Title
Implementing a blockchain from scratch: why, how, and what we learned
Abstract
Blockchains are proposed for many application domains apart from financial transactions. While there are generic blockchains that can be molded for specific use cases, they often lack a lightweight and easy-to-customize implementation. In this paper, we introduce the core concepts of blockchain technology and investigate a real-world use case from the energy domain, where customers trade portions of their photovoltaic power plant via a blockchain. This does not only involve blockchain technology, but also requires user interaction. Therefore, a fully custom, private, and permissioned blockchain is implemented from scratch. We evaluate and motivate the need for blockchain technology within this use case, as well as the desired properties of the system. We then describe the implementation and the insights from our implementation in detail, serving as a guide for others and to show potential opportunities and pitfalls when implementing a blockchain from scratch.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1186/s13635-019-0085-3
EURASIP Journal on Information Security
Keywords
Field
DocType
Blockchain, Private chain, Implementation, Practical insights
Scratch,Use case,Computer science,Computer security,Financial transaction,Blockchain
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
2019
1
2510-523X
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Fabian Knirsch1264.07
Andreas Unterweger2144.63
Dominik Engel320625.60