# Blockchain Technology and Its Potential to Benefit Public Services Provision: A Short Survey
## 6 Challenges and Future Directions  
Despite its clear advantages in terms of security, integrity, immutability, transparency, and traceability, there are still challenges that have to be addressed if the widespread adoption of blockchain technology in the public sector is to be achieved. In the following, we stratify the challenges into three main categories: technological, legal and regulatory, and social.  
From a technical perspective, key research priorities include addressing scalability challenges as blockchain networks expand [2], improving interoperability between different platforms (also off-chain hosting) [77], and enhancing the security and privacy of blockchain applications to prevent breaches and hacking attacks [17; 78]. As far as the latter is concerned, blockchains should feature robust protocols (e.g., validation protocols), accounting for the high energy consumption of (some) blockchain validation processes [1]. As explained in [68], the technology is still immature concerning applications that go beyond the financial context as the vast majority of the proposed solutions are still in a conceptual/experimental phase and only a small percentage of them have reached the evaluation/prototyping stage [21]. This will provide policymiers with practical, evidence-based insights regarding the benefits, risks, and costs of blockchain in public services. Furthermore, it poses challenges in terms of a lack of public awareness and potential failures, which may expose sensitive information, making it difficult to identify the institutions responsible for managing the system in a decentralized scenario such as the one that blockchain technology enables [21].  
On the legal and regulatory front, future research endeavours must investigate the appropriate frameworks to govern the use of blockchain in the public sector, ensuring compliance with data privacy laws and addressing liability concerns. As blockchain disrupts traditional models of public service delivery, legal scholars will need to tackle novel questions around the role of public authorities and the legal status of decentralized, blockchain-based systems. For example, Ref. [19] describes legal uncertainty as one of the major barriers to achieving extensive adoption, as blockchain agreements still do not have the legal value of a contract [73] and identifying which jurisdiction applies in the context of international blockchains is challenging [79]. Issues have also emerged from real-world experimentations. As mentioned in [31], one of the main implementation challenges is the dichotomy between the need for immutable contracts on the one hand [38; 39] and the need to support constantly changing laws and reverse cases that were decided in an unlawful manner on the other. For example, within the context of smart contracts, there are conflicting requirements related to the nature of blockchain technologies that need to be addressed as they need to be immutable and outside the government's control when running but also editable when laws change and when there is a mistake that may lead to unlawful behavior.  
Finally, from a social standpoint, understanding the impact of blockchain on public trust, acceptance, and governance is crucial [22]. Organizational and societal implications of blockchain's decentralized and transparent nature must be studied, exploring how it may reshape the relationship between citizens and their governments [17]. Investigating strategies to build trust in blockchain-based public services will be essential for driving widespread adoption.