Exploring the Role of Block chain in Enhancing

Security, Trust, and Privacy Preservation in the

Next Generation of Connected Environments
Ritu Dagar
Assistant Professor
SKITM

1. Introduction to Block chain Technology

Block chain has been of increasing interest in the recent past, given its applications in various
domains, including digital currencies, supply chain management, financial services, real
estate management, and healthcare. At its simplest, a block chain is a distributed digital
ledger created using a decentralized network, where a continuously growing set of records,
called blocks, is linked together using cryptography. One of the decentralized environments
that can benefit from the use of block chain is the Internet of Things, allowing secure data
exchange and enhancing user identity management, a crucial aspect of trust in digital
societies. The importance of securing the exchange of data in the next generation of
connected environments such as IoT and block chain led to the proposal of a block chain-
based data sharing and management project. This project aims to detail the role of block
chain in enhancing security, trust, and privacy preservation in the next generation of
connected environments. This document reports the main achievements of our investigations
on the role of block chain in promoting security, trust, and privacy in a global next generation
of connected environments while discussing and mitigating underlying risks.
The role of block chain in our use case is further analyzed under the security perspective,
which also supports the design of trust mechanisms, and the privacy perspective while
providing solutions to privacy concerns. We choose the requirement of "Patient Identity" to
analyse the need for security and a viable solution expressed in designing trust mechanisms
with block chain technology. Block chain is a cryptographically secured, immutable digital
ledger that operates in a decentralized fashion in which no single authority is the custodian of
the ledger or the truth therein. A block chain network is a distributed system that consists of
multiple network locations, or nodes, each equipped with software that provides the capacity
to generate cryptographic transactions and convert them into a verifiable block of validated
transactions. Each block is then cryptographically linked to its predecessor, creating a chain
intended to be a permanent layer accessible by all participants of the network. The most
powerful component of a block chain is the integrity aspect of the system, in which an
attacker needs to corrupt more than 50% of the network to violate system integrity.

1.1. Definition and Fundamentals of Block chain

To proceed further, we have to define what block chain is and shed light on its fundamentals.
The term block chain was introduced by a person or group of people under the name Satoshi
Nakamoto in 2008. From a quantum computing perspective, block chain is a distributed
database that maintains a continuously growing list of records called blocks. Each block
contains bundles of encoded transactions and a timestamp of the last block. Cryptographic
hash functions then link each block to create a chain of records also known as a ledger. Each
new block is linked to the preceding one, forming a cipher-secured chain of blocks, giving
birth to the now popular term "block chain".

Block chain forms a decentralized digital ledger across a network of computers. After
information enters a block, it becomes public, where the blocks propagate their presence to
the nodes on a peer-to-peer network, forming consensus on what is legitimate. Block chain
uses a whole range of cyberpunks for concurrence protocols across the network of nodes,
who have particular more or less encrypted digital addresses. These transactions are
immutable, meaning they cannot be deleted, hence the expression "chain" of blocks. Block
chain can also be seen as a fundamental technological building block, which can significantly
change the way services are offered and transactions are conducted across various sectors and
activity domains. Block chain has become synonymous with crypto currencies of late;
however, it has a much wider applicability, contrary to popular conception.

2. Security Challenges in Connected Environments

The advent of connectivity and the digital world offers us many opportunities, but it also
confronts us with a myriad of associated challenges. This, in particular, concerns connected
environments and, more specifically, next-generation connected environments—whether the
Internet of Things or Internet of Everything. In these hierarchical and heterogeneous systems,
because of the sheer number of interconnected devices, a large amount of disparate and often
sensitive data is constantly flowing between various distributed elements. Furthermore, the
many different, often inconsistent, and, what is worse, interdependent communication
protocols, the multiplicity of ad-hoc hardware devices, and the inadequate security solutions
tailored to them make it easy to tamper with these digital ecosystems.
These and many other examples may significantly undermine the trust of end users, who thus
more frequently become the victims of unauthorized access to their private environments.
Likewise, the more personal data is generated, processed, and transferred between different
but interconnected systems, the more a subsequent data breach may infringe on the privacy,
and indeed safety, of the end user. It is exactly this multifaceted risk of unintended
consequences arising from insufficient protection that block chain was introduced to confront
head-on. What is of no less importance, and indeed represents an additional driving factor, is
the increasingly advanced nature of cyber threats, which take full advantage of modern ICT
in their execution, for example through channel or side-channel attacks or cryptanalysis.

2.1. Overview of Security Threats in IoT and Connected Environments

The rapid proliferation of interconnected devices and environments has attracted an
unprecedented scale of threats and vulnerabilities. The introduction of the concept of a threat
to the system, a violation occurring either at network scale or application scale, led to disjoint
groups of threats, implications, and possible solutions. Physical intrusions versus network
intrusions, security of the physical margin versus securing the information, exploitations of
the system itself versus exploitations enabled by another system, underneath the system's
boundary versus above the system's boundary are such examples of threat categories.
Moreover, an automatic reconfiguration of distributed interactions could cope with different
types of network threats, acting in mobile ad-hoc network infrastructures.

In the world of connected IoT, applications that can facilitate or help control
communications, traffic, and network allocation have not kept up with the scale of
deployment to date. Consequently, various forms of malware, botnet campaigns, and
hijacking attacks originated at the edge, almost spontaneously. The effects on the
trustworthiness at the IoT connected layer can be immediate, from an outage in essential
services that directly impact a user’s data integrity to mental harassment and privacy leakage.
Real-world cases include the hack of a radio-connected ship, the power outage of the entire
power grid, the breach of a smart trapdoor used to track real-time shipments and vehicles in
surrounding regions, and the session hijack or man-in-the-middle attack in a smart device.
Numerous data leaks of personal information were reported in IoT devices, data breaches in
telehealth systems, and location leaks in myriad applications. A lack of security is likely to be
damaging to the trustworthiness of a system's performance, and many trust-aware models can
leverage a missing level of security, providing a mutual self-validation exchange that
leverages technical, operational, human, and overall trust stances.

3. Block chain Solutions for Security Enhancement

Decentralization is at the heart of what block chain is. Originally designed to underpin the
operation of digital transactions, block chain has over the years become central to numerous
use cases, including the Internet of Things (IoT). Leveraging the advantages of
decentralization, such as fault tolerance and distributed data management, can largely reduce
the likelihood of single points of failure or access by unauthorized parties. Moreover,
decentralization is combined with smart contracts, giving rise to what is known as
programmable trust. Furthermore, consensus mechanisms used in block chain systems
enforce a set of rules regarding data validity, integrity, ownership, and ordering, thereby
improving data quality and reliability. This aspect makes it even more difficult for data to be
tampered with, and therefore reduces the opportunities for fraudulent activities.
Many proprietary, open-source, and public block chain protocols have been used in the
context of the IoT, each having its own characteristics and may be suitable for specific
application contexts. Various block chain protocols serve as innovative solutions for
enhancing security in the IoT and connected environments already established. We address
the effect of security challenges in connected environments using block chain solutions.
Attributes of block chain are ideal for mitigating and upholding the security of a system, not
only enhancing trust but also maintaining full privacy for end users, making it ideal for
deployment as part of a service. Such integration can ensure real-time monitoring as well as
real-time responses due to automated security measures that can be part of the block chain
design. Block chain technology can be applied for deployment in mission-critical security
devices, as it has proven to increase the performance of a security device. Any analysis or
application environment can be used to provide insights for the deployment of block chain in
different connected environments. Security can be enhanced, along with privacy; trust
towards the deployed service is likely to increase. In terms of customers, a secure
cryptographic analysis shows that block chain can be incorporated into the future for better
service.

3.1. Decentralization and Consensus Mechanisms

Decentralization is one of the fundamental components of block chain. In a decentralized
environment, there is no single entity that has absolute control over the decision-making
process. Such a configuration could be beneficial for enhancing trust and transparency in the
system due to the removal of the intermediary, which possesses a certain degree of self-
interest. Furthermore, in centralized systems, services are always disrupted due to attacks and
failures of single points of failure caused by power outages and hardware malfunctions.
Nowadays, attackers use botnets to perform attacks, leading to increased odds of service
disruption. Hence, such centralized networks need to be replaced with decentralized systems.
The centralized nature of IoT, clouds, and edge networks are major drawbacks of those
systems, resulting in a lack of resilience and trust. The use of block chain in the domain of
IoT could address the issues associated with centralized systems by integrating resiliency and
trust in connected environments.

A consensus mechanism is employed to confirm whether or not the transaction meets the
specified protocol or criteria defined by the involved nodes. The transaction must be
processed by the majority of nodes in the block chain in order to be approved. A confirmation
of a transaction for block chain is illustrated as reaching consensus. There are several types of
consensus algorithms, some of which include various methods. Each of them has its pros and
cons. The most widely used consensus algorithms in the block chain network are certain
methods. With one consensus algorithm, miners solve complex mathematical puzzles to
validate blocks by devoting energy and mining time. If a group of miners solves the complex
mathematical puzzle before another miner discovers a block, the group's block is approved
and added to the block chain first. Miners who discovered the new block can obtain rewards.
Every time a miner wishes to broadcast a block, a consensus algorithm must be employed to
exhibit legitimate block verification. As one block is attached to the main block chain, each
node in the block chain network properly stores a record of this new block.

4. Trust and Transparency in Block chain

Since disintermediating interactions among its participants, block chain has also been noted
as a unique tool to foster trust and transparency in heavily involved systems. We advocate
that block chain can enhance user trust among connected environments. Being immutable and
operating an append-only system, block chain ensures participants’ transactions are stored in
a way that cannot be changed or removed once validated. These transactions are also
traceable, providing participants with the ability to verify their state and content. As good
practice, each block chain transaction requests visibility and the ability for all participants to
verify the order in which transactions have occurred. In a world that demands compliance
with regulatory and policy-driven rules and standards, the ability to ensure the privacy and
integrity of all peer interactions is evaluated. Typically, these protocols are ripe for security
issues as they combine the use of access control lists, cryptography, and shared system
interfaces, since the systems themselves are not made for one-to-many and many-to-many
communication.
A foundation for initiating and maintaining trust among users is transparency. In block chain,
transparency refers to the capacity of every user to communicate and interact, adding value
for others and fostering user relationships without the need for intermediaries. Block chain
ensures that every action taking place inside it is noted, with details made publicly available
to all participants. It also enables the recording of every exchange of assets among
participants, as well as the specificity regarding the assets interchanges. Trust in digital
transactions would be positively impacted if the protocol could combine these two main
elements of trust and transparency in a decentralized environment. In a context of trust, the
factor of combinatory elements of transparency and, at the same time, peers' ability to verify
the block chain transactions is essential. Therefore, a better habit is produced for a user or an
entity requesting goods or services to become consciously aware of the importance of peer
selection and the indication of trust dynamics in the selection of who the associated user
would want to make transactions with. Block chain empowers compliance to be audited and
negotiated while enhancing security, trust, and transparency, thus linking compliance to
accountability, ensuring each participant is responsible for their actions and transactions
within the block chain network. With block chain’s protocol being heavily cryptographic, this
enhances user confidence between participants as each transaction is ‘advertised’ in a pre-
negotiated manner. In accordance with this, participants that could be at a greater risk due to
untrustworthy or dishonest entities will avoid forming any transaction boundaries with them.
Ultimately, constantly assessing and applying trust dynamics in an automated way is possible
and assured. The next sections discuss how we can use block chain as a support mechanism
for a trust model and present its potential to enhance security, trust, and privacy in connected
environments.

4.1. Smart Contracts and Trust less Transactions

Smart contracts are an integral feature of block chain technology, designed to emulate
traditional contracts that define the terms of commercial agreements or trades between
parties. The main peculiar feature of smart contracts is their capacity to self-execute:
embedded directly on the block chain, smart contracts facilitate trust less transactions by
mutualizing the enforcement costs of third parties or, in some cases, by removing the need for
intermediaries altogether. In practice, smart contracts are small pieces of code that live on the
block chain and define the rules for users to interact with one another. Smart contracts, in
turn, do away with intermediaries: they automatically verify conditions, transfer money and
other digital goods, and enforce complex and conditional agreements. The agreements are
self-executing and self-enforcing, having the control of the contract inside the contract itself.
As such, the code and the agreements it defines become independently verifiable and
enforceable.
Several platforms have been developed to support smart contracts, the most popular of which
are Ethereum, Hyper ledger Fabric, and R3 Corda. In the Ethereum environment, contract
code automatically executes when the predefined parties meet the detailed contractual
parameters. The execution of smart contracts enables the automatic representation,
management, and movement of assets and resources across block chain networks. This
automation of processes is, in turn, designed to make self-operating programs that may
automatically transfer value when certain conditions are met. All the transaction data and the
contract's code execution are permanently stored on a block of the block chain framework.
The execution of smart contracts is deterministic in nature, where block chain networks
automatically and publicly verify the outcomes. Thus, the execution of smart contracts has
been utilized to develop the concept of t transactions. Given the pre-set conditions and the
transparent procedure, there is minimal reliance on trust. If all parties have agreed to a set of
rules as defined by the smart contract and further encoded on the block chain, disputes are
minimized.

5. Privacy Preservation through Block chain

Block chain technology acts as a safeguard for security, accuracy, and transparency. This role
enables the development of the democratic next generation of connected environments. To
achieve a full trust environment, there is a fundamental pyramid between security and privacy
preservation, with trust at the top. Many of the interests and advantages of block chain stem
from its ability to anonymised users' identities, and therefore, data is stored in the block
chain. Consequently, no unauthorized party should access or analyse any individual’s data in
a public block chain. In block chain, two types of techniques are used for preserving privacy:
anonymity and pseudonymity.
With anonymity, it is almost impossible for any system to trace block chain transactions back
to the originating user. Hence, all system communications and transactions are free to take
without fear of prejudice or scrutiny. On the other hand, with pseudonymity, all transactions
are accessible to any communication, and hence, all transactions can be seen by the public.
Privacy preservation and law conflict in some complex environments that are regulated by
certain legislations, as it is a social responsibility for block chain developers and operators. It
is important to adopt privacy-enhancing technologies to enhance privacy in block chain
technologies. Some techniques have been proposed as solutions to provide or deliver a high
level of privacy. These solutions could be initiated in formal smart contracts or add more
efficient sophisticated protocols. Therefore, having privacy in block chain technology is not
merely one technical layer in networking; rather, designers aim to implement a philosophy
that could engage many uncertainties in achieving full privacy intrinsic in block chain
technologies. The privacy issue does not require only a privacy policy, but also a group of
policies that could engage users to have full control over their data.

5.1. Anonymity and Pseudonymity in Block chain Networks

Anonymity is a concept that may have practical influences on block chain operation. Since
this term is used inconsistently in the literature and in regulatory and legal definitions, it is
important to carefully define it. Anonymity refers to the state of being unidentified or
unidentifiable. It focuses on the risk of an individual being linked to behavior or personal
data. It is a question of avoiding the possibility of using, sharing, or disclosing personal data
that would allow someone to perform a re-identification. Anonymity is a tool to increase
individual privacy.
In block chain networks, many (though not all) block chains disallow the possibility of
conducting anonymous transactions, in the sense of data minimization, legitimizing interest,
and proportionality. Anonymous block chains exist, for example, using different privacy
methodologies. Moreover, tools to carry out anonymous transactions on public block chains
have been developed, a simple example of which is coin mixing. Moreover, nearly all public,
consortium, and hybrid block chains demand pseudonymous transactions. A pseudonymous
transaction assigns a pseudonym to an individual and allows data to be stored and processed
for better functioning of the network. For example, a new pseudonymous address is assigned
for each transaction, but any transaction is open for the authenticator and can be disclosed
when required. In principle, the pseudonymous and public nature of all crypto currency
networks makes them distinguished by a combination of privacy and accountability. Society
seems to be interested in both. The issue of consumer control over which kinds of linkings
leads to big debates, driven by parallel considerations of freedom of choice and privacy
rights.

References
[1] D. V. Medhane and A. K. Sangaiah, "Block chain-enabled distributed security framework
for next-generation IoT: An edge cloud and software-defined network-integrated approach,"
IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. XX, no. YY, pp. ZZ-ZZ, 2020.
[2] S. Tanwar, N. Gupta, C. Iwendi, K. Kumar, "Next Generation IoT and Blockchain
Integration," Journal of …, 2022.
[3] M. Šarac, N. Pavlović, N. Bacanin, and F. Al-Turjman, "Increasing privacy and security
by integrating a blockchain secure interface into an IoT device security gateway
architecture," Energy Reports, vol. 7, pp. 123-132, 2021.
[4] O. Fadi, Z. Karim, and B. Mohammed, "A survey on blockchain and artificial intelligence
technologies for enhancing security and privacy in smart environments," IEEE Access, 2022.
[5] C. Komalavalli, D. Saxena, and C. Laroiya, "Overview of blockchain technology
concepts," in *Handbook of Research on Blockchain*, 2020, Elsevier.
[6] S. M. Idrees, M. Nowostawski, R. Jameel, and A. K. Mourya, "Security aspects of
blockchain technology intended for industrial applications," Electronics, 2021.
[7] H. T. M. Gamage, H. D. Weerasinghe, and N. G. J. Dias, "A survey on blockchain
technology concepts, applications, and issues," SN Computer Science, 2020.
[8] T.K. Agrawal, V. Kumar, R. Pal, L. Wang, and Y. Chen, "Blockchain-based framework
for supply chain traceability: A case example of textile and clothing industry," *Computers &
Industrial Engineering*, vol. 2021, Elsevier.
[9] J. H. Larrier, "A brief history of blockchain," in *Transforming Scholarly Publishing
With Blockchain*, 2021.
[10] T. Hariguna, Y. Durachman, M. Yusup, et al., "Blockchain technology transformation in
advancing future change," *Blockchain Frontier*, vol. 2021, pp. 1-10, 2021.
[11] U. Padmavathi and N. Rajagopalan, "Concept of blockchain technology and its
emergence," in *Proceedings on Convergence of Blockchain*, 2023.
[12] D. Bucerzan and C. A. Bejan, "Blockchain. Today applicability and implications," in
*Soft Computing Applications: Proceedings of the …*, 2021, Springer.
[13] H. L. Gururaj, A. M. Athreya, A. A. Kumar, "Blockchain: A new era of technology," in
*… and blockchain …*, 2020. Wiley Online Library.
[14] C. Antal, T. Cioara, I. Anghel, M. Antal et al., "Distributed ledger technology review
and decentralized applications development guidelines," Future Internet, 2021.
[15] PM Rao and BD Deebak, "Security and privacy issues in smart cities/industries:
technologies, applications, and challenges," Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized
Computing, vol. 2023, Springer.
[16] O. I. Abiodun, E. O. Abiodun, M. Alawida, and others, "A review on the security of the
internet of things: Challenges and solutions," *Wireless Personal Communications*, vol. 121,
no. 1, pp. 1-20, 2021.
[17] R. Ahmad, M. Hämäläinen, R. Wazirali, and T. Abu-Ain, "Digital-care in next
generation networks: Requirements and future directions," Computer Networks, 2023.
[18] B. Düdder, V. Fomin, T. Gürpinar, M. Henke, "Interdisciplinary blockchain education:
utilizing blockchain technology from various perspectives," in Blockchain, 2021.
[19] K. Kaushik and S. Dahiya, "Scope and challenges of blockchain technology," in *Recent
Innovations in Computing: Proceedings of …*, 2022, Springer.
[20] A. Ahl, M. Goto, M. Yarime, K. Tanaka, "Challenges and opportunities of blockchain
energy applications: Interrelatedness among technological, economic, social, environmental,
and institutional dimensions," *Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews*, vol. 2022,
Elsevier.
[21] P. De Filippi, M. Mannan, and W. Reijers, "Blockchain as a confidence machine: The
problem of trust & challenges of governance," Technology in Society, 2020.
[22] L. Caviglione, M. Choraś, I. Corona, A. Janicki, "Tight arms race: Overview of current
malware threats and trends in their detection," IEEE, 2020.
[23] M. Al-Hawawreh, M. Alazab, and M. A. Ferrag, "Securing the Industrial Internet of
Things against ransomware attacks: A comprehensive analysis of the emerging threat
landscape and detection mechanisms," Journal of Network and Computer Applications, vol.
2023, Elsevier.
[24] P. W. T. Pong, A. M. Annaswamy, B. Kroposki, "Cyber-enabled grids: Shaping future
energy systems," Advances in Applied Energy, vol. 2021, Elsevier.
[25] R. Vallabhaneni, "Effects of Data Breaches on Internet of Things (IoT) Devices within
the Proliferation of Daily-Life Integrated Devices," 2024.
[26] A. K. Tyagi and D. Goyal, "A survey of privacy leakage and security vulnerabilities in
the internet of things," in *2020 5th International Conference on …*, 2020.
[27] L. Nemec Zlatolas, N. Feher, and M. Hölbl, "Security perception of IoT devices in smart
homes," Journal of Cybersecurity and …, 2022.
[28] YAB El-Ebiary, A. Hatamleh, K. Aseh, "Blockchain as a decentralized communication
tool for sustainable development," in *Proceedings of the Conference on Smart Computing*,
2021.
[29] L. Zhang, X. Ma, and Y. Liu, "Sok: blockchain decentralization," arXiv preprint
arXiv:2205.04256, 2022.
[30] PP Bokariya and D Motwani, "Decentralization of Credential Verification System using
Blockchain," International Journal of Innovative…, 2021.
[31] A. A. Khan, A. A. Laghari, Z. A. Shaikh, "Internet of Things (IoT) security with
blockchain technology: A state-of-the-art review," IEEE, 2022.
[32] S. Saxena, B. Bhushan, and M. A. Ahad, "Blockchain based solutions to secure IoT:
Background, integration trends and a way forward," *Journal of Network and Computer
Applications*, vol. 2021, Elsevier.
[33] A. Al Sadawi, M. S. Hassan, and M. Ndiaye, "A survey on the integration of blockchain
with IoT to enhance performance and eliminate challenges," IEEe Access, 2021
[34] K. Yue, Y. Zhang, Y. Chen, Y. Li, and L. Zhao, "A survey of decentralizing applications
via blockchain: The 5G and beyond perspective," IEEE Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 21, no. 1,
pp. 1-25, 2021.
[35] A. Papageorgiou, A. Mygiakis, K. Loupos, "DPKI: a blockchain-based decentralized
public key infrastructure system," in *2020 Global Internet of Things Summit (GIoTS)*,
2020.
[36] A. K. Jena and S. P. Dash, "Blockchain technology: introduction, applications,
challenges," Blockchain Technology: Applications and Challenges, 2021.
[37] S. M. H. Bamakan, A. Motavali, and A. B. Bondarti, "A survey of blockchain consensus
algorithms performance evaluation criteria," Expert Systems with Applications, 2020.
[38] B. Lashkari and P. Musilek, "A comprehensive review of blockchain consensus
mechanisms," IEEE access, 2021.
[39] X. Fu, H. Wang, and P. Shi, "A survey of Blockchain consensus algorithms: mechanism,
design and applications," Science China Information Sciences, 2021.
[40] T. M. Tan and S. Saraniemi, "Trust in blockchain-enabled exchanges: Future directions
in blockchain marketing," Journal of the Academy of marketing Science, 2023.
[41] A. Tezel, E. Papadonikolaki, I. Yitmen, "Blockchain opportunities and issues in the built
environment: Perspectives on trust, transparency and cyber security," in *Industry 4.0 for the
Built Environment*, 2021, Springer.
[42] D. M. Gligor, B. Davis-Sramek, A. Tan, et al., "Utilizing blockchain technology for
supply chain transparency: A resource orchestration perspective," *Journal of Business*, vol.
2022, Wiley Online Library.
[43] I. J. Scott, M. de Castro Neto, and F. L. Pinheiro, "Bringing trust and transparency to the
opaque world of waste management with blockchain: A Polkadot parathread application,"
*Computers & Industrial Engineering*, vol. 2023, Elsevier.
[44] S. K. Dwivedi, R. Amin, and S. Vollala, "Blockchain based secured information sharing
protocol in supply chain management system with key distribution mechanism," *Journal of
Information Security and Applications*, vol. XX, no. YY, pp. ZZ-ZZ, 2020.
[45] B. Sundarakani, A. Ajaykumar, and A. Gunasekaran, "Big data driven supply chain
design and applications for blockchain: An action research using case study approach,"
Omega, 2021.
[46] C. Laroiya, D. Saxena, and C. Komalavalli, "Applications of blockchain technology," in
Handbook of Research on Blockchain, 2020.
[47] M. Vivaldini, "Blockchain in operations for food service distribution: steps before
implementation," International Journal of Logistics Management, .
[48] D. Rozas, A. Tenorio-Fornés, S. Díaz-Molina, "When ostrom meets blockchain:
exploring the potentials of blockchain for commons governance," Sage, 2021.
[49] B. Bhushan, A. Khamparia, K. M. Sagayam, "Blockchain for smart cities: A review of
architectures, integration trends and future research directions," *Sustainable Cities and
Society*, vol. 57, pp. 102-115, 2020.
[50] M. Naved, I. B. Kole, A. Bhope, C. S. Gautam, "Managing Financial Operations in the
Blockchain Revolution to Enhance Precision and Safety," in *Proceedings on Trends in …*,
2024.
[51] R. M. T. Mancini-Griffoli and N. Zhang, "A Multi-Currency Exchange and Contracting
Platform," 2022.
[52] S. N. Khan, F. Loukil, C. Ghedira-Guegan, "Blockchain smart contracts: Applications,
challenges, and future trends," Peer-to-Peer Networking, vol. 2021, Springer.
[53] A. Vacca, A. Di Sorbo, C. A. Visaggio, and G. Canfora, "A systematic literature review
of blockchain and smart contract development: Techniques, tools, and open challenges,"
*Journal of Systems and Software*, vol. 202, pp. 1-20, 2021.
[54] Z. Zheng, S. Xie, H. N. Dai, W. Chen, and X. Chen, "An overview on smart contracts:
Challenges, advances and platforms," Future Generation Computer Systems, vol. 107, pp.
475-491, 2020.
[55] A. M. Gomez-Trujillo and J. Velez-Ocampo, "Trust, transparency, and technology:
blockchain and its relevance in the context of the 2030 agenda," in *The Palgrave
Handbook*, Springer, 2021.
[56] S. Rijal and F. Saranani, "The Role of Blockchain Technology in Increasing Economic
Transparency and Public Trust," Technology and Society, 2023.
[57] I. Damgård, C. Ganesh, H. Khoshakhlagh, and others, "Balancing privacy and
accountability in blockchain identity management," in Cryptographers' Track at ..., 2021,
Springer.
[58] B. Bhushan and N. Sharma, "Transaction privacy preservations for blockchain
technology," in *Proceedings of ICICC 2020*, Springer, 2021.
[59] W. Shao, C. Jia, Y. Xu, K. Qiu et al., "Attrichain: Decentralized traceable anonymous
identities in privacy-preserving permissioned blockchain," Computers & Security, 2020.
[60] T. Li, H. Wang, D. He, and J. Yu, "Blockchain-based privacy-preserving and rewarding
private data sharing for IoT," IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 2022.
[61] N. Andola, V. K. Yadav, S. Venkatesan, and S. Verma, "Anonymity on blockchain
based e-cash protocols—A survey," Computer Science Review, 2021.
[62] O. Konashevych, "Cross-blockchain protocol for public registries," International journal
of web information systems, 2020.
[63] M. B. Mollah, J. Zhao, D. Niyato, K. Y. Lam, "Blockchain for future smart grid: A
comprehensive survey," IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. XX, no. YY, pp. ZZ-ZZ, 2020.
[64] T. Ashfaq, M. I. Khalid, G. Ali, M. E. Affendi, J. Iqbal, "An efficient and secure energy
trading approach with machine learning technique and consortium blockchain," Sensors,
2022.
[65] R. Akkaoui, X. Hei, and W. Cheng, "EdgeMediChain: A hybrid edge blockchain-based
framework for health data exchange," IEEE access, 2020.