FRAMEWORK FOR BLOCKCHAIN BASED DECENTRALIZED ECOMMERCE APPLICATION USING SMART CONTRACTS

Abstract

There is a lot of excitement around Blockchain technology and its ability to disrupt many traditional industries and business practices. First invented as a part of Bitcoin’s underlying infrastructure, Blockchain technology offers a platform for decentralized and transparent transaction management between untrusting parties. Many believe this aspect of blockchain can revolutionize traditional supply chain practices typically involving many untrusting entities from the time raw material extraction to the final consumption of a finished product by the end consumer. While there have been many claims regarding its obvious benefits in Supply chain management, there are only few technical applications developed so far that are useful in real world scenarios. In this thesis, we review different real-world implementations of block chain technology in the supply chain domain, especially those that leverage smart contracts. Smart contract is a computer protocol that facilitates, verifies, enforces performance of a contract digitally using Blockchain technology. Since smart contracts are trackable, irreversible and allow performance of credible transactions without third parties, it can be deployed effectively to replace existing supply chain mechanisms that require working with an intermediate entity such as a bank that often comes with a price tag for their services. In this thesis, we present a framework to enable sale of goods between untrusting entities typically in different geographies leveraging smart contract technology that can effectively replace the "letter of credit" payment mechanism. An novel algorithm for dispute resolution is developed and a decentralized app (Dapp) is built and deployed on Ethereum block chain using smart contracts developed in Solidity. Last, we discuss the effectiveness of such a system, potential drawbacks or known security threats that may hinder the adoption of such an app in the real world.