Distributed Ledger Technology: State-of-the-Art and Current Challenges

Abstract

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is making the first steps toward becoming a solution for the growing number of various decentralized systems world wide. Unlike pure Blockchain, DLT finds many uses across different industries, including eHealth, finance, supply chain monitoring, and the Internet of Things (IoT). One of the vital DLT features is the ability to provide an immutable and commonly verifiable ledger for larger-scale and highly complex systems. Today’s centralized systems can no longer guarantee the required level of availability and reliability due to the growing number of the involved nodes, complicated heterogeneous architectures, and task load, while the publicly available distributed systems are still in their infancy. This paper aims to provide an exhaustive topical review of the state-of-the art of Distributed Ledger Technology applicability in various sectors. It outlines the importance of the practical integration of technology-related challenges, as well as potential solutions.