Supply chains and identity

Abstract

Distributed ledgers record and make available information through time. Unsurprisingly, their use for managing records of goods (and services) as they travel through supply chains has been the second most prominent application of distributed ledger technology after cryptocurrencies. This chapter details the economics of supply chain management on blockchains as the creation and accumulation of identity attributes in historical time. It first details how distributed ledger supply chain management reduces opportunism, and consequently where value is distributed on the chain. It then outlines an identity theory of supply chains, and relates that theory to the ledger-centric view of the economy.