Special Issue – Blockchain Standards Foreword

In her foreword to Roadmap for Blockchain Standards (March 2017), the CEO of Standards Australia, Bronwyn Evans, observes that Blockchain has the potential to support efficient and secure real time transactions across a large number of sectors. From enabling efficient and accurate financial services to providing visibility along the supply chain, and from streamlining government services to delivering confidence in identity accuracy to consumers, blockchain and DLTs have the capacity to revolutionise the way we do business. The revolution empowered by blockchain and the steady-hand role of standardisation meld here to establish the foundation of this special issue of the Journal of ICT Standardisation.

Over the past five years, blockchain technology has made some bold promises. Here, the contributors to this special issue test the boundaries and the depth of blockchain’s capacity to deliver. Use-cases in international banking, its technical reach in various contexts, the capacity of blockchain to solve sustainable development goals, and blockchain-related research questions are all addressed and evaluated in this special edition.

New technologies need champions. When a new technology promises to solve some of our more complex global problems, it is important to identify and describe those problems, test any limitations, and evaluate possible benefits and risks of implementation. Standards can support innovation, because standards aim for interoperability, reliability and market liberalism. Achieving these aims can improve the reputation of new ICT technologies, providing comfort to both regulators and consumers. As the guest editor of this edition, I am grateful to my fellow contributors for their scholarship, candour and professionalism. I would also like to thank Olivier Rikken for his assistance with peer review.

This special issue on blockchain demonstrates how standards can serve commerce and community. In a time when trust in institutions and government is at an all-time low, a tested and standardised technology that promises to validate and authenticate transactions and provenance will provide integrity and fidelity in economies that rely on platforms and automation.

Dr Philippa Ryan
Guest Editor