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The purpose of this paper is to examine the blockchain as a trusted computing platform. Understanding the strengths and limitations of this platform is essential to execute large-scale real-world applications in blockchains.

This paper proposes several modifications to conventional blockchain networks to improve the scale and scope of applications.

Simple modifications to cryptographic protocols for constructing blockchain ledgers, and digital signatures for authentication of transactions, are sufficient to realize a scalable blockchain platform.

The original contributions of this paper are concrete steps to overcome limitations of current blockchain networks.

In Korea and abroad, this paper investigates the use of blockchains in the financial sector. This study aims to examine how blockchains are applied to the financial sector and how to respond to the Korean conditions.

This paper investigates the movements of the financial sector and related services using the blockchain in the current market.

First, as a result of examining domestic and foreign cases, it can be seen that the areas where blockchains are most actively applied in the financial sector are expanding into settlement, remittance, securities and smart contracts. Also, in Korea, many of the authentication procedures based on the equipment possessed by the consumers are used so that introduction of the blockchain in the authentication part is prominent. Second, the move to introduce a closed (private) distributed ledger that does not go through the central bank is accelerating in payments between banks. Third, domestic financial institutions also need joint action by financial institutions through a blockchain consortium to apply blockchain technology to the financial sector. Fourth, consumer needs and technological developments are changing. At the same time, as the opportunity to infringe on the information held by individuals has expanded, the need for blockchain technology is strongly emerging because of the efforts of the organizations to defend it.

This paper contributes to understanding the changes in the financial sector using the blockchain.

The purpose of this article is to clarify current and widespread misconceptions about the properties of blockchain technologies and to describe challenges and avenues for correct and trustworthy design and implementation of distributed ledger system (DLS) or Technology (DLT).

The authors contrast the properties of a blockchain with desired, however emergent, properties of a DLS, which is a complex and distributed system. They point out and justify, with facts and analysis, current misconceptions about the blockchain and DLSs. They describe challenges that these systems will need to address and possible solution avenues for achieving trustworthiness.

Many of the statements that have appeared on the internet, news and academic articles, such as immutable ledger and exact copies, may be misleading. These are desired emergent properties of a complex system, not assured properties. It is well-known within the distributed systems and critical software community that it is extremely hard to prove that a complex system correctly and completely implements emergent properties. Further research and development for trustworthy DLS design and implementation is needed, both practical and theoretical.

This is the first known published attempt at describing current misconceptions about blockchain technologies. Further collaborative work, discussions, potential solutions, evaluations, resulting publications and verified reference implementations are needed to ensure DLTs are safe, secure, and trustworthy.

Interdisciplinary teams with members from academia, business and industry, and from disciplines such as business, entrepreneurship, theoretical and practical computer science, cybersecurity, finance, mathematics and statistics, must be formed. Such teams must collaborate with the objective of developing strategies and techniques for ensuring the correctness and security of future DLSs in which our society may become dependent.

The value and originality of this article is twofold: the disproving, through fact collection and systematic analysis, of current misconceptions about the properties of the blockchain and DLSs, and the discussion of challenges to achieving adequate trustworthiness along with the proposal of general avenues for possible solutions.

This paper aims to contribute to the debate about the value of blockchain for supply chain management by assessing empirical evidence on the relationship between blockchain and supply chain performance.

The authors conducted a structured review of the academic literature to identify and assess papers providing empirical insight on operational blockchain applications. The authors complement the findings from this review with primary empirical data from 11 interviews with blockchain providers, users and experts involved in four recent projects.

The paper presents an integrated research framework that illustrates the impact of blockchain on supply chain performance. The findings highlight that blockchain can affect supply chain performance directly – via one of its core technological features – and indirectly via the broader business project through which blockchain technology is implemented.

Insights from this paper should provide managers with a more nuanced understanding of how blockchain technology can be leveraged to address important supply chain management challenges.

Prior research addressing the relationship between blockchain and supply chain performance mostly discusses potential performance effects of blockchain, presents individual blockchain applications and/or provides little explanation for how the core technological features of blockchain affect supply chain performance. This paper systematically assesses the ways in which blockchain can affect supply chain performance. In doing so, it goes beyond the initial hype around blockchain technology while countering some of the more recent critiques.

This paper aims to examine the role of Blockchain in the accounting and auditing literature and profession. Specifically, the paper investigates auditors' perceptions about the role of blockchain in accounting and auditing and the perceived potential benefits and challenges of blockchain-based accounting systems in Egypt. Moreover, what are the capabilities required for successfully implementing blockchain-based accounting systems?

A mixed-method approach was adopted to achieve the research objectives. The qualitative study included 11 in-depth interviews with external auditors, and the results of the interviews and the literature review helped develop a survey collected from 58 auditors.

The findings revealed low-to-moderate awareness of Blockchain-based accounting systems. Also, there were significant differences between auditors from large audit firms and small-and-medium audit firms regarding the benefits and challenges associated with Blockchain-based accounting systems.

The results provide valuable insights for practitioners, researchers and policymakers.

Understanding blockchain-based accounting systems and the benefits and challenges associated with their application is crucial for developing effective strategies and frameworks to overcome barriers and realize the transformative potential of blockchain in the accounting and audit market.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger, in which the blocks containing transaction details are connected chronologically to form a series of chains, thus raising the possibility of improving the process and innovating business model for the financial institutions. The purpose of this paper is to study the actual cases of Blockchain applied in Korea in 2017, so that a vision of business model innovation of financial institutions can be drawn.

The financial institutions in Korea are in the technology verification stage to introduce Blockchain technology. Since there is an insufficient amount of actual measurement data, case study method was adopted. The authors interviewed ICT officers of major banks in Korea. The purpose of the interview was to understand the relationship between Blockchain and business models of financial institutions, and the effects and challenges that Blockchain has on the business model of financial institutions.

From the perspective of financial institutions, the emergence of Blockchain does not just have technical significance – emergence of highly efficient database system – but has the possibility that if the business model of existing financial intermediaries disappears or get reduced, the financial services relying on them can disappear altogether, or some of them can be replaced, and financial transaction patterns of consumers can be changed. As a case studies researched for this paper, it was discovered that the distributed characteristic of Blockchain cannot be applied when actually developing financial services.

The current study addresses how blockchain can deal with the challenges that the midstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply chain poses combined from a management standpoint. Such challenges are: the volume of transactions, communication hurdles and the lack of contemporary management tools. The paper proposes a comprehensive framework to assess the impact of blockchain implementation in the midstream LNG supply chain in order to tackle those barriers.

The basis of the research is the business process modelling (BPM), through which entities, roles, tasks, resources and transactions can be modelled and simulated. The modelling of the midstream LNG supply chain, via BPM, is based on guidelines of the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGGTO) and common industry business models. A quantitative analysis is employed to support the motivation and the potential impact of blockchain implementation. The methodology is used to identify (1) inefficiencies related to large volume of transactions between stakeholders and (2) critical areas of an LNG shipping company, where blockchain can be implemented.

Process repeatability, numerous shared documentation forms, excessive paperwork and communication imbroglios are mapped from the modelling section. Up to 327 processes are repeated during a typical vessel voyage, and up to 122 shared documentation forms are exchanged. Excessive paperwork and communication imbroglios are tracked through, which correspond to 25 severe errors as detected. By implementing the methodology, stakeholders can quantify the possible impact of blockchain on the operational performance of each stakeholder's operations separately and the supply chain as a whole in terms of real-time monitoring, transparency and paperwork reduction, time and cost savings.

The research has certain limitations deriving from its conceptual nature. The business processes' modelling is based on standard procedures described in the guidelines by SIGGTO and may need further adjustment for specific use cases. A structured case study has not been realisable as corporate data for an LNG shipping company regarding processes and other commercial sensitive information are required.

Potential practitioners may exploit the proposed framework as a low cost and seamless tool to evaluate how blockchain could disrupt their operations. Thus, the blockchain implementation's improvements or weaknesses can be pinpointed, and enabling the interested stakeholder of the LNG supply chain with specific feedback, it can guide them towards informed decisions on their operations.

The research has a novel approach as it combines the creation of practical management framework, with a comprehensive visualization of the midstream LNG supply chain. Thus, the reader can identify in which parts of the midstream LNG supply chain can blockchain be implemented, and what impact it could have in terms of supply chain operations.