Immutable Smart Contracts on Blockchain Technology: Its Benefits and Barriers

Abstract

Blockchain is an emerging technology which works on decentralized peer-to-peer network and allows to make transactions securely by eliminating the need of a central authority. Blockchain is renowned for exchange of crypto-currencies but with the advent of smart contracts it is now widely used in other applications such as smart supply chain, healthcare, smart transportation, online voting, public donations, will management, buying and selling property and insurance sector. The smart contracts are digitally signed and make applications immutable and transparent. This paper is aimed at unveiling Blockchain technology, smart contracts and its applications. This paper is also disclosing the barriers in adopting Blockchain and smart contracts. The recent literature was reviewed to find the answers to the research questions. Huge power consumption, slow transaction rate, complex architecture and lack of awareness and expertise are identified as the barriers in Blockchain adoption whereas legal issues and high transaction cost are the main barriers in adopting smart contracts.