Blockchain Potential Contribution to Reducing Corruption Vulnerabilities in the Brazilian Context

Abstract

The recent popularization of distributed ledger technologies, which is better known in the financial sector due to digital currencies, has led to the appearance of numerous applications developed for the blockchain environment. The goal of this research is to investigate how a blockchain can contribute to the reduction of the vulnerabilities to corruption in the Brazilian context. Two stages of a literature review have been performed. The first identified the vulnerabilities to corruption in the Brazilian context and the second one identified the effective uses of blockchain characteristics. Subsequently, a deductive analysis was performed, aiming to verify which of the Blockchain initiatives presented could be potentially applied in the fight against corruption. This study points out ways to mitigate fraud and other causes of corruption to help regain society's trust in state institutions in Brazil, which has been suffering over the years from corruption scandals. Additionally, a research agenda leading to anti-corruption studies has been discussed.