain takes care of the issue of twofold spending by
keeping a changeless record of all exchanges that is accessible to all members in the
system (Ramya et al., 2018).

Figure 5.4 Framework of blockchain for land registry.
The blockchain creates trust by decentralizing the handling of exchanges and

making this procedure straightforward. In our present society, we sort out trust
by making confided in gatherings that we trust to process exchanges and actual-
izing governing rules by other confided in gatherings (Vos, 2016). These are on a
very basic level of diverse methods for arranging trust in a framework. Note that
in many frameworks, there is more trust than the blockchain gives. For instance,
Bitcoin has no focal expert dealing with the estimation of the cash, while for most
national bank-supported monetary standards this is the situation.
5.7 Blockchain in Health Care

Nowadays people understand that keeping data secure is indispensable. The block-
chain helps us to keep data secure by allowing health record data to be moved
whenever we need without any illegal activities like forgery, theft and malice. The
blockchain can store data block by block; those data later linked together form
a “Chain”, like a food chain. The blockchain works based on a peer-to-peer net-
work, cascaded encryption, distributed database, transparency with pseudonymity
and irreversibility of records. Blockchain technology in health care involves vari-
ous applications, particularly keeping patient records which can be accessed when-
ever needed by management. Here the blockchain ensures that even the patient
is unable to access their records. Besides security and interoperability of data, the
blockchain can also provide services at low costs; the devices used by hospitals are
all updated on blockchain and made available whenever data may be lost. This kind
of action will be taken by blockchain as per the health care concern. Even though
we can share this data anywhere in the world, confidentiality is maintained by the

blockchain without the loss of patient data. Moreover, the blockchain speeds up the
resource and development process when any new drugs come on the market. Thus,
the blockchain may make disruptive changes in the future (Sadiku et al., 2018).
Making and maintaining electronic medical records (EMR) in the blockchain
is one of the precious and major resources for the health care system. Basically, an
EMR provides details like the patient’s treatment history, personal details and their
physician details. Even though details were stored in EMR security mode, control
data were stolen. This EMR method has a benefit called records and can exchange
from one place to another place without any security guarantee. But using exchange
records in the blockchain helps to preserve the privacy of systems as well as high
security. Ananth et al., in his research work, proposed a method to keep data in
secure and immutable, called the Dual-Tree Complex wavelet transform method
(Ananth et al., 2018).
1. Primary care – this method arranges details about physician and diagnostic
techniques used to collect the patient health status, such as symptoms of any
diseases, any other problem faced by patient, and previous history of medical
details.
2. Cross-disciplinary referral – the main purpose of this method is so that the
hospital chief or physicians or any other health care providers can communi-
cate about the patient’s health care.
3. A multidisciplinary approach – this method works with different people to
achieve a set of goals to cure the patient of the illness.
An electronic health record system may be used within the organization that was
created and maintained by a particular organization. But this method doesn’t suit
for those who are traveling or looking for a new hospital. Such issues will happen if
the patient details don’t fall under their seeking hospital, which means that patients
get disappointed and are inconvenienced by having to seek a hospital. To overcome
this issue, we are supposed to follow blockchain advancement technology. This
advancement technology is comprised of three operations, namely information
confidentiality, accuracy and ready-to-use information. In this advancement of the
blockchain technology method, when the user changes any information the mem-
bers will verify the accuracy of the information with a code. Once data are stored in
the records, the patient can neither delete the data nor edit the data in the records.
Here two methodologies are used to store and manipulate data in the EMR
system.
1. Research instrument: Sample business model of the consortium blockchain

type used. In this method, if any new patients join an EMR system they can
allow the members access to records over the network.
2. Selection of respondents: To identify patients and physicians, respond to that
person’s questionnaire.

To analyze the relationship between patients and the blockchain accep-

tance-based model, a multiple regression method is used. This kind of accep-
tance model has been used to apply the EMR system through the hospital
(Wanitcharakkhakul & Rotchanakitumnuai, 2017).
Data privacy in health care in terms of keeping data from being stolen by some-
one is difficult, especially cognitive security in blockchain technology based
on the environments called “smart ambient assisted living.” Using this we can
secure patient data, and only authorized parties can access this kind of data. In
this process, the individual care process helps to collect patients’ previous his-
tory and present health care situations. Three methods used are cognitive secu-
rity impact evaluation, blockchain data privacy and protection, and personal
rights and information protection. Several models and considerations are taken
to implement the blockchain technology in clinical health care. Hyperledger
Fabric DLA method is used for obtaining security in the environment. Top soft-
ware companies like Google and Microsoft and many conferences conducted
by the IEEE have been involved in ensuring security in clinical health care.
Blockchain technology has achieved unsurpassed security in keeping records in
the health care system.
To improve the health care system in terms of decreasing the cost and complex-
ity, we are supposed to follow blockchain technology insurance companies. The
Estonian government has taken a step to improve health care in the commercial
sector and the government sector. The Estonian government created an innovation
strategy that implements the blockchain technology in the whole country. They
demonstrated how the process works in govtech partnerships. The population of
the country year by year increases and places greater demands on the health care
system. Not only is demand rising but the cost of the medicines is also increasing.
In order to solve this problem, Estonia introduced an innovative plan in 2011 with
a technology called blockchain in govtech partnerships. In this method a propri-
etary keyless signature was introduced in blockchain to ensure the security of the
records, and it authorizes the availability of parties also. This blockchain-based
health care records system has some benefits like its scalable, secure record system.
Because of its distributed nature blockchain can easily share data only with autho-
rized parties. The data auditing method was improved by the blockchain because
blockchain records are immutable.
Using big data in blockchain technology aims to make information portable,
or if any third party person requires big data, it will set permission to access those
third parties. Nowadays medical industries work based on value-based business;
this will help to prevent the diseases, change each and every person’s lifestyle, iden-
tify infections, etc. In order to manage the complexity of health care sector data,
analytics tools help to smooth the process as well as improve the efficiency of the
medical practice and make workflow accurate. Here blockchain technology starts
with one trusted ecosystem especially for decision making, and this blockchain

involves a timestamp that helps to authenticate dataset changes; this ability pro-
vides the permission to manage the electronic health record data for one user or
more than user if they edit any document purpose. Previously patients were not
able to share their personal data but now they can share their data securely with
even new members because here the blockchain technology used as authentication
with a timestamp that makes more secure about patient record details. In this type
of approach if any patient’s data are lost or crash in the sense automatically bulk
of data that was crashed, those data will be updated soon as well as if any of the
attackers attack those data at last the attacker may get a message called failure or
rejection because this whole system conditions verified by multiple system condi-
tions. Even though we are using the current technology to enable or keep data very
secure or maintain privacy a little bit of difficulty. When we use big data technol-
ogy that helps to keep data security also sometimes we can break personal data.
For such issues, blockchain is one possible best fit model. When we divide our data
into so many categories big data with blockchain provide security to the users as
well as to hospital management (Shilpa et al., 2018). In the past all records were
created in handwritten format only. But now a new trend has evolved in health
care to generate reports as well as data in the format of the digital chart. This new
method of electronic medical records and electronic health records replaces the
old method anticipated paper chart creation and cumbersome. To keep electronic
records secure, one protocol helps which is based on the HIPAA Security rule. This
protocol protects health records from virus attacks, making records confidential.
There are two different methods used to secure data in blockchain; one is the Mooti
model, and the other model is the Enigma model. The Mooti model in blockchain
keeps data secure and gives access only to those who are authenticated users; the
Enigma model organizes entire medical health records which include private infor-
mation across a distributed network, and only the party owner can decrypt (Daniel
et al., 2017).
Blockchain technology in health insurance may provide a new solution to the
health care sector. This method is based on a framework that gives an efficient
and fraud-free solution to the insurance claims. This framework is designed based
on permissionless blockchain, an open source called “Ethereum”. This process of
authentication depends on the involvement of various parties over the network.
Involving blockchain in health insurance decreases the amount of time and cost
required for processing. There are technical challenges. In order to overcome these,
blockchain cannot solve the data standardization problem but can provide a data
share method in real time only in the trusted network. In this type of blockchain
(Health Insurance) initially tested three types of nodes in a framework that was
created earlier. The blockchain framework is Ethereum solidity v4.0.31 but con-
tracts were written. Experiment setup requires Ubuntu 64 bit, Intel i5 processor
and RAM, 15.6 GB with 15 Mbps of local area network speeds. After success-
ful completion of experiments, Ethereum gives results like different confirmation
time for the different networks as well as smart contracts and is different from the

Ethereum framework. While implementing this proposed method the same frame-
work is used with the help of IPFS for different applications in the same framework
environment (Sravan et al., 2018).
Even though blockchain offers a lot of e-services to the government sector again
it lacks in offering standards in terms of making a system more reliably secure as
well as providing authentication to the users and preserving the data for a long
time. In India deploying blockchain in public services is a big challenge. Some of
the states in India have started to adopt blockchain-based IT in their state services.
This creation of blockchain-based health care and making it a public service may
be challenging, but when compared to the above process, the health information
or health records of the patient’s are brought into important changes in the health
public sector concern; records or information has been criticized on account of the
centralization process. The problem in the public sector to develop blockchain in
all the places is due to the lack of platform availability; this is the major reason why
we were not able to develop across the country. However, when we try to develop
means the cost will be high. A security system in the blockchain is another criterion
while developing in the public sector. This security system requires the follow-
ing type of security data security (records, information): Physical security, user-
provider key-secret key security and risk management. The above types of security
ensure trustworthiness of records or information which is stored in the health care
sector (Navadkar et al., 2018).
Introducing blockchain technology innovatively with cloud computing as well
as IoT technology provides more network capabilities, and computing power may
be high.
5.8 Blockchain in Finance
A new force of digital technology is dynamic business models and is progressively
turning into an important issue around the world. Blockchain technology is gen-
erating significant interest across a wide range of industries in India. The use cases
and blockchain fit assessment have also been performed for some banking transac-
tions. Every bank and financial office needs to perform the KYC method one by one
and transfer the valid data and documents to the central register. By using a unique
ID, banks can access the stored data to perform due diligence whenever customers
request a new service within the same banking relationship or from another bank.
Having explained about the need for blockchaining in banking and finance, what
are all the solutions offered by the blockchaining, uses cases or processes where the
blockchaining can play a key role? The main benefits of blockchaining are that it’s
near real-time, i.e. the blockchain technology enables near real-time settlements of
recorded transactions, removing friction and reducing risk. The next benefit is that
there is no intermediary, i.e. blockchaining technology is based on cryptographic
proof instead of trust, allowing any two parties to transact directly with each other

without the need for a trusted third party. The next benefit of blockchaining is
irreversibility and immutability, i.e. the blockchain contains a certain and verifi-
able record of every single transaction ever made. This prevents past blocks from
being altered and in turn stops double spending, fraud, abuse and manipulations of
transactions (Jani, 2017).
The article examines some of the disruptive changes that are likely to occur in
financial services due to rapid technological advances. The article includes a brief
mention of regulatory challenges to the adoption of this new technology. Many
policymakers are seeking to gain a better understanding of the likelihood that the
use of Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies will gather momentum in their jurisdic-
tion. He previously mentioned that laws and rules may well be programmed into
the blockchain itself so that they are enforced automatically. In other situations,
the ledger can act as legal evidence for accessing (or storing) data, since it can’t be
changed (Trautman, 2016).
5.9 Blockchain in Identity Management

The work is based on the distributed ledger technology (DLT), and it leads to novel
approaches for identity management to facilitate usage of digital identities. These
approaches promote decentralization, transparency and access control in various
transactions. Here, they have introduced the fast-growing DLT with IDM and
evaluated three proposals,
◾◾ Support – this decentralized identity facilitates decentralized identity for all

involved entities.
◾◾ ShoCard – it helps in face identity verification and online interactions.
◾◾ Sovrin – it manages identity in a decentralized manner with the help of per-
missive DLT.
By using the seminal framework it characterizes the IDM schemes.

There are numerous advantages of the application of DLT with IDM which was
proposed earlier:
◾◾ Decentralized – the provided identity data should not be owned or controlled

by a single authority.
◾◾ Tamper-resistant – here the historical activities are transparent.
◾◾ Inclusiveness – the bootstrap identity can be conceived, and it reduces the
exclusion.
◾◾ Cost-effective – by sharing identity data significant reduction in cost is
possible.
◾◾ User control – the digital control identifier once obtained by the users can be
retained without the chance of losing it.

The laws provided for DLT-based IDM schemes were evaluated:
◾◾ User control and consent – information should be revealed with the users’
consent.
◾◾ Disclose minimum for use – provide the data which are essential
◾◾ Justifiable parties – the collected information is shared between the parties,
and they get the rights to use the information in a transaction.
◾◾ Directed identity – for sharing the information the support must be there in
public.
◾◾ Design for duplication of operators and techniques – every identity scheme
must have a solution.
Integration of human – the experience of the user must match the level of users’
needs and expectations; then only they can easily interact in the system.
◾◾ Regular experience in context – users should have consistency with the expe-
rience across the security.
The ambiguity present in the user’s elements needs to be addressed (Ali et al., 2016).
The ID system is implemented with the help of the Hyperledger Fabric frame-
work to solve the privacy problem and to make the ID sharing process easy. The
current system holds problems such as proxies but blockchains may be a solution
for these ID problems.
Hyperledger is an open-source blockchain. It is a platform for confidentiality,
resiliency, flexibility and scalability. This system is private; the employees of the
Hyperledger Fabric network register in a membership service provider (MSP). It
has a ledger subsystem consisting of two components:
◾◾ World state – the ledger state is described in a given period of time.

◾◾ Transaction log – the current world state is obtained by recording every
transaction.
The security concern with this identity management system is sensitive. The per-
sonal data stored can be owned by third parties. The proposed system explains the
concept of personal cloud where the users reveal the information to the different
service provider rather than handling an entire bundle of personal information. It
allows the components such as:
◾◾ Consensus
◾◾ Member services
The client application will be built using bootstrap HTML, CSS and JS deployed
on a server.

Instead of the in-memory database, it can migrate relation databases like

MySQL or Oracle; instead of limiting this application it can have a single digital
ID for all access which will make it still more optimized. It provides a more secure,
immutable and user-convenient system (Zheng et al., 2017).
The system propounds a design for BT in identity management and authoriza-
tion service disruption. The Internet does not have an identifying protocol for the
identification of people and institutions. We have all heard about Bitcoin, Ether
and other cryptocurrencies, which enable people to anonymously perform secure
and trustworthy payments and transactions. In the heart of those cryptocurrencies,
there is a blockchain, a decentralized database which records all transactions since
their beginning. The entire network, as opposed to a central entity such as a bank
or government, is continuously verifying the integrity of it. This way, users do not
require a trusted central entity, but security is guaranteed by the strength and com-
puting power of the entire network participating in the blockchain.
Identity management (IDM) refers to board administrative area and standards
that create and maintain the user account. Sound identity management and gov-
ernance are needed to manage identities for online services. Identity management
is needed to alter the user provisioning method, enabling new users to get access
to online services and de-provisioning users to ensure that only the rightful users
have access to services and data. Identity management is classified into different
types, and they are independent IDM, federated IDM and self-sovereign IDM. In
independent IDM, users do not know their identity record and it can be revoked or
misused by the identity provider. In federated IDM, users’ accounts are managed
independently by an identity provider and no enterprise directory integration is
required. In self-sovereign IDM, users should be able to control their own identity.
The discovery of this new mechanism creates a secure platform for service providers
to authenticate users who do not have a single entry of failure and prevents attacks
and leakages of user data. Blockchaining identity management and authentication
solution by design are decentralized and distributed, which decreases the deploy-
ment and maintenance cost. On the other hand, instead of premise deployment
of the blockchain network, blockchain as-as service (BaaS) permits consumers to
go ahead with cloud-based solutions to construct, host and make use of their own
applications and smart contracts with blockchain.
Blockchain can create a secure platform for online service providers to authen-
ticate users. Besides, this technology could also help to instill trust back in users.
Users should have full control over who has the right to use their data and what
they can do with it once they gain access (Lim et al., 2018).
5.9.1 Blockchain in Digital Payment

This section provides information on the latest digital payments. It focuses on the
operative mechanism of Bitcoin, blockchain technology and describes the scope of
this application. In electronic payment systems:

◾◾ The mechanism of payments is simplified.

◾◾ The procedure for repayment of debt is simplified.
◾◾ The difficulties with the conversion from national currencies at bank rates
disappear.
◾◾ The problem related to money transportation disappears.
◾◾ The safety of money is ensured.
This system is: Organizations issue digital currency, create and implement new
methods for their distribution and provide conditions for financial transactions.
Different electronic payment systems issue their own type of currency. Electronic
money refers to the system of storing and transferring both traditional currencies
and non-state private currencies.
Classifications of electronic money:
◾◾ Smart cards
◾◾ Network
Bitcoins are a type of digital currency. Bitcoins are transactions stored in encrypted
form with certain conditions for financial transactions. No separate records are
maintained regarding the number of Bitcoins. In cryptocurrencies, public and pri-
vate keys are used to transfer currency from one person to another. It reaches a con-
clusion with the sole proprietor of the key able to control the Bitcoins (Tschorsch
& Scheuermann, 2016).
FinCEN Bureau from the USA proposed various measures to monitor transac-
tions across different cryptocurrency exchanges. It also recommended measures to
curb the exchange rate differences and the revenue generated by miners. In order to
collect income tax, the income from Bitcoins is treated as property. The Australian
Taxation Office (ATO) encouraged cryptocurrencies since their law does not
restrict their citizens in choice of currency. Airports and several shops accept them
as legal tender. This allows anonymity in tickets, avoiding intermediaries. Since
the population is lower, this method is very comfortable. From the end of 2013
the Swiss government has considered cryptocurrencies as another foreign currency.
The incorporation of blockchain technology was widely adopted in their financial
services like trade exchanges, banks and exchanges. Japan is identified as the origin
of the protocol of cryptocurrencies. Here Bitcoins are approved as legal tender. It
is also the first government to impose regulatory controls for these transactions.
Recently the Chinese government banned the usage of Bitcoins due to the issues
with taxation and communist ideologies. However, blockchain technology is mas-
sively adopted in various government departments which are helping them to avoid
intermediaries (Anastasia, 2018).
Payment with card transactions concludes after much verification of informa-
tion interchanges between the merchant, cardholder, issuing bank, a merchant bank
and any intermediate card processors. Blockchaining technology is used to record

all the transactions. In blockchaining technologies, we have two types of block-

chaining, and they are private blockchaining and public blockchaining. Private
blockchain makes use of a linked list with inbuilt hash pointers that are used to
record secured transactions in a well-defined manner (Godfrey-Welch et al., 2018).
In a public blockchain, any user can join, consolidate and publish transactions.
When all nodes are not known to each other then it is a permissionless or state-
less blockchain. A recognizable implementation of a public blockchain is Bitcoin.
Public blockchains are considered to distribute and maintain more massive ledgers,
thereby requiring more computation resources. A private blockchain provides net-
work needs and should validate by either the network operator or by a collection of
rules place in situ by the network operator. When all writing nodes are known then
it is a permissioned blockchain (Jayachandran, 2017).
The main benefits of blockchaining in digital payments are reduced transaction
participants, reduced transaction processing time, utilization of a single encrypted
transaction ledger, increased data integrity and reduced transaction fees. The major
constraints and risks are imposed delay, performance (runtime versus real time),
throughput, adoption, limited block size and card storage. Coming to the risks:
the main risks are lost or stolen credentials, network availability, network integrity
and trust.
In summary, by applying this decentralized technology there is a possibility to
reduce the burden of almost all the government activities significantly. This may
lead to total virtual governance in which the entire administrative machinery can
discharge its duties without any manual intervention that can be audited at any
time for any reason. The permissive blockchain and stateless blockchain, when
combined suitably, may lead to a fully democratic government in which there is no
central power of authority, totally eliminating corruption, bias and over-exercising
of power. Also, the cost of running government activity would be slashed drasti-
cally that may in turn benefit the people of the country by heavily reduced direct
and indirect taxes. This will lead to most of the money earned by the government
for the reduction of unemployment and other social welfare schemes. In another 20
years, many fast-growing countries may join the developed nation bandwagon due
to this disruptive technology.
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Chapter 6
Blockchain and
Social Media
Saugata Dutta and Kavita Saini
Contents
6.1 Introduction..............................................................................................101
6.2 How Blockchain Works............................................................................104
6.3 Blockchain in Social Media.......................................................................105
6.4 Blockchain-Based Social Media (A Revolution)........................................106
6.5 Social Media Opportunities in Blockchain...............................................107
6.6 Future Ahead............................................................................................113
References.......................................................................................................... 114
6.1 Introduction
A blockchain can be defined as an increasing list of blocks where each block
is linked with the hash of the previous one. A block consists of a collection of
transactions, time stamps and the hash of the previous block. Blockchain is a
distributed ledger where transactions are stored in blocks and spread across a
peer-to-peer network where every node holds a copy of the ledger. The value of
cryptography hashing and a distributed ledger makes it more unique than other
technologies in that it is highly secured and almost impossible to compromise. The
transparency in information for every node or participant is a property of block-
chain which shows information cannot be modified which reduces fraudulent
101
data and tampering with data which helps in building trust. Blockchain is cus-
tomizable where actions can be triggered once the contextual conditions are met.
Blockchain works on a peer-to-peer network, and there is no third party or cen-
tral authority involvement.
Encryption is a base concept for blockchain. It can be seen as immutability of
data which is also distributed. The history starts during the late 1970s when the
concept of a Merkle tree was introduced which is a binary hash tree. The concep-
tual tree consists of a leaf node with a hash and every non-leaf node has a cryp-
tographic hash of its child nodes. This helped in the secure verification of large
data. This conceptual model was invented by Ralph Merkle in 1979. In the early
1990s a blockchain-like technology was introduced by Stuart Haber and W. Scott
Stornetta, working on secure blockchain. In 1992, documents could be stored in a
single block with the help of the Merkle tree design. The actual inception of block-
chain was conceptualized by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 when he introduced the
peer-to-peer cash system. This triggered the launch of a currency in 2009 which
is a digital cryptocurrency with an underlying layer of blockchain technology. The
digital cryptocurrency known as “Bitcoin” came to existence. Satoshi Nakamoto
mined the first Bitcoin. Hal Finney who was the programmer for Bitcoin was the
first to receive 10 Bitcoins from Satoshi Nakamoto.
The year 2014 experienced a probability to use the blockchain technology as a
legitimate use of payments. This is the starting period where investors started focus-
ing on this technology. This is the time when smart contracts and decentralized
apps were conceptualized. This stepled to the realization of the benefit of running
decentralized apps and smart contracts. Ethereum is a public blockchain developed
in open source and decentralized whereas the cryptocurrency is named “Ether”.
Ethereum with a smart contracting layer gave the advantage of including various
parameters and also validating various levels over the transactions. This contracting
layer also helped various parameters and improved upon the overall interactions on
the transactions and contracts. Blockchain technology is transparent, secured and
there is no third party or central authority intervention. It has the ability to make
an organization that uses this technology more transparent, democratic, efficient,
decentralized and secure. Within the next five to ten years blockchain will disrupt
various industries. Some of the industries where blockchain has already started
include banking services intended for those who have no access to the banking
system that we use presently. Similarly Bitcoin allows users to send money. Barclays
has already started using blockchain to some extent. Blockchain is used in supply
chain management where users store data in decentralized locations and records
are kept in a secured manner which provides various benefits like minimizing cost
and labor. Some of the startup blockchain companies like Provenance, Fluent,
Skuchain and Blockverify are working to improve supply chain management. In
forecasting industries, blockchain is expected to change the traditional methods
of research, consulting, forecasting and analysis. In networking and IoT, IBM and

Blockchain and Social Media ◾ 103
Samsung are using a new idea called “adapt” which will use blockchain technol-
ogy and create a distributed network of IoT devices. In the insurance industry, the
core is trust management. With the help of blockchain, technology ensured person
identity. Blockchain can be used to verify many types of data in insurance contracts
like the insured person’s identity. Blockchain smart contracts can be integrated
with oracles bearing real data. A blockchain project called Aeternity is developing
digital applications for the insurance industry. In private transport and the ride-
sharing industry, blockchain technology is being used to create a platform for rid-
ers and owners where riders can access the services by meeting a mutual terms and
condition without a central authority. Blockchain startups like Lazoos and Arcade
City are working in this area. In the online data storage industry, blockchain allows
storage to be more secure and robust against attacks. Storj is an example of decen-
tralized cloud storage. In the charity industry, blockchain can be used to address
inefficiencies and corruption. It can help to track that donations are going to the
right hands. BitGive uses blockchain technology to receive funds using a distrib-
uted ledger. In voting, blockchain can be used for a number of services like the
verification of identity, registration of voters and also counting the votes. It helps
in counting only the legitimate votes, no votes are changed or moved, and creat-
ing an immutable, publicly viewable ledger will make a massive step forward to
make elections more fair and democratic. Democracy Earth and Follow My Vote
are aiming in this field to create a blockchain-based voting system. In the health
care industry, blockchain is used to store and share sensitive data with authorized
doctors and patients. This will help in data security and improve in accuracy and
speed in diagnosis. Gem and Tierion are working in the health care data space. In
the energy management industry, TransactiveGrid allows customers to buy and
sell energy from each other in a decentralized way without involving the public
grid or a trusted private intermediary. In online music, blockchain can be used by
fans to pay musicians directly. Smart contracts can be introduced which can solve
licensing issues and better catalog songs with their respective creators. Mycelia and
Ujo are blockchain-based platforms made specifically for the music industry. In the
retail industry, blockchain utilities creates a lobby where sellers and buyers meet
and can deal as per the requirements without the intervention of a central author-
ity. The two startups OpenBazaar and OB1 use blockchain in the retail space. In
the real estate industry, some challenges can be overcome like lack of transparency,
fraud, bureaucracy and mistakes in public records. Blockchain technology can help
in reducing the need for documents, building accuracy and verifying ownership
and also speeding up transactions. Ubiquity is a blockchain-based secured plat-
form for real estate record keeping which is an alternative to legacy paper-based
systems. In the crowdfunding industry, many organizations are benefited especially
the startups by raising funds using blockchain smart contracts which eliminates the
need for a third party. New projects can release their own tokens that can be later
exchanged for services, cash or products.

6.2 How Blockchain Works

Blockchain is a peer-to-peer technology where the integrity of digital information
is protected. Blockchain is defined as a decentralized ledger of transactions over a
peer-to-peer network. Blockchain offers secured and transparent transactions to all
parties involved. The blockchain ledger records every sequence of transactions from
beginning to end whether it is many or one. On each transaction, it is put into a
block and each block is connected to the one before and after [2]. The lists of trans-
actions are blocked together and the fingerprint of each block is added to the next,
thus creating an irreversible chain. Blockchain works with all types of transactions,
and it is distributed, permissioned and secured. A block usually consists of the cur-
rent transaction information and hash of the previous block. A hash function takes
any digital media and runs an algorithm on it to produce a fixed-length digital
output known as a hash (Figure 6.1).
This fixed-length output is smaller than the original input. When even a single
bit of digital media is changed, the hash function also changes as compared to the
original one. All blocks are numbered starting from 0. The first block numbered 0
is known as the genesis block.
The distributed ledger nature of blockchain makes it more secure. The data are
not stored on a centralized database but across a wide range of computers known
as nodes. If any of the blocks is tampered with, it causes the hash of the block to
change which will make all the subsequent blocks invalid. Nowadays computers
and technology are pretty fast, say for example if any of the blocks is tampered with
and all the subsequent block hash are recalculated, then there is a chance the block-
chain will be compromised. In order to mitigate this issue, there is a concept called
proof of work (POW). It actually slows down the creation of blocks (Figure 6.2).
So if any of the block is tampered with, then proof of work needs to be cal-
culated for all subsequent blocks. Now proof of work (POW) is a mathematical
design where a pseudo-random number is presumed and joined with block data to
calculate the hash, producing a result that equals a given criteria, for example a hash
with a prefix of three zeroes. Once the result with the given condition is found, the
result is verified by other nodes and the miners are rewarded with digital currency
Figure 6.1 Blocks in blockchain.

Figure 6.2 Adding a block to the blockchain.
[3]. As mining is a guessing game, miners are special nodes with special hardware
or computational power who take part in this guessing game known as proof of
work and are rewarded with digital currency on successfully guessing and adding a
block in the blockchain. The miners with more computational power may succeed
more often, but due to the law of statistical probability, it is highly unlikely that the
same miner will do so every time. Using a consensus algorithm, you can actually
agree one particular state of blockchain in the entire network. So if a new block is
added in a blockchain, who will add it can be defined with the help of a consensus
algorithm like proof of work (POW).
6.3 Blockchain in Social Media

To start with, the social media system is a walled garden which is protected and
interestingly exploited. In one way we can say that we all are products which ironi-
cally social media monetize. We certainly have no option but trust social media
to handle our data. There have been incidents where information data were com-
promised. There are a number of criticisms of public disclosure by social network-
ing sites. Importantly, the information in the social media has no validation or
authenticity, it totally depends upon the face value. However with the principles of
blockchain, a mechanism exists by which we can deal with social media from a dif-
ferent angle altogether. Here we can participate directly without the intervention of
third-party trust and we profit from the success of what we are posting. Now there
are certain factors like decentralized social media; next is to reinvent the incentive
structure of social media and also the validation and authenticity of posts. Social
media is undergoing a metamorphic shift at this moment. Social media will experi-
ence consequences from the disruption of blockchain technology [4].
There are certain factors which influence shifting of social media with under-
lying blockchain technology. Verification of online identities is in increased
demand. Fake IDs and vulnerability to fraud can be mitigated where the identi-
ties of customers can be verified using blockchain technology and smart contracts.
Similar to the case of identities, marketplaces can also be verified using blockchain

technology, where vendors are verified which will make marketing simpler and
improve the return of investment and will also gain potential company growth.
Cryptocurrencies can be a good combination with the advent of blockchain in
social media. Posts, likes or any type of participation can yield small amounts of
cryptocurrencies. There is also a demand for the collectibles of cryptocurrencies
using blockchain technology where small investments are done in the form of cryp-
tocurrencies, for example companies develop crypto-collectible games for Android
and IOS in which cryptocurrencies are used. Blockchain with social media can
stop the use of fake content which is now flooding social media. The technology
will help to post traceable data and verified contents. This will help marketing
teams and brand managers. Journalistic social media faces challenges on the media
content that audiences rely on such as source reliability, excessive liberty in pri-
vacy, fake news and failure to regulate the structure and flow of information [5].
Although social media has given us lots of useful information, many of this is
untraceable, has integrity issues and is unreliable and unethical.
6.4 Blockchain-Based Social Media (A Revolution)

A social media revolution has already started with various startups. The timespan
required to introduce social media to the world is more or less the same as the times-
pan expected to expand the blockchain-enabled social media. This is in fact being
used as the advantage of earning money, censorship, immutability, transparency,
creditability, authenticity and reliable platform. The application is decentralized
with no central authority control and transparent. The advantage of getting situated
in this platform will be highly creditable, as with other social networking sites where
the first subscriber of Twitter has a million followers and so with YouTube, where the
first video yields millions of likes; the sooner the better. In this authentic platform,
people will find each other in blockchain-enabled social media and can later follow
each other on Twitter or other social networking links rather than vice versa. This
will help in sales and marketing. Social media is actually not social and is basically
a push mechanism. Data leaks, unreliable content and news, public disclosure and
advertisers appealing for attention are some of the reasons why people started real-
izing the value of data and the risk of posting in public platforms. This platform is on
the rise and also ready to change the social media infrastructure and bring a different
paradigm altogether. Some of these following issues can be addressed:
◾◾ Fake news: The advantage of using authentic content and source data verifica-
tion will help to fight this problem. The content creators are also verified. The
approach is versatile towards profitability on personal data, control and privacy.
◾◾ Advertisement: Where the user has the control to see ads at their own wish.
This will help in controlling advertisement frauds where there is wastage of
money. The users may be rewarded if they wish to see the advertisement.

◾◾ Rewards: With the help of smart contracts, creators are rewarded for views
and likes for quality posts. In comparison in other networking sites like
YouTube the compensation is too little and is only triggered with huge view
numbers.
◾◾ Privacy: Users can be anonymous if they want or may log in to their secured
account as per choice. The anonymity will help them not to be censored,
traced or tracked where in some countries social networking is blocked. The
benefits of social media with this technology will eliminate blocking.
The strongest argument made for this technology is that you have the control over
your data. This technology will be helpful not only for the brands but for individu-
als too because the users select the brands and they get paid for it. An individual’s
digital identity is worth everything. Imagine a celebrity’s digital identity on a social
networking site is valuable and a money earner. The answer remains to us for our
likes and views which earn them money. That is one of the major reasons why the
decentralization movement is powerful and we all will be a part of it. The tokenized
business model will help to generate token rewards for photo uploads, views and
likes. This will start a community business.. That is where the future is going, and
this is what the technology enables. Although the ideas and concepts were there
earlier, the technology execution was not possible, but now with the advent of vari-
ous latest technology models it is possible with various startup companies focusing
on these models.
6.5 Social Media Opportunities in Blockchain

Social media opportunities are very broad and apart from these it’s a huge plat-
form. Most of us or in fact all of us have a social media account. There have been
several surveys and research conducted where an average teenager spent eight to
nine hours per day on interactions. The issue here is the privacy, where marketing
companies conduct promotions and advertisements for audiences and hence news-
feeds are loaded with advertisements. The opportunity to earn money for end users
for posts is not possible unless views are exceeded. The present scenario of social
media is centralized where users’ privacy and data security are at stake. Blockchain-
based social media is the only answer to this issue where data privacy and security
are taken care of and there is no control by a third party. Blockchain-based social
media also use digital currencies to reward creators and viewers. They are a great
alternative to current traditional social media platforms [6].
Here are some current platforms of blockchain-based social media.
◾◾ Steemit: This is the most common blockchain-based social media and need-
less to say it is decentralized; users can experience the same features as on
Facebook. Users will have better data privacy and security. The creators are

rewarded with digital currencies and for all in-platform transactions. Steemit
works with upvotes and downvotes. The earning mechanism works based
on the number of upvotes it receives for the content. The more the user is
engaged, the more he or she earns. It is the most successful blockchain-based
social media. The distribution of rewards is 50% to authors and the rest,
50%, to voters. The 50% of reward given to authors is further divided as
50% of the reward is given in Steem powers and rest, 50%, in Steem dollars.
Steem power rewards are distributed over two years of weekly payments. This
is done to bring stability to the market, not just to speculate and make money
but to help in continuous engagement. Steem powers are given to winners
to curate content and earn Steem rewards. The sign-up process takes some
time, as this ensures that the participants are real people. In this platform
individuals are rewarded for creating and curating content. Steem provides
opportunities for creators, curators, remitters, merchants, shoppers, market
makers, commenters, entrepreneurs, bloggers, referrers, community leaders
and Internet readers.
◾◾ Obsidian: It provides a collection of blockchain-based services and apps. But
the main purpose of obsidian is a highly secured blockchain-based messen-
ger. Due to its peer-to-peer nature, all messages are encrypted end-to-end
and you have full control over the data, files and photos you share. There
are features like timely auto deletion, and there is no intervention of a third
party. An individual can be assured that there is no breach in data privacy
and security. On a decentralized network of blockchain the encrypted private
messenger operates.
◾◾ Earn: It’s an application quite similar to LinkedIn. There are some differences
to it. Earn enables the user to receive messages which are paid, and the user
can also link with people of the same skills. One can make money through
the paid email system, inspiring users to pay for responses. One can create an
auto-reply to mail as well.
◾◾ Indorse: This platform is built on Ethereum blockchain. This is also simi-
lar to LinkedIn and sets profit from the skills when an account is created.
The contribution is rewarded and users have full rights to their content. In
Indorse, users can benefit from some technical skills and end up getting busi-
ness or job when reviewed by experts. This also allows smart contracts and
rewards users with digital currencies. All connections are validated, authentic
and reliable. This is a reliable channel to endorse skills and also display them.
Each user either can be a claimant or a moderator. A user once creates an
account and can claim the profile they upload. The same is reviewed by oth-
ers, called proof of stake. Once the claim is accepted and authentic, the user’s
score is elevated. This helps in the KYC process, freelance services, hiring,
advertising and market predictions. The digital currencies are used by the
advertisement firms to buy space in the social media. Score token are used for
posting, views and updates to the member profile.

◾◾ Social X: A similar app to Instagram and Facebook. On a highly secure plat-

form power-driven by blockchain, one can post videos, photos and updates.
This has a feature of license management where you have full control of your
photos and helps to sell them to other users as well. Since it’s a decentralized
network with blockchain in play, the user has full security and control over
public disclosure. SOCX tokens are used to exchange photos among the users.
It has a highly secured messaging feature where one can exchange messages
and digital currencies. One can earn rewards by sharing content. Holistically,
it is a blockchain-based social media platform which has all features. Social X
is a distributed media platform running on blockchain and interestingly pow-
ered by individuals. The Social X infrastructure is arranged into three layers.
One is for social data, the second is for transactional data and the third is for
distributed media. The Social X eco system allows the distribution of adver-
tisement revenue back to the community in a unique reward system.
◾◾ Enlte: A decentralized platform in social media which claims to solve real-
life problem without an intervening central authority or governance. The
social networking platform is location-based with more secured and better
networking. It is said to be the location-based small world network. This
will help to find accurate and correct information. One can share experi-
ences and can have a qualitative value with authentic data. This platform is
advertisement-free. One can also be anonymous and operate on the platform.
All experiences are geo-tagged. If one posts an experience, the same will be
stamped with geo location and broadcasted to other users in the same geo
location. Users will be rewarded for the awareness and creating a supportive
environment. Each user has the right to vote and approve the block and hence
this can be mined as it doesn’t require any computational power. This will
help in generating revenue like mining and earning coin. Users have the pre-
rogative to buy and sell Enlte coins from the inbuilt exchange.
◾◾ Voice: It’s a blockchain-based social media platform which ensures the
authenticity of the userbase. It’s a platform where good content is circulated
in the community. The contents are shared and promoted and users get direct
benefits for their creativity and ideas. All engagements in Voice are transpar-
ent and public, and there are no hidden agendas or algorithms. Information
security and privacy is a core element for Voice. When one’s post goes live and
popular, Voice tokens can be earned. It is built on EOS public blockchain.
◾◾ Sapien: It is a social networking platform using blockchain technology built
on public Ethereum. It’s also similar to Facebook, which is a social news plat-
form. Sapien uses SPN tokens which serve as the backbone of tokenized econ-
omy. Quality content is incentivized by rewarding users with SPN tokens.
These tokens can be used to buy physical and virtual goods. A user’s content
is validated by users of the same domain accumulating reputation points that
reflect the expertise. This Sapien network will allow users to limit the spread
of fake news.

◾◾ Sola: It is an amalgamation of social network and media. It was designed

in order to address the unfair monopoly of traditional social media, to give
users an equal voice [7]. Users’ posts are either endorsed or skipped. When
endorsed, the content will be displayed to mass users; hence there are no
concepts of share and like systems for promotion. It uses a viral geo system,
where users’ content gets shared automatically to the closest users measuring
the proximity. SOL is a utility token that is used in app transactions, rewards
users, advertisements and purchase services.
◾◾ Ong.Social: Is a blockchain social dashboard and also provides social rewards
with cryptocurrency. It actually runs with Ethereum and Wavesplatform. It
helps users to get a chance to earn money on every post. It’s an incentivized
social dashboard to connect and control social media accounts and also uses
a decentralized social network where information will not be censored and
restricted. One can post content and share it on other social media accounts
and so on. Here contents are never removed or banned. It uses a gravity algo-
rithm, which is used to identify and measure viral contents to track a number
of people in a short amount of time. The measurements are made through
positive and negative gravity. Positive gravities are rewarded while negative
gravities are not rewarded but at the same time neither is punished. It uses
dual blockchain concepts both on waves and Ethereum. It uses onG Coins
for the ecosystem.
◾◾ Minds: Is a blockchain based social networking service where users are
rewarded for their quality content and contributions. It is a peer-to-peer and
distributed network. This is built in Ethereum blockchain. In this platform
one can advertise a contribution with the use of tokens. In this platform,
data privacy and security is taken care of. Users own their data, and there is
no security breach. One token can be equivalent to 1,000 views. It also has
a feature of premium subscription where the user needs to pay five tokens a
month to get exclusive content and verification [8].
◾◾ SoMee: Redefines the traditional blockchain media by empowering choice,
inspiring community, respecting privacy and rewards to contributors. It is a
blockchain-based social media platform which uses ONG cryptocurrency. It
helps users to create communities without security breach, have total control
of data and earn rewards of social media channels [9]. It has a wallet system
powered by cryptography private keys where digital payments are made. The
payment system has full transaction records which cannot be tampered or
compromised. SoMee respects private information and gives each user the
option to share in revenue generation. Users can earn block rewards and can
receive the USD value of the rewards generated from users’ contributions.
SoMee puts your data in your control completely, and one can never lose
any reward or channel and apart from this there will be no censorship or
shutdown. This also benefits users to create, view, connect and share infor-
mation without the fear of being abandoned, and users have full control of

their data. Users can see all social feeds and also have the facility to share
without disturbing the existing system. It’s an incentivized social dashboard
to connect and control social media accounts and also use a decentralized
social network where information will not be censored and restricted. Here
contents are never removed or banned. It uses a gravity algorithm, which is
used to identify and measure viral content to track a number of people in
a short amount of time. The measurements are made through positive and
negative gravity. Positive gravities are rewarded while negative gravities are
not rewarded but at the same time not punished. It uses dual blockchain
concepts both on waves and Ethereum.
◾◾ Smoke: It is a decentralized cannabis network. This is a blockchain built for
the cannabis community [10]. This is perhaps the first blockchain for can-
nabis services. This is resistant to censors, and the database is immutable.
Users can earn rewards and have business access without the disadvantage
of false identity and content. It uses a social consensus algorithm to mine for
reward transactions. The contents can be reviews, cannabis strains, articles,
etc. Voting rights and high-quality content rewards are done through special
utility coins called SMOKE cryptocurrency.
◾◾ Alfa: It is a blockchain-based social media platform which has enhanced
privacy and a user-friendly approach. It fosters digital sharing and gives the
opportunity to become a small entrepreneur without any central authority.
It has premium advertisement for various promotional activities and are all
time-based. Users will have the prerogative to see the ads as per their choice
and are rewarded for time spent watching ads. All the content postings are
time-based and in chronological order. The users can schedule posts on a time
frame; the posts can also be self-destructible. Breaking the walled garden as
against the traditional social media system, users are encouraged and given
value for the post while giving full control to users. It creates an eco-system
where users have the chance to be micro-entrepreneurs. This will provide
greater possibilities for everyone. Buyers and sellers and benefited in this plat-
form by services such as ride sharing, home sharing, information sharing and
other services where transactions are kept private. The content navigation
system is very appealing and can be accommodated on any screen. It also
has an alpha watch where all these apps are clubbed together like social net-
work, digital wallet and smart phone to have a different unified experience
altogether.
◾◾ APPICS: It’s a blockchain-based social media application covering various
categories like sports, arts, culture, lifestyles, fashion and so on. Users are
rewarded for content posting. The reward token is cryptocurrency-based and
is paid for creative content and at the same time helps users to earn a share
from the overall revenue. This platform helps to monetize the content created
and respect users who devoted time and energy to create content to keep
the site alive. The users who like the contents are also rewarded, creating a

win-win situation for both creators and viewers. You can send direct transac-
tions to another user’s account which are totally secured and take a matter of
seconds with no fees and no delays. There are 16+ categories.
◾◾ Peepeth: It is a decentralized social media like Twitter. Peepeth runs on
Ethereum blockchain. It runs like any other normal website except the smart
contract and data stored are open source. Peepeth reads and writes from the
smart contracts. One can use bulk posting, to post all data like posts and
follow in a single cheap transaction [11]. There is an option for free peeping
where a user can post for free if they have peeped several times and have
good social standing. It has features like twitter cross posting, bulk posting
and mail notifications. It has a convincing social media verification process,
where the user needs to post the Ethereum address to an external social media
account which the user claims. The link will then be verified by smart con-
tracts and, once done, the external social account will be linked with the
Ethereum address. It gives the user control over their own legacy. Data are
saved on a public blockchain where data are immutable. It has great features
like resistance to SPAM, transparency, verifications, authentic contents and
monetization.
◾◾ Mastodon: It’s a blockchain-based social network and open source-based
application which is similar to Twitter or Tumblr where users post photos,
videos and messages and follow, share or like and data are saved on a block-
chain platform. Messages use a limitation of 500 characters and are ordered
chronologically. It is decentralized, and there is no intervention from any
central or third-party authority. When a user creates their own version of
Mastodon it is known as instance. Users can create Mastodon instances with
their own set of rules and have full ownership over it [12]. Users can follow
each other on cross instances and can communicate with other users seam-
lessly from other instances. Private instances have the freedom to choose to
communicate with other users. It offers anti-abuse tools to moderate over the
instances. This type of social media cannot be sold, blocked or bankrupted.
Users have the ability to join any community they want and communicate.
Mastodon with its huge registered user base is growing fast among block-
chain social media platforms.
◾◾ Steepshot: It’s a social media application based on blockchain technology
where the user can earn rewards when uploading quality content. This is built
on Steem blockchain. It is also resistant to censorship. It is perhaps the first
blockchain-based application in Steem blockchain for sharing photos and
videos primarily. Users can earn Steem dollars. Similar to other blockchain-
based social media applications the user can share posts to other social media
sites and promote posts while earning rewards. It consists of a mobile wallet
where one can conduct transactions to claim rewards and check one’s balance
without going to Steemit account. It is equipped with push notifications for
upvotes, comments and likes and also can achieve updates from a specific

user. With the help of an NSFW tag, a user has the ability to post gore, por-
nographic, horror and violent contents. It has the capability to search content
based on certain topics or subjects. Full-screen mode, photo editing and tag-
ging are some of the enhanced features [13].
◾◾ Dtube: Is an alternative to YouTube, where users can earn in cryptocurrencies
when a video is uploaded. The platform is blockchain-based. The uploaded
videos can earn rewards for seven days [14]. The videos can be upvoted or
downvoted depending upon the quality of the content. The more upvotes,
the more a user can earn. It’s built on Steem blockchain. Like YouTube, users
can create channels and subscribe to channels. It is resistant to censorship,
because of its decentralized nature. It is a fair platform with full transparency,
where there is no hidden algorithm. It’s advertisement-free, however the user
has the freedom to put advertisements into their videos, but take their own
risk of losing subscribers from their channel. Dtube uses IPFS for decentral-
ized file storage. The content is hashed, and the hash becomes the identifier
of the uploaded file. This can also be rehashed and compared to check the
integrity of the file. This is also called DHT, which is known as distributed
hash table.
6.6 Future Ahead
Blockchain helps in securing content on social media. This might not be a concern
for most, but for those who have concerns, they might not be subscribers to social
networking sites at all. Social networking sites have their own terms and condi-
tions, promotion ideas and collaboration. Crowdfunding companies like Indiegogo
and Kickstarter help startup organizations to raise funds through digital currencies
or ICOs.
Thus, the quality of blockchain-based social networking sites help to raise funds
securely and without corruption. Without the external payment mechanism, the
network that is running on cryptocurrency can support crowd sales. Blockchain-
enabled social media will have an intense impact on widespread platforms like
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Marketers in social media should
explore and adopt these new blockchain-based social networking lobby to be an
early bird in this opportunity. In the absence of any centralized authority, users on
these networks benefit from greater privacy [15]. In turn, this upholds the freedom
of speech and expression, relieving users of the torments of being prosecuted for
their thoughts on social media. Most decentralized social media platforms offer
rewards for posting, liking and sharing content which provides a platform to earn.
The sooner the social media marketer recognizes the potential of blockchain-based
social media, the better they can create strategies for better business and earning
and be a part of the new reality. So far so good, here we have explored some social
media networks with underlying blockchain technology that are quite popular and

disrupting the traditional systems. The significance of blockchain technology is

primarily in addressing the major lack of security and data privacy. Amalgamating
blockchain technology with social media is promising and the opportunities are
huge. It is a decentralized movement where every piece of your data is precisely
yours and you earn from your data. A rewarding experience awaits.
References
1. PTT Bilgi Teknolojileri A.S. (2018, June 29). Blockchain@next18 Event. Retrieved
from https://www.slideshare.net/obcag/blockcha innext18-event.
2. What is Blockchain Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ibm.com/block
chain/what-is-blockchain.
3. Binance Academy. (2019, November 11). Proof of Work Explained. Retrieved from
https://www.bina nce.vision/blockchain/proof-of-work-explained.
4. 5 Trends Shows How Blockchain Is Changing Social Media. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://hackernoon.com/5-trends-shows-how-blockcha in-is-changing-socia l-media
-ba50c975c041.
5. UPADHYAY, N. I. T. I. N. (2019). Transforming Social Media Business Models through
Blockchain. S.l.: EMERALD GROUP PUBL.
6. Which are the Top 5 Blockchain-Based Social Media Networks? (2018, July 23).
Retrieved from https://www.kryptographe.com/top-5-blockchain-based-social-me
dia-networks/.
7. Daniel. (2017, December 12). Sola: Next-Gen Decentralized Social Network
Platform: ICO Review. Retrieved from https://ww w.chipin.com/sola-ico-social-n
etwork-user-reward/.
8. Minds. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.minds.com/.
9. SoMee.Social. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://somee.social/.
10. Smoke Network Social Blockchain. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://smoke.network/.
11. Microblogging with a Soul (powered by blockchain). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://
peepeth.com/about.
12. Mastodon. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://joinmastodon.org/.
13. Platform that Rewards People for Sharing their Lifestyle and Visual Experience.
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://steepshot.io/.
14. FAQ. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://about.d.tube/.
15. Blockchain Social Media - Towards User-Controlled Data. (2019, November 5).
Retrieved from https://www.leewayhertz.com/blockcha in-social-media-platforms/.

Chapter 7
Assessing Security
Features of Blockchain
Technology
T. Subha
Contents
7.1 Introduction: History of Blockchain......................................................... 116
7.1.1 Working of Blockchain ................................................................. 117
7.1.1.1 Structure of a Blockchain ............................................... 118
7.1.1.2 Steps in Creating a Blockchain........................................ 118
7.1.2 Key Attributes of Blockchain......................................................... 119
7.1.2.1 Distributed...................................................................... 119
7.1.2.2 Peer to Peer...................................................................... 119
7.1.2.3 Cryptographically Secured..............................................120
7.1.2.4 Add Only.........................................................................120
7.1.2.5 Consensus........................................................................120
7.1.3 Types of Blockchain.......................................................................120
7.1.3.1 Public Blockchain............................................................121
7.1.3.2 Private Blockchain...........................................................121
7.1.3.3 Consortium/Federated Blockchain..................................121
7.1.3.4 Hybrid Blockchain..........................................................122
7.1.4 Pillars of Blockchain Technology...................................................122
7.1.4.1 Decentralization..............................................................122
7.1.4.2 Immutability...................................................................123
7.1.4.3 Transparency...................................................................123
115
7.1.5 Benefits of Blockchain ..................................................................124

7.2 Literature Review......................................................................................124
7.2.1 Applications of Blockchain Technology.........................................125
7.3 Security Features in Blockchain................................................................125
7.3.1 Issues in Blockchain Security.........................................................127
7.3.1.1 Defense in Penetration.....................................................127
7.3.1.2 Manage Vulnerabilities....................................................127
7.3.1.3 Minimum Privilege.........................................................127
7.3.1.4 Manage Risk....................................................................127
7.3.1.5 Manage Patches...............................................................127
7.3.2 Privacy of a Blockchain..................................................................128
7.3.2.1 Significant Characteristics of Blockchain Privacy............128
7.3.3 Blockchain Applications Security, Privacy Challenges, and
Solutions........................................................................................128
7.3.3.1 Blockchain in Healthcare................................................128
7.3.3.2 Blockchain in Finance.....................................................129
7.3.3.3 Blockchain in Internet of Things (IoT)............................130
7.3.3.4 Blockchain in Mobile Applications..................................131
7.3.3.5 Blockchain in Defense.....................................................132
7.3.3.6 Blockchain in Automobile Industry.................................133
7.3.4 Challenges in Blockchain..............................................................134
7.3.4.1 Privacy Leakage ..............................................................134
7.3.4.2 Scalability........................................................................135
7.3.4.3 Personal Identifiable Information....................................135
7.3.4.4 Selfish Mining.................................................................135
7.3.4.5 Security...........................................................................135
7.3.5 Popular Blockchain Use Cases ......................................................135
7.3.5.1 Cryptocurrency ..............................................................136
7.3.5.2 Smart Contracts .............................................................136
7.3.5.3 Internet of Things (IoT)...................................................136
7.4 Conclusion................................................................................................136
References..........................................................................................................137
7.1 Introduction: History of Blockchain

E-cash systems and their design have always been a main research area in the cryp-
tographic field from its inception in the 1980s. But still there is an open space for
the verification of data without a trusted third party in e-cash systems. Nakamota
initiated Bitcoin in 2009 [1]. This new brand of e-cash has received attention
because of the following properties. They are decentralization, unforgeability, and
pseudonymity [2]. This attracted remarkable interest to cryptographic research
applications.

Assessing Security Features of Blockchain Technology ◾ 117
Bitcoin actually led to the development of blockchain in this technical world.

This began after Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper which states that the first Bitcoin was
mined in 2009. It was an alternative to P2P currency. More varieties of cryptocur-
rencies started to be introduced to the market soon after the recognition of Bitcoin.
Blockchain is the backbone technology for the digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
Blockchain is termed as a decentralized information-sharing platform for computa-
tion. This enables transactions between different authoritative domains that do not
trust each other. They collaborate, cooperate, and coordinate with each other [3].
Blockchain is a distributed ledger which is spread among all peers across a net-
work. Each peer in the network holds a copy of this ledger. Each transaction is
digitally signed and encrypted and also verified by peers [3]. The ledger information
can be seen only by those who are authorized to see.
7.1.1 Working of Blockchain
In this section we explain how blockchain works in detail. Blockchain is a buzz-
word for many.
The details of how blockchain works are explained below. Imagine if two friends
A and B want to transfer/transact money from one account to another account. In
a normal scenario, friend A first approaches the bank and asks the bank to transfer
the amount to the account of his friend B. This transaction detail is entered into
the bank registry that is maintained by the bank. This entry needs to be updated
on both the sender’s and receiver’s accounts. But the problem in this system is that
the entries can be easily manipulated or changed by those who are have knowledge
about the system. It is easily changeable. This process has been diagrammatically
specified in Figure 7.1 [1]. This is the place where blockchain comes into the picture
to resolve this issue.
For example, imagine a Google spreadsheet that consists of real-time transac-
tions. This sheet can be shared with multiple users through networks of computers.
The users can access this transaction but no one can edit it easily. The spreadsheet
is organized as rows and columns and it is treated as blocks in blockchain. A block
represents a collection of data in the blockchain. The data get added to the block in
Figure 7.1 Example of traditional transaction in the banking system.

chronological order by creating a chain of blocks that forms a link. The first block
in the blockchain is called the genesis block.
Blockchain is developed in such a way that it’s called a digital ledger. This digi-
tal ledger is duplicated and distributed to thousands of individual computers across
the world. These are called nodes, and the interactions between these nodes are
periodically updated to the ledger. Each user is given access to a public and private
key. These two are the cryptographic keys and are secured one. They allow limited
interaction with the system. For example, if there are two users and they agree on
an exchange of Bitcoin currency, a particular user can initiate the transaction using
their public and private keys. The other user can accept the transaction using their
own public and private keys. Both users can submit the transactions to the P2P
system.
A unique hash code present in the block checks the transaction information
so as to ensure that the transaction agrees with all other prior information. It may
deny the transaction if the initiating user does not have the cryptocurrency that
they claim for. Otherwise this checking node accepts the transaction and it is
added as a new block in the chain.
7.1.1.1 Structure of a Blockchain
The structure of a block is a container that consists of a series of transactions and it
is simply a distributed data structure. A block in a blockchain consists of two parts
named header and data (transactions).
◾◾ Header – this connects all the transactions. If there is a change in any trans-
action, it will be reflected in a change in the block header.
The subsequent block headers are connected in a chain. So to make a
change requires an update of the entire blockchain.
◾◾ Data (transactions)
Transactions are stored as blocks in the blockchain, and these transactions
are hashed and represented as a Merkle hash tree.
7.1.1.2 Steps in Creating a Blockchain

The blockchain structure [2] is represented in Figure 7.2. The working of the block-
chain is clearly explained in the following steps.
◾◾ Step 1: A node creates a transaction by digitally signing it with its own pri-
vate key. Key pairs are created using a cryptography algorithm. A particular
transaction may represent various actions, and it is commonly known as a data
structure that shows the transfer of value between different users in a network
of the blockchain. It represents information such as logic of transfer of value,
source address, destination address, relevant rules, and validation information.

Figure 7.2 Blockchain structure.
◾◾ Step 2: A transaction is flooded to peers using a Gossip protocol to validate

the transaction based on the criteria that are preset. More than one node is
required to validate the transaction.
◾◾ Step 3: A transaction is included in a block after it is validated, and then
this information is propagated to the network. The transaction is considered
confirmed at this point. All the nodes in a network run proof of work (PoW)
and proof of stake (PoS) algorithms to the block to confirm it.
◾◾ Step 4: Then the newly created block becomes part of the ledger. The next
block in the chain links itself automatically to the back of this block. This
link is actually known as a hash pointer. This is treated as second confirma-
tion for the transaction. And the block confirms it as a first transaction.
◾◾ Step 5: Transactions have to be reconfirmed every time a new block is cre-
ated. To ensure a transaction confirmation is final requires six confirmations
usually.
7.1.2 Key Attributes of Blockchain

The following key attributes prove that the usage of blockchain is better than tra-
ditional systems [2].
7.1.2.1 Distributed
The ledger is shared among multiple peers in a network. So it is not easy to tamper
with or alter the data.
7.1.2.2 Peer to Peer
There is no central authority or central control to manipulate or monitor the trans-
actions. Every participant that participates in a transaction talks to the others
directly. This makes data exchange easy with the involvement of third parties.

7.1.2.3 Cryptographically Secured
Cryptographic algorithms can be utilized to make the ledger tamper-proof.
7.1.2.4 Add Only
Data are added to the blockchain in time sequential order. This implies that the data
cannot be altered once they are added to the blockchain. It is practically impossible
to alter the data and they are immutable.
7.1.2.5 Consensus
This is the most critical attribute of all the attributes of the blockchain. The ledger
data can be updated via consensus [4]. It leads to the property of decentralization,
i.e. no central authority is involved in updating the ledger. So in the case of any
update to the ledger, it must strictly follow the protocol designed and the update
should be validated. Finally, it is added to the blockchain only if all the participat-
ing peers and nodes reach consensus in a network.
7.1.3 Types of Blockchain
Mainly there are three different types of blockchain are present [5]. They are,
◾◾ Public blockchain
◾◾ Private blockchain
◾◾ Consortium/federated blockchain
◾◾ Hybrid blockchain
These types are represented diagrammatically in Figure 7.3 [2]. These types and its
uses are clearly explained below.
Figure 7.3 Blockchain types.

7.1.3.1 Public Blockchain
It is the blockchain for the public and it has no restrictions. Anyone with an
Internet connection is allowed to send a transaction (i.e. reading/writing/auditing)
and can become a validator in the group. This type of blockchain is transparent
and open type. If this is going to be the case, then who is responsible for transac-
tion confirmation? Because anyone in the group is allowed to review anything
at a given point of time. So this is done with the help of decentralized consensus
mechanisms such as PoW and PoS; all these nodes are participating in the execu-
tion of consensus.
This blockchain is “ for the people, by the people, and of the people”.
The largest known public blockchain examples are Bitcoin, Litecoin, and
Ethereum.
7.1.3.2 Private Blockchain
Private blockchains are for individuals or organizations. One cannot join in a pri-
vate blockchain unless invited by the network administrators. Restrictions are put
on participant access and validator access. This type of blockchain is convenient
for users who do not want to share their sensitive data with a public blockchain.
It is mainly used for accounting and for keeping records without compromising
autonomy. In a private blockchain, consensus is granted by a central authority and
he is responsible for granting mining access to all or not to anyone. Again this
comes under a centralized network which contradicts the idea of blockchain, but it
is cryptographically secured.
Bankchain is an example of a private blockchain. Private blockchains are also
called permissioned.
7.1.3.3 Consortium/Federated Blockchain
A consortium blockchain is a type of semi-decentralized blockchain but it is per-
missioned too. Multiple companies or multiple individuals combine together to
operate the node in a network. These groups are known as a consortium or fed-
eration, and their combined nature helps in making decisions for the benefit of
the entire network. Administrators will grant the reading request and consensus
request to a limited set of trusted nodes who can take part in consensus execution.
It is much faster in accomplishing things, and there is no single point of failure. For
example, the world’s top 20 financial institutions are grouped under one consor-
tium. At least 15 companies should vote for or validate the transaction in order to
add one block or to make decisions in this type.
R3 and EMF are examples of consortium blockchains.

7.1.3.4 Hybrid Blockchain
As the name suggests it’s a combination of different characteristics of public and
private blockchains. With this type we can decide which information is made pub-
lic and which information is private.
7.1.4 Pillars of Blockchain Technology

The following three are the important pillars of blockchain technology [3].
7.1.4.1 Decentralization
Users or industries know very well about centralized servers, and they have been
working on it since before Bitcoin and BitTorrent came into the picture. The idea of
storing data and retrieving the data from a central entity is an easy one. Users have
to interact only with the central authority for the required information. Banks are
one of the well-known examples for centralized systems.
A bank stores your money in an account and maintains all the transactions
in a centralized server. If you want to transfer money into your friend’s account it
must be done through the bank only. We can look at the client–server example as
the best one for a centralized system. For example, if you (client) search something
in a Google search engine, it queries the server (server) for the result and returns it
back to you. This is another good example for a client–server system. We have been
working with centralized systems for many years and at the same time they also
have vulnerabilities.
◾◾ As data are stored in a single central repository, this one spot becomes an easy
target for hackers and others.
◾◾ The entire system halts in case of any upgrade to be carried out in a central-
ized system.
◾◾ If the system is shut down for unknown reasons, then there is no way to
retrieve the data from a centralized system.
◾◾ What happens to the data if they get corrupted or become malicious in the
worst case? The data will be completely compromised in that case.
If we try to take this centralized entity out, it leads to the concept of decentraliza-
tion. In decentralization the data are not stored or maintained by a single entity.
In fact, they are owned by every user participating in the network. If two users
want to communicate in a blockchain then they can directly communicate without
the involvement of a third party. Bitcoin is implemented using this ideology only.
You are the only one responsible for your money, and you can transfer it to anyone
without going through the bank.

7.1.4.2 Immutability
Immutability is nothing but that the data cannot be tampered with once they are
entered into the blockchain. Blockchain is able to achieve this unique property with
the help of cryptography hash value. Hashing is the process of producing a fixed-
length hash as output, and it takes an input string of any length. Transactions are
the inputs in Bitcoins, and they run through a cryptography hash algorithm such
as SHA-256 (used by Bitcoin) and it produces fixed-length output.
Example: SHA-256 hash function
Even if the input is of an arbitrary length it is easy to remember the 256 bits of hash
value output. The cryptography hash function has many attractive features. One of
the important properties that we need to keep in mind is the “Avalanche Effect”. If
you try to make even a small change in the input value, it will be reflected in a huge
change in the output hash value.
Blockchain is organized as a similar structure of linked lists which contain data
and a hash pointer that points to the previous block. A hash pointer is a kind of
pointer which points the hash value of data, i.e. present inside the previous block.
This property makes blockchain immutable and amazingly reliable. If anyone tries
to change a single bit of data in block 4, it is reflected in a huge change in the data
stored in block 3 and in turn it affects the data stored in block 2 and it contin-
ues further. The change in hash value is used to find whether the transactions are
altered by any means. But it is completely not possible based on the property of
hash.
7.1.4.3 Transparency
The most attractive feature of blockchain technology is the degree of transparency
it can provide in a network. Another important aspect of blockchain technology
is the degree of privacy that it can provide. Transparency is basically concerned
with the quality of being clear and understandable without ambiguity. What hap-
pens actually is blockchain hides the user identity by using complex cryptography
algorithms. So while looking for a particular transaction record it does not look
like “alice sent bob 2btc” in the original record. Instead it will look like encrypted
content “2BM2hdskjfhdfgRvndkERFVbjb237bu sent 2 btc”.
The transactions in Ethereum blockchain are still seen by the public address
even if the real identity is hidden. So blockchain ensures privacy, and this kind
of transparency has never existed in any of the earlier financial systems. It can be
checked easily in Internet Explorer if we know the public address of big companies
that do transactions using their cryptocurrency. But the big financial companies
won’t perform all their transactions using cryptocurrency. The big boom in block-
chain is because it can be integrated in supply chain management.

7.1.5 Benefits of Blockchain
The following lists out the benefits of blockchain in detail.
◾◾ No central control or no central authority is involved.

◾◾ Eliminates additional costs if any trust is built between blockchain members.
◾◾ Transactions are signed digitally using asset owner’s private/public key pair.
◾◾ Data cannot be altered easily once they are recorded and added as a block.
◾◾ Distributed ledgers efficiently store transactions between members in a verifi-
able and permanent way.
◾◾ Transactions do not have to be data; they can be a code or smart contract in
blockchain.
7.2 Literature Review
A blockchain is a shared and distributed ledger, in simple terms it is a chain of
blocks. The block talks about digital information and this information is stored in
a public database is called chain. The appealing aspect of blockchain technology is
easy to track the resources without having a centralized trusted authority [6]. It per-
mits two different parties to communicate and exchange resources easily wherein
the distributed decisions are taken by the majority rather than by a single central-
ized entity. It provides security from attackers who try to compromise centralized
systems or controllers.
Resources can be of different types such as tangible or intangible resources.
Money, cars, houses, and land are classified as tangible resources, and copyrights,
IPR, and digital documents are classified as intangible resources. As of late, the
blockchain innovation has pulled in huge enthusiasm from both the scholarly com-
munity and industry. The innovation began with Bitcoin, a cryptographic money,
also called cryptocurrency, that has arrived at a capitalization of 180 billion dollars
as of January 2018 [7, 8].
As indicated by the Gartner report in 2016, the blockchain innovation is attract-
ing billions of dollars in research and considerably more innovation is relied upon to
come sooner rather than later [9]. The innovation as of now traverses a few applica-
tions that are well-known and driving the systems administrators to explore further
innovations in the recent domains such as supply chain, retail etc. Such applications
incorporate medicinal services [10], the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud storage
[11]. The innovations of blockchain technology pave the way to the development of
new platforms and applications. Many researches have written several survey papers
to highlight the beneﬁts of this technology in current areas of application. Such
examples include blockchain technology for healthcare [10], IoT [12], blockchain
adoption in higher education [13], blockchain as a service platform [14], decentral-
ized digital currencies [15], and blockchain-enabled smart contracts [16].

The blockchain innovations and its potential have been demonstrated in many
of the popular applications. As of now regular monitoring and security services
comprising confidentiality, authentication, integrity, privacy, and provenance are
offered by third-party services or brokers. They use inefficient distributed applica-
tions to provide these services to customers. As a result of this it is found that the
security is the main threat for these applications. Researchers can focus on the
above-mentioned areas to give insight about the use or applications of blockchain
to leverage these security issues.
7.2.1 Applications of Blockchain Technology

Bitcoin was the first application of blockchain. It’s a kind of cryptocurrency or
digital currency based on blockchain technology. Its primary use is for making
transactions online using the Internet as we do in the real world. Now blockchain is
being adopted by several applications because of the success of Bitcoin. Specialized
applications are financial, marketing, supply chain, management, healthcare, IoT,
and manufacturing. At the same time cyber criminals are getting opportunities to
get involved in cyber-crime. Most of the attacks, for example 51% of the attacks,
are security-based attacks on Bitcoin in which the hacker tries to take control of the
system, its working mechanism, etc.
Blockchain technology can be applied in wider areas for various applications.
The sectors are agriculture, IoT, business, food processing, finance, healthcare,
manufacturing, and various other sectors. Table 7.1 describes applications of block-
chain technology in different sectors.
7.3 Security Features in Blockchain

We may question why blockchain is a secure system even if the ledger concept is
not new to our system. But the interactions about security parameters open out in a
digital environment and may bring vulnerability to blockchain technology in terms
of a security threat.
Is blockchain secure? Security becomes a big question mark when our personal
data are stored in an online repository. Blockchain is inherently secure. It applies
powerful cryptography techniques to the individuals who take part in blockchain
transactions so they can hold ownership of an address, crypto assets of public and
private keys associated with it. The passwords are generated using random com-
bination of letters and numbers called alphanumeric characters. This solves issues
such as identity theft because addresses are not associated with the owner’s identity
directly. Private keys are considerably larger and more secure. Blockchain offers a
greater level of security for individuals as it removes the need for weak and easily
compromised passwords.

Table 7.1 Blockchain Technology in Various Applications

Agriculture Agriculture and soil-related data processing,
sales, marketing, and shipping of agro products,
yields, etc.
Distribution Transportation of sales record, marketing record,

digital currency, mining chip, used goods for sale
Business Importing and exporting data and digital records by

software industries, processing of transaction data,
all other data which have finance value
Energy Data related to energy generation, data related

to raw material, availability of resources,
supplier-related data, demand data records,
maintenance of tariff data, on-demand supply,
resource tracking
Food Delivery and shipping of food data records, food

packing details, online ordering and transaction
data, quality assurance data
Finance Money deposit and transfer details, smart contract

and security details, social banking, digital
transaction data, cryptocurrency
Manufacturing Product assurance and guarantee information,

product warranty information, robotics,
manufacturing and production data, supplier
components, tracking of raw material
Healthcare Electronic records, automating hospital process,

billing, information stored at hospital server, costs
of healthcare
Smart city Water management, energy management, pollution

control data, digital data and transaction details,
smart data maintenance, smart transaction
Transport and logistics Logistics services, shipping details and delivery data,
maintenance of toll data, vehicle tracking, tracking
of shipment containers
Others Data and details with respect to economy, digital

data, artwork, ownership, jewelry design, space
development, government, voting, etc.

7.3.1 Issues in Blockchain Security

Blockchain is an increasingly growing and popular technology. It is also simultane-
ously queried by different leading industries, since it is an adaptable technology and
can be utilized by many industries [17].
This chapter discusses the security and privacy issues in blockchain in detail.
Security in blockchain is needed to protect the data and the transaction informa-
tion against internal, external, and unintentional threats and peripheral attacks.
Typically, this helps to detect, prevent, and provide appropriate responses to the
threats based on security policies, rules, tools, and IT services.
7.3.1.1 Defense in Penetration
A unique strategy is applied to protect the data in defense-related applications using
infinite counter measures. The principle of protecting data in multiple layers is
enforced in blockchain rather than providing security to a single layer.
7.3.1.2 Manage Vulnerabilities
Vulnerability checking involves identification, authentication, modification, and
patching of them whenever is required.
7.3.1.3 Minimum Privilege
In this principle access to data is restricted to the lowest level possible to promote a
high level of security.
7.3.1.4 Manage Risk
The identification of risk, assessing risk, and control of risks are processed in this
phase.
7.3.1.5 Manage Patches
Required patches are installed to patch the damaged part such as code, operating
system, firmware, and applications.
Many techniques have been used in blockchain to achieve security for the trans-
action data or block data irrespective of the usage. Bitcoin applications use encryp-
tion techniques for providing safety to the data. The combinations of public/private
key pairs are used to encrypt and decrypt data securely. The most secure part of
the blockchain is the longest one which is considered the authentic one. Fifty-one
percent of the major attacks and fork problems have been reduced by means of
blockchain. By considering the longest chain as the authentic one in blockchain, it
makes the other attacks null and void.

7.3.2 Privacy of a Blockchain
Privacy is an important parameter for users who maintain data in online reposito-
ries. This is the individual rights of a person to safeguard their data. It is possible
to perform transactions without leaking identical information in blockchain [18].
So it helps to achieve privacy. The user is allowed to perform their work without
showcasing it to the entire network. The primary goal of enhancing privacy in
blockchain is to make it harder to copy other users’ crypto profiles. Several volumes
of variations are perceived while applying blockchain in privacy.
7.3.2.1 Significant Characteristics of Blockchain Privacy

◾◾ Stored data – blockchain provides a way to store all forms of data. The pri-
vacy level of data for individual and organizational data varies with different
owners. Even if privacy rules are applied to personal data, even more stringent
rules are applied to organizational sensitive data.
◾◾ Storage distribution – full nodes are nodes in the blockchain that store
complete copies of information about the blockchain. Full nodes with the
combination of an append-only characteristic lead to data redundancy. This
data redundancy supports major key features of the blockchain, namely
transparency and verifiability. The access levels of these two key features are
decided based on the application compatibility with data minimization.
◾◾ Append only – it is very difficult to change the data of the previous block
without being detected. Sometimes this property will not meet their purpose
if the data is recorded incorrectly. So special attention and care are required
in assigning rights to data.
◾◾ Private vs public blockchain – accessibility is the remarkable parameter
from the point of security and privacy. Further, the data can be encrypted
to be made available for authorized users as everyone in the network has the
copy of the data.
◾◾ Permissioned vs non-permissioned blockchain types – users in public and
non-permissioned blockchain types are permitted to add data.
7.3.3 Blockchain Applications Security,

Privacy Challenges, and Solutions
The following section explores security and privacy challenges, and their solutions
with regard to blockchain applications [19].
7.3.3.1 Blockchain in Healthcare
Blockchain contributions to the healthcare domain need to maintain data privacy,
need to be public and secure, and also should support scalability at any point in

time. The blocks present in a healthcare blockchain represent data, images, and
documents about health records. Blockchain in healthcare faces the data storage
problem and limitations on throughput. If Bitcoin is chosen as a model for stor-
ing data, then every individual in a network will contain a copy of the healthcare
data which may lead to security problems. This is not the best storage method,
and bandwidth severity may occur. Network resources are wasted in this method.
If blockchain needs to be implemented in healthcare, an access control manager
should be added to specify the access and management of data, and storage of data.
In reality the blockchain maintains an index or list of all users’ data. This acts
as a catalog that stores metadata about the patient’s record and the location of data
where it is being stored. These data are accessed by authorized users. Data efficiency
can be improved by further encrypting the data, adding a timestamp to the data,
and retrieving the data by assigning a unique identifier to each record. A data lake
is defined as a blockchain data repository where all healthcare data are stored in
blockchain. They are extremely valuable data as they contain any form of data. It
provide all kinds of technical support such as querying the result, analyzing the
text, mining the data, and integration with machine learning [4]. The complete
view of blockchain transactions in a healthcare domain is represented in Figure 7.4.
7.3.3.2 Blockchain in Finance
Bitcoin is a popular digital currency which led to the development of blockchain
later. Further, blockchain is used in many cryptocurrencies, namely Ethereum,
Peercoin, Altercoin, Karma, Hashcode, and Binarycoin.
Bitcoin is the primary structure for most of the digital cryptocurrencies, but
they use different consensus algorithms for the verification and validation of data.
Figure 7.4 Blockchain in healthcare application.

Figure 7.5 Blockchain in finance application.
The primary part of a blockchain in the financial domain is the smart contract.
A detailed look at this is presented in the Figure 7.5. We will see the security and
privacy issues in finance domain blockchains. The common security problem in
implementing blockchain in any organization is they must ensure that data are
accessed by only authorized users. Checking the data access by authorized users is
mandatory in blockchain fundamentals. It is necessary to enforce the implementa-
tion of authentication and authorization control [20]. The importance of block-
chain in the finance industry is diagrammatically given in Figure 7.5.
Blockchain also ensures one of the basic security parameters, confidentiality,
by allowing data blocks to be encrypted. Different layers of security can be imple-
mented with the help of a combination of private and public key pairs. Data integ-
rity and consistency are preserved. Immutability and traceability ensure the integrity
of data in blockchain. This is another important parameter in providing security. In
addition, hash values ensure that no blocks of data can be altered or copied.
Ensuring the privacy of individual user data or organizational data is another
important aspect of security in blockchain. There are many ways to achieve this
property. One is to encrypt the personal information of every user. If a key is also
forgotten, then also it ensures privacy and security, since no one can access data
if they don’t possess the key. This is because all the transactions are timestamped
and signed using digital signature algorithm which ensures non-repudiation. So it
increases the reliability of blockchain in the finance domain.
7.3.3.3 Blockchain in Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT can be defined as an interconnection of computing systems, devices, people,
sensors, digital machines, mechanical equipment, objects, etc., in a network where
they are able to communicate with each other without human-to-human or human-
to-machine interaction [20]. All the devices participating in IoT are assigned with

unique identifiers. The primary requirement of IoT in blockchain is the storing of

data in edge devices and access of those data by users. At any point in time the user
may want to access the data stored in remote locations securely and the different
ways in which it wants to ensure data privacy.
The user has a provision to set up the password and required access control
while creating a user account itself. The user sends data for storing after check-
ing required permission controls and by extracting the previous block number
and hash value. Storage availability is confirmed after validating the transaction.
In some applications the service provider wants to access the data. In that case a
request is sent to the cluster head by the service provider and service requester. Then
it is verified by the cluster head with its members or with another cluster head. Safe
answer method and noise introduction methods are followed for protecting data
and ensuring user privacy.
Finally, whether the user has accessed the data or not is set by the multisig trans-
action value to 1 or 0. Multisig transactions are treated as a proof by storing the date
that was sent by the user. Any misconduct can be easily intimated to other users
because of this multisig. The advantage of using IoT in blockchain is that trust is
built between communicating parties, reducing cost and speeding up transactions.
Blockchain in IoT helps business growth and accelerates its importance. The
security concern of IoT is sensing data, processing and storing of data, and commu-
nicating data finally. With the help of public blockchain this can be implemented
easily as everyone in the network uses his private key to safeguard it. A blockchain-
based IoT model builds trust since there is no central authority involved [12]. The
biggest challenge that needs to be addressed in IoT blockchain models is scalability,
because the number of requests to access data will be high if the amount of comput-
ing devices increases day by day.
7.3.3.4 Blockchain in Mobile Applications

Mobile applications are a special kind of applications that are designed to be suit-
able for mobile phones and tablets. Blockchain is able to provide peer-to-peer sup-
port for direct payment and peer-to-peer file transfer in mobile applications. But it
does not support speed games which miners use to validate a particular transaction.
The edge computing concept can be utilized to implement blockchain in mobile
processing.
Consider there are N mobile application users such as N = 1, 2, 3 … N. Now
every user is trying to solve the puzzle using the hashing concept to get rewards.
Edge computing devices can be deployed with service providers. Mobile users
run mobile blockchain applications that support edge computing for miners. The
service provider charges for the amount of service utilized by the mobile users.
Blockchain can be applied to many different mobile applications from a security
point of view since it has no single point of failure [20]. Figure 7.6 explains how the
transactions are carried out in mobile applications [19].

Figure 7.6 Blockchain in mobile applications.
It is recommended to use blockchain in mobile applications where a strict

requirement of authentication is required for the protection of data. The major use
of mobile applications is in accessing digital wallets stored in mobile phones. Users
are allowed to pay for their transactions through mobile devices as all the payments
are supported by mobile applications using their digital wallets. This is accom-
plished by edge computing services provided by the service provider. So it makes
the transaction portable and convenient.
7.3.3.5 Blockchain in Defense
Blockchain will play an important role in defense in the near future because the
defense applications are cyber-enabled systems and they must provide utmost secu-
rity to the data they handle. The current cyber systems lack the technology to
address the growing cyber threat. Blockchain helps to reduce the error rate in cyber
defense systems by providing transparency, fault tolerance, and trust in transac-
tions. The following security features of blockchain such as hashing, back linked
list of data structure, consensus algorithm, and immutability play an important
role in implementing blockchain applications [21].
Cyber defense applications require their data to be confidential and accessed only
by authorized users. Blockchain accomplishes authentication by granting access only
to the permissioned users. Confidentiality of the data can be ensured by encrypting
the data before storing it in blockchain. Then access control can be defined at various
levels to restrict access to the data. Blockchain is capable enough of playing a opera-
tional or support role in cyber defense applications. They are as follows.
7.3.3.5.1 Cyber Defense
In cyber defense applications blockchain transmits data to all other nodes in a
network and applies a consensus algorithm to verify and validate the transactions.
The data cannot be manipulated once they are time stamped and stored as a block.
In case of a data update by the authorized users, then it needs to be newly time
stamped and maintain proper log information. The weapon, components, and its

details can be imaged, hashed, and then it is stored in a secure data base. They can
be monitored continuously using blockchain applications [22].
7.3.3.5.2 Supply Chain Management

The concern of supply chain management in blockchain applications is the need
for owner traceability and to maintain the origin of data. Blockchain is able to give
a solution to this.
7.3.3.5.3 Resilient Communications
The secure communication of blockchain helps to provide resilient communication
in contested environments. This helps to make the data transfer reliable between
the nodes across the world.
7.3.3.6 Blockchain in Automobile Industry

Nowadays the vehicles that are moving on the roads are connected online and able
to identify the traffic patterns, locations, and other details. Blockchain can play an
important role in achieving this. Some security features need to be addressed for
smart vehicles. They are as follows.
7.3.3.6.1 Scalability
This system must be scalable based on demand because in VANET the numerous
vehicles with onboard electronics equipment get added to the network frequently.
7.3.3.6.2 Safety
It should not generate new security threats, and the malfunctioning of devices leads
to false driving behavior. So a blockchain implemented in smart vehicle architec-
ture needs to protect users from security threats.
7.3.3.6.3 Decentralization
A decentralized architecture is required for storing the data since data stored in a
centralized repository are prone to a single point of failure. Blockchain offers this
decentralized concept which is suitable for incorporating into automobiles.
7.3.3.6.4 Maintenance
The architecture of smart vehicles is comprised of a lot of hardware and software
equipment. So blockchain should support this maintainability for a certain period
of time and should have the option for maintainability.

The main critical challenge in the automobile industry is wireless remote soft-
ware updates (WRSU). WRSU fixes the errors in the control unit whenever a
software upgrade is needed, so that the complete life cycle of a vehicle is clearly
captured. The focus is required in the WRSU security architecture for the better
management of vehicular ad-hoc network [20].
The software update process of WSRU architecture is illustrated in the follow-
ing steps.
◾◾ Step 1: Software provider initiates software upgrade if the latest version is

released, then it is stored in the cloud that is made available to the overlay
nodes.
◾◾ Step 2: User creates a multisig transaction and it is encrypted with public/
private key pair and signed digitally.
◾◾ Step 3: Car manufacturers and block managers use their public key to for-
ward the transactions with the list of all the keys through which it achieves
integrity.
◾◾ Step 4: Transaction is further sent to overlay since it is not treated as a valid
transaction by all block managers because the current transaction contains
only a single key.
◾◾ Step 5: Block managers broadcast transaction to the network. After receiving
the transaction, the block manager of the cluster verifies the software update
and acknowledges it.
◾◾ Step 6: This transaction is further broadcast to all block managers. Further
block managers verify the software update with the public key of the car
manufacturer and software provider.
◾◾ Step 7: The smart vehicle verifies the transaction received from the block
managers.
◾◾ Step 8: Finally, the vehicle can download the software directly from cloud
storage by using their own authentication parameter.
Blockchain can also be implemented in various domains of automotive
industry such as finance, insurance, leasing of car, electric and smart charg-
ing services, etc.
7.3.4 Challenges in Blockchain
This section describes the challenges faced by blockchain technology.
7.3.4.1 Privacy Leakage
The problem in blockchain privacy is the leakage of transactional privacy data
because the details and the balances of public keys are visible to all in the net-
work. Anonymity in blockchain is classified into mixing solutions and anonymous

solutions. Mixing is a kind of service that offers anonymity by transferring funds

from multiple inputs addressed to multiple output addresses. Anonymous is another
type of service which unlinks the payment origin for a particular transaction. It
stops the intruder from analyzing the transactional data.
7.3.4.2 Scalability
Blockchain needs to be scalable because of its increasing volume of applications.
Every node should store the copy of the transaction to validate the data. First the
transaction source needs to be validated before the transaction is validated. Block
size also plays a role in the scalability issue because miners want to validate bigger
transactions in order to receive higher transactional fees. The scalability issue may
be categorized into storage optimization and redesigning of blockchains. Solutions
are invited from research community to address these challenges.
7.3.4.3 Personal Identifiable Information

PII information can be used to extract an individual’s identity. PII can be addressed
with respect to location and communication privacy.
7.3.4.4 Selfish Mining
Another challenge faced by blockchain is selfish mining. A block is called a suscep-
tible block if a small amount of hashing power is used. In this method, miners do
not broadcast the mined block’s result immediately. They open a private branch in
which the mined blocks are posted after certain conditions are met. True miners
waste their resources and a lot of time in mining the block whereas the private link
is mined by selfish miners.
7.3.4.5 Security
Security is the main important feature in any upcoming new-generation technol-
ogy. Security can be detailed in terms of confidentiality, integrity, and availabil-
ity. This always remains an open challenge in public blockchain. Confidentiality
is poor in distributed systems since it copies information to entire network. The
integrity principle of CIA triad still faces many more challenges in real time; even
integrity of information proves to be not altered. Read availability is high compared
to write availability in blockchain.
7.3.5 Popular Blockchain Use Cases

The following discusses the popular use cases in blockchain.

7.3.5.1 Cryptocurrency
Risk linked with cryptocurrency: As digital currencies are encrypted it is pos-
sible only to identify currency and not its owner. The currency is owned by
whoever owns the encryption key. So if a currency is stolen, the money is
never recoverable. There is no way to get it back.
Solution: Any method to store the encryption keys in a secure vault of trust.
7.3.5.2 Smart Contracts
Risk linked with smart contracts: A smart contract is a computer-based pro-
gram that details their capability to self-execute and enforce the contract
rules. The smart contract rules and self-execution are altered if the blockchain
is breached. It breaks the basic trust of a blockchain and it removes a way of
doing business between parties without the involvement of a middleman.
Solution: Secure the terms and self-execute factors of a smart contract and store
the encryption keys in a hardware-based root of trust with an anonymous party
with secured authentication. That ensures that no one can access the data.
7.3.5.3 Internet of Things (IoT)

Risk linked with IoT: The data are placed and operated in a central repository
in the Internet of Things that makes the system more vulnerable. Recently
Mirai-style botnets allowed the hackers to take control of the 100 IoT devices
connected in a network and access to its information due to less security
control. IoT devices are basically protected with default passwords are easily
prone to distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that are launched by
hackers.
Solution: A distributed trust model in blockchain helps to protect the IoT from
DDoS attacks. It removes single point of failure and enables device networks
to protect themselves by means of other ways. For example, any node in the
network may quarantine the node that behaves unusually.
7.4 Conclusion
This chapter clearly discusses the blockchain technology, its properties, and how
blockchain can be implemented in the various domains of applications such as IoT,
healthcare, supply chain management, automobiles, finance, etc. Whenever the
new technology is released it also brings security threats simultaneously. Security
issues in blockchain have been discussed in detail. Popular use cases of blockchain
technology have been explained briefly.

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Chapter 8
Merger of Artificial
Intelligence and
Blockchain
Pooja Saigal
Contents
8.1 Introduction..............................................................................................140
8.2 Artificial Intelligence.................................................................................140
8.2.1 The Scope of Merger......................................................................143
8.3 Blockchain with Exonum Framework.......................................................144
8.4 AI and Blockchain: Technologies That Are Poles Apart............................. 145
8.5 Location of Control: Centralized or Decentralized .................................. 145
8.5.1 Visibility: Transparent or Black Box..............................................146
8.6 Blockchain-Facilitated AI..........................................................................146
8.6.1 Secure Data Sharing......................................................................147
8.6.2 Data Management Challenges.......................................................148
8.6.3 Reliable AI Modeling and Predictions...........................................148
8.6.4 Better Control over Data and Models............................................149
8.6.5 Real-Time Data.............................................................................149
8.6.6 Transparency and Trust.................................................................150
8.6.7 Better Management of Blockchain Using AI.................................150
8.6.8 Prospective Applications of Blockchain and AI.............................. 151
8.7 AI with Distributed Computing................................................................ 151
8.7.1 Data Privacy.................................................................................. 152
8.7.2 Marketplace for Algorithms and Data........................................... 152
139
8.7.3 Decentralized-Autonomous Organizations.................................... 152

8.7.4 Use Case: Blockchain and AI in Healthcare ................................. 153
8.8 Conclusion................................................................................................ 155
References.......................................................................................................... 155
8.1 Introduction
Artificial intelligence and blockchain are the two most promising technologies that
have evolved in the last few years. In a very short span of time they have permeated
into almost every possible industry. AI enables machines to make decisions like
human beings and can handle complex problems, whereas blockchain provides a
distributed data environment and offers data transparency, security and privacy.
Although these technologies look quite different from each other, there are pros-
pects to combine them. This amalgamation would take the strengths of both AI
and blockchain, so that the resulting technology would be robust and more efficient
than either of them individually. These two technologies complement each other
and can therefore reduce the weaknesses of each other. Since AI requires huge
amounts of data for making predictions, these datasets can be stored on a distrib-
uted platform provided by blockchain. Blockchain could be benefited by the use of
AI to create autonomous organizations or to monetize user-controlled data. Both
AI and blockchain are in their nascent stage and are going to evolve individually.
In this chapter, we’ll see how these two technologies interact and what the future
prospects for their merger are.
8.2 Artificial Intelligence
Human beings have the ability to imagine and convert it to reality. Its true manifes-
tation is realized in the last few decades. Although a common man may not realize
it, artificial intelligence (AI) is already embedded into our life. While searching for
keywords on the Internet, on our way to work, purchasing online or while chatting
with friends, we are most likely using AI in the background. The airline industry
has been using AI for decades now, to regulate air traffic and for efficient landing
and take-off schedules. Boeing planes involve human steering mostly at the time of
landing and take-off, whereas for the rest of the flight, autopilot takes command.
Google Maps uses location data from smartphones and analyzes the traffic patterns
for that location in real time. By using feedback data of visitors and user-reported
cases like breakdown, construction, accidents, etc., Maps can provide more accu-
rate information and route suggestions. These suggestions significantly reduce the
commuting time by informing the user about the fastest route between two loca-
tions. Various cab booking apps like Ola, Uber, etc., use AI to determine the cost
of the ride, best route and for booking nearby cabs on request with minimum

Merger of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain ◾ 141
Figure 8.1 Applications of artificial intelligence.
arrival time. Their ride-sharing feature optimally books the passengers to minimize
detours. They use AI to determine surge pricing, estimated time of arrival (ETAs),
meal delivery time and also for fraud detection. Figure 8.1 shows a few popular
applications of AI.
AI plays a major role in managing social networking sites like Facebook,
LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Facebook has an AI-based feature called tagging that can
identify faces in any uploaded image and can suggest names for them. It is based
on a face recognition algorithm of machine learning (ML). ML is a branch of AI
that develops algorithms which can learn from data and can predict outcomes for
unknown data. For a common man, it is not easy to understand how Facebook is
able to recognize his family members and friends. For tagging, Facebook uses an
ML algorithm built upon artificial neural networks (ANN) that mimics the human
brain to recognize human faces. In 2016, Facebook introduced DeepText [1] which
is a text-understanding engine that can understand the textual content of thou-
sands of posts, from multiple languages (around 20), with accuracy close to human
understanding. DeepText helps to identify and mark the content that is most rel-
evant. For example, a property broker is most interested in posts related to sale and
purchase. So, DeepText can identify such posts and displays the most relevant con-
tent. Similarly, DeepText helps popular public figures to automatically identify the
most relevant text from the comments on their posts. Facebook acquired Instagram
which uses machine learning to suggest emojis. Recently, emojis have replaced text
and are used to show sentiments. The ML algorithm also tries to understand user
sentiments, by studying the type of emojis used by users at a given point of time.
Instagram has made emojis very popular not only among the young generation, but
for almost every user of any age. It has totally changed the way people communicate
with each other. Only a decade before, no one would have imagined that simple

emoji graphics would be used to show the sentiments of a distant person. There is
another popular social media app called Pinterest that has a huge image and video
database. Pinterest uses computer vision and pattern recognition techniques of ML
to automate the process of object identification in images and videos. Pinterest also
recommends similar pins to the users. The visual search feature of Pinterest is based
on image matching and retrieves the best matches for any given image. Snapchat
is very popular these days due to its feature called Lenses. These are filters that can
track facial movements and can add animated effects to the images. Snapchat pres-
ents a variety of filters and keeps updating them on a regular basis. These filters use
ML algorithms to learn the movements of faces in real-time videos.
Email inboxes use an AI-enabled powerful feature for spam filtering. It is not
based on a fixed set of words, but it continuously learns from the messages, related
metadata and user responses. Google uses an AI approach to mark emails as impor-
tant based on the sender’s data or message content and categorizes emails under
primary, forum, social, promotion and update inboxes. Gmail also learns if a user
marks an email as spam or important. Recently, many banks have started to provide
the facility to deposit cheques through a smartphone app. Banks rely on companies
like Mitek [2] that use identity verification and mobile capture technology, built on
artificial intelligence algorithms, to decipher and convert handwriting on cheques.
Banks also use AI to find fraudulent transactions, by creating systems which can
learn from fraud transaction data. Atiya [3] proposed neural network algorithms to
determine the credit worthiness of a loan applicant, based on historical data. The
decision is based on a number of factors like the credit history of the applicant,
frequency of transactions, kind of business, etc. The algorithm not only approves
or disapproves the loan application, but it also determines the interest rate, time
period and credit limit. Hence, AI improves the risk assessment for the banks and
provides efficient decisions. This would further help in reducing the losses faced by
banks due to fraudulent transactions and delinquent customers. Machine learn-
ing is also used to prevent frauds in online credit or debit card transactions [4].
Financial service providers like MasterCard suffer more losses due to false declines
than fraud [5]. So, MasterCard has employed AI algorithms to learn the purchas-
ing habits of cardholders in order to minimize false declines and to maximize the
probability of identifying a fraudulent transaction.
Online shopping portals like Amazon and Flipkart have gained popularity in
the last few years. These portals use efficient search engines to return the most
relevant products to the user based on keywords. They also maintain the history of
each buyer and recommend products based on their previous purchases. These por-
tals also manage the demographic data of the customers, so that they can recom-
mend products which were ordered by other customers with similar demographic
data [6]. Amazon uses ANN to generate recommendations for its customers.
Nowadays, every smartphone is equipped with a feature that converts voice to
text. About a decade ago, it was beyond imagination to accurately convert voice to
text by the most advanced systems of that time. But ML has made it possible today,

even for hand-held devices like smartphones, tablets, etc. Recently, Hinton et al. [7]
proposed the use of artificial neural networks for speech recognition. Dahl et al. [8]
proposed context-dependent pre-trained deep neural networks for large-vocabulary
speech recognition. We start our day by saying “OK Google, open Maps”, to find
the best route from home to office. As soon as we start speaking, the ML algorithm
instantly converts it into text and takes action. To connect a call, we only say “OK
Google, call Mom” and it behaves like an obedient assistant. For Google’s voice
search, ANNs are used. At times, these speech recognition systems can transcribe
more accurately than human beings. So, spoken instructions to smart personal assis-
tants have now become the new interface. Siri [9] by Apple and Google Now are
two personal assistants that can set reminders, call contacts from the phonebook,
perform searches and manage appointments. Amazon took speech recognition one
step further, by introducing complementary hardware called Alexa [10]. Alexa is a
personal assistant that recognizes voice commands to carry out a number of tasks. It
is powered by AI algorithms. Alexa can answer questions asked in natural language,
set reminders, order food, play music and perform a number of other activities.
8.2.1 The Scope of Merger

All the applications of AI, discussed in the previous section, require huge amounts
of data. A lot of research is being done recently to improve the response time of
algorithms. The need to efficiently handle big data is the real motivation behind the
merger of blockchain with AI. Data analytics involve the processing of enormous
data and drawing correlations between patterns in the dataset. Blockchain is a dis-
tributed ledger technology (DLT) that stores data securely and transparently [11,
12]. In contrast to the centralized systems of operations which have been mostly
used to date, blockchain is based on a decentralized system. Through the use of
decentralized database architecture, the procurement, authentication and main-
tenance of various operations are dependent upon the agreement of several parties
instead of a single central authority. Blockchain not only makes operations trans-
parent, but safer and faster also. Blockchain became popular with the emergence
of cryptocurrency Bitcoin [13], where transactions are managed using a distributed
ledger on a peer-to-peer network that has anonymous, open and public access [14].
Blockchain is the underlying technology which maintains the Bitcoin transaction
ledger. The blockchain transactions are stored in the public ledger and are veri-
fied by the consensus of a majority of participants in the system [15]. The infor-
mation can never be erased in a blockchain as it maintains a verifiable record of
every transaction. The digital currency Bitcoin itself is highly controversial, but the
underlying blockchain technology has worked flawlessly and found a wide range
of applications in both the financial and non-financial worlds. Figure 8.2 shows
these two distinct technologies. Recently Salah et al. summarized upcoming block-
chain applications and protocols while targeting artificial intelligence [16]. Dinh
and Thal [17] compared the features of blockchain and AI. They suggested that the

Figure 8.2 Artificial intelligence and blockchain.
integration of these two technologies would revolutionize the new digital genera-
tion. Chen et al. recently proposed an AI convolution neural network-based nodes
selection in blockchain networks [18].
8.3 Blockchain with Exonum Framework

Exonum [19] is an open-source blockchain framework that permits wide read
access of blockchain data to the applications. It employs service-oriented architec-
ture (SOA) [20] and consists of three parts: Services, clients and middleware. Here,
services take care of the business logic of blockchain applications and are intended
to implement logically complete and minimum functionality for solving a particu-
lar business task. Clients originate most transactions and read requests in a block-
chain. Middleware is responsible for managing transactions, interoperating services
among clients, access control, generating responses for client’s read requests, etc.
Exonum has the advantage that it is easier for clients and auditors to audit the sys-
tem in real time. Due to the adoption of SOA, the application could easily reuse,
add or configure the services developed for other Exonum applications. Exonum
provides a significantly higher throughput capacity (order of 1,000 transactions
per second) as compared to permission-less blockchain, and can encode complex
transaction logic. Exonum uses pessimistic security assumptions for validator node
operation. The consensus algorithm employed in Exonum does not introduce single
points of failure. Furthermore, the set of validator nodes is reconfigurable, allow-
ing it to scale the security by adding new validators, rotating keys for validators,
locking out compromised validators, etc. Figure 8.3 shows Exonum service design
where each service and auditing instance has a local replica of blockchain storage to
ensure authenticity of the data and balancing the load.
Although blockchain emerged with the birth of cryptocurrencies, now block-
chain has been infused into almost every possible industry [15, 22] including finan-
cial, healthcare, music, Internet of Things (IoT), quantum computing, and many
more. The two emerging technologies, i.e. blockchain and AI, seem poles apart and

Figure 8.3 Exonum [21] service design.
they actually are. But the explosion of data in recent times has created a need for the
fusion of these technologies. There are various startups like Endor and Blockchain
Data Foundations that are actively working on the idea of the amalgamation of
blockchain with AI. Neuromation [23] is a successful startup and proposes the use
of distributed computing along with blockchain proof-of-work tokens to revolu-
tionize AI model development. These startups have raised good amounts of fund-
ing from the investors, which itself proves that people are confident about the scope
of blockchain and AI.
8.4 AI and Blockchain: Technologies

That Are Poles Apart
The two technologies, artificial intelligence and blockchain, have contrasting fea-
tures. So, before discussing the prospects of the merger, let us see the challenges in
mixing them. If we look at AI and blockchain individually, their philosophies are
different from each other. At the same time, it seems that their combination would
be able to provide robust solutions.
8.5 Location of Control: Centralized or Decentralized

AI and blockchain have different thoughts about the location of control in the
system. AI depends on very large, complete datasets with high configuration

hardware to train the algorithms. The greater the size of the data, the better the
performance of the AL/ML algorithm. Companies with huge data and enriched
AI technology have more resources to improve and experiment with AI algorithms.
This gives us a view that AI requires the centralization of data. It requires complete
and consolidated data at one location for better computing results. In contrast,
blockchain believes in the decentralization of data and its control. At the same
time, the data and other resources are available to every user connected to the net-
work. The decentralization of data in a blockchain involves execution cost due to
network latency, and in order to reduce it, steps must be taken to speed up the data
access. Blockchain guarantees that users have complete ownership of their data and
computing power, which can be rented to other users on request. Various agencies
and companies working with AI models could take advantage of the data present
on the blockchain. They might not own the data, but can access them legally due
to decentralized distribution. The computing resources can also be decentralized.
Thus blockchain could manage the requirements of AI, allowing authorized users
to develop and run AI algorithms on huge datasets provide by multiple users.
8.5.1 Visibility: Transparent or Black Box

AI and blockchain differ in their philosophies of keeping the data and transaction
transparent. Blockchain is based on the principle of transparency. All the autho-
rized users can view the ledger in a public blockchain. Even the anonymous data
are available on the ledger. All the transactions are transparent and visible to other
users also. Blockchain has another important principle, trust, which exists due to
the use of cryptography. On the other hand, AI and ML algorithms are very diffi-
cult to understand. Most of the machine-learning algorithms require knowledge of
advanced mathematical topics like optimization, linear algebra, etc., and are often
considered a black box by most of their users. It is believed that in future blockchain
could help in better understanding of AI-ML algorithms. Blockchain can provide
public access to the data by which the AI models are trained and can analyze the
potential weakness in the model. Since the performance of any AI model is based
on the quality of the data, therefore a public audit of data can improve the correct-
ness of data. This would further enhance the performance of the AI algorithm.
8.6 Blockchain-Facilitated AI
Artificial intelligence trains machines to behave like humans, for efficient decision
making. The AI algorithms require extensive data for training and efficient decision
making. Here, blockchain could play a significant role by storing and managing the
data securely. Unlike traditional centralized database systems, blockchain creates a
decentralized-distributed network of databases. This essentially means that the data
are stored on a large network, where information is verified by multiple parties, and

once data are entered, they cannot be erased from the blockchain. Any illegal muta-
tion in data will be noticed by other computers of the blockchain, which will rectify
the invalid data. Also, the data on the blockchain are secured through cryptogra-
phy, which makes it incredibly difficult to decipher and modify. Any tempering
with the data on the blockchain can be observed by the users due to cryptographic
signatures associated with the data available on the network, across all the systems.
This makes blockchain ideal for storing sensitive information. Therefore, block-
chain is considered more secure than traditional database systems which are more
prone to cyber-attacks. It appears that the requirements of AI can be supported by
blockchain and we can expect a seamless communication between the two tech-
nologies. A few key characteristics of their interaction are discussed here.
8.6.1 Secure Data Sharing

The decentralized database of blockchain emphasizes secure data sharing between
multiple parties since AI relies on large datasets, most of which will be shared.
The performance of AI algorithms improves with the size of data. So, the avail-
ability of more data for analysis means better predictions by the algorithms and
more reliability. The data supplied as input to AI algorithms should be valid. This
requires a high level of data security, achieved by reducing the probability of any
catastrophic occurrence. Blockchain also deals with sensitive data and has protocols
that support data security [24]. The performance of AI algorithms could improve
with the availability of more real-time data from multiple sources. Companies like
Facebook, Google, Amazon, Flipkart, etc., have huge amounts of data, increasing
every second, as shown in Figure 8.4. These data could be useful for a number of AI
Figure 8.4 Annual digital growth (Jan 2018–Jan 2019): Change in statistics [25].

Figure 8.5 Amount of data in the world [26].
problems, but they are not freely accessible to public. This limitation of data acces-
sibility can be resolved by blockchain, by the concept of peer-to-peer communica-
tion. Since blockchain is an open distributed registry, its data are available to every
network user. Hence, the monopoly of companies over the data would be relaxed
and other users could gain access to the data.
8.6.2 Data Management Challenges

Let us assume that huge datasets would be available to AI algorithms due to block-
chain, but this gives rise to another problem of data management. The estimated
data currently available are 32 zettabytes [26], graphically shown in Figure 8.5.
AI algorithms can be modeled to incorporate feedback control that helps inde-
pendent agents to interact with the physical environment. Storing the data in a
distributed-decentralized environment offers certain advantages that do not exist
in a conventional centralized data center. Since data are located at different loca-
tions, a blockchain is not much affected by natural disasters or any calamity, which
generally destroy any centralized system present at a single location. Due to the
robust protocols of blockchain, it avoids to a large extent and thus makes data less
prone to corruption.
8.6.3 Reliable AI Modeling and Predictions

The performance of any artificial intelligence depends heavily on the quality of
input data stream supplied to it. It follows the garbage-in-garbage-out (GIGO)

principle of computer systems. There are malicious users who intentionally modify
the data for their individual or company’s interest. Modified data would lead to
the alteration of results also. Data may get corrupted unintentionally in instances
like incorrect data captured by a malfunctioning sensor or a part of critical data
may be lost due to hardware failure. Block can help in creating partitions of veri-
fied datasets, so that the AI models should use only the verified data. This will
further identify any fault in the data chain and would lead to its correction. This
would also help in reducing the efforts required in troubleshooting and locating
the erroneous data in the segments. The data once captured through a transaction
in a blockchain becomes immutable i.e. any intentional or unintentional altera-
tion in the data will be reported by other users of the system. This makes the data
traceable and verified.
8.6.4 Better Control over Data and Models

Control plays a major role in the success of any process. The alliance of blockchain
and artificial intelligence provides better control over the data as well as the models.
If a user creates data for his AI model, he can specify restrictions or permissions in
the license for data. Licensing of data can be easily done in a blockchain. The per-
missions to read or access the data can be easily set in a blockchain. SingularityNET
[27] is an open-source AI marketplace that collects smart contracts for a decentral-
ized market of coordinated AI services. As per the SingularityNET team, block-
chain technology provides transactional and bookkeeping advantages for managing
network transactions. Blockchain allows users to add or upgrade an AI service for
use by the network and get back network payment tokens in exchange. With this
platform, the data owners can control the use of their data and will be benefited
in monetary terms. Thus, blockchain, together with smart contracts [28], ensures
that the data whether generated by financial transactions, applications or customer
details, are valid, recorded in real time and are immutable. This ensures that correct
and accurate data are available to be used by AI models and results in faster and
secure transactions.
8.6.5 Real-Time Data
AI has transformed various domains like healthcare, finance, weather forecasting,
etc., by providing real-time access to data. But these models suffer due to lim-
ited access to relevant data. Required data may not be available due to ownership
restrictions. As a result, AI algorithms may end up working with low-quality data
and the results may not be accurate. Blockchain could overcome this situation, as it
provides access to a huge accumulation of data, which might be owned by distinct
users and is immutable but accessible to all. Various applications designed using AI
suffer from barriers like lack of authentication, unwanted intermediaries, risk of
fraud, monopoly ownership on data, inaccuracy, etc. AI together with blockchain

can reduce the ownership of a single entity, eliminate intermediaries and assure that
the data is secure, accurate and authenticated by the stakeholders involved.
8.6.6 Transparency and Trust

Blockchain can add more transparency to AI by maintaining the details about any
decision taken by the AI model. This information would be accessible in real time.
The interested parties could look into the details available on blockchain, to find
the fault in any wrong decision taken by the AI model. With more data availability,
the issues can be resolved and algorithms can be improved. AI has revolutionized
the modern industries, but it suffers due to lack of trust. Blockchain can be more
reliable in building trust as it maintains a publicly accessible registry of the data and
AI models, which are immutable and are digitally secured through cryptographic
signatures [29]. The blockchain users are permitted to access the verified informa-
tion and consensus models in real time. This would help in improving the trust of
users on the system and would reduce the need for intermediaries.
This indicates that AI technology will be benefited by the robust blockchain.
Now, let us understand how AI could improve the functioning of blockchain.
8.6.7 Better Management of Blockchain Using AI

Artificial intelligence could make the blockchain operations more efficient, by
chaining the way they are managed. For instance, if a blockchain user transfers a
Bitcoin to a peer on his network, the transaction might take days to get confirmed.
This happens due to the decentralized nature of blockchain where the Bitcoin
miners group the transactions into blocks. A sudden increase in volume of such
transactions could further delay the transaction as the block-size is limited. If any
transaction requires a block of larger size, it will be kept in queue for confirmation
by the other miners. AI could reduce the complexity of this situation by improv-
ing the confirmation time of the transactions. Blockchain uses hashing algorithms
[30] with a “brute force” approach that tries to find every possible combination of
characters until the best match is found for the verification and confirmation of a
transaction. The hashing algorithm could be replaced by an AI model which can
be trained with correct data for efficient and quick confirmation of transactions.
AI can improve the data mining process and can streamline the operations of a
blockchain. This would further reduce the time and processing power required in
mining the data in a blockchain.
Sharma et al. [31] explained the blockchain scaling problem where the size of
blockchain is growing at 1 MB every 10 minutes and the existing data are around
85 MB. Blockchain has not incorporated any method to deal the data optimiza-
tion and elimination. AI can help blockchain in this regard, by introducing a
decentralized system for data optimization. The peer-to-peer transactions on a

blockchain cost millions of dollars. The cost is high as each node executes the
same task on its copy of data and tries to produce the solution before other nodes.
AI can reduce the cost involved by predicting the node that will be the first one
to deliver the solution. It can inform other nodes to shut down their operations,
so that only the node which is going to give the earliest correct solution will com-
plete the execution. This will ultimately reduce the cost of operations of the entire
blockchain and can improve the efficiency of the system. Blockchain is known
to maintain data with high security. AI can assimilate features like multi-dimen-
sional data representation, image labeling, natural language processing, sound rec-
ognition, etc., into blockchain. This would allow miners to convert a large-scale
system into several smaller subsystems that can optimize data transactions in a
more secure environment.
In future, blockchain would store the data and interested users could buy them
directly from the data owners. In this case, AI can provide solutions for keeping
track of data usage, granting permissions and effective data management. AI mod-
els would behave as doorways through where the blockchain data would flow.
8.6.8 Prospective Applications of Blockchain and AI

It is already discussed that the philosophies of AI and blockchain are different.
AI believes in centralized, fast and complex operations on huge datasets whereas
blockchain provides decentralized, transparent but slow access to data and comput-
ing resources. Although blockchain is a robust technology, it suffers due to slow
speed. Researchers are working on scaling solutions for blockchain to improve the
speed of operations. If we integrate these contrary but complementary technologies,
we could come up with interesting applications.
8.7 AI with Distributed Computing

The integration of AI and blockchain would lead us to the idea of using mining net-
works to provide computing power to the AI algorithms for training. These algo-
rithms depend heavily on processor utilization for their extensive training where
thousands of training sessions are conducted in order to teach the algorithms to
make efficient decisions. The training time for ML algorithms is usually very high.
If the system could provide more computing power to the algorithms then the algo-
rithm could be trained in a faster way. So, the researchers and companies are work-
ing on the idea of boosting the AI technology with numerous GPUs, which are
already used for mining cryptocurrencies. The GPU networks used for blockchain
can also be used to provide more power to the ML algorithms. Another advantage
of using GPU mining networks is that any user can access a distant supercomputer
for executing hidden AI algorithm.

8.7.1 Data Privacy
Blockchain stores anonymous data, although it has ways to determine the source
of data. The anonymous data provide great opportunities for research. Rather than
centralized and restricted control of the companies over the data, blockchain pro-
vides open access to anonymous data, which could be used for analysis, model
training and for making predictions. If the algorithms are trained with decentral-
ized and anonymous data, they would be able to generate models with less bias.
A company in the US might train the algorithms with the data collected from its
population. With the use of blockchain, the data would not be restricted to a local
region only. Hence, the algorithms would be trained on data that represent the
global population.
8.7.2 Marketplace for Algorithms and Data

Open access to data and computing would allow AI researchers to work as a
community. Many open-source packages are available for ML models like
Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, etc. Blockchain would create an environment for a
marketplace of data and algorithms. Data scientists and data owners would get
paid for their algorithms and data respectively. Companies and individual users
can access algorithms and data. An open environment can be created where AI
algorithm development would not be proprietary, rather there would be mar-
ketplace where any interested user could participate and contribute. This would
provide users with better control over the data. Today, companies like Google
collect data from their customers without their consent like our search history
and interaction with Google products like Maps, YouTube, etc. Those free data
are used by Google to create information and to make money. A blockchain
would give back the control of data to their owner. The data could be shared in
exchange for certain services or could be sold to companies. This marketplace
would allow anyone to generate revenue by being online and creating personal
data which are worth selling.
8.7.3 Decentralized-Autonomous Organizations
Mohanty et al. [32] talk about the idea of decentralized autonomous organizations
(DAOs), which is an application of AI-blockchain. DAOs hard code their rules, in
the form of smart contracts. These organizations perform actions but follow the
rules of a smart contract while taking any decision. By integrating AI technology
with DAOs, there is a possibility that they can take independent decisions. The
decisions would be based on market data and trends. Since DAOs exist on a decen-
tralized network, there is a remote possibility that they will shut down. If they are
developed well, they could reduce workload for knowledge workers, and would lead
to economic equality with better management.

8.7.4 Use Case: Blockchain and AI in Healthcare

Health care providers, all over the world, are keeping track of patients’ history
through an electronic medical record-keeping system. These systems generate tera-
bytes of medical data which are a gold mine of health information [21]. The data
about patients including clinical tests, molecular diagnostics, MRI, electrocardio-
grams, etc., have significant value, depending on their quality and significance for
certain conditions. Doctors study and analyze these data to assess a patient’s con-
dition at different time periods. Other than textual reports, data like images, vid-
eos, voice, etc., have considerable value in predicting a patient’s medical condition.
Recently, researchers have studied the use of voice and speech recognition for the
diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and assessing its severity [33, 34].
Although medical data are available, the synergetic effect of the combinations
of different data is often poorly understood. Here, we foresee the creation of spe-
cialized jobs for data economists who could understand the patterns in data from
multiple perspectives. AI researchers are actively working for the creation of accu-
rate prediction models that are based on input features like demographic data, labo-
ratory tests and other diagnostic reports. The significance of a data value is based
on the application. For example, an insurance company would be interested in a
recent picture of a person, as it is a better indicator of his health, age and general
status. Also, the combination of different data types will be more valuable than the
individual data values.
A major problem faced by medical researchers is the availability and exchange
of data. It is also important to maintain high standards of data security, due to the
sensitive nature of the data. Blockchain could possibly reduce the occurrence of
data breach or theft by involving multiple parties for data decryption, combined
with the use of asymmetric cryptography. With a blockchain-backed system, the
data can be easily uploaded by the patient (the owner) and he can give permis-
sions in exchange for an agreed-upon price paid to him. But this comes with a
challenge to devise a network currency that could overcome the problems due to
having participants from multiple countries. Recently, Mamoshina et al. proposed
a cryptocurrency called LifePound [21]. The data owner can generate this currency
by putting his data on the blockchain and can be benefited by the incentive scheme.
In this blockchain-based healthcare system, the blocks of transactions are processed
and stored, along with management of keys for cryptography. The data are stored
in encrypted form in the local storage. There are different categories of users. Some
users are the owners of data and can upload and sell them in the marketplace.
Others are consumers who are interested in buying the data. Some are data valida-
tors, and all these categories use LifePound as cryptocurrency. Figure 8.6 explains
the architecture of the marketplace for medical data, backed by blockchain.
The clients of the medical data marketplace are of four types. The first category
is of users who own the data. They upload their biomedical data and can sell it in
exchange for cryptocurrency. They can keep their data private and can also provide

Figure 8.6 Medical data marketplace ecosystem [21].
the data anonymously. They will provide access to only those users who have paid
for it. They could receive analysis of their health reports from data analysts working
in the network. Another category of system users is the customers who are inter-
ested in buying the data for analysis and can provide reports to users about their
health. They could get aggregate data collected from multiple users. Since it is an
open system, it is important to validate the quality of data, which is done by data
validators. They confirm the quality of the data and give assurance to customers.
There could be other users who are using cryptocurrency.
Any interaction that occurs in a blockchain is registered in the form of a trans-
action. Blockchain maintains hashes which record a timestamp for a transaction
and approve them. Timestamping is achieved through blockchain anchoring and
the transactions are approved by digital signing and public key infrastructure. The
storage of a medical data ecosystem could be an existing cloud storage like AWS
that provides a platform for building applications [35]. This storage is not part of
blockchain, but it is required to hold large medical files which are in the form of
images or videos. To provide authentic access to the data, public key infrastructure
is required which is established through blockchain. To keep the data secure, the
data uploaded on the cloud, at the user side, are encrypted with a threshold encryp-
tion scheme [36]. The data can be kept at the user’s local storage also which would
provide actual privacy and control to the user over their data. There is a possibility
of lending the data to customers instead of selling it. The full nodes of blockchain
are the organizations that have complete access to data in the blockchain. They are
of three types. Validators commit new blocks with transactions to the blockchain.

Another type is auditors who audit the marketplace. The third category is the key
keepers who maintain key shares as per a certain threshold encryption scheme,
required for decrypting the data.
Thus, blockchain allows the creation of a distributed and secure collection of
personal data, where patients (data owners) have complete control over their data.
They can also grant permissions to access their data. Thus medical data blockchain
eventually builds a data marketplace where patients could get paid for their per-
sonal medical data. The data corpus thus accumulated will be used by data analysts,
organizations for developing prediction models, pharmaceutical companies and by
researchers. Currently, very few people go for comprehensive periodic medical tests
that include laboratory tests, MRI, ECG, etc. If these data are combined with life-
style data, demographic data and medical history, they would be of great value for
researchers. There are number of companies that can pay for the data to train their
AI algorithms. More data used for the training of an AI model means improved
accuracy. The funds generated could be used further for research and development
of sophisticated tools.
8.8 Conclusion
Blockchain and artificial intelligence are the two technologies that have the poten-
tial to revolutionize many industry sectors. We can foresee that the synergy of
these two would have greater benefits. The fusion of AI and blockchain will bring
growth in diverse domains and has many potential applications. The idea of their
amalgamation is so powerful that it has recently attracted many researchers and
organizations. Initially, AI and blockchain appear to be poles apart but at the same
time, they complement each other. They have applications in fields like finance,
medical, public service, security, banking, IoT, etc. The future of this integration is
a decentralized system of operations, where machines could interact in a better way
with better modeling of human activities.
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Chapter 9
Identification of
Blockchain-Enabled
Opportunities and
Their Business Values:
Interoperability
of Blockchain
N.S. Gowri Ganesh
Contents
9.1 Introduction .............................................................................................160
9.2 How Does Blockchain Work?................................................................... 161
9.3 Flow of Operation.....................................................................................162
9.3.1 Blockchain Characteristics.............................................................164
9.3.2 Asymmetric Key Cryptography ....................................................164
9.3.3 Block Containing Transactions......................................................164
9.3.4 Consensus in Blockchain Environment.........................................164
9.3.5 Mining for Block Acceptance........................................................164
9.4 Classification of Blockchain Systems.........................................................165
9.4.1 Public Blockchain..........................................................................165
9.4.2 Private Blockchain.........................................................................165
159
9.4.3 Consortium Blockchain.................................................................165

9.4.4 Blockchain Opportunities in the Financial Domain......................166
9.4.5 Bitcoin...........................................................................................166
9.4.6 Bitcoin Compared with Traditional Electronic Cash.....................166
9.4.7 Bitcoin Ecosystem..........................................................................167
9.4.8 Fair Payments in Financial Transactions........................................168
9.4.8.1 Fair Exchange Using Timelocking...................................169
9.4.8.2 Optimistic Fair Exchange Using Trusted Third
Party (TTP).....................................................................169
9.4.8.3 Attacks in the Chain of Blocks........................................169
9.4.9 Blockchain Opportunities in Healthcare Systems..........................170
9.4.10 Blockchain Opportunities in City Management............................ 174
9.4.11 Blockchain Opportunities for Security Measures in IoT
Devices..........................................................................................177
9.4.11.1 Registration...................................................................178
9.4.11.2 Update..........................................................................178
9.4.11.3 Inspection.....................................................................178
9.5 Interoperability among Blockchains..........................................................180
9.6 Building Blockchain-Oriented Software................................................... 181
References..........................................................................................................183
9.1 Introduction
An application development evolved in various stages with respect to the evolu-
tion of the hardware and the software (operating systems). Thus it started with the
applications that worked on independent computers whose benefits restricted to
the users of that computer, distributed applications that delivered useful services to
large number of clients with client/server architecture. Then with the introduction
of web services the scenario changed from the tightly coupled application to that
of the loosely coupled application. The loosely coupled application in the service-
oriented architecture did not share the transaction and did not trust each other but
relied on some centralized control.
The complete independence from centralized control with the introduction of
the blockchain happened with the trust among the participants in the business
networks. Also blockchain made a major impact by the introduction the concept of
cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.
The evolution of the architecture in the field of application development and
security has now transformed to the applications without agents or intermediar-
ies (which increases the effective cost of a single transaction For example, trans-
fer of money through bank involves commission by the agents) so that there can
be peer to peer transaction in the decentralized network by establishing trust
among unknown peers placed its position with the enablement of a new world of

Identification of Blockchain-Enabled Opportunities ◾ 161
opportunities introduced with the concept of blockchain. Blockchain has given

more integrity and independence to various applications by introducing the per-
missionless protocol and smart contract. The loosely coupled application has an
improved form of automatic interaction with the implementation of the smart con-
tract which has its basis in the traditional contract like SLA.
Blockchain is a decentralized computation and information-sharing platform
that enables multiple authoritative domains to cooperate, coordinate and collabo-
rate in rational decision-making processes. It is also described as an open distrib-
uted ledger that can note the transactions between two parties efficiently and in a
verifiable and permanent way. Mining solves puzzles to add transaction records to
the public ledger of past transactions. The ledger of past transactions is called the
blockchain as it is a chain of blocks.
This ensures that no node has the power to sabotage the network and gain con-
trol. Present-day applications are developed in such a way that each participant in
the business network keeps records, or a ledger, of all transactions between all the
parties that the business interacts with. But blockchain allows any participant in
the network to see the one system of record, or ledger.
The world is watching keenly the latest developments in the blockchain to
identify the benefits that could be reaped with its implementation in their field of
work. This chapter discusses the characteristics of blockchain in Section 9.3.1. The
advantageous features of the blockchain instigate its integration in various fields
of applications. The opportunities of blockchain are discussed as follows: Section
9.4.4 deals with the financial domain, Section 9.4.9 deliberates about its inclusion
in healthcare systems; Sections 9.4.10 and 9.4.11 discuss its use in city management
and in IoT devices. Section 9.6 is devoted to the software engineering practices
specifically built with a blockchain approach.
9.2 How Does Blockchain Work?

Blockchain applications work in a decentralized manner. The nodes that are
unknown to each other work together by sharing the data in the form of a public
ledger. The data could be historical information of transactions like bank transac-
tions that will be available to everyone for future computation. The public ledger
ensures consistency which is nothing but that the local copies (Figure 9.1) of the
data of all the nodes are kept identical and are always updated based on the global
information.
Generally, in most of the applications, there are other modes of communica-
tions among the participating nodes such as centralized and distributed. In central-
ized architecture, a single server handles all the clients and therefore the failure of
the server leads to the downtime of the application which is described as the single
point of failure. The disadvantage due to single point of failure results in unavail-
ability of the services (Baran 1964) (Table 9.1).

Figure 9.1 Blockchain maintaining local copies in participating node to ensure

consistency.
Table 9.1 clearly explains how the decentralized nodes of Alice, Bob, Jane and
Dave participate in the transactions and update the public ledger. As the transac-
tion happens the information from the public ledger blocks transaction 4 when
there is a shortage of money.
Formally blockchain (Iansiti and Lakhani 2017) can be defined as “Blockchain
is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently
and in a verifiable and permanent way”.
The following is a description of the flow of operations in a blockchain
environment.
9.3 Flow of Operation
1) Broadcast the transaction: Each and every transaction is announced to the entire
network for verification through broadcasting.
2) Collection and verification of transaction: The transactions are verified by the par-
ticipants and will be added to the block according to the block size (1 MB for
Bitcoin).
3) Mining using consensus protocol: The mining process is to solve the cryptographic
puzzle. If a miner is able to solve the puzzle, this block is added to the block-
chain. This is done using a consensus as proof of work (PoW) as in Bitcoin.
There are consensus protocols used in blockchain like proof of stake (PoS),
proof of burn (PoB) and proof of elapsed time (PoET).
4) Updating the blockchain: The nodes receive the block and can accept the block,
provided that the computed PoW is correct and it contains valid transactions.
Nodes add the block to their copy of the ledger. The hash of the last block will
be used as the previous hash of the successive block. If solutions are obtained
by two miners at the same time, the valid blockchain is the one which is

Table 9.1 Illustration of Transaction in Decentralized Public Ledger
Transaction Alice Public Ledger Bob Public Ledger Eve Public Ledger Jane Public Ledger
1.Initial 1. $50 1. $50 1. $50 1. $50
2.Alice send 1. $50 1. $50 1. $50 1. $50

to BoB $25 2. Alice→BoB:$25 2. Alice→BoB:$25 2. Alice→BoB:$25 2. Alice→BoB:$25
3.BoB send to 1. $50 1. $50 1. $50 1. $50

Eve $15 2. Alice→BoB:$25 2. Alice→BoB:$25 2. Alice→BoB:$25 2. Alice→BoB:$25
3. BoB→Eve:$15 3. BoB→Eve:$15 3. BoB→Eve:$15 3. BoB→Eve:$15

4. Alice send 1. $50 1. $50 1. $50 1. $50
to Jane $30 2. Alice→BoB:$25 2. Alice→BoB:$25 2. Alice→BoB:$25 2. Alice→BoB:$25
3. BoB→Eve:$15 3. BoB→Eve:$15 3. BoB→Eve:$15 3. BoB→Eve:$15
4. Less Money. So 4. Less Money. So 4. Less Money. So 4. Less Money. So
Trans. Blocked Trans. Blocked Trans. Blocked Trans. Blocked
longer. This demonstrates that the blockchain is tamper-proof and no transac-

tion can be reversed. If the block of transactions or proof of work is invalid, the
block is discarded, and the search for a valid block is continued by the nodes.
Miners are allowed to earn rewards upon successful mining processes.
So blockchain works like the public ledger with the following characteristics.
9.3.1 Blockchain Characteristics
The blockchain can be generally characterized by the following concepts and varies
for different implementations.
9.3.2 Asymmetric Key Cryptography

Blockchain maintains a digital wallet (equivalent to a bank account) secured with
the user’s private key and can be accessed with the signatures generated using that
private key. This public key of the wallet serves as the address of the Bitcoin which
is known to everyone and can be used for encryption during each transaction to
protect users’ privacy and anonymity. Transactions are digitally signed using the
private key and the users keep it secret.
9.3.3 Block Containing Transactions

The blockchain is implemented on peer-to-peer architectures, and enables the
exchange of information and sharing. The transfer information in the file is broad-
casted to the entire network for validation from the source node. This set of transac-
tions represents the current state of the blockchain.
9.3.4 Consensus in Blockchain Environment

Consensus ensures the correct set of operations in the presence of trustless indi-
viduals in a distributed environment. The properties of reliability and fault toler-
ance of a network are determined with consensus mechanisms. Each and every
participating node agrees on a common content-updating protocol for their public
ledger to maintain a consistent state. This is known as a consensus mechanism.
Upon reaching consensus among the nodes the blocks are created and added to the
existing ledger for later usage.
9.3.5 Mining for Block Acceptance

Miners solve the cryptographic puzzle for the acceptance of any block so that the
block can be added to the shared ledger. The blockchain adds a nonce (number only
used once) generated by the miners in the block which is a pseudorandom number

that cannot be reused in replay attacks due to which the hashed or rehashed block
meets the difficulty level of restrictions. The miners try to solve the puzzle to iden-
tify the nonce in the last block. The nodes accumulate the verified transactions in a
block and use the computation power to find a value that makes the SHA-256 hash
value of this block less than a dynamically varying target value. The header of the
block includes the arbitrary nonce, the hash of the previous block, the Merkle root
hash of the listed transactions, the timestamp and the block version. The hash of all
the hashes of the transactions in a block is called the Merkle root. Every leaf node
is the hash of the data block and the non-leaf node is the cryptographic hash of its
child nodes. This is used in Bitcoin.
9.4 Classification of Blockchain Systems

Blockchain systems are classified as public, private or consortium.
9.4.1 Public Blockchain
A public blockchain is an open platform for participants from various backgrounds
to join, perform transactions and mine. There is no constraint on any of these fac-
tors. These are also knowns as permissionless blockchains. Every user is given full
authority to make transactions and perform auditing in the blockchain. The block-
chain exhibits openness and transparency. It does not include any specific validator
nodes. All users can collect transactions and participate in the mining process and
earn mining rewards. The copy of the whole blockchain is synchronized with all of
the participating nodes.
9.4.2 Private Blockchain
A private blockchain system is to aid the sharing and exchange of data among a
group of individuals (in a single organization) or among multiple organizations pri-
vately. Here mining is controlled by single organization or selected group of individ-
uals. This is known as a permissioned blockchain. This is because strangers cannot
access it unless they are solicited. A set of rules decides the nodes’ participation.
This characterizes the network very much in the direction of centralization, while
detracting from the blockchain features described by Nakamoto of decentralization
and openness. But after nodes participate in the network, they contribute in running
a decentralized network. The writes are restricted with the set of constraints.
9.4.3 Consortium Blockchain
A consortium blockchain is a partly private and permissioned blockchain, where a
single organization is not responsible for consensus and block validation but rather

a set of predetermined nodes. Consortium blockchains acquire the security features

that are built into public blockchains. The consensus participants of a consortium
blockchain are a group of pre-approved nodes on the network.
9.4.4 Blockchain Opportunities in the Financial Domain

Financial applications in the computing domain changed the dominant type
of financial transactions from cash to digital money transactions with the help
of banking automation. Further, the form of medium of monetary exchange is
now introduced with the electronic wallets offered by many companies. In India
the introduction of Unique Payment Interface (UPI) by the National Payment
Corporation of India (NPCI) offered ease of money transaction. A relatively differ-
ent approach to the electronic cash form is cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a cryptocur-
rency which is the blockchain implementation form of digital assets that can be
used as a medium of exchange with strong cryptography features to secure financial
transactions.
9.4.5 Bitcoin
The term blockchain (Yuan and Wang 2018) was introduced when Bitcoin was
first described in a posting in a cryptography mail group, about an article entitled
“Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash systems” (Nakamoto, n.d.) by a researcher
with the pseudonym of “Nakamoto”. Blockchain is defined as a kind of decentral-
ized shared ledger that uses linearly timestamped, securely encrypted chains of
blocks to contain verifiable and synchronized data across a peer-to-peer network.
9.4.6 Bitcoin Compared with Traditional Electronic Cash

Bitcoin can be compared with traditional electronic cash as listed below:
a) Bitcoin works in decentralized environment that applies distributed consen-

sus algorithms in the participating nodes of peer-to-peer networks. The banks
that use traditional electronic cashes require centralized service providers and
are controlled by government agencies as per the mandate of the stipulated
laws.
b) Bitcoin exhibits pseudo-anonymity. The identity of the Bitcoin user is not
revealed as against the traditional electronic cashes where the users’ identities
are stored in the central server of the service provider.
c) Bitcoin is limited in terms of the currency issuance. The currency issuance
in traditional electronic cashes is controlled by the forum designated by the
government based on various factors like inflation rate, GDP, etc.
d) The software implementation of Bitcoin is open-source and is generally avail-
able to the users to check the algorithms. The business logic of the software

that issues electronic cash managed by the banks is closed sourced software
executed in controlled secured environment and is not available to the users.
e) Bitcoin is a digitized form of zeroes and ones. However, Bitcoin can gain
value by increasing users. The more users trust and use Bitcoin, the more
value Bitcoin will have. In contrast, almost all traditional electronic cashes
are endorsed by fiat money.
9.4.7 Bitcoin Ecosystem
Digitally signed and encrypted transactions are verified by peers. Cryptographic
security ensures that participants can only view the information if they are autho-
rized to do so. Data are grouped in a chain of blocks that are stored on all complete
nodes of the blockchain network using a Merkle tree. The data structures of Merkle
trees are encrypted, hashed and asymmetric time-marked. In particular, each node,
after winning a consensus mechanism, will be allowed to place all data generated
during that period (usually a regular interval, for example 10 minutes in the Bitcoin
system) from the contest into a new timestamp unit, indicating the time of cre-
ation. If contradictory data are available, for example, Bitcoin double spending,
only one agreed version is selected and added to the blocks.
The Bitcoin block consists of block headers and block parts.
a) The block header consists of (1) previous block hash, (2) Mining statistics
used to construct the block (mining statistics – time stamp, nonce and dif-
ficulty), (3) Merkle tree root.
b) The block part consists of transactions.
Figure 9.2 shows the structure of the transactions in the form of a tree with a Merkle
root. If a transaction is changed all the subsequent blocks need to be changed. The
Figure 9.2 Hashed transaction with Merkle root.

Figure 9.3 Snapshot of a blockchain summary for block 575401. (Source: https://
www.blockchain.com/btc/block/575401.)
Figure 9.4 Snapshot of block header summary for the block. (Source: https://
www.blockchain.com/btc/block/575401.)
difficulty of the mining algorithm decides the toughness of tampering with the block-
chain. Figure 9.3 shows a summary of a blockchain transaction. Figure 9.4 shows
the identifier of verified and hashed data (e.g. via double SHA256 algorithm), pre-
vious block, next block and Merkel Root. The blocks are chained one by one in
chronological order, forming the entire history from the genesis block to the newly
generated one. Figure 9.5 illustrates the transactions for the chosen block which is
sourced from https://blockchain.com.
9.4.8 Fair Payments in Financial Transactions

Fair exchange (Liu et al. 2018) is executed between players that do not necessar-
ily trust each other. A fair exchange protocol must ensure that a malicious player
cannot gain any advantage over an honest player. We consider the “payment-for-
receipt”, where an entity, Alice, makes a digital payment to another entity, Bob,
in order to get a receipt for the payment in the form of a digital signature. Our

Figure 9.5 Transactions for the block 575401. (Source: https://www.blockchain.

com/btc/block/575401.)
goal is to explore the solution space for integrating a fair exchange of payment
for receipt into existing cryptocurrency payment schemes (hereafter referred to as
fair payments for the sake of brevity). We assume the communication is weakly
synchronous, under which messages are guaranteed to be delivered after a certain
time bound.
9.4.8.1 Fair Exchange Using Timelocking

Allows the payer to pay in the time window if the payment has not been used.
Alice produces a transaction that allows her to pay Bob a predetermined amount
on the condition that Bob must issue a valid signature of a message within a certain
period of time. The results of this transaction are input to one of the following two
blockchain transactions:
1) A transaction signed by Bob that contains a valid signature on the requested

message (that is, exchange is successful and fair).
2) A transaction signed by Alice and the time window has expired (that is,
exchange fails and the money returns back to Alice).
9.4.8.2 Optimistic Fair Exchange Using Trusted Third Party (TTP)

The protocol is based on the existence of a trusted third party (TTP), but only in
an optimistic way: TTP is only needed when a player tries to cheat. If Alice and
Bob are honest and behave correctly, TTP generally does not need to be included.
9.4.8.3 Attacks in the Chain of Blocks

A fork (new branch of sequence of blocks) in blockchain is to impart change in the
previous version or divergence from the existing protocol of the blockchain. Two
types of forks can happen: 1. Software fork and hardware fork. Hardware fork is
the one decided by a group of members who are interested to have an upgrade in
the existing protocol (like change in the consensus algorithms, block size, etc.)

will come up with the new version of blockchain. The hardware fork is not back-
ward compatible. Soft forks are software updates to the existing blockchain and
are compatible to the existing blockchain. There is a possibility of malicious fork-
ing (aiming to create a fork in blockchain with the malicious need) and consensus
mechanisms looks at destroying the other branch of a protocol fork merged mining
which is used as a form of attack against a parent chain in the context of a hostile
protocol fork.
The main idea of a pitchfork attack is to use merged mining as a form of attack
on another branch in permissionless PoW cryptocurrency, which is the result of a
controversial change in consensus rules. The pitchfork must reduce the usefulness
of the affected branch so that the miner leaves the offending branch and switches
to the branch of the fork which performs merged mining and follows the new
consensus rules.
9.4.9 Blockchain Opportunities in Healthcare Systems

Blockchain technology (Casino, Dasaklis, and Patsakis 2019) has a major applica-
tion in healthcare with several applications in various fields such as health manage-
ment, health record management, automatic health claims, online patient access,
use of patient medical data without loss of data privacy, drug counterfeiting, clini-
cal testing and precision medicine.
The electronic healthcare patient (EHR) management record tends to be the
area with the greatest growth potential. The uses of a blockchain-based system for
EHRs are: There is no centralized server that can damage or interfere with hackers
which results into single point of failure. Data are updated and always available,
while data from various sources are collected in one repository. The health records
are stored in a distributed way.
A number of projects focus on specific data modalities such as genomics and
imaging. In particular, genomics met with great interest among entrepreneurs and
businesses, perhaps because of the popularity of genome sequencing, the impor-
tance of genomic data and the great potential for monetization. Private genome
companies such as 23andMe and AncestryDNA monetize genetic data by selling
access to third parties such as labs and biotech companies. Some startup companies
like Encrypgen, Nebula Genomics, LunaDNA and others are developing platforms
or networks for genomics with data-exchange of genome using blockchain. With
a blockchain-based platform, they claim to reduce the cost of genome sequencing,
controlling patient data and sharing the value captured from the monetization of
the data with patients.
Many proposed solutions are based on IP management blocks which can also be
applied to innovation in drug development. An example of this is an attempt to use
electronic lab notebooks from Labii using blockchain. Bernstein offers blockchain-
based digital trail management with a time stamp to protect IP priorities. This
function may be useful in collaborative pharmaceutical research. Solutions from

iPlexus use the blockchain to make all unpublished and published data from drug
development studies available.
Blockchain also has use cases in managing clinical trials for pharmaceutical
research. The IEEE Standards Association held a forum for blockchain for clini-
cal trials, exploring the use of the blockchain for patient recruitment innovations,
to ensure data integrity and to make rapid progress in drug development. Scrybe,
the blockchain project presented in the forum, provides an effective and reliable
mechanism to accelerate clinical and research trials.
Parallel Health Systems (PHS) (Wang et al. 2018) uses artificial health systems
to model and display patient status, diagnosis and care, then uses computer experi-
ments to analyze and evaluate various treatment regimens, and carry out parallel
implementations to support real-time decisions and optimization – both in actual
and artificial conditions – in healthcare. The emerging blockchain technology is
being used in the construction of PHS. In particular, consortium blockchain con-
sisting of patients, hospitals, health offices, the medical community and medical
researchers will be deployed, and smart and block-driven contracts will enable the
exchange of electronic medical records (EHR).
MedRec and Patientory (Kuo, Zavaleta Rojas and Ohno-Machado 2019) offer
the use of Ethereum-based blockchain platforms to exchange patient-driven health
information. The same is adopted in clinical applications such as clinical data shar-
ing and automatic remote patient monitoring. The clinical data exchange frame-
work for oncological care patients recommends using the Hyperledger platform.
Hyperledger is also involved in developing a framework for the implementation
of Institution Review Board regulations. In addition, Hyperledger is available for
mobile health applications and for medical data storage or access applications.
There are also some health-related blockchain applications that do not explicitly
reveal their main platforms, such as Luna DNA, a database planned for genomic
and medical research. The challenge of choosing a platform for health blocks con-
sumes a lot of energy. Other problems include blockchain openness (e.g. public or
private), the ability to modify and distribute code (such as licenses) and the need for
certain hardware (such as SGX processors).
The Patient Centric Agent (PCA) (Uddin et al. 2018) includes lightweight com-
munication protocols to enforce data security in various segments of continuous
real-time patient-monitoring architecture. Architecture involves entering data into
a private blockchain to facilitate the exchange of information among health profes-
sionals and their integration into electronic health records, while maintaining pri-
vacy. The blockchain was adapted for remote patient monitoring (RPM), requiring
modifications that require PCA to select a miner to reduce the number of calcula-
tions. This allows PCA to manage multiple blockchains for the same patient and
change the previous tree block to minimize energy consumption and to account for
payment of safe transactions.
The center of the security mechanism is a key management system (Zhao et
al. 2018), and an appropriate key management plan must be designed before the

blockchains can be used in the healthcare system. Depending on the character-

istics of the health blockchain, the authors here use a body sensing network to
design lightweight backups and efficient recovery schemes for keys of blockchain.
The authors’ analysis shows that the system provides a high level of security and
efficiency and can be used to protect messages that includes private information in
health blocks.
Preventing prescription abuse (Engelhardt 2017): Prescription drug abuse
involves well-defined challenges where blockchain technology can be applied. In
one example, Nuco tried to use the three general approaches used to commit pre-
scription fraud: Changing the number of recipe changes, copying/duplicating pre-
scriptions, for example, “Doctor shopping”, where scammers visit many doctors to
collect as many original prescriptions as possible.
Nuco’s blockchain-based solution for prescription abuse problems works as
follows: When a prescription is given by the medical practitioner, it attaches a
machine-readable code that functions as a unique identifier. This unique identifier
is then associated with a block of information containing the name of the drug, the
number, the patient’s anonymous identity and the time stamp. If the prescription
has been filled in by a pharmacist, the icon will be scanned, attempts to complete
the prescription will be recorded and compared to the block, and the pharmacist
will be notified immediately that the recipe meets the requirements of the padding
and will provide information to verify the correctness.
The Nuco solution integrates existing usage patterns and uses existing technology
(for example, pharmacists only need a smartphone or similar device to read unique
identifiers), ensuring interoperability with existing protocols. Interoperability will
be an important solution because the new blockchain has interfaces to existing
projects, as well as new information storage technologies.
HealthChainRx and Scalamed are also working on blockchain-based anti-pre-
scription fraud solutions. Healthcoin, an initiative that first developed a blockchain-
based solution that allows people to work together to improve diabetes symptoms,
has since expanded its vision to build a global electronic health record system.
HealthCombix tries to work with PointNurse by introducing nursing-mediated
layers to ensure that data found in immutable block records are accurate enough to
be transmitted correctly to patients. Patients understand how to prepare access to
their medical records, updated and controlled.
Dentacoin is an initiative designed to use blockchain technology to connect
dentists, patients and suppliers (producers and laboratories) throughout the world.
Dentacoin provides the confidence and decentralization inherent in blockchains
to develop economies of scale between participating parties without the need for
additional intermediaries to manage interactions between each individual piece of
the network.
Patientory (Katuwal et al. 2018) is one of the first blockchain-based healthcare
startups to go for initial coin offerings (ICO) for funding. It developed HIE, sup-
ported by its own blockchain. HealthSuite Insights by Philips Healthcare examines

the process of data exchange that is verifiable (ensures about the correctness of the
data), a product that allows sharing of secure and traceable data between members
of the hospital and university networks. All exchanges of the data inside the net-
work are stored in a blockchain along with the identity of the person whose data is
exchanged to create an audit trail from the exchange of data.
Medshare (Uddin et al. 2018) allows the blockchain-based data exchange of
electronic health records among untrusted parties to be relied upon by entering
source data, and auditing and tracking medical data. With smart contracts and
access control systems, they claim that their systems can effectively track the behav-
ior of data and decide to revoke access to the data based on incorrect data rules and
insufficient permissions. Iryo is created for the global integrity of data repository in
the OpenEHR format.
Healthcare Data Gateway (HDG) is a smartphone application that integrates
traditional databases and blockchain distributed databases to manage patient health
information. They propose a multi-party calculation (MPC) approach that allows
third parties to access data but does not change data. Key management is based on
a fuzzy repository on blockchain health architecture. The blockchain-based integ-
rity framework architecture includes patient user sensor nodes, multiple implant
nodes and body region sensor input nodes. The portal collects physiological data
from supporting sensor nodes and sends aggregated data to designated hospitals
that makes a block in the blockchain separately. The message generated by the gate-
way is considered as one block. Wearable sensor nodes produce keys before sending
physiological data to the gateway node and encrypt data with keys generated by the
patient’s body signals. Neither the blockchain community nor health professionals
can leak patient information. Patients can only recover keys from their physiologi-
cal data to decrypt the data. However, this approach places a significant burden on
limited power medical sensors, because these sensors must build key physiological
patient data during decryption.
Patient Centric Agent (PCA) connects patients’ body sensor network (BSN) to
personalized blockchain networks. PCA decides which data should be included in
the blockchain and which miners should be chosen. The blockchain is not only a
distributed database for patients, but also an authentic platform that is checked by
all nodes on the blockchain. The blockchain node can be provided by healthcare
providers, other organizations or individuals.
A BSN (Zhao et al. 2018) consists of dozens of biosensor arrays located on or
inside the human body. This node is equipped with various biosensors which can
detect physiological signals such as blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), electro-
cardiogram, blood oxygen content (SpO2), photoplethysmogram signals (PPG) and
so on. In addition, they are also equipped with wireless network chips, and these
chips not only assist biosensor nodes in forming BSN, but also help these nodes to
send composite physiological signals to special relational nodes (commonly referred
to as PDAs) that are responsible for combining and sending signals to remote medi-
cal centers, such as hospitals.

In September 2017, Axa, France’s leading insurance group, offered parametric

flight delays based on the Ethereum’s fizzy™ platform, which uses smart contracts
related to the global flight database. After a flight delay is detected, compensa-
tion begins immediately and safely, eliminating the need for additional documents.
Such a program can be achieved using blockchain in health insurance, so medical
records do not need to be examined and the process is very efficient.
9.4.10 Blockchain Opportunities in City Management

Digital governance (Shen and Pena-Mora 2018) contributes to the important
agenda of sustainable development, such as reducing corruption, reducing admin-
istrative costs, ensuring document integrity and connecting donors and disadvan-
taged groups such as refugees and displaced people. To see how block technology, as
digital technology, can have a significant impact on city management, it is helpful
to start with the four ideal concepts of smart city management (Meijer and Bolívar
2016). They include: (1) government of a smart city, (2) smart decision-making, (3)
smart administration and (4) smart urban collaboration.
There is also a blockchain system designed to change the two most important
processes in government – one is the voting for the formation of the government
and the other is government tax. The aim of an electronic voting system is to achieve
anonymity, privacy and transparency. Anonymity ensures that voters’ voices can-
not be prosecuted. Privacy assures voters that their data is not misused, and trans-
parency ensures that the election mechanism cannot be violated. The design of
blockchain-based voting systems can be found in a number of studies. Some also
produce prototypes. However, it is a question of all of these systems that voter
authentication must be guaranteed at the personal level outside the blockchain.
In the tax field, the blockchain solution allows the tax authority to better con-
trol the tax system. A private blockchain can be managed by the tax administration
to monitor VAT invoices and keep immutable information about taxable transac-
tions to avoid tax revenue losses.
One project illustrating this vision concentrates on the area of urban policy
making. The authors state that current urban codes such as policies, planning,
regulations and standards are not up to meeting the urban sustainability challenges
due to their top-down delivery and implementation methods. Blockchain-based
mechanisms make it possible to truly deliver and execute urban codes bottom-up.
In the case of policies and codes, citizens submit their urban needs to the block-
chain, which will be prioritized by a blockchain consensus mechanism for the
authorities to draft policies. These drafts will be ratified through the blockchain
validation capabilities. Further transformation of these plans into physical forms
(e.g. construction of infrastructure projects) can be approved via voting mecha-
nisms on the blockchain as well. The plans and regulations can also be standardized
for replicability and scalability purposes, using the same bottom-up approach for
citizen participatory standardization.

The blockchain system has been proposed to support records of immutable edu-
cational processes. There are proposals that record creative work or ideas to gain a
scientific reputation, keep a diary of student activities in various learning organiza-
tions and allow higher education institutions around the world to give credit to
courses for students who have completed the exhibition of their ideas in the course.
Training and other records can be included in the general system for managing
personal records and used by companies and audit services.
Researchers also use blockchains to solve problems related to the academic
community. Examples of applications cover the entire life cycle of research meth-
odology, peer review and research publications for the protection of intellectual
property. First, it is proposed at the experimental stage to block and release the
data recording system and its results if necessary to avoid damage to the experi-
mental integrity by negligence or intentional errors, e.g. audit trail from research
data. This guide recommends the use of adaptive blockchain-based choreogra-
phy for collaborative experiments, which can be reproduced silico experiments
towards both robust accountable reproducible explained (RARE) research and
findable accessible interoperable reusable (FAIR) results. Second, the paper phase
introduces a blockchain-based platform that stores and measures author contribu-
tions based on changes made by the author. Third, the blockchain system in the
peer review phase can also stimulate a timely and sustainable review process. As
explained above, the system can give the examiners a cryptographic prize if the
quality check is received by the editor. This valued currency can later be used
to publish reviewers’ papers in journals, creating an incentive mechanism. The
fourth part uses the previous work of Semantic Web technology in the release
phase to give the author the opportunity to work on an evolutionary version of
scientific research that can be opened for reviews, conferences or journals. This
allows decentralized publishing systems. These include blocking chains, smart
contracts and MAS to coordinate the traceability of food in agricultural products.
Implementing this new model will increase the supply chain of current agricul-
tural products by adding blockchain. The current supply chain and supply chain
architectures via blockchain models are described below, including the advantages
provided by the new supply chain model.
(1) Current supply chain: This model starts with manufacturers and imports.
Two supply chain members send their products and data to the next layer of
the supply chain. The next shift is export, process or wholesale. This is the
middle layer that processes the main products of the supply chain. Finally,
the last layer accommodates retailers and catering service providers who sell
products. The main disadvantage of this model is that data in each element
of the supply chain are centralized and other elements cannot see the transac-
tion. The main result of this error is that consumers do not have the opportu-
nity to check the source of food to be purchased. In addition, there is no way
to ensure that user data is reliable.

(2) Supply chain through blockchain: With the addition of blockchain to agri-
culture, the supply chain changes. Now, all supply chain members store all
their transactions in one block. This allows greater security in transactions.
In addition, this new model corrects the shortcomings of the current supply
chain. Data are decentralized, and each member can read important data
about the block operation. For example, the manufacturer can check proces-
sor product information and transport provider pickup details.
A traceability system (Lu and Xu 2017) enables product tracking by providing informa-
tion (for example, origin, components or location) during production and distribution.
Product suppliers and retailers usually require independent and government-certified
tracking service providers to verify products throughout the supply chain. If all meet
the requirements, the traceability service provider issues a test certificate confirming
the quality and authenticity of the product. Tracking systems usually store informa-
tion in conventional databases controlled by service providers. Centralized data storage
is a potential single point of failure, and there is a risk of tampering.
This restructures the current traceability system to track service providers by
replacing the central database with a blockchain. OriginChain provides transpar-
ent data tracking, increases data availability, and automates compliance testing.
OriginChain is tested realistically based on user tracking information. Product
suppliers and retailers request tracking services for various purposes. Suppliers
want to receive certificates to show consumers their origin and the quality of their
products and to comply with regulations. The dealer wants to check the origin and
quality of the product.
OriginChain currently uses private blockchains that are geographically dis-
persed in tracking service providers, which have offices in three countries. The
plan is to create a reliable tracking platform for other organizations, including gov-
ernment-certified laboratories, large suppliers and retailers with long-term plans.
The parties signed a legal agreement covering tracking services. OriginChain pro-
duced smart contracts that represented legal agreements. The smart contract codi-
fies the combination of services and other provisions specified in the agreement. A
smart contract can automatically check and apply this condition. It will also check
whether all information required by the regulations is available to allow an auto-
matic review of compliance with regulations stipulated with the company.
Tracking service providers manage required information for traceability in
place such as regulations, date of inspection, etc. and hash of certificates or photos.
Because data memory is limited to the blockchain, originChain stores two types of
data along with the blockchain as variables for smart contracts:
◾◾ The hash of traceability certificates or photos.

◾◾ The small amount of information about the traceability required by the regu-
lation, such as the batch number, results of the traceability, origin and the
date of inspection. The traceability certificates in the form of raw files and

photos (.pdf or .jpg) and the addresses of the smart contracts are off-chain. It
is available in a centralized MySQL database hosted by originChain. Other
partners may still have their own product information database (for suppliers
or retailers) or other sample numbers (for laboratories). The laboratory peri-
odically injects the results of test samples from the outside world into block-
chain. Blockchain permission control can be off-chain or on-chain. However,
the centralized off-chain rights management module can be the focal point
of withdrawal, both operationally and from a management perspective.
OriginChain stores control information, for example, information for having
permission to join the blockchain network (having a copy of all historical
transactions). On-chain permission management leverages the blockchain by
influencing the nature of the decentralized blockchain, so that all partici-
pants have access to the blockchain. On OriginChain, the factory contract
creates a smart contract. This reduces the complexity of creating special smart
contracts. The employment contract contains code fragments that represent
various tracking services. The creation of smart contracts requires permission
from search service providers and suppliers or dealers. When a factory con-
tract is invoked, it creates two types of smart contracts: Signing contracts and
service contracts. A registration contract is a legal agreement and addresses
the service contract that codifies the legal contract. Service contracts can be
renewed by changing the address specified in the registration agreement with
the new version address. Possible updates include adding or removing services
from legal agreements after signing an original legal agreement or selecting a
testing laboratory based on availability. The registration agreement contains
a list of addresses that are permitted to renew the registration agreement and
the threshold for the minimum number of addresses needed for upgrading.
9.4.11 Blockchain Opportunities for Security

Measures in IoT Devices
Security (Kolokotronis et al. 2019) and privacy are increasingly important factors
in the launch of Internet of Things products and services. Recently, there have been
attacks where Internet devices were used to conduct distributed DDoS attacks, spy
on people and hijack communication links so that the attacker has complete con-
trol over anything that they can remotely access. DDoS attacks, cloud-based and
mobile are among the most common attacks. The availability of botnets for leasing
has caused a significant increase in DDoS attacks, and it is very possible that IoT
will further facilitate the creation of these botnets. The latest example of a DDoS
attack, in October 2016, associated with the Mirai botnet, affected millions of users
and businesses and influenced popular service servers such as Twitter, Netflix and
PayPal. This simple malware infected Internet devices with things that use default
settings and credentials. In October 2016, US provider DNS Dyn experienced a
cyber-attack. Dyn attacks come from “tens of millions of IP addresses” and at least

some traffic comes from IoT devices, including webcams, baby monitors, home
routers and digital video recorders. Malware called Mirai, which controls online
devices and uses them to initiate for DDoS attacks. The process involves phishing
emails that infect computers or home networks. Malicious software then spreads
to other devices such as DVRs, printers, routers and cameras that are connected
to the Internet and used by businesses, and most companies are forced to compro-
mise on surveillance issues. Tools like Shodan and IoTSeeker can be easily used to
detect vulnerable devices. This raises important questions about how widespread
use of such vulnerabilities can be prevented, because Internet-based devices have
very limited self-sufficiency.
The creation and management of vulnerability profiles, which may involve
manufacturers, can ensure that users are dealt with seriously in matters of security
and privacy. Blockchain must define a new fundamental approach to security that
goes beyond each other.
The device itself must contain the following:
Identity security: Blocking identity theft, prohibiting the use of unfair public
key certificates, countermeasures against “humans in the middle”
Data protection: Prevent data manipulation, development of access control
mechanisms and blockchain abuse
Security communication: Domain name services, DDoS attacks, important
information infrastructure protection
In particular, the approach to public safety through transparency has clear benefits
for the Internet of Things.
To improve the security of CE devices that support IoT, consider the following
phases throughout their life cycle.
9.4.11.1 Registration
When assembled, the product goes into a blockchain that links its cryptographic
trace with blockchain entries.
9.4.11.2 Update
If changes are made, e.g. as a firmware update, new fingerprints are created by the
peers and sent to the network, which insert fingerprints using the consensus algo-
rithm in their local copy.
9.4.11.3 Inspection
A node can check device properties at any time by recreating fingerprints and com-
paring those values with
entries (correct) in one block.

However, this can be considered as the hope that the device behaves well for
certain purposes and does not pose a threat or danger to the other party. Both
objective (e.g. vulnerability, integrity, etc.) and subjective measurements (for exam-
ple, recommendations or reputation) contribute to this proposal in calculations to
use blocks in the form of crypto blocks as alternative bits (called altcoins), which are
accompanied by consensus protocols adapted to the application. Examples include
distributed access management systems where users own and control their personal
information, binary systems and certificate monitoring systems and crypto bodies
that can be used by the device to show that it has contributed to DDoS attacks
on certain purposes. The security of this proposal, if managed strictly, depends on
assumptions about the security of the basic block data structure.
When the blockchain is integrated into IoT technology, IoT devices exchange
data across distributed books and smart contracts. In this scenario, each device can
be disconnected, generating around a device’s footprint, because each device leaves
a unique track. So, when a device is associated with someone, personal data are pro-
cessed. This is in line with the European Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) (EU
2016/679), according to which a pseudonym may not be considered anonymization
even though it reduces the risk of data from the data subject that causes threats. It is
assumed that GDPR applies to most organizations, even if they are not within the
European union but their data is processed within the region of European Union
jurisdiction of law.
Another challenge that may be faced by the blockchain on legal compliance is
the deletion of personal data from books if the user (if any) cancels the processing
authorization. This is called the right to be forgotten in GDPR.
The partnership between IBM and Samsung has produced an autonomous
platform, decentralized for peer-to-peer exchanges. In particular, Ethereum is
used to coordinate devices by providing features such as registration, authen-
tication and consensus revocation lists. Gladius recently proposed an approach
to reduce DDoS attacks using a blockchain where pool nodes are dynamically
formed (through the Intelligent Ethereum contract) to validate the requested link
and block malicious activity. Additional security tools for IoT blockers such as
Factom, Filament and Guardtime have been developed to focus on protecting
system component integrity.
With the integrated IBM Watson IoT platform, users can add selected blocks
of registry data from the Internet to private registry blocks that may be included
in shared transactions. The platform translates data from devices connected to
the format required by the API for one block contracts. The blockchain agree-
ment does not need to know the specificity of device data. This platform filters
events on the device and only sends the data needed to execute the contract (ibm
.co/2rJWCPC).
Creating new business models eliminate the need for centralized cloud servers,
For example, Filament, a blockchain-based solutions provider for IoT, has launched
wireless sensors, called Taps, that allow communication with computers, phones, or

tablets within 10 miles (bit.ly/2rsxZ Yf). Taps create low-power, autonomous mesh
networks that enable companies to manage physical mining operations or water
flows over agricultural fields. Taps don’t rely on cloud services. Device identifica-
tion and intercommunication is secured by a blockchain that holds the unique
identity of each participating node.
Business is the main reason behind the creation of blockchain-oriented soft-
ware. The demand for security in blockchain applications is, therefore, even more
pressing, and thus that for specialized software engineering processes.
9.5 Interoperability among Blockchains

Heterogeneous blockchain systems cannot trust or communicate with each other.
You cannot exchange values. However, moving assets among ledgers leads to conve-
nience. Consumers are increasingly interested in exchanging information between
blockchains. Linking activities with different chains makes sense. For example, an
institution can request the arrival of funds in the blockchain to make appropriate
transfers of funds to others. In fact, there are a number of connectors that facilitate
payments between these ledgers, and there are major obstacles to introducing new
connections.
Gideon has proposed a multichannel that is easily configured and can work
with different blocks. In addition, connections between chain work can be made.
Pegged side chains proposed in Blockstream allow battle transmissions and other
registration resources between several blocks.
To reduce the barrier between the ledgers that are heterogeneous decentralized,
there is an expanded blockchain architecture called interactive multiple blockchain
architecture. Side chains complement the Bitcoin protocol, allowing trustless com-
munication between Bitcoin and side chains. The pegged side chain can transfer
Bitcoin assets and other ledgers between many blockchains. Users can easily access
new cryptocurrency systems with assets that are on other systems
Cosmos is a new architecture of networks. This allows parallel blockchains to
work together while maintaining their protective properties. Many independent
block networks are called zones. These areas are powered by a highly efficient, con-
sistent and safe consensus engine. The first area of the cosmos is the center of the
network. This acts as the government of the entire system, which allows the net-
work to adapt and modernize. In addition, hubs can be extended by connecting
other zones. Zones provide future compatibility with the new blockchain because
each blockchain system can connect to the Cosmos hub. It can also isolate every-
one from the failure of other regions. Cosmos allows blockchain communication
through protocols, such as some kind of UDP or virtual TCP. Coupons can be
safely and quickly transferred from one zone to another without having to exchange
liquidity between zones. To monitor the total number of tokens held by zones, all
tokens go through the Cosmos Hub.

Polkadot is a collection of independent chains with integrated security and

shared interchain transactability without trust. Applications provided for Polkadot
must be parallel to the parachains. Each parachains is operated by another segment
of the Polkadot network. Polkadot leaves a lot of complexity investigated at the
middleware level. In addition, it outlines multi-chain protocols that can be scaled
with the ability to be blockchain protocol that are compatible with heterogeneous
block systems that interact by creating dynamic block networks called router block-
chains. The router blockchain contains a number of router nodes. Chains join a
blockchain network before the node becomes the routing node that is a member
of the router block. All routing nodes with details about different circuits become
blockchain systems that support router information. After the router information
is updated, all router nodes match the latest routing table. In this way, the router
blockchain system records validated addresses from each participating blockchain.
When a transaction is generated between circuit A and circuit B, circuit A can be
connected to circuit B, the data sent correspond to routing information written in
the router blockchain.
9.6 Building Blockchain-Oriented Software

Blockchain-oriented software (BOS) (Porru et al. 2017) is defined as the software
implemented with blockchain. Blockchain is a data structure that is marked by the
following key elements:
◾◾ Data redundancy (each node has a copy of the blockchain)

◾◾ Verification of transaction requirements before validation
◾◾ Record transactions in blocks ordered sequentially, making them controlled
by consensus algorithms
◾◾ Transactions based on public key encryption
◾◾ Possible languages for
transaction scripts
Software architecture: For the development of special BOS design records, a mac-
roarchitecture or meta-model can be defined. For this purpose, software engineers
must establish criteria for selecting block performance that is most appropriate for
assessing acceptance of side chain technology or ad-hoc block applications. For
example, Ethereum5 has received key storage, which is a very simple database.
Using a higher level of data representation, for example, graphical objects, can
speed up many operations that should be expensive with key-value repositories.
Modeling language: Block-oriented systems may require special graphic pre-
sentation models. In particular, existing models can also be adjusted to BOS. UML
diagrams can be changed or even rebuilt to reflect BOS features. For example,
charts such as Case Use, Activity Diagrams and Status Charts cannot effectively
represent the BOS environment.

Metrics: BOSE can utilize the introduction of certain metrics. For this pur-
pose, it will be useful to refer to the target/metric/metric (GQM) method, which
was originally developed to make measurement activities, but can also be used to
control analysis and improve the software process.
IBM recently stated the need for ongoing testing to ensure the quality of block
software. Testing must be based on the type of application, which in the case of
BOS is a critical safety system. In particular, the applications must be tested for
BOS. These testing packages must contain:
◾◾ Smart contract testing (SCT), in particular special testing to verify that smart
contracts (i) satisfy the principals.
Specifications, (ii) comply with jurisdictional law and (iii) do not contain unfair
contractual provisions.
Testing of blockchain transactions (BTT), e.g. double spending test and condi-
tion integrity (e.g. UTXO4).
Making software for smart contract languages: Implementation of the smart
contract development environment (SCDE) – block-oriented IDE transfer can
be key to building and disseminating BOS knowledge. Such an environment can
facilitate intelligent contracting in special languages (for example, Solidity, lan-
guage for writing contracts in Ethereum).
Blockchain-oriented software engineering (BOSE) (Wessling and Gruhn
2018) is a new research field for decentralized application development (“DApps”
for short) based on blockchain technology. Currently, Ethereum blockchain is the
most popular platform to build DApps. The business logic is represented by one or
more executable code contracts (abbreviated as “EDCC”, the term used to describe
smart contracts) located on the blockchain network. This involves designing exist-
ing DApps, identifying possible architectural models and comparing their pros and
cons with the basic architectural model of DApp, where users interact directly with
EDCC by generating and sending transactions. There are three ways:
◾◾ Self-generated transactions: Users can (1) send transactions directly to block-

chains, (2) use web interfaces such as MyEtherWallet or (3) use an integrated
wallet browser like Chrome with MetaMask [9], or a crypto-browser like
a cipher or status (each variant can be executed with a private blockchain
running on a user’s device or public node managed by a third party such as
Infura or Etherscan).
◾◾ Self-confirmation transaction: Interaction with DApp is mainly done with
Cryptobrowser or MetaMask. Transactions are not generated by the user but
are triggered by the DApp website, presented to the user for further review
and then manually sent to the blockchain node. In this way, this model offers
a compromise between convenience and trust needed on the DApp website
and transaction details.

The DApp provider provides websites that can interact with users without requir-
ing Cryptobrowser or the MetaMask plugin. The website communicates with the
DApp logic backend through REST calls and summarizes all blockchain-specific
actions. This means that the backend is responsible for interacting with the block-
chain and sending transactions to users who cannot validate it. For this reason,
Pattern C offers maximum comfort, but places great trust in the DApp provider,
which processes user input data and manages the private key.
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Chapter 10
Enabling Digital Twin

through Blockchain:
A Strategic Perspective
Ritika Wason, Broto Rauth Bhardwaj, and Vishal Jain
Contents
10.1 Introduction............................................................................................186
10.2 The Blockchain Perspective of Digital Twin............................................187
10.3 Real-Time Blockchain-Enabled Digital Twins.........................................189
10.4 Some Notable Cases ...............................................................................189
10.5 Challenges to Realizing Blockchain-Enabled Digital Twins....................199
10.6 Digital Twin in the Human Context.......................................................201
10.7 Digital Twin-Enabled Business Trends....................................................202
10.7.1 Constant Consumer Commitment........................................... 206
10.7.2 Business Process Supervision..................................................... 206
10.7.3 Automated Services................................................................... 206
10.7.4 Expanded Big Data................................................................... 206
10.7.5 Embedded IT............................................................................ 206
10.8 Conclusions............................................................................................ 206
10.9 Future Scope...........................................................................................207
References......................................................................................................... 208
185
10.1 Introduction
In the 1990s the Internet paved the way for the digitization and global accessibility
of information. However, this transfer of confidential data involved third parties
ensuring secure transfer. As a result with passing time and increasing volumes of
data, the secure transfer of assets was liquidated and somehow all personal data
could be retrieved from the Internet either through ethical or unethical means [1].
Recent times have noted a rapid change in the world in terms of the rising digital
transformation in almost all walks of life [2]. Industries have also noted a signifi-
cant movement towards digital initiatives like the digital twin [3–6] to provide
timely and quality services to the customer. This altered business model is actually
an attempt to optimize operations to improve the overall customer experience. The
new generation popularly known as the millennials are catalyzing this new trend.
They prefer to use assets, products and processes as services rather than owning
and maintaining them. It is estimated that by the turn of this decade the number
of Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices will be over 20 billion across the globe
[3]. These networked devices shall sustain millions of digital twins with important
data. The digital twin technology amalgamates physical units with their virtually
premeditated twins. It is actually mapping a physical entity with its digital image
to enhance the performance and behavior of installed physical machines. It helps
reduce downtime and increase performance. Digital twin technology is actually
enabling the digital transformation of the entire society to facilitate competence
and transparency in almost all endeavors of human life [2]. The digital twin is not
a recent model, it has existed for several years and more lately has witnessed greater
implementation from the perspective of machines where the digital copy of the
machine (combining CAD/CAE technology, IoT and analytics) “lives” in conjunc-
tion with the physical machine and helps proactively foresee the need for repairs,
potential improvement for enhanced performance, augmentation of the product
line, etc. [7].
The IoT ecosystem demands IT components and connectivity. A digital
twin can mirror a physical entity and facilitate the requisite digital supervision
and maneuvering competencies of their physical counterparts in the real world.
Furthermore they also allow efficient storage and transmission of data along with
added services like analytics solutions which are key to domains like predictive
modeling. Thus a digital twin can also prove to be an important component of
realizing a smart city [7].
In recent years the blockchain technology has materialized into a novel organiz-
ing paradigm for the detection, evaluation and transmission of distinct units of all
human activity at a greater magnitude than what has been achievable before. It is
predicted that blockchains could significantly facilitate the application of digital
twins in IoT [7]. The application of blockchain to digital twin is being termed as the
rebirth of digital twin [7]. To truly leverage the benefits of digital twins in an IoT-
enabled ecosystem a technology to transparently handle data-based transactions

Enabling Digital Twin through Blockchain ◾ 187
in a secure manner is desirable. Blockchain enables data exchange among mul-

tiple parties within a network, applying encrypted identities through peer-to-peer
communication. The technology is expected to drive radical changes in varied sec-
tors like enterprises, services and industries. It enables security through its built-
in encryption mechanism while providing decentralized, transparent data access
through immutable blockchain blocks. Hence the participating entities can trace
past transactions any time through a secure and failure-free mechanism.
Though the digital twins have already been identified as a potential technology,
as of now there is no universal, standardized mechanism implementing a digital
twin. Currently, most information generated within the IoT ecosystem is stored in
fragmented data silos. This fragmentation needs to be abolished and replaced by
an integrated ledger technology, like the blockchain, in order to truly leverage the
benefits provided by digital twins.
This chapter attempts to explore and analyze the integration of blockchains in
enabling digital twins for realizing a smart IoT-enabled ecosystem. We aim to iden-
tify the main drivers and barriers of digital twins while exploring the possibilities of
blockchain applications to digital twins. The next section elaborates upon how the
blockchain technology can help realize digital twins. Section 10.3 evaluates certain
real-time blockchain-enabled digital twins to assess the current situation. Section
10.4 delves into certain specific examples to completely understand and appreciate
blockchain-enabled digital twins. Section 10.5 describes the challenges involved in
unearthing the complete potential of a blockchain-enabled digital twin. Section
10.6 discusses how digital twins can help improve human life. Section 10.7 high-
lights some notable digital twin-enabled business trends. Section 10.8 concludes
the chapter.
10.2 The Blockchain Perspective of Digital Twin

The blockchain technology is currently garnering lot of market expectations as well
as interest due to its inherent characteristics like immutability, decentralization
and time-stamped record storage [8]. Simply defined a blockchain is “a pooled,
distributed, immutable ledger that assists the practice of recording transactions
and trailing assets in a net of business connections” [9–11]. Initially developed by
Nakamoto (2008) as a technology to support the Bitcoin cryptocurrency the tech-
nology has already demonstrated its potential for widespread adoption in varied
industries [9, 12]. The technology is not just useful in moving capital; it can help in
the transaction of any asset in a transparent, trustworthy way [13]. It creates an ever-
lasting and transparent record of transactions while preventing intractable inhibi-
tors across businesses [14]. Based on a peer-to-peer transmission operation network,
transparent and cryptographically protected information facilitates smart contracts
[15]. Rightly termed as the new paradigm for this decade, it holds the potential of
realizing the connected world of computing through blockchain cryptography [16].

As per Deloitte and Austrian blockchain solution provider RIDDLE&CODE,

“Blockchain technology is the most appropriate and competent means to create,
examine and trade digital twins” [17]. In itself blockchain is an innovation that
promises to be as disturbing as the Internet. The innovation enables decentralized,
tamper-proof, community ownership of transaction records [18].
The connected world and industrial revolution 4.0 are also essential players along
with the blockchain [19]. They actually imply multidevice computing that com-
prises wearable computing, laptops, smartphones, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors,
smart homes, self-tracking devices (e.g. Fitbit) and smart cities. Blockchains can aid
effective transfer of important information as well as efficient resource allocation in
this connected world through smart contracts. These automatically accomplished
contracts can perk up multiple operations in the public as well as private sector
while eradicating the middleman [15]. Blockchains constitute a multifaceted plat-
form capable of catering to diverse parties in a transparent and secure data trans-
action [18, 20]. It enables a trusted network between varied participating entities
that share information to enable a transaction [21]. Through its indigenous features
like a common, compatible protocol and data sharing through a common distrib-
uted ledger platform blockchain also enables interaction between all connected
applications in different IoT ecosystems [11, 14, 15, 18, 22, 23]. To enable multi-
stakeholder interactions among uniquely tokenized digital twins demands a com-
prehensible, competent platform with ample infrastructure facilities. Figure 10.1
depicts the main components of a blockchain.
Figure 10.1 depicts the primary characteristics of the blockchain technology.
These characteristics help realize an immutable, irreversible transaction recorded
Figure 10.1 Prime characteristics of blockchain technology.

on a shared ledger permanently and simultaneously on each node of the concerned

blockchain. This technology holds the potential to transform global economies by
helping create and control digital replicas of all physical as well as logical assets,
processes and frameworks as well as humans. A blockchain can serve as the back-
bone for such a system as it is an independent system without intermediaries. It
is implemented through smart contracts in a peer-to-peer mechanism with built-
in encryption as well as complete traceability of each data block. The technology
has several inherent benefits like transaction transparency, fraud and manipulation
control, corruption elimination, reduced costs, higher trust, lesser human errors,
privacy, reliability and security among others [15, 24].
Though termed as the biggest invention since the Internet, complete harness-
ing of this technology is still hampered by a number of critical factors like lack of
knowledge, empirical research, skilled developers and dilemmas due to absence of
clear guidelines during implementation of smart contracts [15]. Many industries
have already adopted the blockchain technology as a service to eliminate the bar-
riers related to security as well as visibility in the transactional universe. Industries
like real estate, insurance and finance, healthcare, retail, defense, transport, agri-
culture, etc., have already adopted the blockchain to instill trust as well as security
in their transactions. We elaborate further on some considerable blockchain use
cases in the following sections.
10.3 Real-Time Blockchain-Enabled Digital Twins

Since 2017 many industries have shown interest in developing blockchain-enabled
digital twins. We introduce a few projects in Table 10.1 to illustrate the opportuni-
ties and challenges involved.
Table 10.1 proves beyond doubt that digital twins are the main constituents in
the present digital economy that are helping realize a digital society. However, it is
important to understand that to create a digital data imprint of any social, economic
or human asset, entity or process it is important to have an automated, distributed,
failure-free, smart, trustable, irreversible transaction as well as data-lodging mecha-
nism. This requirement is fulfilled by blockchain technology. Hence, blockchain-
enabled digital twins are the future digital twins or digital replicas for anything and
everything. Instead, it is this technology that has enabled the conjoining of existing
digital, physical and social spheres [46].
10.4 Some Notable Cases

Digital twins are gaining momentum as they offer real-time transparency [47].
Applied in many domains like aviation, manufacturing, automobile, etc., it is
appropriately referred to as game-changing technology. In this section we attempt

Table 10.1 Notable Digital Twin Initiatives
Blockchain-
S. Enabled Digital
No Twin Project Company Description Challenges Ahead
1. S/4HANA Cloud SAP Cloud solution on cloud SAP platform. It To maintain compliance with data
for Intelligent aids in managing and digitalizing your protection regulations, industry-
Product Design product research and development. specific legislations in different
[4, 25] Storage and sharing as well as review of countries especially in personal
engineering documents are fostered data deletion scenario.
through a process-driven approach.
2. Energy metering Siemens, Siemens Electrical Digital Twin initiative Digital twinning can be applied to
[26] Emerson closely aligns real and virtual worlds by every energy generation or
providing utilities with a single distribution site; however
synchronization point to model data uninterrupted data access remains
across their IT landscape. This digital the primary issue to ensure
twin replica of the live plant runs in successful twin operation.
parallel to the real control system

enabling advanced testing and ensuring
unaltered electric supply.
(Continued)
Table 10.1 (Continued) Notable Digital Twin Initiatives
Blockchain-
S. Enabled Digital
3. GE Digital [27] General Electric GE Digital is a subordinate of the Globalization, novel manufacturing
Predix Platform American multinational conglomerate techniques and liberalization
corporation General Electric. GE Digital policies are the potential
functions across a number of industries, challenges. Further managing all
including aviation, manufacturing, the design data for digital twin
mining, oil and gas, power generation amongst collaborators and
and distribution, and transportation suppliers while the physical
among others. products change shall be a test.
GE Digital defines a hierarchy of digital
twins like component twin, asset twin,
system twin and process twin. These
varied twins effectively help to monitor,
simulate and control online or offline
assets or processes.

(Continued)
Blockchain-
S. Enabled Digital
4. Aviation [2, 28, Boeing They are creating a digital twin of each Availability of suitably complete
29] plane they are manufacturing in order to and accessible digital data for all
keep it up to date in real time. This helps equipment is the main challenge
airlines optimize their data efficiency. for the aviation digitization as
Helps in enhancing customer value much of the equipment in use in
through services like immediate remote the aviation sector was put into
assistance through a HoloLens and use long ago using older
Skype. Further it is allowing the aviation technologies, hence information
industry save space through prescriptive relating to such components may
and predictive analytics. be missing, incomplete or
incorrect. This combined with
challenges related to data security,
ownership, volume and integrity

need to be efficiently catered.
5. Connected cars Ford Digital twins are being successfully applied The right kind of probes so that
[2] in the automobile sector to generate the behavioral data is captured and
virtual model of a connected vehicle. This continuously updates the virtual
twin helps continuously analyze vehicle vehicle. The instrumentation is
performance as well as those of the tricky since it has been performed
connected components. This helps in without compromising the system
enabling a customized service for each performance.
customer.
(Continued)
Blockchain-
S. Enabled Digital
6. Steel POSCO Are using digital twins to simulate their To unlock the actual value of the
manufacturers complex manufacturing operations, digital twin demands a holistic
[30] empowering them to predict issues far in approach to accumulate, control
advance even before processes and and direct the digital data of the
products reach the factory floor. They product. A robust engineering
have achieved this digitization through change management process is
Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE also desirable to guarantee that
platform. the digital twin precisely manages
the virtual and physical
configurations.
7 Housing Global Housing Enables a transparent housing Common, holistic policies and
development Builders development marketplace with more regulations across the global
[31] prospects for the less recognized firms marketplace are crucial for the

to participate. successful implementation of this
trend.
8 Maritime Norway Blockchain is being effectively applied to Establishing successful

industry [8, 32, reduce the pollution generated by the interoperability between smart
33] maritime industry. space components is crucial for
effective implementation.
(Continued)
Blockchain-
S. Enabled Digital
9 Secure plug and Asset The concept expects that as soon as a new All system components require
produce [34] Administration module is connected to a system, the successful behavior adaptation to
Shell (AAS) data configuration transfer begins. imbibe self-x capabilities like
Combining AAS with blockchain ensures self-optimization, auto
uniform, standardized, authentic transfer configuration, etc.
of configuration data.
10 Edge Europe These marketplaces enable support to Resilience, cost, and quality of
marketplaces multiple providers for offering services service and experience will
[35] at the network edge. subsequently enable such a
marketplace to adapt its services
over time.
11 Traffic Deloitte Proposes real-time, flexible, precision- Delivering real-time road status

congestion centric and predictive traffic monitoring, specific alerts shall require
avoidance [36] quantity, administration and enrichment effective and digitally connected,
resolutions towards sustainable smart smart mobile apps for efficient
cities. service delivery.
(Continued)
Blockchain-
S. Enabled Digital
12 Individual Russia Masterchain platform developed as a Proper ontologies shall be required

competence distributed, reliable and flexible system to ensure successful operation of
portfolio of records of events like diploma the twin.
authorization issuance to harmonize enterprise
[37, 38] expectations with individual interests.
13 Space-based Recent lighter and cheaper nanosats are Regulating this infrastructure to
digital twins being deployed to generate new services prevent its misuse shall be of
[39, 40] as well as supply chains in space. This utmost importance in its actual
can enable creation of an immutable, realization.
trusted, digital twin of the earth. This
replica could be utilized for almost
anything and everything.

14 5G network slice 5th Generation The notion aims to enable mobile virtual Next-generation mobile broadband
broker [41] Mobile network operators, over the-top requires wireless performance,
Networks providers as well as industry players to privacy and security lacking in
request and lease resources as and when existing technologies.
required. It involves use of the
Blockchain Slice Leasing Ledger Concept
to realize Factory of the Future.
(Continued)
Blockchain-
S. Enabled Digital
15 e-Village[42] India Government facilities and services All geographically distinct villages
require citizen essential information. A need to be connected through ICT
government trusted information to realize this model.
repository can be created by digitizing
the parivar register through blockchain.
This shall enable quicker service delivery
to one and all.
16 Global FinTech China, India Digitized financial technology services In a demographically diverse
revolution [43] linked to mobiles have generated the country like India three key
financial revolution capturing the normal enablers often referred to as the
as well as the financially underserved, i.e. JAM trinity including Jan Dhan
the banked and unbanked consumer Yojana, Aadhar and Mobile
alike. China has emerged as the leader in phones have paved the way for

this FinTech revolution while India has multiple novel technologies and
materialized as a massive testing ground services.

for financial inclusion and innovation.
17 3D printing [21] Moog Aircraft Applied to ensure secure 3D printing of Automation of creation and testing
Group aircraft components via blockchain. as well as servicing of all such
aircraft components shall need
effort.
(Continued)
Blockchain-
S. Enabled Digital
18 Supply chain IBM Blockchain is successfully applied for Digitization of the complete
management tracking of containers during shipping, shipping supply chain involving
[21, 44] register certifications and crucial many conventional components is
product information through the entire a challenge.
chain.
19 Education [21] Holburton This school is applying blockchain to Globally empowering all
School, San store and deliver its certificates and curb universities and schools to adopt
Francisco fake certificate issue. this technology though
challenging shall help eliminate
many scams in education.
20 Cyber-physical DeCyMo Enable smart monitoring and control in Large-scale deployments of the
systems (CPSs) industrial as well as home scenarios. May solution require testing to test

[45] help in monitoring energy consumption, scalability as well as resilience.
asset management, etc.
to understand and appreciate the knowledge, assets, data and intelligence that go
into realizing a successful digital twin. We discuss the case of a smart factory, the
digital version of the crucial supply chain manufacturing process [7, 48–51]. The
progression of creating a digital twin usually follows this path:
i. Understanding the operation and prediction at the asset level and leverage to
optimize individual performance.
ii. Optimize maintenance at individual level.
iii. Aggregate for multiple assets and optimize them at the operations level.
iv. Rethink business models and enable new values and services.
Connectivity is crucial to the manufacturing process. With the rise of industry 4.0
and the confluence of digital and physical worlds, supply chain dynamics has under-
gone complete transformation. The new open chain mechanism of supply chain
operations better known as the digital supply network is actually the basis for future
competition in the manufacturing industry. However, to completely comprehend
these, digital supply network firms need to provide parallel integration through the
innumerable operational systems that influence the business; vertical integration
through the associated manufacturing systems; and end-to-end, holistic amalga-
mation through the entire value chain. Together this integration is known as the
smart factory that enables greater value both within the factory and across the supply
network. The smart factory enables a fully connected, flexible system that utilizes a
constant stream of data from connected operations and production systems to adapt
to new demands through the digital twin. The resultant is a flexible, agile system
with higher efficiency and reduced downtime. Such a system can self-optimize per-
formance across a broader network, self-adapt to and learn from dynamic conditions
in real-time and autonomously run the entire production process. Hence, such a sys-
tem can evolve and grow with the changing needs of the organization. Figure 10.2
displays the features of a smart factory that are critical to its success.
As displayed in Figure 10.2 connectivity, optimization, transparency, proactiv-
ity and agility are the major attributes of a smart factory. Together they ensure
better decision making, helping organizations improve their production process.
In the Indian perspective, Hero Moto Corp, the world’s largest two-wheeler
manufacturer, is the first automobile company in India to have adopted the digi-
tal twin approach in April, 2016 [52]. This demanded collaboration across varied
departments, to adopt a digitally enabled manufacturing facility to achieve reduced
costs and better quality. They have realized a digital replica for their Vadodara
(Halol) manufacturing facility to digitally visualize the facility continuously to
enable timely changes and enhancements.
The company aims to visualize its product and process as well as resources in a
virtual context to enhance productivity, reduce costs and eliminate disruptions for
each of its manufacturing facilities. The company also achieved pre-validation of

Figure 10.2 Key attributes of a smart factory.
each of its newly commissioned manufacturing facilities, prior to actual physical

commissioning to eliminate associated costly reworks. The process planning for
existing and new models on the assembly line was also validated to achieve process
standardization and a single, common repository for all data. Further the company
was successful in achieving cost and time reduction at varied stages of development
and manufacturing along with the availability of 3D training material to achieve
paperless shops.
10.5 Challenges to Realizing Blockchain-

Enabled Digital Twins
Swift distribution of digital replicas faces snags due to the lack of semantic interop-
erability between architectures, values and ontologies. The expertise essential for
automatic detection is also in short supply [47]. Though blockchains are being pro-
jected as the next big thing facilitating the evolution of digital twin and IoT, there
are still some challenges to be answered, like [53]:

i. How shall a blockchain provide the “right to be forgotten” [54]?: An inher-

ent characteristic of the blockchain is that it is practically impossible for the
data to be deleted. In such a case how shall a blockchain enable the right to
forget data in a digital twin? A proposed solution is through usage of a unique
root key for users. This root key could be applied to generate a new key for
each individual transaction. As a result each transaction could have different
hashes and no longer be associated to each other.
ii. Informed and clear-cut policies [55]: Adopting a blockchain-enabled digital
twin would imply a complete paradigm shift for the participant organization.
For this the organization requires proper awareness regarding its role in the
IoT-enabled ecosystem, what role would they like to play (data provider or
data acquirer) and appropriate details of the specific blockchain infrastruc-
ture required to achieve desired level of cross-industry efficiency. Appropriate
technical as well as hardware and software skills are required to embrace this
change. Industries, professionals and businesses are yet to fully adapt them-
selves to these changing dynamics.
iii. There can be no generic twin [55, 56]. This simply implies that one twin
shall not fit all. Thus one needs a digital twin for each product that one
manufactures. This is especially true for all products involving human
interaction.
iv. Digitizing everything [57]: To realize the true potential of digital twins and
make them as popular and omnipresent as the Internet it is required to digi-
tize all data. This implies that even small and medium-scale manufacturers
or service providers need to initiate the process towards digitization.
v. Efficient product development platforms and processes [55, 56]: To create
efficient digital replicas requires appropriate product development platforms
as well as processes. However, these technologies are still in their nascent
stages. Thus, as per Marc Halpern, “digital twins are still more about visions
and promises rather than finished solutions”.
vi. Securing digital twins [57]: With passing time, digital twins shall themselves
become intellectual capital. Ownership, security and other issues related to
this intellectual capital require serious thought. One should also not forget
that these IoT devices shall also be vulnerable to distributed-denial-of-service
(DDoS) attacks, hacking and data theft as well as data hijacking issues in real
life. How to overcome these issues is another significant challenge.
vii. Proper regulations [58]: To match the technological developments one
requires proper regulations related to account of ownership and transactions.
viii. Reliability [59]: Blockchain-enabled digital twins demand reliable, 24/7,
ubiquitous connectivity under all environments to ensure optimal operation
in all lifecycle stages. This shall be challenging where assets are deployed
under harsh terrestrial domains.
ix. Resilience: Wireless networking resilience will need to be improved mas-
sively, enabling continuous uptime and fastest recovery, in turn creating an
“always on” digital ecosystem.

x. Interaction between smart components within and with other [32]: This
can be the primary challenge in successful application of blockchain-enabled
digital twins in varied domains. Successful interaction between all compo-
nents of a twin is necessary to ensure accurate replication of the physical asset
be it human or physical entity. Hence, establishing healthy, continuous inter-
action between all smart components of a twin as well as with other twins as
well as entities in the ecosystem is essential for the effective implementation
of blockchain-enabled digital twins across the industry.
The above challenges are just the tip of the iceberg, there are many more challenges
and issues that shall keep coming up as digital twins are applied across varied busi-
nesses and domains.
10.6 Digital Twin in the Human Context

Just like the digital twins are benefiting the effectiveness and efficiency of assets
in the industry, they can also be beneficial for the human health and life sciences
industry [60]. To realize this we first need to understand that as humans we all are
creating footprints of ourselves on the Internet. All information about ourselves
that we leave on the Internet in any form (attributes, actions, online presence) is
actually creating a digital twin for us. This data footprint that we are creating on
the Internet if connected with advances in IoT and analytics can help monitor
and predict our future needs especially in healthcare and otherwise also [61]. Our
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram IDs are actually our digital
replicas easily available on the Internet. To further appreciate this, we first evaluate
the components that will help realize a human digital twin [60, 62, 63].
i. Attributes: They are the core data that constitute our identity. For example:
Name, age, gender, address, education, nationality, etc. These data help map
an individual and predict whether they are prone to certain health conditions
due to origin or dwelling.
ii. Interactions: This footprint is generated on the basis of our interaction with
the external world. For example: Impact of frequent air travel on one’s health,
shopping habits’ relation to bank data. New technology like Fitbit watches,
interaction data with doctor, phone usage statistics, etc., are all essential
components of the “Digital Me” that if consolidated with attributes can aid
in monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics of individual performance and
well-being. These data may even help organizations in their decision making.
However, these decisions involve a lot of issues we would not discuss here.
iii. Online persona: With the Internet, each one of us also has a digital identity
through which we do all browsing. These data are already stored and shared
by varied websites and can again provide interesting insights into many of our
personal attributes like health, interests, etc.

The above three attributes clarify the possibility of the human digital twin. Just like
a machine digital twin can aid in gauging the need for maintenance, growth, etc.,
human digital twins can help in varied life-savvy predictions.
Clearly, the above discussion clarifies the advantages of digital twins for
humans. However, if such a digital replica is built on traditional technologies, it
will hold all data in a central repository which would require guarding along with
analytics to provide guarded predictions. To overcome the additional security
costs blockchains provide a viable alternative. Blockchains enable the creation of
identities on an immutable ledger with no centralized owner. Such self-sovereign
identity is capable of deciding who gets access to their data and can also track all
those who accessed it. For example: The Hyperledger Indy blockchain platform
enables the creation of such identities. Such a blockchain network is generally con-
stituted by the data owner (individual), the data attester (university that issued the
qualification certificates) and the data requestor, say the employer. Governance of
such a network can be democratic and each access to data can be authorized by the
data owner. This ability to create digital replicas of citizens holds the potential to
transform the global economy. Many governments across the globe are investing
large amounts in blockchain-enabled initiatives like self-sovereign identities, own-
ership registration for movable assets, verification, etc. Blockchain-enabled human
digital twins are going to be a vital component in realizing and implementing all
such initiatives [64]. Table 10.2 lists some notable government initiatives realizing
the same.
Table 10.2 depicts how different governments across the globe have realized the
importance of digital twins and are spending huge capital to realize blockchain-
enabled twins to digitize and improve citizen life in different scenarios [44, 74].
What is notable from Table 10.2 is that varied governments or private players in dif-
ferent countries have simply embraced the blockchain technology to provide safer,
easier and better-connected citizen services. This simple adoption of blockchain in
processes has eliminated the need for an intermediary third party, risk of data leak-
age, etc., while enabling services for one and all alike. Further these blockchain-
powered processes are generating human digital replicas in the background while
improving human quality of life.
10.7 Digital Twin-Enabled Business Trends

The Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled network connections to ease communica-
tion between devices and methods. Companies have been deploying smart devices
in many new ways to enhance their businesses. Here are four trends we can look
forward to [19, 75, 76]:

Table 10.2 Government Blockchain-Enabled Digital Twin Initiatives

S. No Government Project Name Description
1 India IndiaChain The Indian Government through its

[65] think tank NITI Aayog is currently
working on an official blockchain
solution to enable digital, tamper-
proof degree certificates for 2019
students of IIT, Bombay and varied
colleges of Delhi University to start
with.
2 State: Andhra FinTech Valley In 2016, Andhra Pradesh became

Pradesh Vizag [66] the first Indian state to implement
Country: blockchain for governance. It has
India piloted two main projects:
Managing land records and
streamlining vehicle registrations
while building Vishakhapatnam
into a world-class ecosystem while
collaborating with government,
academia, corporate, investors and
entrepreneurs.
3 Estonia E-Estonia [67] The Estonian Government through

digital twins has succeeded in
building the world’s most
advanced digital society that
started with the introduction of
digital service tax as early as 2000
to the extent that 99% of its public
services are available online.
4 Canada Concierge Creates a digital duplicate of a

service [68] physical construction site that
enables project teams to be more
certain in their decision-making
and deliver projects more
efficiently, from design to
construction.
(Continued)

Table 10.2 (Continued) Government Blockchain-Enabled Digital Twin

Initiatives
5 Russia e-Government Enabling digital services in parallel

[69] with other channels. The progress
includes implementation of the
Multi-Function Centres and a
Unified Portal; setting up
infrastructure to link different
government institutions;
establishing national databases;
and introducing common services
such as identification,
authentication and payments
systems.
6 European DigiTwins [47] DigiTwins, a huge research scheme

Union in Europe and beyond, plans at
transforming healthcare and
biomedical research for the
assistance of citizens and society
through the creation of digital
twins. These twins are precise
computer models of the key
biological practices within each
individual that keep us healthy or
lead to disease. They can be used
to recognize individually finest
therapies as well as preventive and
lifestyle measures, without
exposing individuals to
unnecessary risks or healthcare
systems to unnecessary costs.
7 Indonesia Smart City [70] All metropolitan and big cities in

Indonesia are planned to be made
smart cities by 2045. To realize the
above a properly designed master
plan detailing all city requirements
as well as technology requirements
will serve as a pre-requisite. A
resilient, properly planned IT
framework is crucial for the
successful realization of a smart city.
(Continued)

Table 10.2 (Continued) Government Blockchain-Enabled Digital Twin

Initiatives
8 Netherlands Smart Industry Dutch smart industry field labs are

Field Labs being used to accelerate
[71] digitization of the industry. They
are basically public private
partnerships that work to develop,
test and implement smart industry
solutions. Over 72 million euros
have been invested in such labs
since 2015 through public as well
as private financing.
9 China Alibaba’s Rural China’s rapid growth in the last four

Taobao decades has also noted its rapid
Strategy [72] transition from a rural to an urban
society. However, China has also
ensured timely e-commerce and
digital financial services access to
its existing rural population as
early as 2014 through Alibaba
Group, rural Taobao Strategy.
10 Kenya M-Pesa In March, 2007 the M-Pesa

FinTech electronic money transfer project
Revolution was launched in Kenya by
[43] Vodafone and Safaricom enabling
users to store money in their
mobile phone SIM cards as
electronic currency and utilize the
same for varied transactions and
services.
11 United Digital The UK government is trying to

Kingdom Construction foster digital construction by
(UK) [73] launching degree apprenticeships,
a novel model of undergraduate
education that could in turn
leverage digital capability in the
construction industry.

10.7.1 Constant Consumer Commitment

Smart products enable users to communicate with and control appliances as well as
other household products through IoT. These communication capabilities can also
be applied for monitoring products and enabling proactive support.
For example, if some car part requires servicing or otherwise fails, a message can
be transmitted to the customer as well as the manufacturer’s service system.
10.7.2 Business Process Supervision

Everything quantifiable can be improved. IoT shall further enable detailed moni-
toring in other domains of business, like office work and field processes.
Wearable devices are sensors that can be applied to individuals to scrutinize
activities and record information. These sensors and what they communicate can
convey more data to offer deep analytics which can augment productivity and help
lower costs.
10.7.3 Automated Services
Varied industries including automobile can now deploy IoT sensors on vehicles
and packages to maximize the visibility of supply chains and improve operations
of valuable assets. These sensors can identify variations in temperature, light and
other attributes, and can be used to alleviate risks of delays, interruption, robbery
and more.
Real-time alerts can enable services to be at the right place at the right sched-
uled delivery times, and with the apparatus required to amplify efficiencies.
10.7.4 Expanded Big Data

Sensors deployed as part of IoT devices fabricate data that can be stored and ana-
lyzed as part of existing analytics – generating completely new classes of findings.
10.7.5 Embedded IT
The transition from accumulation of IoT “smarts” to current devices and generat-
ing devices with IoT components built-in will be transformative. However this big
industrial transformation rightly referred to as Industrial Revolution 4.0 shall actu-
ally transform the industrial landscape and its mechanisms.
10.8 Conclusions
The Internet of Things and digital twins as well as blockchains have been suc-
cessfully implemented in varied industrial sectors and domains. Together they

are instrumental in realizing the new industry 4.0 revolution. However their
implementation has always faced technical as well as financial limitations. As
the number and volume of IoT devices increase, the technical and financial chal-
lenges diminish. However, for the relatively novel digital twin platform we need
to realize that they are just not an academic modeling exercise. Digital twins are
created for specific outcomes or what may be termed as key performance indica-
tors (KPI). These KPIs are integral to deciding issues like maintaining a specific
quality of service, predicting component lives to reduce downtime, etc. However,
an integrated, stable underlying platform was missing till now. The underlying
distributed ledger technology of a blockchain offers immutability and transpar-
ency as well security benefits for its participating entities. Hence, blockchain has
emerged as a promising underlying platform to realize an effective and efficient
digital twin. Instead it can be appropriately termed that digital twins are the
technology of the future which hold the potential of transforming corporate as
well as human life.
10.9 Future Scope
The Digital Revolution is surely sweeping across the globe, transforming mankind
and industries as well as economies alike [43]. Everything around us, be it assets,
solutions, processes or even technologies themselves, is transforming into services.
Blockchain-enabled digital twins are surely an innovative technology that holds
the capability of revolutionizing the industrial landscape as well as transforming
human life. However, there is still a long way to go before realizing the complete
potential of this technology as depicted by the research and academia. Many future
potential areas of research and effort can be understood and outlined from this
study. However, they are not complete and may keep expanding with novel applica-
tions of this technology to varied domains:
1. Smart contract ontology development [31]: Ontologies can be developed

for the description of smart contracts to provide interoperability for the inter-
action between smart components as well as smart assets. This may help in
finding solutions to the problems arising in blockchains.
2. IoT platform shortcomings [32]: A detailed analysis of existing IoT plat-
forms available for the establishment of blockchain-enabled digital twins
and smart assets suggests that they still suffer from a number of shortcom-
ings, like lack of authorship verification mechanisms, information durabil-
ity issues, effective control over resource exchange in production, etc. These
issues are still open to effective, persistent solutions.
3. Block immutability shortcomings [59]: This feature of the blockchain is
a boon as well as a bane. It should be noted that the constantly expand-
ing chains of blocks shall consistently demand potential chunks of memory
which may not be available with some seemingly simple devices operating

in the IoT ecosystem. To solve these issues again effective ontologies may be
used to delegate some information of the weak devices over to some strong
devices in the chain.
4. Bigger and bigger big data [77]: This new wave of digital transformation
includes digitalization as well as digitization. Digitization involves creating
digital replicas of physical assets, entities, etc., while digitalization involves
the use of appropriate technologies to effectively use digitized entities in
societal processes. This complete process generates the creation and usage of
bigger and bigger amounts of big data that require effective mechanisms of
storage, analysis and sharing.
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Chapter 11
Blockchain for Securing

Internet of Things (IoT)
Applications
Pramod Mathew Jacob and Prasanna Mani
Contents
11.1 Blockchain Concepts...............................................................................213
11.1.1 Internet of Things......................................................................216
11.2 Integrating Blockchain in IoT................................................................. 217
11.3 Secure IoT Applications Using Blockchain.............................................. 218
11.4 Challenges in Integrating Blockchain and IoT....................................... 220
11.5 Advantages of Using Blockchain in IoT................................................. 220
11.6 Related Works in IoT and Blockchain.................................................... 220
11.7 Summary............................................................................................... 222
References......................................................................................................... 222
11.1 Blockchain Concepts
Blockchain is an interesting technology which offers a secured mode for digital
transactions. It acts like a ‘distributed ledger’ which records every transaction in
a secure, auditable, efficient and transparent manner. This concept is new and has
many applications and relevance in various business domains. Blockchain is simply
a database system that holds a continuously growing distributed set of data records.
Every transaction is digitally verified and signed to assure the authenticity. There
is no master server which holds the entire chain. All the participating computers
213
Figure 11.1 Illustration of working of blockchain technology.
(nodes) possess a copy of the transaction chain. Figure 11.1 illustrates the working
of typical blockchain architecture [1].
A blockchain consist of two elements:
◾◾ Transactions: Any actions performed by the participants in the distributed

system.
◾◾ Blocks: This element records all the transactions in sequential order and
ensures that none of them have been tampered with. This is ensured by using a
time stamp for all the transactions when and wherethey are added to the chain.
When a transaction edit request or a new transaction comes into blockchain, most
of the nodes participating in the blockchain implementation run algorithms to
verify and evaluate the history of every blockchain block that is considered. If the
majority of the participating nodes feels the history and digital signature are valid,
the new transaction block is accepted into the distributed ledger and a new block
is appended to the transaction chain. If majority of the participating nodes doesn’t
feel the digital signature as authentic, then the change request or the addition
request is denied and discarded. Thus this distributed consensus model permits
blockchain to act as a distributed ledger which doesn’t require some centralized
authority to validate the records or transactions.
The three key properties of blockchain technology are
◾◾ Decentralization
◾◾ Immutability
◾◾ Transparency

Blockchain for Securing IoT Applications ◾ 215
In previous days there was a centralized system which may monitor and record all
the transactions in a system. Any change can be initiated by the central coordina-
tor. But the people working with a centralized system can tamper with the data
of various transactions without the knowledge of other clients. This may lead to
serious problems in case of a financial organization. Blockchain overcomes this
demerit by providing a de-centralized system where the transaction chain is distrib-
uted among the participating clients or nodes. Whenever a node or a client tries to
modify the data, it is intimated to all the other clients participating in that system.
Thus it is impossible to tamper with the data without the consent of a majority of
participating clients inside a blockchain. Thus decentralization became a key prop-
erty of blockchain technology.
The property ‘transparency’ is a bit confusing for blockchain technology as it
is considered as a secure system. Of course the system is secure and all the transac-
tions and details of clients involved are stored in an encrypted form. But still if any
clients tries to access or modify a transaction, all the participating clients will be
alerted and thus it achieves transparency.
Immutability in blockchain is the property that ensures once a data is added
to the system, it is impossible to tamper with the same. This is one of the unique
properties of blockchain compared to other similar techniques like Bitcoin and cen-
tralized systems. Immutability is achieved in blockchain using some cryptographic
hash function. Blockchain can be considered as a linked list which includes data
and a hash pointer. The hash pointer points to its previous block and thus generates
a chain of blocks. A hash pointer is similar to a pointer in a linked list, but instead
of simply holding the address of the previous block it also holds the hash of the data
inside the previous block existing in the chain.
The blockchain network is simply a collection of nodes which are intercon-
nected. The blockchain is maintained by peer–peer network architecture. In a
peer–peer model, there is no single centralized server. Every system participating in
the network has equal priority. Every system can communicate with the others. The
same system can work as both client as well as server in different instances. Thus
there will be multiple distributed and decentralized servers. Though the system is
using a peer–peer model, there will not be a single point of failure.
A node in the blockchain can be categorized as follows:
◾◾ Light client: A computer system which possess a shallow-copy of blockchain.

◾◾ Full node: A computer system possess the full-copy of blockchain.
◾◾ Mining: A computer system which verifies the transactions.
The various application domains of blockchain technology include
◾◾ Smart contracts
◾◾ Crowd funding
◾◾ Supply chain auditing

◾◾ Prediction markets
◾◾ File storage
◾◾ Internet of Things (IoT)
◾◾ Identity management
◾◾ Protection of intellectual property
◾◾ Anti-oney aundering (AML)
◾◾ Land title registration
◾◾ Stock market
This chapter further focuses on the application and scope of blockchain technology
in Internet of hings (IoT)-based systems.
11.1.1 Internet of Things
The Internet has made a dramatic change in the field of information technol-
ogy, making communication easier. As the world is using intelligent and smarter
devices, technical experts derived the concept of ‘Internet of Things’. The Internet
of Things (IoT) is a networked class of devices, sensors and actuators deployed in
distinct locations [2]. The connection between various components can be wired or
wireless. Each device in the network should have a unique address. IPv6 protocol
is used for the same as it can address up to millions of distinct devices. The typical
IoT architecture is illustrated in Figure 11.2.
It is basically an inter-networked set of devices and embedded physical com-
ponents. The physical system may include a microprocessor or a microcontroller.
Figure 11.2 Typical architecture of IoT.

Arduino, Intel Galeleo and Raspberry PI boards are examples of the same [3].
Different sorts of sensors are deployed to collect real-time data. These fetched data
are fed to the central coordinator device which processes the data accordingly and
initiates suitable action using the connected actuators.
IoT uses both hardware and software. Apart from the hardware architectures,
it uses a class of software architectural patterns. The various standardized software
architectural patterns for IoT applications include lient–server, eer–eer, epresenta-
tional tate ransfer (REST) and ublish–ubscribe. The pattern selection criteria for
different IoT applications is primely based on heterogeneity and security [4].
The Internet of hings has much relevance in the digital world where people
like to control all objects and things remotely. Though the devices are heterog-
enous in nature, it is herculean task for the designer to model an IoT system for
a particular domain. The various challenges in designing an IoT-based system are
listed below:
◾◾ Compatibility and interoperability of heterogenous devices

◾◾ Lack of standardization in device identification and authentication
◾◾ Difficulty in integrating IoT applications with IoT platforms
◾◾ Difficulty in handling the unstructured, unformatted data
◾◾ Ensuring reliable connectivity between devices
◾◾ Information security and privacy concerns
One of the critical challenges in IoT-based systems is to ensureprivacy and data

security. Many IoT applications like patient health monitoring, structure health
monitoring (buildings, dams, etc.), weather forecasting, manufacturing and power
plants deal with highly sensitive data. It is a risky job for the IoT developer to ensure
privacy as well as security for these collected data. Blockchain can play a great role
in this scenario. In the next section of this chapter, we discuss the integration of
lockchain technology in IoT applications.
11.2 Integrating Blockchain in IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming and efficiently optimizing the manual
processes to obtain huge volumes of data collected from various real-time systems.
These collected data are processed accordingly and the required information is
extracted to derive conclusions. This model is used in weather forecasting, stock
market prediction, smart farming, patient health monitoring, etc. The concept of
cloud computing provides various functionalities to the IoT systems like data anal-
ysis and data processing. This unprecedented development in the IoT has paved the
way for new mechanisms to access and share information. But due to the transpar-
ent nature of IoT systems, end users lack the confidence to share sensitive infor-
mation through IoT systems. Centralized architecture is used in most of the IoT

applications where the network participants don’t have a clear vision of the shared
data through the network. The shared information may look like a black box, and
the users don’t know the authenticity and source of data. The need for blockchain
in IoT is discussed in the next section.
Due to the distributed nature of IoT networks, every node is a possible point
of failure which may be exploited by cyber attackers (e.g. distributed-denial-
of-service attacks). An integrated class of nodes with multiple infected devices
working simultaneously may lead to system collapse. Another key concern is the
presence of a central cloud service provider in an IoT environment. Any failure
to this central node may lead to vulnerability which should be addressed. One
of the most critical issues is data authentication and confidentiality. A lack of
data security in IoT devices can be exploited and may be used in an inappropri-
ate manner. Due to intervention of modern business models where the system
can share or exchange data/resources autonomously, the need for data security
is critical.
Another critical challenge in IoT is data integrity which has found some appli-
cations in the area of decision support systems (DSS). The collected data from
the sensors can be used for generating timely instructions or decisions. Thus it is
mandatory to protect the system from injection attacks where the attackers inject
false measures or values into the system which may seriously affect the accurate
decision making. Availability is critical for application domains, manufacturing
plants, automated vehicular networks and smart grids where the real-time data are
continuously monitored. Loss of data during a particular interval may result in the
entire system failure. The integration of a security measure to publicly verify the
audit trail will be beneficial for these sorts of systems. This can be easily achieved
by the integration of blockchain.
The integration of various technologies like IoT, loud computing and lockchain
into a single system has proven to be incomparable as it ensures both performance
and security. The concept of implementing blockchain in IoT systems is a revolu-
tionary step as it provides trusted data-sharing services where the data are reliable
and traceable [5]. The source of the data being generated can be traced out at any
stage and at the same time the data remain immutable.
In domains like smart cities and AI-based smart cars, reliable data are to be
shared for the inclusion of new nodes (participants) in the system, thereby enhanc-
ing the services. Thus the implementation of blockchain can complement Internet
of hings (IoT)-based applications with increased reliability and enhanced security.
Though the IoT functionalities can be improved with the aid of blockchain, there is
still a great number of research constraints and issues that are to be resolved.
11.3 Secure IoT Applications Using Blockchain

The various application domains where blockchain technology and Internet of
hings (IoT) are clubbed together are listed below.

◾◾ Supply chain and logistics: A supply chain network system involves different
stakeholders like raw material supplier, brokers, retailers, etc. Also it involves
multiple payment receipts and invoices. The duration of a supply chain may
extend over months. Due to the presence of multiple stakeholders, a delay in
delivering will be a serious challenge. Thus companies are using IoT-enabled
vehicles to track the live location and shipment process. Though the current
supply chain management system lacks transparency and data security, it is
possible to incorporate blockchain to enhance the traceability and reliability of
the network. The information collected through sensors is then stored in block-
chain. Various IoT sensors like PIR motion sensors, GPS trackers, RFID chips
and temperature sensors collect the information from logistic vehicles/logistics
and provide accurate details about the status of shipments. Sensor information
is then stored in the blockchain and all new actions are noted as transactions.
Hence it is no longer possible for a stakeholder to tamper with or modify the
data which may make the supply chain system transparent and trustable.
◾◾ Smart home: Most of the smart home applications like intrusion detection
systems, authentic access to rooms, remote controlling of devices and systems
require personal details like biometric recognition, facial recognition, voice rec-
ognition, etc. All these data stored in a typical centralized data store are vulner-
able to security threats. This can be resolved by using the concept of blockchain.
◾◾ Automotive industry: The automotive industry started using the concept of
IoT for smart car parking in parking slots using some sort of e-wallets or bit
currency. The time at which the vehicle parked in a particular slot is automat-
ically estimated and the approximated charge is deducted from the e-wallet
remotely. The integration of blockchain technology during this process may
enhance the trust of the end users.
◾◾ Pharmaceutical industry: The problem of counterfeit drugs in the phar-
maceutical sector is drastically increasing. A pharmaceutical company is
responsible for manufacturing, developing and distributing medicines across
the globe. Thus tracking the complete shipment process of drugs is not an
easy task. The traceable and transparency features of blockchain technology
can be used to remotely monitor the shipment of medicines from origin to
destination. The data stored in the distributed ledger are time stamped and
recorded by various stakeholders.
◾◾ Agriculture: Here the farmers deploy various sensors in the farm fields. The
data fetched by the sensors are monitored by farmers, buyers, etc. All the data
are represented as a block and are distributed among the farmers, buyers and
consumers. By monitoring the data, farmers can initiate suitable measures to
enhance the yield whereas the suppliers and consumers can decide whether to
buy that crop or not based on the data analytics.
Apart from these areas, integrated IoT–blockchain systems are used in the
stock market, the land registering process, online vehicle tracking and man-
agement in toll booths etc. The various challenges involved in implementing
these concepts are discussed in the next section.

11.4 Challenges in Integrating Blockchain and IoT

◾◾ Resource constraints: Most of the available IoT platforms have limited com-
putational and communication resources. A blockchain system requires exces-
sive memory and storage resources for efficient execution. A low-powered IoT
device with limited memory cannot withstand a heavy-weight blockchain
technology which requires memory in GBs.
◾◾ Bandwidth requirements: Blockchain platforms have to continuously inter-
act with other participants in the consensus process. Due to the decentralized
mode of the consensus process, platforms in the chain network may exchange
information about the blockchain for validation and creation of new nodes.
End devices in the IoT architecture usually possess limited bandwidth. Thus
this sort of processing is not easy in the end devices layer which may make the
blockchain implementation difficult.
◾◾ Security: Though blockchain deals with decentralized architecture, all the
devices in an IoT system may communicate and coordinate through a pre-
defined protocol. Thus it is important for the IoT device to continuously par-
ticipate in the blockchain which may make the device vulnerable to security
issues and threats.
◾◾ Latency demands: IoT applications mainly include a set of data produc-
ers and consumers. In some instances the data consumer may initiate some
actions. The introduction of blockchain technology may limit this freedom
for the data consumer to initiate such actions though it may be considered as
some sort of tampering in a blockchain system. Thus it cannot be applied in
time-sensitive IoT applications.
11.5 Advantages of Using Blockchain in IoT

◾◾ Trust between smart devices and third parties is enhanced and assured.
◾◾ More economical for industrial and business applications.
◾◾ Transaction settlement time frame can be reduced.
◾◾ Improved data consistency.
◾◾ Enhanced cyber security.
11.6 Related Works in IoT and Blockchain

There have been many researchers who exploited the benefits of integrating block-
chain in IoT. Securing the data exchanged between IoT devices is a critical chal-
lenge for all IoT service providers. Though various security measures exist, IoT
requires a light-weight security model to ensure data integrity and security.
Kim et al. [6] proposed a taxonomy for securing IoT devices used in home
and business applications. They encrypted the data shared in the distributed IoT

architecture and a smart contract is used to ensure the data integrity. They validated
their system with a home automation system. Their experimental results prove that
various security threats like man-in-the-middle attacks, data stealing, etc., can be
avoided with the help of blockchain.
Fakhri et al. proposed [7] a comparison model of a smart refrigerator system
with and without blockchain technology. They initiated explicit sniffing attacks
to prove the validity of their model. The experiment results claim that blockchain
has the upper hand over traditional security measures in an IoT system. They have
observed the avalanche effect of encryption algorithms and the hash functions
used. MQTT is used as the software pattern for application without IoT.
Oscar Novo [8] proposed a detailed clear-cut implementation of incorporat-
ing blockchain in IoT. This lightweight, transparent and scalable model intro-
duces a new access control policy among the stakeholders using the benefits of
blockchain. A node called the management hub is introduced in IoT to store
the various distributed smart contract information. They have implemented
their model with the help of Ethereum which is one of the most popular block-
chain platforms.
Pin et al [9] proposed an publish–subscribe-based IoT model over blockchains.
This model mainly focuses on centralized IoT systems where all the data are stored
at a single point. The failure of this node may lead to the failure of the entire sys-
tem. The data integrity of this sort of system can be ensured by using blockchain
technology. They have implemented a light-weight, primitive key-based algorithm
for ensuring the data security. They have validated their model with the help of the
Ethereum platform.
Viriyasitavat et al. [10] proposed a blockchain-based service handling operations
in Internet of Things. Their model claims that blockchain can be used for achiev-
ing interoperability of various services. They integrated together service-oriented
architecture (SoA), blockchain technology (BCT) and various key performance
indicators (KPI) which resolves both trust issues and interoperability challenges in
the IoT system.
Doku et al. [11] proposed Lightchain which is a dedicated blockchain archi-
tecture for IoT. A proof of work (PoW) mechanism was initially used for verifying
transactions. But the computational tasks and effort required to resolve a PoW
puzzle are enormously high which is not acceptable in a light-weight architecture
like IoT. The PoW puzzle-solving efforts are distributed among various nodes in
the IoT system. Thus the overhead of every single node can be drastically reduced
which will improve the overall system performance and security.
Pan et al [12] proposed Edgechain which is an edge computing-based IoT
architecture which incorporates the blockchain technology. The central node
of the IoT architecture is excluded from the computational overhead of block-
chain technology. All these operations are performed in the edge-based cloud
pool which makes the architecture light-weight. Thus it can ensure features like
data security, integrity, scalability, interoperability and enhanced performance
aspects.

11.7 Summary
Blockchain is a promising technology for ensuring the data security and trustwor-
thiness of the end user. Though IoT is incorporated in almost all aspects of human
life, the security of personal data is the primary concern of every end user. Though
IoT uses light-weight architecture, it is not easy to use strong security algorithms to
prevent data stealing. In this scenario blockchain came to rescue IoT applications
by providing a light-weight decentralized, distributed architecture to secure the
data. The implementation of Edgechain and Lightchain proves that blockchain and
IoT can go a long way in the future years of computer technology.
References
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-technology/.
2. Vijay Madisetti, Arshdeep Bahga, Internet of Things: A Hands on Approach. Universities
Press, First edition, 2015.
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Things Based Applications,” Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology (JESTEC,
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Model for Internet of Things Based Systems,” IET Software, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 390–
396, October 2018.
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Blockchain and Its Integration with IoT. Challenges and Opportunities,” Future
Generation Computer Systems, vol. 88, pp. 173–190, November 2018.
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In 2018 IEEE 4th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT), Singapore, pp. 51–55,
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pp. 1–6, 2018.
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in IoT,” IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 1184–1195, April 2018.
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Publish/Subscribe Model Over Blockchains,” IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 41309–41314,
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11. D. B. Rawat, M. Garuba, L. Njilla, R. Doku, “LightChain: On the Lightweight
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of Things Journal, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 4719–4732, June 2019.

Chapter 12
Bitcoins and Crimes

M. Vivek Anand, T. Poongodi, and Kavita Saini
Contents
12.1 Introduction............................................................................................224
12.1.1 Background ..............................................................................224
12.1.2 Introduction of Bitcoin..............................................................225
12.1.3 Bitcoin Features.........................................................................225
12.1.4 Blockchain and Bitcoin............................................................. 226
12.1.5 Bitcoin Security........................................................................ 226
12.1.6 Bitcoin Transaction....................................................................227
12.1.7 Transaction Lifecycle.................................................................227
12.1.8 Overview of Bitcoin Architecture...............................................231
12.1.8.1 Procedure to Add a New Block..................................233
12.2 Consensus Protocol.................................................................................233
12.3 Peer-to-Peer Network............................................................................. 234
12.4 Role of Bitcoin in Crimes....................................................................... 234
12.4.1 Bitcoin Exchange.......................................................................235
12.4.2 Ransomware..............................................................................235
12.4.3 Tax Evasion................................................................................236
12.5 Dark Side of Bitcoin Crimes....................................................................237
12.5.1 Darknet.....................................................................................237
12.5.2 Tor Browser...............................................................................238
12.5.3 Money Laundering....................................................................240
12.5.4 Scams and Fakes........................................................................240
12.6 Open Challenges to Bitcoin Crimes........................................................241
12.6.1 Law Enforcement and Criminal Strategies.................................242
12.7 Conclusion..............................................................................................243
References......................................................................................................... 244
223
12.1 Introduction
The Internet is a data warehouse where the content is huge and browsers provide the
service of retrieving the data from the Internet. Although the data on the Internet
are huge, the retrieval of data by most of the browsers is minimized. Only 5% of
the data is retrieved from the Internet that is indexed. Even though search engines
like Google have an enormous amount of data, all the data cannot be retrieved
because they are not indexed. The information which is retrieved from the Internet
is indexed and it is called the surface web. The remaining 95% [7] of the web is
called the deep web. Four percent of the highly confidential information on the
deep web is called the dark web. The deep web contains confidential data like bank
details, Facebook private details, etc., that should not be visible to all the people in
the world. The criminals are accessing dark web for criminal activities with bitcoins
as a transaction currency. I2P (Invisible Internet Project), Freenet and Tor browser
provide access to the dark web that cannot be accessed by the normal browser. I2P,
Freenet and Tor browser is not created for malicious access. It was created with the
intention of providing anonymity and protecting private data from the Internet.
Anonymity provides the protection of data from the Internet by hiding the user’s
identity on the Internet, but this is leading to criminal activities. The Tor browser
is used for anonymity, and it is also called onion routing.
12.1.1 Background
The Naval Research Laboratory in the US developed an onion routing technique
in 1998. On September 20, 2002, the Tor browser was released publicly for use
on the Internet. With a normal browser like Google, the requested data are sent
to the Internet service provider and to the Domain Name System where it will be
verified with the IP address. Each website address on the Internet has an IP address
to access the website. The Domain Name System provides the service of changing
the website address to an IP address on request and changing the IP address to the
website address in response.
The Tor browser provides anonymity [19] because search details are not known
to the Internet service provider. The Internet service provider knows only which
browser is accessing now but does not know what content is accessed. The Tor
browser transfers the data, though nodes, which are already connected in the Tor
network. The relaying of data in the network node passes through different places
because the nodes are in different places all over the world. The Tor browser provides
encrypted data by https add-on service because http is not encrypted. Even though
onion routing provides anonymity and protects private data, criminal activities are
increased because of the anonymity. Criminals use the Tor browser to do illegal
activities like selling guns, drugs, etc. Hitman Network is a website that is used for
criminal activities such as selling drugs with the exchange of money. These criminal
activities with exchange of money leads to problems for the criminals when it is

Bitcoins and Crimes ◾ 225
transferred through a bank. Criminals carry out the transaction with cryptocur-
rency to maintain anonymity. Cryptocurrency has an encryption mechanism to
protect money from hacking. Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency that works with the
blockchain network. The Bitcoin blockchain is a distributed ledger that has all the
transaction details. The cryptocurrency network carries out the transaction without
a third party, such as banks. Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto and he is the
first man entered into the blockchain network. In banking, the transaction bank
will act as a trusted third party, and it governs all the transactions over the network.
The dependency on a trusted third party is essential for bank transactions. If a bank
robbery or a hacking of bank database happens. That will lead to an uncontrollable
situation. To avoid the third-party trust cryptocurrencies came into existence.
12.1.2 Introduction of Bitcoin
A cryptocurrency, as described by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 [1] and introduced
as open-source software in 2009, is a collection of technologies that form digital or
cryptocurrency. The units of this cryptocurrency are called Bitcoin. Bitcoin works
with the concept of blockchain to avoid the double-spending problem in transac-
tions [2]. It is used to store and transmit value among all the participants in the
Bitcoin network. It is a peer-to-peer technology which is not governed by any cen-
tral authority or bank. Unlike traditional currencies, Bitcoins are entirely secure
and virtual. There are no physical coins available, rather it is an entirely virtual
currency. The system is run by the Bitcoin protocol, and it is based on mathematics,
unlike conventional currencies that are based on a fixed quantity or fiat currencies.
12.1.3 Bitcoin Features
Bitcoin has several features that set it apart from fiat currencies:
◾◾ Released by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008.

◾◾ It is a decentralized and distributed secure digital currency.
◾◾ It is very easy to set up and fast.
◾◾ It is anonymous and completely transparent.
◾◾ Transactions are irreversible.
◾◾ A distributed transaction log is maintained for all participants.
The basis of the Bitcoin protocol is a peer-to-peer system (Figure 12.1) which means
that there is no need for a third party. Therefore, it is not controlled by a central
authority but rather is created by a community of people that anyone can join.
The Bitcoin protocol stores details of every single transaction that occurred in
the network in a huge version of the general ledger (blockchain). Bitcoins are stored
in a wallet with digital credentials for your Bitcoin holdings, allowing you to access
them. The wallet uses public-key cryptography, in which two keys, one public and

Figure 12.1 Peer-to-peer network.
one private, are generated. The public key can be thought of as an account number
or name; the private keyis a ownership credentials.
Bitcoin is transferred to the next owner when the next owner gives a public
key and the previous owner uses his private key to publish a record into system
announcing that the ownership has changed to the new public key. Unlike transac-
tions through the bank, Bitcoin doesn’t charge fees for any transfers at the national
or international level [9]. Bitcoin protects against double-spending [11] by verifying
each transaction added to the blockchain to ensure that the inputs for the transac-
tion had not previously already been spent.
12.1.4 Blockchain and Bitcoin

The blockchain is the technology behind Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the digital token, and
blockchain is the ledger that keeps track of who owns the digital tokens. You can’t
have Bitcoin without blockchain, but you can have a blockchain without Bitcoin.
Other prominent cryptocurrencies are Ethereum [13, 14], Bitcoin Cash, Ripple and
Litecoin.
12.1.5 Bitcoin Security
Figure 12.2 shows a representation of Bitcoin security. The biggest challenges of
bitcoin [5] are to check authentication, integrity, availability and confidentiality.
All these challenges are taken care of very smoothly.
◾◾ Authentication: Public key crypto: Digital signatures

◾◾ Integrity: Digital signatures and cryptographic hash

Figure 12.2 Bitcoin security.
◾◾ Availability: Broadcast messages to the P2P network, confidentiality: Pseudo

anonymity
It is based on public key crypto (Figure 12.3): Encryption uses public key and
private key. Public key crypto or digital signature are used to make sure that it is
secure. First, create a message digest using a cryptographic hash and, then, encrypt
the message digest with your private key.
12.1.6 Bitcoin Transaction
The most important part of the Bitcoin system is the transactions. Transactions
are basically data structures that encode the transfer of value between participants
evolved in the Bitcoin system [8]. It is ensured that transactions can be created
and broadcasted on network. Once broadcasted on network they are added to the
global ledger of transactions (blockchain) after validation.
12.1.7 Transaction Lifecycle
Various activities are involved in the transaction lifecycle (Figure 12.4), starting
from the origin to recorded on the blockchain. The origin is basically the creation of
the transaction. Once it is created it must be signed and authorized to spend funds
referenced by the transaction. Once the transaction is authorized it is broadcasted
to the network for validation. Finally, the transaction is verified by a mining node
and included in a block of transactions that is recorded on the blockchain.
◾◾ Creation of transaction
◾◾ Broadcast on network

Figure 12.3 Public key crypto.
Figure 12.4 Transaction lifecycle.

◾◾ Verify transaction by many nodes

◾◾ Propagation
◾◾ Add to the blockchain
The creation of a transaction includes input, output, signature and amount.

Broadcast on network refers to sending the transaction to the neighboring
node.
Verify transaction plays a very important role as many nodes or participants
verify the transaction in this phase.
If the transaction is valid, it is added in blockchain and propagated to the
entire network
Transactions in Bitcoin will be made by sending electronic payments.
Transactions are the tiny building blocks of the blockchain system [Figure 12.5],
and they consist of a sender address, recipient address and coins as in a normal
credit card transaction. A Bitcoin transaction shifts the coin from one user wallet
to another, and the coins are viewed as transactions, in particular, a chain of trans-
actions. The destination address (Bitcoin address) is obtained by performing hash-
ing operations using the user’s public key. Every user in Bitcoin can have multiple
addresses by generating several public keys; the addresses can be associated with
users’ wallets. The owned Bitcoins can be transmitted as digitally signed transac-
tions by using the private key of the user. Moreover, it is highly recommended to
use different Bitcoin address for each transaction.
The transactions in Bitcoin [Figure 12.6] will be verified for correctness, integ-
rity and authenticity by the set of network nodes called “miners”. The miners will
Figure 12.5 Fields in Bitcoin transaction.

Figure 12.6 Bitcoin transaction.
collect some transactions as a single unit known as a “block” that are in the queue
for processing. A block will be broadcasted in the entire network to claim the
reward after completing the validation and mining process. Before updating the
newly mined block in a public ledger, it will be verified by most of the miners in the
network. The miners collect a reward once it is successfully added into blockchain.
The significant characteristics of technical components that are essential in the
Bitcoin system are presented.
The transaction input consists of:
1. Hash pointer (i.e., identifier that contains the output) to previous transaction
that is taken as the input for the current transaction.
2. An index specifying the unsent previous transaction output (UTXO) that
can be used in current transaction.
3. Unlocking script length.
4. Unlocking script (satisfies the condition associated with UTXO).
The transaction output comprises of:
1. Number of Bitcoins being transferred.

2. Locking script length.
3. Locking script (condition should be met before spending UTXO).
Every transaction input can be authorized using the corresponding user’s public
key, and the cryptographic signature is created using a private key. The input values
from previous transactions which are listed in a single transaction can be added up

and the sum is used by the output of the current transaction. In Bitcoin, the output
of a previous transaction is exploited as the input of the current transaction; often
the coin value may be higher than the user desires to pay. In this case, the sender
creates a new Bitcoin address for getting back the difference amount. For example,
user B has 100 coins from any of the previous transaction output, and he would
like to transfer 10 coins to user A using the same output as an input in the current
transaction. Particularly, user B has to generate a new transaction with an input
(i.e., the output that user B has received the 10 coins) and two more outputs. In the
output, one shows that 10 coins are being transferred to user A, and the other shows
the transfer of remaining coins in any one of the wallets owned by user B.
Hence, the Bitcoin achieves two objectives:
1. It employs the idea of change.

2. The detail about the balance or unspent coins of a user can be identified by
knowing the outputs from previous transactions.
An output in every transaction denotes the number of coins being transmitted

along with the Bitcoin address of the new owner. Inputs and outputs in Bitcoin are
handled using a script language to assert the Bitcoins. There are two main scripts
in today’s market:
1. Pay-to-PubKeyHash (P2PKH): In this script language, only one signature from

the owner is required to authorize a payment.
2. Pay-to-ScriptHash (P2SH): This scheme uses multi-signature addresses; however
it supports a variety of transaction types.
12.1.8 Overview of Bitcoin Architecture

Blockchain is an immutable database in which all Bitcoin transaction records are
stored in chronological order. Tampering of data is not possible because of the
hash technique used in each block creation. Computer systems in blockchain con-
nected with each other adhered to the shared data and agreed to certain conditions
imposed on it. In the beginning, Bitcoin was implemented as a large-scale block-
chain. Nowadays, Bitcoin’s blockchain is “simple” when compared to other block-
chains. The ideas of different blockchain projects are growing rapidly. However, the
Bitcoin architectural components are a digital signature, blockchain, distributed
network and mining [12]. A digital signature is an asymmetric cryptographic tech-
nique created by the user’s private key to assure the corresponding Bitcoin address.
Bitcoin is also referred to as a cryptocurrency since the digital signature is a cat-
egory of cryptographic techniques.
A blockchain is a decentralized, shared, distributed state machine, and all nodes
in blockchain will hold their own copy independently. The current known “state”
is dependent on each transaction processing. Bitcoin is a decentralized electronic

payment system in which the nodes communicate using the P2P network. It uses a
probabilistic distributed consensus protocol to achieve consensus among the com-
municating nodes. A centralized private ledger is maintained in a central bank
to verify the process and record all transactions, whereas in Bitcoin, every user
maintains their own copy of the ledger in blockchain. Vulnerabilities arise because
of maintaining multiple copies of blockchain at many nodes in the network as it
provides a consistent global view in the blockchain system. For example, user A
could simultaneously create two different transactions to two different users, user
B and user C, using the same set of coins. This malicious activity is referred to as
double-spending [2]. In this instance, if both receivers are processing the transac-
tion independently and the transaction verification process is successful, it leads to
an inconsistent state. Bitcoin uses consensus protocol and proof of work (PoW) to
satisfy the below-mentioned requirements:
1. The transaction verification process can be distributed among miners for

ensuring the correctness of the transaction.
2. The successfully processed transaction should reach everyone in the network
quickly to assure the consistent state of the blockchain.
Every distributed transaction process checks that the majority of miners [4] verify
the authenticity of it before the transaction is added to the blockchain. If there is
any update in the blockchain, the local copy which is maintained in all nodes will
get updated; the correct state is attained by considering the majority of miners’
agreement. Still, this system is vulnerable to Sybil attacks. In this type of attack,
multiple virtual nodes can be created by the miner and those nodes will start send-
ing false information in the network as positive votes for the faulty transactions to
interrupt the election process. The countermeasure for Sybil attack in Bitcoin is to
use PoW based on a consensus model; some computational tasks have to be accom-
plished by the miners to prove that they are real entities. PoW enforces a high-level
computational cost for every transaction verification process, and the verification
is based on the computing power of a miner. Faking computer resources is harder
than performing a Sybil attack in the network.
A block is created by collecting pending transactions instead of mining indi-
vidual transactions. A block is mined by computing the hash value with a varying
nonce. A different nonce value is taken every time until the hash value becomes
lower than or equal to the targeted value. The target is taken as a 256-bit number
that is shared among all miners. Computing the desired hash value is extremely
challenging. Bitcoin uses SHA-256 for calculating the hash value. Every time, dif-
ferent nonces (random values) are used for finding the required hash value until the
solution is obtained. The correct hash value has been found by the miner for a block
and the block is immediately broadcasted in the network with the computed hash
value along with nonce. The remaining miners quickly verify the correctness of the

received block by comparing the hash value with the target value. They will update
the local blockchain by appending the newly mined block.
A block will be added successfully to the blockchain, once the majority of min-
ers agree on the block as valid. The miner who got the solution for PoW [5] will be
rewarded with a set of recently generated coins. Because of the absence of a central
authority, the rewards do not reach anyone in the network. Rather, the rewards
will be given for the block generation process, in which a coinbase transaction is
inserted by the miner for the Bitcoin address, and it appears to be the first transac-
tion in every block. Once the mined block is approved by the peers, then the newly
inserted transaction becomes valid, and the miner obtains the awarded Bitcoins.
The Bitcoin network is usually not having transaction fee for their transactions,
and it is only mentioned by the owners of a transaction and it also varies for every
transaction. However, the transaction fees are increasing to some extent, discour-
aging the usage of Bitcoin. The security issues in Bitcoin that might occur if block
rewards did not exist are investigated [17].
Blockchain is a public, linked-list based data structure which tracks the whole
transaction history in the form of blocks. A Merkle tree structure [6] is followed for
storing the transactions in every block, along with the secure time-stamp and hash
value of the previous transaction.
12.1.8.1 Procedure to Add a New Block

1. Once the valid hash value for a block is determined by the miner, the block can
be added to the user’s local blockchain and the solution can be broadcasted.
2. If a solution is received for a valid block, the miners will immediately verify
the validity, and if the solution is found to be correct the local copy is updated
by the miner; otherwise, the block is discarded.
For mining, a dedicated application-specific integrated circuit is used by a single

home miner in which a single block takes time to verify. Hence, for this reason,
mining pools are introduced. In this, the set of miners can be associated together to
mine a particular block beneath the control of the pool manager. Once the mining
is successful, the manager issues the reward to the associated miners according to
the number of resources spent by each miner.
12.2 Consensus Protocol
For assuring continuous service without any interruption, the fault-tolerant con-
sensus protocol is essential to ensure that the participating nodes are agreed on the
order. The set of rules mentioned in the consensus protocol should be followed by
the miner to append a new block in the blockchain. Bitcoin obtains the distributed

consensus based on PoW and the consensus algorithm. The major rules followed in
this algorithm are as follows:
1. Rational input and output.

2. Unspent outputs can only be used in each transaction.
3. Spent inputs should have valid signatures.
4. No coinbase (created by the miner) transaction outputs were used within 100
blocks.
5. No transaction inputs spent within a lock time before the block is confirmed.
Hence, blockchain-based Bitcoin is considered as robust and secure due to the con-
sensus model.
Micropayment channel networks have been introduced to address the scalabil-
ity issue by maintaining the block size unchanged. In this, the payment channel
is established among two parties, who can pay on behalf of others which are not
recorded in the blockchain. This off-blockchain mode of payment assists in process-
ing the payment faster and suggests a way to track the money transfer among two
entities. Yet, these payment channel networks face the set of challenges regarding
user privacy [18, 21], processing concurrent payments, and routing.
12.3 Peer-to-Peer Network
The Bitcoin system follows the communication structure as an unstructured peer-
to-peer (P2P) network using the non-encrypted persistent TCP connections. In an
unstructured P2P network, the peers are arranged randomly in a flat or hierarchi-
cal manner. Time-to-live (TTL) search, expanding rings, random walks are used
to find the peers who have interesting data items. In common, the unstructured
overlay network is a highly dynamic network topology in which the peers can join
and leave the network frequently. This type of network is best suited for the Bitcoin
system to disseminate the information as soon as possible to reach the consensus
in the blockchain. Shadow event discrete simulator assists in simulating large-scale
Bitcoin networks in a single machine.
12.4 Role of Bitcoin in Crimes

The pseudo-anonymity of blockchain networks allows criminals to carry out ille-
gal activities with Bitcoins. Bitcoins provide a hidden identity and Bitcoin plays a
vital role in crimes. Criminals make transactions with cryptocurrency because of
its anonymity. Although blockchain provide secure transactions by its consensus
algorithm, criminals do criminal activities through Bitcoin [3]. Criminals are use
websites to sell drugs and guns through Bitcoin transactions. All kinds of criminal
activities are performed with Bitcoin transactions. Most countries do not accept

Bitcoin transactions because of the criminal activities performed through Bitcoin

transactions, and it will be an issue for the government to take action against the
criminal activities.
12.4.1 Bitcoin Exchange
Bitcoin provides a space to change black money into white. Bitcoin exchangers are
used to exchange money. Some of the popular Bitcoin exchangers are:
1. Binance
2. Bittrex
3. KuCoin
4. Huobi Pro
5. Bibox
6. Poloniex
7. Bitmex
8. GDAX
9. LocalBitcoins
10. Kraken
11. Bitstamp
Bitcoin exchange websites also available for changing money. A few websites are:
1. Cex.io
2. CoinMama
3. Wirex
4. Bitit
12.4.2 Ransomware
Computer bugs infect and lock up a computer, server or mobile device, and the
attacker demands a ransom to restore control of the device. The WannaCry ran-
somware attack, in May 2017, was a worldwide cyber-attack by the WannaCry ran-
somware cryptoworm, which targeted computers running the Microsoft Windows
operating system by encrypting data and demanding ransom payments in the
Bitcoin cryptocurrency. These kinds of ransomware attacks are happening every
year, for example:
◾◾ In 2015, 1000 attackers per day.

◾◾ In 2016, 4000 attackers per day (300 percentage increase when compared to
2015).
◾◾ In 2017, the Wannacry ransomware attack locked files on 300,000 corporate
and government computers in 150 countries, demanding $300 in Bitcoins to
unfreeze the data.

Anonymity in Bitcoins allows the user to hide their face, and it is not an easy task
to find them. Digital currency like U.S. dollars can be easily tracked when we do
transaction because it has a centralized authority like a bank, but Bitcoin, which
works under the concept of blockchain, does not depend on any centralized author-
ity such as a bank. Bitcoin provides a decentralized network, in which nobody can
control their money. The user can control their own money, and it is not an easy task
to track the transaction because the ledger has only the address as a public key like
1. 1BvBMSEYstWetqTFn5Au4m4GFg7xJaNVN2
2. 3J98t1WpEZ73CNmQviecrnyiWrnqRhWNLy
Denial-of-service attacks are possible in the Bitcoin network [15]. Tampering with
a Bitcoin transaction also requires more than 90% of users to give approval. In
real time, it is highly impossible. In Russia, a ransomware payment made to an
account in Bulgaria was traced, but the account was split into 12 different accounts
in different cities of Russia with the command and control located somewhere in
Germany. As many Bitcoin addresses can be created as you wish because there is no
single point of the address issuing authority and address generation for transaction
will not be affected by any environmental issues.
12.4.3 Tax Evasion
Tax is very important to run the government with good economy in a safer zone.
Tax evasion is happening nowadays all over the world but it can be identified by
the government to take necessary action against the evasion. Bitcoin provides a
way to evade tax because the money can be easily exchangeable by exchangers and
it will become white money. Another issue is that governments’ and tax agencies’
guidelines are unclear. Even in the U.S. there is a lot of confusion around the fixing
of taxes for Bitcoins. An investigation is required to check the Bitcoin network and
their transaction to fix the tax for Bitcoins. An illegal transaction has to be checked
at least for targeted users to find the illegal transaction but in bitcoin blockchain
it is very difficult. If tracking of a suspect user is possible then the government
authorities will have the power to handle the issues in tax evasion.
Bitcoin exchanges handle a large amount of money, that is, more than billions
of dollars of transactions. If there is cooperation between the authorities and the
exchangers there is no need to shut down the Bitcoin transaction. If it is possible
to get all the information about Bitcoin’s illegal transactions and the users’ device
addresses, a complete study is required to find out whether there are any changes
in wallets. The existing information about the Bitcoin wallets [16] from its site is
only the device compatibility issues that either on mobile or system. The measur-
able strategies necessary to catch artifacts from awed Bitcoin wallet (the place a user
might sign in with the username and password).

In 2015 an estimated 2.8 million people in the U.S. owned cryptocurrency

but only 807 people reported Bitcoins on their 2015 taxes. The IRS defines
cryptocurrency as a property, not a currency, meaning gains and losses must
be reported by taxpayers on Form 8949. Though the IRS has guidelines for the
cryptocurrency, some may not know or understand the rules. Thirty-six percent
of Bitcoin investors claimed they would knowingly not report capital gains or
losses from cryptocurrency on their 2017 taxes. Only 807 people in the U.S.
reported crypto for tax in 2015. That is a very low number, of the 2.8 million
individuals in the U.S. who owned a blockchain account. Some of the reasons
for tax evasion are:
◾◾ Unnamed virtual wallets create anonymity.

◾◾ The mix of public and private keys makes it difficult to track illegal
transactions.
◾◾ The decentralized system allows secure cross-border payments.
◾◾ The darknet is a hidden part of the deep web where illegal activity thrives.
12.5 Dark Side of Bitcoin Crimes

12.5.1 Darknet
The Internet is a data warehouse where the content is huge, and browsers pro-
vide the service of retrieving the data from the Internet. Although the data on the
Internet are huge, retrieving data from most of the browsers is minimized. Only
5% of the data is retrieved from the Internet that is indexed. Even though the
search engines like Google have an enormous amount of data, all the data cannot
be retrieved because they are not indexed. The information which is retrieved from
the Internet is indexed, and it is called the surface web. The remaining 95% of the
web is called the deep web. Four percent of the highly confidential information of
the deep web is called the dark web. The deep web contains confidential data like
bank details, Facebook private details, etc., that should not be visible to all the
people in the world.
The criminals are accessing dark web for criminal activities with bitcoins as a
transaction currency. I2P (Invisible internet protocol), Freenet and Tor browser
provide access to the deep web that cannot be accessed by a normal browser. I2P,
Freenet and Tor software is not created for malicious access. It was created with the
intention of providing anonymity and protecting private data from the Internet.
Anonymity protects data from the Internet by hiding the user’s identity on the
Internet, but this leads to criminal activities. The Tor browser is used for anonym-
ity, and it is also called onion routing.
Figure 12.7 shows the flow of Bitcoins in the darknet market from 2011 to 2018.

Figure 12.7 Flow of Bitcoins in darknet market in terms of dollars.
12.5.2 Tor Browser
Tor stands for The Onion Router, so-called because of the layered encryption pro-
cess. Crypto-anarchism and onion routing are the two active terms linked to the
underground web. Tor was originally founded by the U.S. Navy at the start of the
millennium and is used by numerous agencies and others to transmit and receive
sensitive information. Tor masks the user’s identity and allows them to travel the
surface web with total anonymity. Transferring money without leaving a trace is
not always easy; however, the dark net’s own currency Bitcoin provides the solution.
The Naval Research Laboratory in the U.S. developed the onion routing tech-
nique in 1998. The Tor browser was released publicly on September 20, 2002 for
use on the Internet. In a normal browser like Google, the requested data are sent
to the Internet service provider and to the Domain Name System, where it will be
verified with the IP address. Each website address on the Internet has an IP address
to access the Internet. The Domain Name System provides the service of changing
the website address to an IP address on request and changing the IP address to the
website address in response.
The Tor browser provides anonymity because searching details are not known
to the Internet service provider. The Internet service provider knows only which
browser is accessing now, but it does not know what content is accessed. The Tor
browser transfers the data, through nodes, which are already connected in the Tor
network. The relaying of data in the network node passes through different places
because the nodes are in different places all over the world. The Tor browser pro-
vides encrypted data by https add-on because http is not encrypted. Even though
onion routing provides anonymity and protects private data, criminal activities are
increased because of the anonymity. Criminals use the Tor browser to carry out

Figure 12.8 Drugs purchased report in darknet market.
illegal activities like selling guns, drugs, etc. Hitman Network is a website that
provides criminal services by the exchange of money. This exchange of money for
criminal activities leads to problems when it is transferred through a bank.
The dark web is the place that criminals use for illegal activities. In a survey,
9.3% of drug users bought drugs off the darknet in 2016, and 97.4% of illicit activ-
ity using Bitcoins originated from darknet marketplaces in 2013–2016. Criminals
sell illegal drugs through sites like the first darknet market Silk Road, launched as
the “eBay of drugs”. There are:
◾◾ 13,000 drug listings.

◾◾ 1400 vendors.
◾◾ $1.2 billion of transactions, and the founder of Silk Road is Ross Ulbricht.
Figure 12.8 shows the number of people who bought drugs in the darknet mar-
ket. The Tor hidden network and Bitcoin system [8] are undoubtedly useful in
many aspects, playing vital roles in the cybercrime landscape. Distinguishing legit-
imate and illicit use of these services is a difficult task. This is how Bitcoin enables
criminal enterprises to perform money laundering schemes compared to banks or

financial systems. Digital footprints such as transaction details embedded in the

Bitcoin and that can reveal information about its users. CryptoLocker is a family
of ransomware that encrypts files on a victim’s system and demands a ransom to be
paid for the decryption key from September 2013 through early 2014.
Black markets are also fully focused on the Bitcoin transactions [10] that use
bitcoin as a currency for drug trades on deep web drug markets. Murder-for-
contract services are performed using Bitcoin systems, and weapons are accessible
on black market sites. Because of the mysterious nature and the absence of central
control over this black-market business, it is difficult to know which person is doing
criminal activities from the account. Silk Road is one among the several deep web
black markets that have been shut down by U.S. law enforcement, and in 2015,
Ross Ulbricht, founder of the website, was sent to prison for life.
12.5.3 Money Laundering
Laundering is the act of making illegally gained proceeds or dirty money appear
clean by placing them within a legitimate financial system alongside legal trans-
actions. Three to four percent of all criminal proceeds in Europe are laundered
through cryptocurrency, which is estimated at US$4–5 billion of laundered
Bitcoins in 2016.
◾◾ 3.84% in multiservice
◾◾ 0.30% in crypto exchange
◾◾ 12.21% in gambling
Illegal online betting is much easier when money transfers can be made swiftly and
untraceable.
◾◾ 0.05% in ATM
◾◾ 24.20% in the mixer
◾◾ 59.40% in the Bitcoin exchange
◾◾ Bitcoin laundering locations in 2016:
◾◾ 56.65% in Europe
◾◾ 36.44% in unknown jurisdictions
◾◾ 5.28% in North America
◾◾ 1.21% in Asia
◾◾ 0.35% in Oceania
◾◾ 0.07% in South America
◾◾ 0.00% in Africa
12.5.4 Scams and Fakes

Scams are created with Bitcoin advertisements such as offer price, bitcoin exchange,
etc. Many users lose their currency and Bitcoins by the scams that are created by the

Figure 12.9 Variation in money laundering through cryptocurrencies.
illegal users. Increasingly, Bitcoin is becoming a staple utility among cybercriminals;

two of the digital currency’s main attractions are its provisions for pseudo-anonym-
ity and its irreversible transaction protocol. These kinds of provisions engender the
dichotomous incentives between legitimate users, who genuinely want to transfer
money efficiently and securely, and cybercriminals who leverage these properties to
commit irrevocable and supposedly untraceable transactions (Figure 12.9).
12.6 Open Challenges to Bitcoin Crimes

The anonymous and decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies has given opportu-
nities for criminals to carry out illicit activities while evading prosecution. The
international law enforcement community is responsible for cryptocurrency-related
investigation cases and they receive the cases on a monthly basis from INTERPOL.
Cryptocurrencies have been used extensively in darknet markets for receiving pay-
ments for illicit services such as distributed denial of service, malware binaries,
botnets and the purchase of illegal products including weapons, drugs and falsified
or stolen documents. Darknet markets such as Silkroad, AlphaBay and Hansa were
reaping large profits, reaching $3,000,000 between September 2015 and December
2016. These sites facilitate the trade of illicit products like stolen antiquities, drugs
and firearms, remitting money to areas that are under high financial scrutiny or
embargo, and publicly crowd-fund their operations.
Money laundering is also a problem in cryptocurrencies, and it is a major chal-
lenge for law enforcement to solve the issues. A significant number of criminals are
advertising cryptocurrency exchanges or initial coin offering with the goal of money
laundering to get illicit profits. Bitcoin exchanges like OKCoin with hundreds of
thousands of U.S. dollars laundered as well as the case of BitInstant, in which
more than $1,000,000 was laundered for Silk Road customers. Cryptocurrencies

have advanced the operations of different malware families such as ransomware,

with CryptoLocker and CryptoWall receiving 133,045.9961 BTC and 87,897.8510
BTC, respectively; crypto jacking, with JenkinsMiner earning its operator over
$3,000,000 worth of Monero; and crypto-stealing Trojans, such as CryptoShuffler,
which stole hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars by targeting the contents of vola-
tile memory, that is, the clipboard.
The biggest challenge for law enforcement agencies here is the immutable
nature of the blockchain that disallows the removal of embedded illicit content.
Cryptocurrencies are used for sponsoring nation-state attacks, as a number of coun-
tries around the world are highly affected by the existence of contemporary hybrid-
war strategies.
12.6.1 Law Enforcement and Criminal Strategies

Bitcoins are associated with a plethora of crime types such as narcotics, firearms,
money laundering, terrorism and child exploitation; the international law enforce-
ment community, including INTERPOL, has begun to focus on mastering the
blockchain. In doing so, a significant amount of resources has been allocated for
the exploration of the use of Bitcoins by criminals as well as the development of
proprietary analytical tools for tracing Bitcoin transactions. In policing, two dif-
ferent schools of thought exist, with the first perceiving Bitcoins as a threat and the
second viewing them as an investigational opportunity.
The first group considers Bitcoins a disruptive solution enabling criminals to
facilitate their illegal activities in the absence of policing, and hence calls for its
prohibition. The law enforcement community views cryptocurrencies as an inves-
tigation opportunity where criminally associated information is now publicly and
permanently indexed in the blockchain to be analyzed for the extraction of valuable
forensic data that can lead to attribution and prosecution.
Nowadays there has been a significant effort from both the industry and vari-
ous law enforcement agencies, including INTERPOL, to develop forensic develop-
ment tools and methodologies for the analysis of various cryptocurrencies such as
Bitcoins. The vast focus on the analysis of Bitcoin transactions can be attributed to
the substantial number of criminal cases affiliated with it, despite the existence of
more anonymous cryptocurrencies. The market value of Bitcoin and its wide adop-
tion by markets have played a catalytic role in boosting the magnitude of the crimi-
nal cases and trends associated with it. Despite the wide adoption of Bitcoins by
criminals, the recent success stories of contemporary analytical tools that allowed
police investigators to partially de-anonymize the Bitcoin network and reveal the
identities of criminals have caused a shift in the use of cryptocurrencies. An increas-
ing number of criminals are using Bitcoin only as an entry and exit point.
Law enforcement considers the cryptocurrencies highly disruptive due to their
enhanced anonymity, which makes them an effective weapon for criminals. Dash
and Zcash enable users to keep their activity history and balances private, which
ultimately restricts law enforcement investigators from identifying and tracking

suspicious transactions. Similarly, Monero uses ring signatures, ring confidential

transactions and stealth addresses to obfuscate the origins, amounts and destina-
tions of transactions.
Verge is another anonymous cryptocurrency that leverages the wraith protocol
to enable its users to switch between public and private ledgers. When the wraith
protocol is turned on, the transaction data are hidden. Finally, Namecoin does not
share the same strong anonymity characteristics or goals as the cryptocurrencies
above but is still identified as a potential threat to police due to its feature that
allows criminals to anonymously register illegal websites without providing any
personal information, thus preventing investigators from identifying the admin-
istrators behind these pages. As an extra layer of protection, many criminals use
crypto-mixing/tumbling services or decentralized P2P exchange markets to “clean”
their “tainted” coins, making it increasingly difficult for police investigators to fol-
low their transactions.
To counteract the illicit use of cryptocurrencies, law enforcement is now focusing
on the development of advanced solutions for tracing criminally linked transactions.
In particular, police agencies work toward developing forensic tools for the analysis
of various computing. It is imperative for law enforcement agencies to co-evolve with
the current state of the art and identify and thwart online criminal activities that are
linked to cryptocurrencies. www.computer.org/security 93 devices for the identifica-
tion of cryptocurrency-related artefacts, such as wallets, and cryptocurrency hashes;
fingerprinting tools for identifying the use of mixers/ tumblers in cryptocurrency
transactions; clustering solutions for the aggregation of the addresses belonging to
the same criminal actors for better attribution; and cross-ledger tracing tools to sup-
port the association of suspicious transactions in different blockchains.
In addition to the current work by law enforcement on a national level,
INTERPOL acts as an information hub on the international level by bringing
police investigators from various nations, researchers and blockchain developers
together to share best investigation practices and forensic tools for cryptocurrencies.
INTERPOL works toward developing the investigation capabilities of its
member countries by delivering advanced hands-on training on cryptocurrencies.
INTERPOL strives for innovative solutions by seeking partnerships with the pub-
lic and private sectors, including cyber security and cryptoanalytic companies.
INTERPOL held its first international Darknet and Cryptocurrencies Working
Group in March 2018 to further stimulate discussions surrounding policing solu-
tions for cryptocurrency-related crimes, identifying Altcoins and cross-ledger inves-
tigations as the biggest challenges for law enforcement.
12.7 Conclusion
Although numerous challenges handled by international law enforcement commu-
nity and faces lots of investigating on cryptocurrencies, problems keep on increasing
day by day. The blockchain is here to stay due to the wide use of cryptocurrencies by

investors, adopters and pioneers. While it is anticipated that a large number of its
characteristics will significantly adapt in the near future to overcome critical tech-
nological shortcomings such as its size and scalability, its use for illicit activities will
only continue to grow. It is imperative for law enforcement agencies to co-evolve
with the current state of the art and identify and thwart online criminal activities
that are linked to cryptocurrencies. For better efficiency [20] in combatting crypto-
currency-related crime, an implementation of an international understanding and
a legal framework to regulate it should be considered; this will enable law enforce-
ment to access information for criminally linked transactions and urge crypto-
markets and exchanges to enforce strong KYC policies. The solution is required to
access Bitcoin network without the criminal activities for smooth functioning of
the blockchain with cryptocurrency in the future.
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Index
Advance Transaction Execution Engine, 72 secure data sharing, 147–148

Aeternity, 103 transparency and trust, 150
Agriculture, IoT applications in, 219 with distributed computing, 151–155
AI, see Artificial intelligence Artificial neural networks (ANN), 141–143
Alexa, 143 ASIC, see Application-specific integrated circuit
Algorithms, definition, 2 Automated services, 206
Amazon Managed Blockchain, 39 Automobile industry, 133–134
ANN, see Artificial neural networks Automotive industry, 219
Anonymity, 224, 225, 236, 237 Avalanche Effect, 123
API, see Application programming interface AWS account, 39
APPICS, 111–112 Axa, 174
Application programming interface (API)
creation, 47, 48 Big data
in website, 47 bigger and bigger, 208
Application-specific integrated circuit expanded, 206
(ASIC), 69 in health care, 89–90
Architecture Big data analytics, 59
core components, 31–35 Bitcoin, 41, 68, 95, 102, 117, 143
structure, 23 architecture, 231–233
version 2.0 and 3.0, 23 blockchain and, 226
Artificial intelligence (AI) in crimes
applications Bitcoin exchange, 235
in airline industry, 140–141 dark side, 237–241
in banks, 142 open challenges, 241–243
in online shopping portals, 142 pseudo-anonymity, 234
in smartphone, 142–143 ransomware, 235–236
in social networking sites, 141–142 tax evasion, 236–237
spam filtering, Email inboxes, 142 ecosystem, 167–169
and blockchain, 143–144 encryption techniques, 127
control over data and models, 149 features, 225–226
data management challenges, 148 in finance, 129
decentralized-distributed network, 146 hash functions, 46
in healthcare, 153–155 in healthcare, 129
location of control, 145–146 primary use, 125
management, 150–151 security, 226–228
prospective applications, 151 and side chains, 180
real-time data, 149–150 with traditional electronic cash, 166–167
reliable AI modeling and predictions, transaction, 227
148–149 broadcast, 229
247
248 ◾ Index
creation, 229 working, 104–105, 117–119, 214

input and output, 230 public ledger, 161–163
lifecycle, 227, 228 Blockchain-backed system, 153
nodes, 229, 230 Blockchain-based certification, 44
objectives, 231 Blockchain data repository, 129
private key, 230 Blockchain-oriented software (BOS), 181–183
scripts, 231 Blockchain-oriented software engineering
verification, 229 (BOSE), 182
trusted third party, 225 Block generator, 76
Bitcoin networks, 26 Block immutability shortcomings, 207–208
BitGive, 103 Block signers, 76
BitGold, 18 Body sensor network (BSN), 173
Bit-level parallel computing, 5 BOS, see Blockchain-oriented software
Black box, 146 BOSE, see Blockchain-oriented software
Black markets, 240 engineering
Block, 24, 32, 66, 117 BSN, see Body sensor network
Blockchain; see also individual entries Burstcoin, 73
add only, 120 Business process supervision, 206
application, 40–42, 125–126 Byzantine fault tolerance-based consensus, 75
domains, 215–216 Byzantine Generals Problem, 74
benefits, 124–125
building, 45–46 (see also Hash/hashing) Centralized computing, 3, 4
centralized ledger, 16 Centralized mobility management systems, 81
consensus, 120 Centralized private ledger, 232
cryptographically secured, 120 Central processing unit (CPU), 2, 4
definition, 52, 162 Chain, 32
distributed computing environment Characteristics, 187
architecture, 13–15 asymmetric key cryptography, 164
Ethernet connections, 12, 13 block acceptance, mining for, 164–165
nodes, 12–13 block containing transactions, 164
peer-to-peer (P2P) network, 12 consensus in blockchain environment, 164
distributed ledger, 16–18, 119, 213 primary, 188–189
e-cash systems, 116 Client–server architecture, 7, 13, 14
elements, 214 Cloud computing, 59, 62
evolution, 22–24 Cointelegraph, 43
flow of operation, 162, 164 Components
in government services (see Government decentralized database, 22
services, optimized digital logical, 29–31
transformation in) Computing
infrastructure costs, 52 definition, 2
overview, 51–52, 80–81, 160–161 distributed (see Distributed computing)
peer to peer, 119 parallel, 2
pillars, 122–123 serial, 2
privacy, 128 Consensus, 32, 93, 120
properties, 214–215 algorithm, 31, 105
security, 135 fault tolerance, 66
features, 125 lottery-based algorithms, 67–74
issues, 127 state machine replication, 66
steps of, 40 voting-based consensus, 74–76
structure, 118, 119 protocol, 232–234
types, 24–30, 120–122 Consortium blockchain, 28–30, 120, 121,
understanding, 52–53 165–166
use cases, 135–136 vs. public vs. private blockchain, 27

Index ◾ 249
Constant consumer commitment, 206 Defense, 132–133

Cosmos, 180 Delegated proof of stake (DPoS), 71
CPU, see Central processing unit Denial-of-service attacks, 236
Crash fault tolerance-based consensus, 75–76 Dentacoin, 172
Crypto-anarchism, 238 DHT, see Distributed hash table
Cryptocurrency, 15, 16, 18, 24, 124, 136, 166; Diffie–Hellman algorithm, 63
see also Bitcoin Digital ledger, 118
definition, 29, 41 Digital payment, 94–96
encryption mechanism, 225 Digital signature, 231
origin, 95 Digital twin, 186–187
P2P, 68 business trends, 202, 206
pitchfork attack, 170 in human context, 201–205
public, 71 multi-stakeholder interactions, 188
in social media, 106 real-time blockchain-enabled digital
Cryptography, 153 twins, 189
asymmetric key, 164 challenges, 199–201
computing power and breakthroughs in, game-changing technology, 189
16–17 initiatives, 189–197
hashing, 45, 101, 123 smart factory, 198–199
public-key, 225 Digitization, 208
CryptoLocker, 240 Distributed apps (DApps), 70
Cyber defense, 132–133 Distributed computing, 2, 5–6, 58
architecture
DAOs, see Decentralized autonomous physical, 6–8
organizations software, 8–10
DApps, see Decentralized applications; artificial intelligence (AI) with, 151–155
Distributed apps autonomous system, 6
Darknet, 237–239, 241 and blockchain, 12 (see also individual
Dark web, 224, 237, 239 entries)
Dash, 242 distributed database systems, 11
Data analytics, 143 evolution, 3–4
Data-centered architecture, see Shared data message-passing mechanism, 6
space architectures vs. parallel computing, 10–11
Data efficiency, 129 Distributed database management systems
Data integrity, 130 (DDBMS), 11
Data modalities, 170 Distributed database systems, 11
Data privacy, 152 Distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks,
Data protection, 178 177–178
Data safety, 58 Distributed hash table (DHT), 113
DDBMS, see Distributed database management Distributed ledger, 101, 104, 105, 213
systems IoT security, 56–57
DDoS attacks, see Distributed-denial-of-service management
attacks with consensus, 32, 33
Decentralization, 122, 214–215 distributed network, 33, 34
of data, 146 steps, 33, 35
Decentralized applications (DApps), 182, 183 Distributed ledger technology (DLT),
Decentralized autonomous organizations 92–93, 143
(DAOs), 152 Distributed shared memory (DSM), 7
Decentralized computing, 3–4 DLT, see Distributed ledger technology
Decentralized-distributed network, 146 Domain Name System, 224
Decision support systems (DSS), 218 Double-spending, 232
DeepText, 141 DPoS, see Delegated proof of stake
Deep web, 237 DSM, see Distributed shared memory

250 ◾ Index
DSS, see Decision support systems finance, 91–92

Dtube, 113 health care, 87–91
Dual-Tree Complex wavelet transform method, 88 identity management, 92–96
indirect tax, 82–84
Earn, 108 land registry, 85–87
“eBay of drugs,” 239 taxation, 82
e-Casting, 85 traffic management, 81–82
Electronic healthcare patient (EHR) voting, 84–85
management record, 170
Electronic medical records (EMR), 88 Hardware fork, 169–170
Electronic money, 95 Hash function, 104, 221
Electronic payment systems, see Digital cryptography, 123
payment Hash/hashing, 123
Embedded IT, 206 algorithm, 150
EMR, see Electronic medical records function in Python, 46
Enigma model, 90 generations, 45–46
Enlte, 109 HDG, see Healthcare Data Gateway
Ethereum, 22–23, 70–71, 102 Healthcare, 87–88, 128–129
health insurance, 90–91 artificial intelligence (AI) in, 153–155
transactions in, 123 big data, 89–90
Ethernet connections, 12, 13 data privacy, 89
European Data Protection Regulations Dual-Tree Complex wavelet transform
(GDPR), 179 method, 88
Event-based architectures, 9, 10 EMR system, 88–89
e-voting, 84–85 government sector, 91
Exonum framework, 144–145 health insurance, 90
Expanded big data, 206 smart ambient assisted living, 89
Healthcare Data Gateway (HDG), 173
Facebook, 141 Healthcare systems, 170–174
Face recognition algorithm, 141 HealthChainRx, 172
Fair exchange, 168–169 Healthcoin, 172
using timelocking, 169 HealthCombix, 172
using trusted third party (TTP), 169 HIPAA Security rule, 90
Fair payments Hitman Network, 239
attacks, 169–170 Human digital twin
fair exchange, 168–169 attributes, 201
Fault-tolerance method, 74 government initiatives, 202–205
Federated blockchain, see Consortium interactions, 201
blockchain online persona, 201
Federated IDM, 94 self-sovereign identity, 202
Finance, 41–42, 91–92, 129–130 Hybrid blockchain, 120, 122
Fraud detection, 42 Hyperledger, 171
Hyperledger Fabric DLA method, 89
Game-changing technology, 189 Hyperledger Fabric framework, 93
GDPR, see European Data Protection Hyperledger Sawtooth, 72
Regulations
Genesis block, 66, 118 Identity management (IDM)
Gideon, 180 digital payment, 94–96
Government blockchain-enabled digital twin DLT with
initiatives, 203–205 advantages, 92
Government services, optimized digital laws, 93
transformation in proposals, 92

Index ◾ 251
federated, 94 Land registry, 85–87

Hyperledger Fabric framework, 93 Large-scale IoT systems, 58–60
self-sovereign, 94 Layered architectures, 8–9, 14
Identity security, 178 Leased proof of stake (LPoS), 71
IDM, see Identity management Lenses, 142
IIoT applications, see Industrial IoT LifePound, 153
applications Litecoin, 68
IL, see Immutable ledger Litecoin networks, 26
Immutability, 123, 130, 214, 215 Log entry, 75
Immutable ledger (IL), 55 Logical components, 29–31
Indirect tax, 82–84 Lottery-based algorithms
Indorse, 108 delegated proof of stake (DPoS), 71
Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications, 56 leased proof of stake (LPoS), 71
Instagram, 141 proof of elapsed time (PoET), 71–72
Instruction-level parallel computing, 5 proof of exercise (PoX), 69
Intelligent vehicle (IV), 81 proof of luck (PoL), 72–73
Internet of Things (IoT), 130–131, 136, 202 proof of space or proof of storage, 73–74
architecture, 216–217 proof of stake (PoS), 70–71
blockchain integration, 217–218 proof of useful work, 69–70
advantages, 220 proof of work (PoW), 67–69
challenges, 220 LPoS, see Leased proof of stake
related works, 220–221
secure IoT applications, 218–219 Machine learning (ML), 141–143, 146, 151
cloud-centric frameworks, 55 MADA, see Mobility-aware data approach
definition, 54 MasterCard, 142
designing challenges, 217 Mastodon, 112
large-scale systems, 58–60 Medical data marketplace ecosystem, 153, 154
platform shortcomings, 207 Medshare, 173
privacy challenges, 54 Membership service provider (MSP), 93
proof of work (PoW), 54–55 Merkle hash tree, see Merkle tree
security Merkle root, 165
blockchain mechanisms for, 60–61 hashed transaction with, 167
centralization, 58 Merkle tree, 102, 118, 167
characteristics, 58 structure, 233
cryptographic mechanisms, 57 Message-passing mechanism, 6
distributed ledger, 56–57 Micropayment channel, 68, 234
dynamic policies, 57 Minds, 110
measures, 177–179 Miners, 32, 229–230
privacy, 58, 61–63 ML, see Machine learning
resource optimization, 58 Mobile applications, 131–132
smart contracts, 56 Mobility-aware data approach (MADA), 81–82
Interoperability, 172, 180–181 Monero, 68, 243
INTERPOL, 241–243 Money laundering, 240, 241
IoT, see Internet of Things Mooti model, 90
IoT ecosystem, 61, 186, 187 MPC approach, see Multi-party calculation
IP management blocks, 170–171 approach
IV, see Intelligent vehicle MSP, see Membership service provider
Multi-party calculation (MPC) approach, 173
Key performance indicators (KPI), 207 Mycelia, 103
Know your customer (KYC), 42
KPI, see Key performance indicators Nakamoto consensus, see Lottery-based
KYC, see Know your customer algorithms

252 ◾ Index
Namecoin, 243 Pharmaceutical industry, 219

Nasdaq, 61 Pharmaceutical research, 171
Node application, 30–31 PHS, see Parallel Health Systems
Nodes, 12–13, 31, 118, 215 Pinterest, 142
n-tier architecture, 7 Pitchfork attack, 170
Nuco’s blockchain-based solution, 172 Plotting process, 73
PoET, see Proof of elapsed time
Object-based architectures, 9 PoL, see Proof of luck
Obsidian, 108 Polkadot, 181
Ong.Social, 110 PoS, see Proof of stake
Onion routing, 224, 237 PoW, see Proof of work
Online voting, 43–44 PoX, see Proof of exercise
Opportunities Prescription abuse prevention, 172
in city management, 174–177 Primecoin, 68
in financial domain Privacy, 128
Bitcoin, 166–168 leakage, 134–135
fair payments, 168–170 Private blockchain, 17, 26–28, 96, 120,
in healthcare systems, 170–174 121, 165
IOT devices, security measures in, 177–180 vs. public vs. consortium blockchain, 27
OriginChain, 176–177 Proof-based consensus algorithm, see Lottery-
Orthogonal vectors (OV), 69 based algorithms
Proof of elapsed time (PoET), 71–72
P2P architecture, see Peer-to-peer architecture Proof of exercise (PoX), 69
P2PKH, see Pay-to-PubKeyHash Proof of luck (PoL), 72–73
P2P network, see Peer-to-peer network Proof of space, 73–74
P2SH, see Pay-to-ScriptHash Proof of stake (PoS), 25, 70–71
Parallel computing, 2, 4, 58 Proof of storage, 73–74
vs. distributed computing, 10–11 Proof of useful work, 69–70
levels, 5 Proof of work (PoW), 25, 41, 54–55, 104,
Parallel Health Systems (PHS), 171 221, 232
Parallel processing, 72 analysis, 68–69
Patient Centric Agent (PCA), 171, 173 implementation details, 68
Patientory, 172 mining, 68, 105
Payments, 42, 66 properties, 67–68
Bitcoin, 47, 68 structure, 69
digital, 94–96 Provers, 73
fair, 168–170 Public blockchain, 17, 24–26, 96, 120,
off-blockchain mode, 234 121, 165
ransomware, 236 vs. private vs. consortium blockchain, 27
Pay-to-PubKeyHash (P2PKH), 231 Public ledger
Pay-to-ScriptHash (P2SH), 231 consistency, 161, 162
PCA, see Patient Centric Agent decentralized, 162, 163
Peepeth, 112
Peer network Raft consensus algorithm, 75
inviting and removing members, 39–40 Ransomware, 235–236
and membership management, 39 Resilient communications, 133
Peer node, 40
Peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture, 7, 13, 15 Sapien, 109
Peer-to-peer (P2P) network, 12, 15, 234 Satoshi Nakamoto, 22, 41, 51, 102, 225
Bitcoin, 225, 226 block, ledger design, 66
Permissioned blockchain, see Private blockchain white paper on Bitcoin, 44
Personal identifiable information, 135 Scalability, 135

Index ◾ 253
Scalamed, 172 SpaceMint, 73–74

Scams and fakes, in Bitcoin, 240–241 Speech recognition systems, 143
SCT, see Smart contract testing State machine replication, 66
Security, 135 Steem, 107–108
communication, 178 Steepshot, 112–113
features, 125 Storj, 103
issues, 127 Supply chain, 175–176
Self-confirmation transaction, 182 and logistics, 219
Self-generated transactions, 182 management, 102, 133
Selfish mining, 135 Surface web, 224
Self-sovereign IDM, 94 Sybil attack, 232
Serial computing, 2
SGX, see Software Guard Extensions Taps, 179–180
SHA-256, 45 Task-level parallel computing, 5
Shared data space architectures, 10 Taxation, 82
Shared ledger, 31 indirect tax, 82–84
SHM, see Smart Home Manager Tax evasion, 236–237
“Shodan,” 61 TEE, see Trusted execution environment
Smart contract ontology development, 207 The Onion Router, see Tor browser
Smart contracts, 56, 103, 136, 188, 189 Three-tier architecture, 7
advantages, 36–37 Timestamping, 154
applications Tor browser, 224, 238–240
digital identity and records management, Traceability system, 176
38–40 Traditional vs. distributed DBMS, 11
financial services and insurance, 37 Traffic management, 81–82
medical research, 38 Transaction, 32
mortgage transactions, 38 TransactiveGrid, 103
supply chain transparency, 38 Transparency, 123, 146, 150, 214, 215
benefits, 36 Trusted execution environment (TEE), 71–72
characteristics, 36 Trusted third party (TTP), 169
definition, 35
execution steps, 35 Ubiquity, 103
vs. traditional contract, 36 Ujo, 103
Smart contract testing (SCT), 182
Smart factory, 198–199 VeChain, 18
Smart home, 61–63, 219 Verge, 243
Smart Home Manager (SHM), 62, 63 Verifiers, 73
Smoke, 111 Vertcoin, 68
Snapchat, 142 Virtual machine, 31
Social media, 105 Voatz, 43
cryptocurrencies, 106 Voice, 109
future trends, 113–114 Voting, 84–85, 103
online identities verification, 105 online, 43–44
opportunities, 107–113 policy, 39
revolution, 106–107 Voting-based consensus, 74–76
Social X, 109
Software fork, 169, 170 WannaCry ransomware attack, 235
Software Guard Extensions (SGX), 72 Wireless remote software updates (WRSU), 134
Sola, 110
SoMee, 110–111 Zcash, 68, 242


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What are the main topics covered in the book?

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What technologies are discussed in relation to blockchain?

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i

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© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISBN: 978-0-367-53340-3 (hbk)

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1 Distributed Computing and/or Distributed Database Systems..............1

2 Blockchain Components and Concept..................................................21

3 Blockchain and IoT Security.................................................................51

4 Consensus Algorithms – A Survey.........................................................65

5 Optimized Digital Transformation in Government Services

6 Blockchain and Social Media..............................................................101

7 Assessing Security Features of Blockchain Technology......................115

8 Merger of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain................................139

9 Identification of Blockchain-Enabled Opportunities

10 Enabling Digital Twin through Blockchain: A Strategic

11 Blockchain for Securing Internet of Things (IoT) Applications..........213

12 Bitcoins and Crimes ...........................................................................223

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Pethuru Raj works as the chief architect in the Site

Kavita Saini is presently working as an associate professor,

She has published 22 research papers in national and international journals

Chellammal Surianarayanan is an assistant professor of

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M. Vivek Anand is a research scholar in the Department of

K. P. Arjun is a research scholar in the Department of

D. Peter Augustine is presently working as associate profes-

B. Balamurugan completed his PhD at VIT University,

Broto Rauth Bhardwaj works as Head, Research and

Rahul Chauhan is currently a student and pursuing a

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Saugata Dutta received his Bachelor of Computer Science

N. S. Gowri Ganesh received his B.E. degree in Electronics

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R. Indrakumari is presently working as assistant profes-

Pramod Mathew Jacob completed his B.Tech. in

Vishal Jain is currently working as associate professor with

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Rajesh Kaluri completed his PhD in Computer Vision at

K. Sampath Kumar is a professor in the School of

Prasanna Mani completed his M.S. in Computer Science

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M. R. Manu is currently working as a Computer Science

Namya Musthafa is currently pursuing an M.E. in

C. Navaneethan is currently working as associate professor

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Pooja Saigal is presently working as associate professor,

T. Poongodi works as an associate professor in the

S. Prasanna received his B.E. degree in Computer Science and

N. M. Sreenarayanan is a research scholar in the Department

T. Subha is presently working as associate professor,

R. Sujatha completed a PhD at Vellore Institute of

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1.2 Evolution of Distributed Computing

1.3.1.1 Bit-Level, Instruction-Level and Task-Level

1.3.3 Architecture of Distributed Computing

1.3.3.2 Software Architecture of Distributed Computing

1.3.3.2.4 Shared Data Space Architectures

1.4 Comparison of Distributed Computing

1.4.2 Distributed Database Systems

1.4.3 Traditional versus Distributed Databases

1.4.4 Distributed Computing and Blockchain

1.5 Distributed Computing Environment of Blockchain

1.5.2 Distributed Computing Architecture

1.6 Distributed Ledger in Blockchain

1.6.1 Computing Power and Breakthroughs in Cryptography

1.6.2 Public and Private Blockchain