The Role of Blockchain in Modern Communication: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Blockchain technology stands at the forefront of transforming digital communication, addressing entrenched issues like data breaches, privacy erosion, and centralized control. This systematic literature review synthesizes insights from over 50 peer-reviewed articles, industry reports, and case studies published between 2018 and 2025, focusing on blockchain's core principles and their application to secure messaging, decentralized social networks, IoT ecosystems, and telecommunications. Drawing on databases such as Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, and Scopus, we identify key benefits—decentralization for resilience, immutability for integrity, and cryptography for confidentiality—while critically examining barriers like scalability trilemma, regulatory conflicts, and user adoption hurdles. Emerging trends, including zero-knowledge proofs and modular architectures, signal a path toward scalable Web3 paradigms. The review concludes with societal implications for trust-building and data sovereignty, proposing research directions for hybrid models that balance innovation with compliance. This work underscores blockchain's potential to foster a user-empowered, equitable communication landscape.