A Platform Selection Framework for Blockchain-Based Software Systems Based on the Blockchain Trilemma

Abstract

Blockchains are used in many software systems to deal with trusted storage. The selection of the appropriate software architecture stack in distributed systems is generally driven by scalability, security, and decentralization as central qualities. In the blockchain domain, these are known as the blockchain trilemma, as they oppose each other. We select the most popular blockchain platforms based on these trilemma properties and other indicators to provide a platform review. Specific metrics will be derived from the overall goals and applied to the platform options. This serves as a basis to create a Selection framework to facilitate the choice of the best possible platform for a given system architecture. The selection framework is evaluated through a use case.