# Blockchain-Based Information Management for Supply Chain Data-Platforms
## 4 Findings
### Trust, Disintermediation, and Interoperability
In addition, interviewees remarked that blockchain-enabled IoT systems can foster the development of machine-to-machine payments due to smart contract functionalities. Blockchain platforms are tailored for digital improvements to solve inefficiencies. Functionalities related with smart contracts provide automatization of administrative duties, allowing for software creativity and linking blockchain with the real world. Thus, smart contracts are identified by interviewees as powerful computer programs for administrative automation. Alternatively, regarding interoperability, interviewees believed that it is fundamental to consider both public and private blockchains and define how these systems communicate with each other. Given that DLTs are public computers, interviewees explained that identity toolkits are a necessary step in obtaining access to networks and facilities. In future technological developments, several different blockchain platforms will coexist, implying that blockchain platforms will represent several separate products and/or services. Thus, for international interoperability, relevant standards are necessary for a broad implementation. Interviewees further highlighted that additional research on privacy-preserving technologies and integration between different blockchains is required. The main sources of developments are in alternating consensus methods and energy performances; however, research communities must endeavor to define and understand how some problems can be solved, regarding what is '_in_' or what is '_out_' from blockchain issues. Furthermore, interviewees remarked that there are several missing spaces in which enabled technologies can play a fundamental role in blockchain systems. For instance, both tokenization and smart contracting enable interoperability in sectors such as creative industries, logistics or automotive industry--that is, music and film, port management, or manufacturing (robotics), respectively--providing a broad range of advantages from the implementation of blockchain solutions parallel to other (existing) technologies. Contrastingly, the controversial opinions (CONTR) emerged from the trust, disintermediation, and interoperability categories are grouped and presented hereinafter. The concerns relating trust feature around the centralized aspects that are characterizing the blockchain development for business and institutions currently. Certain solutions provided by the interviewees explain that centralized platforms need to be managed by a central entity. Interviewee AC_8 explained that if this aspect is not mitigated, future development might be under the risk of creating a monopoly of information for specific sectors/applications. Another concern revolves around ensuring a fully transparent source of information and mitigating the risk of anonymous behavior in the network. As far as disintermediation is concerned, a cost-benefit analysis is essential to relieve scalability issues that blockchain has exhibited in industry deployments. In this context, interviewees ICT_8 and WO_2 underlined that it would be fundamental to compare future blockchain-based solutions with existing technologies and ascertain the optimal technology '_mix_' for each specific application. Some priorities are regarding academic research efforts, as it has been discussed, as more research is needed to decompose and analyze each blockchain feature that creates the puzzle for the entire blockchain scenario. Specific insights would be set on improving the technology performances and on designing new business models. Regarding the interoperability, there are concerns about permissioned and permissionless blockchain systems. A strong remark focused on the real technology potential. Interviewee AC_5 pointed out that blockchain was created as an open system for distributed applications and this distributed dominance cannot be achieved with permissioned or centralized systems.