Tradeoff Analysis and Applications of Blockchain Technology

• Traditional financial systems are based on trust in central authorities for secure transactions between parties. Blockchain on the other hand is a distributed ledger technology that stores data in a peer-to-peer decentralized network, where users can transfer money to each other without relying on centralized trusted intermediaries. Blockchain technology has received a lot of attention, mainly due to successful cryptocurrency applications (e.g., Bitcoin). Apart from cryptocurrency, blockchain can be used for supply chain, logistics, healthcare, energy industries, and other financial services.Challenges with blockchain include the transaction processing time, resource-consuming network protocols (consensus algorithms), performance and scalability of the network, government regulations, etc. The government and private sectors are yet to consider blockchain-based solutions as a sustainable approach to building their business models. Inadequate insights about the tradeoffs and governance model for selecting the proper blockchain platforms have hindered the mass adoption of this technology.The scope of this thesis is to investigate the opportunities, challenges, and tradeoffs of various blockchain technologies. We provide a tradeoff analysis considering technical properties such as the performance and scalability and important architectural/societal considerations about blockchain systems, based on the governance model and quality attributes.There are four major contributions. First, we conduct a literature survey of blockchain from the perspective of applications, challenges, and opportunities. It presents some tradeoffs of blockchain, a comparison among different consensus mechanisms, and discusses challenges, including scalability, privacy, interoperability, energy consumption, and regulatory issues. Second, we evaluate the mobility gap for Electric vehicle (EV) charging transactions by leveraging blockchain-based solutions.  We also present a proof of concept using the Hyperledger consortium platform for the evaluation of the technical feasibility of the proposed approach. Third, we conducted a quantitative performance and scalability analysis of some popular private blockchain platforms, including Ethereum Quorum, Corda, and Hyperledger Fabric. Finally, we propose a taxonomy guideline that provides critical insights for determining a suitable blockchain platform.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datavetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Pervasive Mobile Computing

Distribuerade datorsystem

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

lic (ämneskategori)