PUBLIC BLOCKCHAIN – A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF CONSENSUS ALGORITHMS

Authors

Felix Eigelshoven, University of PotsdamFollow
André Ullrich, University of PotsdamFollow
Benedict Bender, University of PotsdamFollow

Abstract

Blockchain has the potential to change business transactions to a major extent. Thereby, underlying consensus algorithms are the core mechanism to achieve consistency in distributed infrastructures. Their application aims for transparency and accountability in societal transactions. As a result of missing reviews holistically covering consensus algorithms, we aim to (1) identify prevalent consensus algorithms for public blockchains, and (2) address the resource perspective with a sustainability consideration, whereby we address the three spheres of sustainability. Our systematic literature review identified 33 different consensus algorithms for public blockchains. Our contribution is twofold: first, we provide a systematic summary of consensus algorithms for public blockchains derived from the scientific literature as well as real-world applications and systematize them according to their research focus; second, we assess the sustainability of consensus algorithms using a representative sample and thereby highlight the gaps in literature to address the holistic sustainability of consensus algorithms.

Recommended Citation

Eigelshoven, Felix; Ullrich, André; and Bender, Benedict, "PUBLIC BLOCKCHAIN – A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF CONSENSUS ALGORITHMS" (2020). In Proceedings of the 28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), An Online AIS Conference, June 15-17, 2020.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2020_rp/202