Soon after the introduction of Bitcoin, the immutability and openness of its blockchain have inspired the development of new protocols, which embed metadata on transactions in order to implement a variety of applications beyond cryptocurrency. Although no “killer application” of the blockchain has established yet, a heterogeneous multitude of prototypes have been developed, ranging from the fields of supply chain management, to digital identity, and to e-voting - just to cite a few examples. Concurrently to these development efforts, the research in blockchain technologies is growing rapidly, as witnessed by the flourishing of dedicated conferences and workshops.


Contributing papers should evaluate, systematize, and contextualize existing knowledge in the field of non-financial applications of blockchains. Papers that provide a new viewpoint, or challenge long-held beliefs with compelling evidence, or present a comprehensive new taxonomy, are particularly welcome. Submissions will be evaluated according to the value they bring to the on community, rather than to the novelty of the research contributions.

Articles published within this Research Topic in 2019 are eligible for the $10,000 “Yun Family Frontiers in Blockchain Prize".

For more details, please see our blog post here:

https://blog.frontiersin.org/2018/12/12/frontiers-in-blockchain-introduces-new-journal-wide-10000-best-paper-prize/

Keywords: blockchain applications, blockchain analytics, smart contracts, security, systemization of knowledge

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.