A Comparative Study: Blockchain Technology Utilization Benefits, Challenges and Functionalities

Blockchain technology enables users to verify, preserve, and synchronize the contents of a data sheet (a transaction ledger) replicated by multiple users. Blockchain technology has provided considerable advantages and incentives to industries in terms of enabling better services. This review aims to explore the benefits, challenges and functionalities that affect blockchain applications in different sectors. This article is constructed as a systematic literature review study. From 1976 articles, 168 final articles were selected and classified into three main dimensions, that is, benefits, challenges, and functionalities, in four different sectors: government, financial, manufacturing, and healthcare. The results were extracted and compared based on factors in three dimensions, which were categorized as benefits (informational, technological, economic, organizational, and strategic), challenges (technological, organizational, adoption, operational, and environmental and sustainability), and functionalities (point-to-point transmission, data ownership, data protection, and transaction processing). The results of this review study aim to support professionals, practitioners, and stakeholders who wish to implement and manage transformation projects related to blockchain in their sectors. Moreover, helping these possible blockchain users to understand the implied factors associated with blockchain would be beneficial for the decision-making processes of their organizations.