# Blockchain-Based Model to Improve the Performance of the Next-Generation Digital Supply Chain
## 3 Blockchain Technology for the Supply Chain  
Blockchain technology is one of the emerging technologies that will affect most of the domains which are working in a collaborative environment. It is a distributed ledger technology in which different entities can communicate with each other in a peer-to-peer network without any middle entity [28]. It provides multiple features (shown in Figure 2) that can bring trust and transparency in a collaborative environment. Because of its decentralized nature, no single entity can control it. Consensus is the agreement of all the stakeholders on the execution of a transaction. It provides a provenance feature by which the history of any transaction can be traced back. All the transactions are updated in the distributed ledger so that these are visible to all the connected nodes of the  
Figure 2: Blockchain Technology features. network [29]. One of the most important features that make it tamper-proof is immutability. Once any transaction is written in the distributed ledger then no one can edit or delete this transaction. It also supports smart contracts. A smart contract is a computer program that contains the logic of a contract between two or more entities. This contract is executed when certain conditions are met [30]. _Advantages of Integrating Blockchain Technology in the Supply Chain_  
* **Transparent procurement**: Whenever any company goes for procurement, it looks for some middle entity that can do procurement for them. In the traditional approach, it is very difficult to track the actual volume or quantity among all the stakeholders such as partner firms, subsidiaries, etc. The blockchain's distributed ledger can help in this process of procurement. This ledger is shared among all the stakeholders and continuously updated so that each transaction is visible to all. Companies can easily verify their orders by a distributed ledger. Companies have to recruit many people for auditing purposes only. With the help of blockchain, auditing can be done within minutes without the involvement of so many people [31]. * **Smart contracts for payments**: Normally whenever a task is completed an invoice is generated and sent to the client for the payment of the task. As this process is operated manually it can take more time than the expectation of the concerned party. By using blockchain, smart contracts can be integrated into this process. Whenever a task is completed, its invoice is generated automatically and sent to the client digitally. After the verification of the invoice, the smart contract will be triggered, and payment is automatically credited into the account of the company. This is how the integration of blockchain can improve the process of payment settlement [32]. * **No more fraud by rogues**: With blockchain, a decentralized ledger is shared among all the connected nodes. All the transactions are updated in this ledger which is reflected in the ledgers of every connected node. If a rogue tries to execute some transaction for his benefit, he will not succeed. Because blockchain employs a consensus feature, no transaction can be executed without the agreement of all the stakeholders [33]. * **Provenance tracking**: If there is any case where historical data of any transaction is needed to resolve any discrepancy then blockchain technology can be useful. The blockchain-supported solution has a feature of provenance tracking. It means any transaction can be traced back to its time of origin from its current instance [34]. * **Immutable transactions**: There can be multiple transactions executed by authorized nodes. If any attacker node wants to delete or modify the transactions, he would not be able to do this. Because blockchain has an immutability feature once a transaction is written in the decentralized ledger nobody can delete or modify the transaction. Even the administrator cannot delete or update the previously executed transactions.