The challenges faced by blockchain technologies — Part 2

Abstract

In 2017, blockchain technologies registered an increasing interest in their research and investment. However, with the development of these applications, a number of challenges have also come into existence. This paper, which is the last part of a two-part study, investigates the challenges currently limiting the potential of blockchain technologies. It builds upon a previous publication entitled ‘The challenges faced by blockchain technologies ’ Part 1’ and provides a further comprehensive analysis of particular challenges and hindrances. This paper is divided into five sections. The first identifies and gives an overview of the multi-dimensional challenges, namely, the ‘underdeveloped ecosystem’, the ‘lack of educated individuals’ and the ‘lack of standards’. The next three sections analyse almost 30 different challenges by grouping them into ‘legal’, ‘business’ or ‘technical’ classes. Finally, the paper ranks the challenges and provides greater insight into their relative importance by looking at the result of a survey conducted on 295 respondents, from scholars to professionals with expertise in blockchains.