Techruption Consortium Blockchain – what it takes to run a blockchain together

Abstract

This paper presents initial results of the Techruption Consortium Blockchain experiment. The purpose of the experiment is to learn what it takes to run a permissioned consortium blockchain infrastructure together, not only from a technical perspective, but also governance and business model. The experiment turned out to be surprisingly complex, running into buggy open-source software, extensive firewall and connectivity issues, a complex legal context, a plethora of governance issues, many business model alternatives, and an ever-present human resource limitation. Based on our experiences, we conclude that instead of developing dedicated technical infrastructure, governance and business models for each blockchain application individually, there is a need for a shared blockchain infrastructure with basic governance and business models to spur further innovation in blockchain applications and enabling technologies.