Industry 4.0 Vision for the Supply of Energy and Materials

2 Blockchain and Smart Contracts

Yahya Kabiri and Mahdi Sharifzadeh^*

Sharif Energy, Water and Environment Institute (SEWEI), Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran * Corresponding author. Sharif Energy, Water and Environment Institute (SEWEI), Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

2.1 Blockchain Overview

Blockchain is an enabling technology for implementing distributed ledgers. A distributed ledger is a common database that is distributed and stored over different nodes of a network of computers [1]. Desirable features such as immutability, transparency, anonymity, nonrepudiation characteristic, and decentralized architecture, pose block chains at the leading technological edge for secure peer-to-peer transactions, without the need for a costly third authorization party [2, 3]. The first commercial application of blockchains was in Bitcoin, for recording peer-to-peer transactions in its electronic cash system [4]. As shown in Figure 2.1, a block in Bitcoin as a simplified blockchain consists of a set of recorded data including a block header and transaction records. Every node in a blockchain network keeps a copy of the ledger and therefore prevents tampering of the ledger’s data [2].

Figure 2.1 Simplified Bitcoin Blockchain. Based on S. Nakamoto, 2019.

As shown in Figure 2.1, block headers are used to identify the blocks and include the previous block hash ...