Blockchain Technologies: Communications and Industry 4.0

Dear Colleagues,

Blockchain technology has become increasingly available across society and industries because it is essentially an ever-growing list of transactions that are verified, permanently recorded and linked in chronological order, which, in turn, can help to organize data well. Blockchain is a foundational technology that leads to the paradigm shift from “trusting humans” to “trusting machines” and from “centralized” to “decentralized” control. From banking and secure communications to healthcare and ride-sharing, blockchain will hugely impact our future. However, at the same time, as the blockchain application scenarios continue to expand, some of its limitations are gradually being exposed. In some specific scenarios, it is difficult to meet the corresponding speed and cost requirements, hindering the further development of blockchain. The two persistent issues remain a lack of interoperability and scalability. As more computers join the peer-to-peer network, the entire system’s efficiency typically degrades. We must find a way to boost scalability and throughput and address latency problems. We also need to solve the interworking problem between blockchains.

This Special Issue aims to highlight the foreseeable impact of blockchain on society and industry, and in particular, realize the value of circulation technology, scaling solutions and other technologies that can help blockchain be applied to society and industry well. Since blockchain is still relatively new, and many experiments will fail before they succeed, this Special Issue is open to all manuscripts that contribute significantly to cross-chain technology, on-chain and off-chain scaling solutions, and much more. Both theoretical and experimental studies are welcome, as well as comprehensive reviews and survey papers.

Examples of topics that might be addressed include (but are not restricted to):

• Application of cross-chain technology in blockchain enterprise businesses;
• Blockchain-based social networks;
• Blockchain-based voting systems for urban and regional planning decisions;
• Blockchain-based reliable and efficient education information platform;
• Blockchain for social impact;
• Blockchain for universal data storage;
• Blockchain storage and certification technology for law enforcement and security;
• Design and implementation issues of Metaverse system industry;
• Extensible public blockchain system based on cross-chain research;
• Integration of blockchain into existing business infrastructure;
• Reliable media production and distribution technology based on blockchain;
• Research on blockchain multilayer scaling solutions;
• Research on sharding technology;
• Research on lightning network technology;
• Research on Raiden network technology;
• Research on segregated witness technology;
• Supply chain management based on blockchain systems;
• The realization and protection of anonymous personal data on messaging apps using blockchain.

We encourage multidisciplinary research in computer science, economics,  information systems, sociology and other disciplines.

Dr. Wei Liang
Prof. Dr. Mirjana Ivanović
Prof. Dr. Hai Jiang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.