Application and Analysis of Blockchain Development Platforms

Abstract

We are in the amidst of another silent revolution: the blockchain. It is basi- cally a unique tamper-resistant data structure, that aggregates timestamped transactions, into sequential blocks on a distributed digital ledger and pre- serves them through cryptographic primitives. It can be con gured to store not only currency transactions, but virtually anything with which value, identity, ownership can be associated. Blockchain o ers characteristics such as decentralization, immutability, persistency, anonymity and auditability, consensus, traceability thus improving e ciency and security. The proliferation of blockchain has been sporadic. Organizations, in- dustries and entrepreneurs have interpreted and explored this technology in their own unique ways which has led to numerous avenues of applica- tions. Consequently, it is suitable to track the journey of its evolution, from innovation to commoditisation, through an application-centric perspective, loosely categorized into Blockchain 1.0, 2.0, 3.0. Blockchain 1.0 includes Cryptocurrencies, a phenomenon with profound impact on the status quo of how we perceive "currency" or "money", in a relatively short span of time. However, Blockchain 1.0 is only the tip of the ice berg. The real- ization of the blockchain promise, has served as a catalyst to overhaul the technological landscape as the second wave of blockchain applications facil- itating programmed, self-enforcing, "smart contracts", popularly referred to as Blockchain 2.0 emerged. Blockchain 3.0 is still in infancy and brings the promise of applications related to government and public sector, health care, energy management, science and research, education, culture, entertainment and art. Blockchain Development Platforms provide a development environment for solutions and products pertaining to any of the aforementioned three waves namely Blockchain 1.0,2.0,3.0. These predominantly open source plat- forms allow for rapid prototyping, development, deployment and integration of blockchain Decentralized applications (Dapps) on the blockchain. For a solution to be considered as a Decentralized Application (Dapp) it needs to be open-source, self-governing, decentralized and must record data on a cryptographically secured blockchain. In this thesis, we survey a huge subset of the Blockchain platforms as rep- resentatives, encompassing most of the research work and development in the area with the aim to analyze, compare, and consolidate the key attributes of this transformative technology. We navigate through the blockchain maze by formulating a two-tier taxonomy of available blockchain development plat- forms. The rationale behind the rst tier is application-centric. Further, key technical distinctions within each category are identi ed through a second tier of classi cation. We have scrupulously aggregated data and enriched it through analysis and discussion to enable a deeper understanding and fair means of comparison of the licensing, design space, features and speci ca- tions. This catalogue and evaluation of blockchain platforms, their appli- cations and the underlying speci cations helps us identify the sentiments around the technology, gaps in research, major challenges and the direction for future research, as the ecosystem continues to evolve. Our work acts as a comprehensive guideline for both developers to select a suitable platform and researchers to understand the domain, inherent issues and the existent countermeasures. It will help rms strategize if blockchain is right for their organization and prioritize potential areas for use case de- velopment.