Blockchain: A Review from The Perspective of Operations Researchers

Abstract

Blockchain is a distributed, append-only digital ledger (database). The technology has caught much attention since the emergence of cryptocurrency, and there is an increasing number of blockchain applications in a wide variety of businesses. The concept, however, is still novel to many members of the simulation and operations research community. In this tutorial, we introduce the blockchain technology and review its frontier operations-and-data-related research. There are exciting opportunities for researchers in simulation, system analysis, and data science.