Blockchain-Enabled Pricing Mechanism in Energy Markets: Survey and Vision

Abstract

The growth of distributed energy resources and local energy markets heightens the need for price formation that is transparent, privacy preserving, and compatible with network constraints. Blockchain provides a trust-minimized substrate for auditable clearing and settlement through consensus, tamperevident ledgers, and smart contracts. This survey organizes blockchain-enabled pricing into three families, namely auction-based, game-theoretic, and optimization-based, and links them to enabling techniques such as metering oracles, secure multiparty computation, zero-knowledge proofs, and verifiable optimality certificates. Applications span wholesale electricity, carbon and green certificates, distributed energy trading, ancillary services, and electric vehicles. Evidence indicates gains in auditability, privacy, network awareness, and automated settlement, alongside challenges in scalability, data protection, grid integration, and regulation. The survey distills design patterns and research directions toward verifiable, interoperable, and governable pricing modules that complement system-operator markets.