The Role of Blockchain to Fight against COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected almost all aspects of human life, various sectors of business, and regions of the world. The flow of human activities halted for several months, and are now being carefully redefined to align with guidelines and recommendations to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus. In contrast to other pandemics the world has witnessed in the past, the technological advancements of the current era are a boon that can play a key role in safeguarding humanity. In this work, we begin by highlighting general challenges that have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Next, to gauge the applicability of blockchain as a key enabling technology, we identify potential use cases to meet current needs. Further, for each use case, we present a high-level view of how blockchain can be leveraged and discuss the expected performance. Finally, we highlight the challenges that must be addressed to harness the full potential of blockchain technology and discuss plausible solutions.

Full text

The Role of Blockchain to Fight Against COVID-19
Anshuman Kalla, Member, IEEE, Tharaka Hewa, Student Member, IEEE, Raaj Anand Mishra, Student
Member, IEEE, Mika Ylianttila, Senior Member, IEEE, and Madhusanka Liyanage, Member, IEEE
Abstract—The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected
almost all aspects of human life, various sectors of business,
and regions of the world. The flow of human activities halted
for several months, and are now being carefully redefined to
align with guidelines and recommendations to avoid the spread
of the novel coronavirus. In contrast to other pandemics the
world has witnessed in the past, the technological advancements
of the current era are a boon that can play a key role in
safeguarding humanity. In this work, we begin by highlight-
ing general challenges that have arisen during the COVID-19
pandemic. Next, to gauge the applicability of blockchain as a
key enabling technology, we identify potential use cases to meet
current needs. Further, for each use case, we present a high-level
view of how blockchain can be leveraged and discuss the expected
performance. Finally, we highlight the challenges that must be
addressed to harness the full potential of blockchain technology
and discuss plausible solutions.
Index Terms—COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Blockchain, DLT,
Smart Contract, Pandemic
I. INTRODUCTION
The earth and its inhabitants are struggling with a new
disease called Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is
caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(SARS-CoV-2), first identified in Wuhan in the Hubei province
of China in December 2019. It caused thousands of deaths in
mainland China. By 11 March 2020, the World Health Orga-
nization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic
[1]. At the time of writing, more than 13.5 million cases and
more than 584 thousand deaths have been reported in more
than 188 countries and regions [2].
The unprecedented transmission of this virus has given rise
to a multitude of challenges that are shaking the roots of
current human civilization. Some of the most evident chal-
lenges are described in Table I. Countries that have imposed
lockdowns and travel restriction are facing the challenge of
restraining physical human interaction when socialising is so
natural to human beings. Continuing the provision of essential
services and ensuring a constant supply of medicines and
healthcare equipment is becoming increasingly difficult. Many
national and international organizations, as well as individuals,
tend to offer financial support to support these needs, but
major challenges are to ensure proper distribution and pro-
vide transparency to organizations and donors. Another major
Anshuman Kalla and Raaj Anand Mishra are with School of Comput-
ing and Information Technology, Manipal University Jaipur, India. e-mail:
{firstname.lastname}@jaipur.manipal.edu
Tharaka Hewa and Mika Ylianttila are with the Center for
Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Finland. e-mail:
{firstname.lastname}@oulu.fi
Madhusanka Liyanage is with the School of Computer Science, Uni-
versity College Dublin, Ireland and the Center for Wireless Communications,
University of Oulu, Finland. e-mail:madhusanka@ucd.ie
challenge is the fake infodemic (or “disinfodemic”) of fake
information that is exacerbating the pandemic. Tech giants and
governmental regulatory bodies are encountering difficulty in
recognizing and combating disinformation. These challenges
are being witnessed by many countries which have been hit
by COVID-19, and urgent efforts to resolve them are needed.
Technological advances are one of the key strengths of
the current era that may help us overcome the challenges
posed by COVID-19. Novel technologies—such as Artifi-
cial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML), Internet
of Things (IoT), Blockchain, robotics & Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAVs), 3D printing, nanotechnology & synthetic
biology, 5G communications, cloud & edge computing and
Big Data—can be leveraged to develop intelligent emergency
management strategies for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notably, blockchain has been identified by the European
Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) as one of the ten
key technologies to fight COVID-19 [3]. Blockchain pro-
vides a decentralized computational service architecture that
eradicates most of the limitations associated with centralized
computing ecosystems. The blockchain is a collection of
computing nodes that are connected in a peer-to-peer (P2P)
manner and mutually verify transactions executed within the
network. In the blockchain, each block cryptographically seals
a set of transactions and is linked with the previous block to
form a hash-based (cryptographic) chain of blocks. Figure 1
delineates the seven key features of blockchain technology
vital for the fight against COVID-19.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section II
discusses the role of blockchain in combating the COVID-
19 outbreak and illustrates a wide range of use cases and
applications. Section III highlights the challenges associated
with the use of blockchain in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic and presents plausible solutions to mitigate these
challenges. Section IV concludes the paper.
II. US E-C AS ES AP PL IC ATIO NS A ND SE RVICE
OPPORTUNITIES VIA BLOCKCHAIN FOR COVID-19
This section provides a high-level discussion of how
blockchain can support numerous use cases pertinent to
COVID-19 (as shown in Figure 2). Table II intends to reflect
the expectations in terms of latency, transaction throughput,
cost, suitable consensus mechanism, and potential blockchain
platforms for successful realization of each use case.
A. Contact Tracing
SARS-CoV-2 has an average incubation period from infec-
tion to symptoms of approximately 5.5 days, and it is estimated
that a high percentage of cases are asymptomatic. Thus, it is

TABLE I
GEN ERA L CHALLENGES FACED DURING COV ID -19 PANDEMIC
Challenges Description Real-world Examples
Social
distancing
Social distancing is a method used to slow the spread of the disease and “flatten
the curve” of new cases given there is no medicine or vaccine licensed for the
treatment and prevention of COVID-19. However, most day-to-day activities,
such as shopping, banking, education, transportation, and medical treatment
require physical interaction. Besides, limiting physical interactions may lead to
social isolation and adverse psychological effects.
A three-fold increase in psychological distress has
been reported in the USA, with particularly severe
effects among those aged 18–29 years [4]. In India,
more than 80% of 662 people surveyed reported
being distracted by COVID-19 [5].
Fake
infodemic
The massive flow of fake information (aka “disinfodemic”) can lead to
harmful self-medication or prophylactic treatment (as updated by WHO), panic
behaviour, stress-born diseases, and non-adherence to governmental policies
like social distancing, movement restrictions, and restriction on working and
shopping hours. Further, the development of prediction models and estimation
on future demands based on such fake information will be meaningless. Current
platforms and their underlying technologies cannot tackle this problem and it
is becoming increasingly difficult to counter fake information.
Competition for higher ratings have led the me-
dia to disseminate information related to COVID-
19 without fact-checking. In India, more than two-
thirds of COVID-19-related information received by
people is misinformation [6]. In particular, UNESCO
has defined four key types and nine key themes of
disinformation prevailing during COVID-19 [7].
Continuation
of essential
governmen-
tal services
Essential governmental services such as public utilities (water, electricity,
sanitation, etc.), salary and pension payments, tax collection, registration of
births, marriages and deaths, elections, and visa issuance are expected to be
available at all times. However, the continuous delivery and governance of their
operation has become increasingly challenging as citizens and the governmental
workforce are in lockdown or under stay-home restrictions.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
declared an extension of 60 days in providing re-
sponses to requests, which increased the fear among
temporary immigrants [8]. Further, due to COVID-
19, electoral issues have been reported in Ohio
and Wisconsin because of the changes in dates and
format of elections [8].
Real-time
data sharing
Global data synchronization is an essential factor to combat the COVID-19
pandemic. Sharing important data such as the number of affected patients,
active cases, critical cases, recovered patients, deaths, etc. must occur in real-
time to create public awareness, to support immediate proactive action, and
to predict future patterns. Nevertheless, since digital information is prone to
security attacks, issues like mishandling the ownership of data, absence of ways
to check for data tampering, use of centralized data store that represent a single
point of attack, and insufficient transparency in exchange of data, are technical
challenges to combat COVID-19.
As mentioned in [9], two data sets, a first set of 425
early cases in Wuhan, and a second set of a larger
number of cases in Italy and Wuhan, are not in sync.
They lead to different implications.
Distribution
of funding
and charity
Financial organizations, such as World Bank, International Monetary Fund
(IMF), and the European Union (EU) are offering loans and grants to overcome
the ongoing and post-COVID-19 economic crisis in many countries. Such
funding should be distributed to those in need of assistance in a transparent
manner. However, many countries are failing to do so because of corruption
and lack of proper automated systems. Further, it seems likely that citizens
may be more motivated to donate money if they can transparently view the
end use of their donated money.
An example of lack of automated system is reported
in [10]. That study reported huge amounts of donated
funds and materials were available at the outset of
the pandemic but could not reach health workers in a
timely manner because Hubei’s government initially
channeled all donations via the local Red Cross,
which had a limited staff.
Efficient
supply of
medicines
and
healthcare
equipment
There is a huge demand for medical supplies and equipment such face
masks, sanitizer, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), ventilators, Polymerase
Chain Reaction (PCR) testing kits and probes. Without proper supply chain
management, these items will not reach the place where are they are needed in
timely manner. Also, the vendors may hide the availability of essential item to
artificially inflate prices. Moreover, the quality and origin of such items should
be verified because of the possibility of counterfeit products.
India contributes more than 20% of the global sup-
ply of generic drugs, and more than 200 countries
(including the USA, EU, South Africa, and Russia)
rely on this supply [11]. Due to COVID-19, India has
imposed restrictions on the export of 26 bulk drugs
(Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)), which
together make up approximately 10% of India’s
overall export [12].
Education The education sector, including schools, institutes and training organizations,
is completely shut down in many parts of the world. This may have long-
term effects. Though online modes of education have been adopted, there are
numerous issues, including a technological inability to handle the sudden heavy
data traffic, a lack of training for instructors in these modes of delivery, a
lack of secure cross-collaborative platforms, and absence of many dimensions
of effective teaching-learning methodology like body language, gestures, and
real-time group discussion.
Security glitches and hacking issues have been re-
ported for the use of Zoom video conferencing
application [13]. Further, it has been reported that
UK medical students, in the second-to-last year, are
facing suspension in their clinical placements.
Food Distri-
bution
The transportation and distribution of food has been hampered by lockdowns
and movement restrictions. This situation is affecting both consumers and
farmers: many people are experiencing hunger or even starvation due to the
severe increase in unemployment, while at the same time, farmers are finding
it difficult to sell their yields. Thus, there is a kind of “deadlock” in the
agricultural sector.
The World Food Program (WFP) has reported a
record 82% increase in the estimated number of
people who will be acutely food insecure by the end
of 2020 due to COVID-19 [14]. Because of various
COVID-related restrictions, the WFP is finding it
difficult to distribute the food that is available to the
people who need it.
vital to effectively and rapidly identify all social interactions
that happened during this infectious incubation period to
confine the spread of COVID-19. This is accomplished via
contact tracing, which aims to monitor close contacts (i.e.
individuals that come within the close proximity of an infected
person for some set duration of time). Ideally, when a person
is diagnosed with COVID-19, all of their close contacts would
receive an alert and further instructions. Several contact tracing
mobile applications have been developed using Bluetooth Low
Energy (BLE) technology. Using BLE, it is possible to record

Fig. 1. Key Features of Blockchain that can use to Mitigate COVID-19
challenges
close encounters between mobile phones, wearables and IoT
devices. However, the biggest concerns with this method is
how ensure data security and privacy for users. This because
users’ data gets stored and analyzed in a centralized cloud and
thus users may loose the ownership of their data.
Blockchain is a viable alternative to address data secu-
rity and privacy concerns. Instead of a centralized database,
blockchain can offer a decentralized solution that allows users
to retain full control of their data. Smart contracts can be
established between patients and users to provide time-bound
access to patients’ data. Moreover, patients’ privacy can be
protected by enabling pseudo-anonymity. Instead of revealing
the true identity of an infected person, the blockchain-based
system can enable the use of a special digital fingerprint
(public key or hash) for each patient.
B. Disaster Relief and Insurance
Nationwide lockdowns and social distancing rules have
huge economic impacts on businesses around the world. Gov-
ernments and financial organizations have the responsibility
to help businesses by providing loans and other financial
lifelines. However, using traditional paper-based procedures to
help large number of businesses is going to be time consuming
and ineffective. Therefore, fast, reliable and scalable solutions
are sought by the helping agencies.
Blockchain with smart contracts can be used to simplify
complicated application and approval processes for loans
and insurance. The utilization of smart contacts as policy
agreements can eliminate the inherent processing delays of
traditional paper-based policies. Moreover, blockchain can
remove third-party intermediaries. The benefits of such a
system include faster processing time, lower cost, reduced
operational risk, and more rapid settlement for all stakeholders
involved.
C. Patient Information Sharing
Sharing relevant data among healthcare collaborators is of
paramount importance when dealing with COVID-19 pan-
demic. Global data sharing among international research com-
munity would help to formulate powerful data sets which can
play a fundamental role in COVID-19 research. These data-
sharing mechanisms must take care to avoid violating national
and international data-sharing regulations. Patients’ privacy is
the most important concern and is one of the impediments
to the implementation of medical data sharing system as well
as to its wide adoption. The national and international bodies
enforce robust controls such as HIPAA and define data access
control policies. Moreover, detailed patient information such
as blood oxygen level, heart rates, and medication doses can
be gathered by integrating with Medical IoT (MIoT) devices.
The decentralized storage offered by blockchain could
greatly improve the security and privacy of healthcare data.
Moreover, patients and hospitals can have increased control
over their data due to the elimination of costly middleman
in the form of centralized databases. In addition, blockchain
could break the traditional silos of medical records and
make the process of sharing between hospitals and medical
professionals across the country and even around the world
significantly easier. In fact, blockchain can enable real-time
data sharing. Uploading MIoT data directly to a blockchain-
based system can eliminate issues such as data forging and
mutation. The additional transparency in collecting, storing
and sharing data helps to build and maintain trust between
stakeholders and protects patients’ privacy.
D. Immigration and Emigration Procedures
The unprecedented global spread of COVID-19 has led
many countries to shutdown all immigration checkpoints be it

Fig. 2. Panoramic view of various Blockchain-enabled use cases to fight against COVID-19
airports, seaports, land-ports, rail-ports, or river-ports. Sooner
or later, these restrictions will be either loosened or completely
lifted. Thus, it is evident that both immigration and emigration
will be critical in both the present and near-future. Various
impediments are envisioned in this context, including the need
for travelers to share medical history, travel history and real-
time location in line with governments’ policies. Moreover,
such data will need to shared at the time of immigration checks
when crossing international borders.
Blockchain-powered cross-country data sharing platforms
can be established to handle immigration and emigration pro-
cesses in a smarter way. Various integral features of blockchain
systems with strict smart contracts, like immutability, access
control, non-repudiation, auditability and provenance are vital
for such applications. These salient features can pave the
way for a secure, decentralized and collaborative immigration
ecosystem. In the near future, we may see countries establish-
ing consortium-type blockchain-based immigration systems
that connect all immigration checkpoints. Such systems will
have well-defined interoperability with similar systems in other
countries.
E. Supply Chain Management
The world is witnessing severe supply chain disruptions
due to the ongoing pandemic. Industrial production activities
are at a standstill either because lockdown has been imposed
or because factories are not equipped and/or designed to
follow the new paradigm of social distancing and working
with minimum physical contact. Further, import and export
bans have affected the global supply chain. At present, it is
difficult to analyze the exact level of disruption COVID-19 has
caused in the global supply chain; regardless, it has resulted
in serious crises in supply and demand. Depending on the
type of good, there is either high demand or high supply.
Panic-buying has resulted in a surge in demand for household
essentials. Similarly, medical equipment and pharmaceutical
supply chains are finding it difficult to keep the entire chain
intact and meet the high demand.
Blockchain technology can play a pivotal role in building a
more resilient supply chain. Blockchain can anonymously knit
together all stakeholders, establishing a trust-less environment.
Immutable recording of data logs supports auditability, prove-
nance, and transparency, while well-designed smart contracts
provide a high level of access restrictions and automation.
For this particular use case, we are likely to see a mix of
consortium and public blockchain systems.

TABLE II
SUMMARY OF EXPECTED PERFORMANCE AND EXISTING IMPLEMENTATIONS FOR BLOCKCHAIN ENABLED USE CASES [15]–[19]
Use-case Type of
Blockchain
Consensus
Mechanism
Expected la-
tency
Expected scalability Transaction
Cost
BC Platform
Contact Tracing Public PoW/PoS
Within hours
360-1440 transactions
per phone per day
0 - 0.01 USD Ethereum/Nexus
Consoritum Majority vot-
ing/DBFT
No cost Hyperledger Fabric,
SKUChain, NEO
Disaster Relief
Insurance
Consortium PoW/PoS Within days 10 - 100,000 transactions
per institute per day
0 - 1 USD Ethereum, Bitcoin
Private BFT/ RAFT No cost R3 Corda,
Hyperledger Fabric
Patient Information
Sharing
Consoritum PoW/PoS
Within seconds
1000- 100,000 transac-
tions per minute
<0.01 USD
per transaction
Ethereum,
MedicalChain
Private Proof of
Interopara-
bility CBFT
No cost Private Ethereum/
Hyperledger Iroha
Immigration and
Emigration Procedures
Consoritum PoW/PoS Within seconds 1000- 1 million per
border per day
<0 - 0.05 USD
per transaction
Ethereum
Private BFT No cost Hyperledger Fabric
Supply Chain
Management
Consoritum PoW/PoS Within minutes 100- 10,000 per
system per day
0 - 0.01 USD
per transaction
Ethereum
Private BFT No cost Hyperledger
Fabric/NEO
Automated Surveillance
and Contactless
Delivery
Public PoW/PoS Within seconds 100- 100,000 per
municipality per day
0 - 0.01 USD
per transaction
Ethereum
Private BFT No cost Hyperledger Fabric
Online Education and
Secure Certification
Public PoW/PoS/PoA Within hours 100 - 10,000 per
municipality per day
0 - 0.01 USD
per transaction
Ethereum, Apla
Private BFT No cost Hyperledger Fabric
Manufacturing
Management
Public PoW/PoS Within seconds 1000 - 1 million per
factory per day
0 - 0.01 USD
per transaction
Ethereum
Private BFT No cost Hyperledger Fabric
E-Government
Consortium PoW/PoS/PoA Within days 100- 10,000 per
municipality per day
0 - 1 USD per
transaction
Ethereum, Apla
Private BFT No cost Hyperledger Fabric
Agriculture
Consortium PoW/PoS/PoA Within seconds 100- 100,000 per
regio per day
0 - 1 USD per
transaction
Ethereum, Apla
Private BFT No cost Hyperledger Fabric
Food distribution
Consortium PoW/PoS/PoA Within seconds 100- 10,000 per
municipality per day
0 - 1 USD per
transaction
Ethereum, Apla
Private BFT No cost Hyperledger Fabric
Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Authority (PoA), Proof of Stake (PoS) and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), United States Dollar (USD),
Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerence(DBFT), Chain-based Byzantine Fault Tolerant(CBFT)
F. Automated Surveillance & Contactless Delivery
For now, the only way to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic is
to cultivate habits such as social distancing, minimal touching,
wearing facemasks, and self-tracking symptoms like fever,
coughing, and difficulty in breathing. However, adopting these
behaviors seems to be challenging, especially since they do
not align with the natural behaviors of human beings. This
disconnect implies that a certain level of continuous and
automated surveillance is required for alerts to save count-
less lives. Further, the current situation demands contactless
(robotic) delivery of essential supplies (food, medicine, etc.)
to people under lockdown, especially in areas with very
high transmission rates, where sending a person for doorstep
delivery might not be feasible.
Blockchain-powered UAVs and robots are well-suited to
support this use case. Increasing use of UAVs have already
been seen, with many countries are using them for pub-
lic announcements, surveillance, testing for symptoms (like
temperature) and contactless delivery. Though UAVs have
the unique ability to precisely maneuver and perform task
without human intervention, they are prone to security attacks.
Such attacks may change the intended function and/or allow
data theft. Blockchain, along with smart contracts designed
in accordance with governmental or healthcare policies, can
empower UAVs to function securely, provide restricted access
to captured data, integrate digital payment systems, etc.
G. Online Education & Secure Certification
Many countries have closed their schools and universities
for an extended period. Nonetheless, the on-going situation
should not cease the process of imparting education which is
indispensable for individual growth and ultimately drives the
growth of a nation. Online education has become the most
viable route forward; but systems for online education are
not well established and are facing many challenges. These
include a lack of secure tracking (logs) of learning process,
the threat of data theft (for students and instructors), poor
cross-platform collaboration, and difficulty in verifying the

authenticity of students’ credentials (degree, transcripts, and
other certificates).
Blockchain-based online education platforms can offer a
wide range of possibilities to mitigate these issues. For in-
stance, such systems enable secure cross-platform sharing
of online content and encourage automatic standardization
across educational establishments. Smart contracts and tokens
can be used to device correct payment system based on
the exact usage of content. Decentralized blockchain-based
storage increases the security of student data while ensuring it
remains available to the authorized users. Finally, blockchain
allows fast, efficient and secure issuance and sharing of
verifiable educational credentials. Once the issuing authority of
an institute uploads a credential to a blockchain-based system,
the entitled student gets the full control of the credential.
Students can then provide further viewing access to recruiters,
professors or universities, as they choose.
H. Manufacturing Management
The demand for key commodities such as sanitizers, face
masks, test swabs, PPE, and disinfectants has surged with
COVID-19. To meet the demand, many companies have to
outsource their production to third parties because they lack
sufficient production capabilities. This gives rise to serious
concern, as these third parties may not fulfil quality standards
or meet guidelines for hygienic compliance. Most importantly,
COVID-19 medicines and vaccines will become significant
commodities in the near future. Many small plants and micro-
manufacturing sites will be required to operate simultaneously
and collaboratively to satisfy global demand. In view of the
exponential increase in COVID-19 cases, establishing time-
consuming paper-based traditional collaborations may not be
feasible. Thus, an integrated, robust, collaborative compliance
control monitoring framework is required to ease and govern
the manufacturing process.
Blockchain-enabled IoT systems can be used to validate
the integrity of production. With IoT, quality measurements
can be obtained at different stages of production: gather-
ing raw materials, manufacturing, storing, transporting, etc.
Blockchain nodes can be deployed in factories to connect
with their master production line. Thus, blockchain-integrated
IoT systems enable secure logging of production data in an
immutable and decentralized manner. Further, smart contracts
can hold the logic required to conduct audits to monitor non-
compliance rates. Future COVID-19 vaccines and medicines
could be globally manufactured using blockchain-enabled
cloud controlled manufacturing ecosystems. Smart contracts
could be utilized to manage the royalties and other intellectual
property rights in such decentralized production environments.
I. E-government
E-government, or digital government, refers to the substan-
tial use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
to support the provision of public and government services
provided to a country’s citizens. These services include es-
sential public utilities (water, gas, electricity, sanitation, etc.),
salary payment, tax collection, marriage and divorce services,
land registration, elections, visa processing, and so on. The
e-government concept proposes to digitize all or some parts
of these services.
The use of blockchain for e-government can ensure secu-
rity by enhancing integrity, immutability, confidentiality and
data consistency between organisations. Moreover, its use im-
proves efficiency by reducing processing delays and lowering
operational costs. The key features of blockchain, such as
notarization, shared database and workflow automation, are
useful when implementing different operational features in e-
government systems. Such systems can automatically detect
spot for possible errors and counterfeiting attempts.
J. Agriculture and Food Distribution
Agriculture and food distribution is essential for human life
and must continue to run smoothly. However, strict disease
control measures, like travel bans, export restrictions, closure
of informal labor sectors, shutdown of local markets, etc. have
resulted in numerous challenges for farmers, suppliers, produc-
ers, distributors, retailers and consumers. Farmers are finding it
difficult to sell their yield at a good price, since producers are
not able to run their facilities at full capacity. Distributors are
finding it difficult to cross state and country borders because
of the time required to seek official permission. Moreover,
because of COVID-19, organizations providing humanitarian
services, like the WFP, are experiencing a severe financial
crisis as well as difficulty in keeping their food distribution
cycle intact [14].
In this context, blockchain can provide pragmatic solutions
with agility. Smart contract-based automation can replace
paper-based and lengthy agreements with a trustless digital
market, where buying and selling can be quick without com-
promising ownership. Since blockchain allows two parties to
transact directly, producers can procure raw material directly
from farmers. This would help farmers get better prices for
their produce, and reduce the overall price of food products.
Leveraging blockchain technology, international or national
humanitarian organizations can remotely and securely help
needy people buy free or subsidized food from local vendors
[14]. Further, more donors may tend to donate to good causes,
since blockchain-based systems provide transparency as well
as anonymity.
III. INT EG RATI ON CH AL LE NG ES A ND POSSIBLE
SOLUTIONS
Blockchain technology has enormous potential to help in
the current pandemic. Nevertheless, there are some challenges
which must be addressed to embrace blockchain technology
and leverage maximum benefit. This section aims to present
these challenges and provide a landscape of possible solutions.
Table III summarizes the specific advantages that blockchain
introduces for every use case and lists the corresponding
challenges.
A. Legal disputes
Hitherto, enforcement of commercial and business laws
have carried the implicit assumption that every organization

has a hierarchical structure with a central authority that owns
the responsibility [20]. The central position or entity of each
organization is responsible for its overall smooth functioning
and is liable for any legal issues. In contrast, since blockchain
allows decentralization, anonymity, and automation, the chal-
lenge is determining Who bears the ownership, in terms of
legal liability, when decentralized automation with anonymity
is provided by blockchain [20]? In the case of any legal dispute
or any discrepancy, especially regarding public blockchain in-
frastructure, which jurisdiction will apply? If a smart contract
is found to be erroneous, then who owns the responsibility?
Possible Solutions: For fruitful emergence and wide adap-
tation of blockchain-based innovative services and use cases,
courts and legal systems need to develop a new legal frame-
work and corresponding administrative processes. Such efforts
would allow smooth integration of blockchain technology with
public/governmental institutes. Blockchain technology does
not completely replace existing public services—it adds to
them and makes them more efficient.
B. Privacy Requirements
Blockchain immutably records data in a distributed way
such that all the nodes (i.e., miners) are in possession of
the entire database. This gives rise to privacy issues that
are related to the confidentiality, control and management of
data [21], which can be users’ personal data or perhaps a
trade secrets of an organization. Depending on the type of
blockchain (along with the sort of cryptographic or encryption
mechanisms) being employed, there may be different methods
for data processing and storage, as well as viewing, which
in turn lead to different levels of security vulnerabilities and
non-compliance with privacy laws (the EU’s GDPR, Brazil’s
LGPD, California’s CCPA, etc.). Thus, interesting questions
include: Which type of blockchain should be used for which
domain of application? If the mining nodes are spread across
continents and countries, which privacy laws will apply? Is
this decided based on the location of the miner that mined
a new block? If so, then should the privacy laws be part of
blockchain operations to control where mining should take
place?
Possible Solutions: To make blockchain technology a prof-
itable venture for organizations/companies that are appre-
hensive about its use, private data should be stored off-
chain. Though centralized off-chain storage can be used, it
is better to use distributed off-chain storage to ensure both
the availability and privacy of data. Moreover, depending on
the application scenario, another level/layer of security may
be employed to make off-chain storage privacy protected.
New privacy methods, such as privacy-by-design and mix-
ing, and Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) such as
homomorphic encryption, Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE),
zero-knowledge proof, non-interactive zero-knowledge proof,
format-preserving encryption, secure multi-party computation
and obfuscation can be utilized to enhance privacy.
C. Security Issues
Blockchain is a powerful combination of many
technologies—P2P networking, distributed ledger, consensus
mechanism, and cryptographic techniques—and thus offers
strong security. Nevertheless, there are numerous kinds of
attack that can be mounted on blockchain applications via
wallet hijacking, crypto-stealing malware and transaction
likability. Such attacks are becoming increasingly popular
because they are easy to deploy since they do not directly
deal with secure blockchain infrastructure. These attacks
aim to alter information related to transactions at the entry-
point itself such that incorrect and malicious transaction
is immutably confirmed on the blockchain [20]. Further,
with advancements in technologies like quantum computing,
attacks to alter the blockchain may become possible. In
the future, when quantum computing proves its supremacy
over high-end Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
computing, blockchain will have to be either redesigned or
incrementally upgraded. Thus, challenging questions are: Is
blockchain technology secure and future-ready? If blockchain
design principles need to be reinvented in the future, how can
existing data be migrated?
Possible Solutions: Better encryption techniques are to
be designed to ensure strong security. For instance, the use
of homomorphic signature has been shown to work better
than public-key certificates [22]. A system based on hybrid
blockchain can be used to justify the different level of security;
however, one must be extra cautious at points of intersection.
The security of smart contacts can be improved by using a
Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and game-based smart
contracts.
D. Latency, Throughput and Scalability
Latency is the time after a transaction is sent until it is con-
firmed by the blockchain infrastructure. Much of blockchain
latency is ascribed to the time required to mine a new block.
Depending on the type of blockchain and the specification
of the platform used, there can be variation in the latency
experienced. Currently, latency can be anywhere from tens
of seconds to tens of minutes. The result of high latency is
lower transaction throughput (i.e. fewer transactions per unit
time), which gives rise to scalability issues. The challenging
questions are: Can blockchain perform thousands of transac-
tions per second when performed by existing mechanisms?
Will scalability come at the cost of security?
Possible Solutions: To improve transaction throughput and
make blockchain scalable, researchers are working on inno-
vative solutions, like sharding [23] and layer-2 scalability
solutions [24]. Sharding is a way to achieve network-wide
scalability such that a rapidly growing blockchain network
can be logically divided into groups, called shards. Each node
then can be mapped to one or more shards and will thus
process and store selected transactions. Recently, a Directed
Acyclic Graph (DAG) approach has been also proposed to
improve transaction throughput [25]. The design of alterna-
tive application-specific consensus algorithms and hierarchical
blockchain systems can further improve the latency, through-
put and scalability of such systems.

TABLE III
ROLE OF BLOCKCHAIN AND PERTINENT CHALLENGES FOR IDENTIFIED USE CASES
Advantages of using blockchain
Use Cases Blockchain based Solution
Decentralization
Provenance
Non-Repudiation
Anonymity
Immutability
Availability
Auditability
Automation
Lower Cost
Confidentiality
Blockchain related Deploy-
ment Challenges
Contact Tracing Use of blockchain-based decentralized
application for contact tracing ensures
security and can allow users to retain
ownership of data.
X- - XXXXX -XCompliance to privacy laws,
throughput, scalability, and vo-
luminous data management
Disaster Relief
and Insurance
Blockchain can enable creation of de-
centralized automated financial system
which can motivate donors and generate
confidence in insurance sector.
X X X -X-X X X X Secure designing of smart con-
tracts, security attacks external
to blockchain, and area of ju-
risdiction for legal disputes
Patient Informa-
tion Sharing
Blockchain can empower the develop-
ment of trusted global healthcare plat-
form which allows secure data sharing
among medical collaborators, yet pro-
tects the privacy.
X X X X X X -X X X Interoperability, security and
privacy (confidentiality and ac-
cess control), data storage,
light-weight and operationally
inexpensive
Immigration
and emigration
procedures
Blockchain-based national and interna-
tional collaborative and decentralized
immigration ecosystem can provide a
way to confine the transmission.
X X X -X X X X -XInteroperability, privacy laws,
latency, modifications in smart
contract as per changes in gov-
ernmental policies of a country
Supply chain
management
Underpinning of blockchain can help
in realization of resilient, automated,
and trust-less supply chain management
system.
X X X -X X X X X - Data management (both rel-
evant and obsolete data), la-
tency, and scalability.
Automated
Surveillance
& Contactless
Delivery
Blockchain powered UAVs and robots
are best solution to automate secure
surveillance and contactless delivery of
medicines and food items.
X-X-X-X X X X Physical as well as security
attacks, privacy invasion, le-
gal issues in case of ac-
cidents, light-weight consen-
sus algorithms for resource-
constrained robots
Online Education Blockchain-based online educational
platforms can revolutionize the way ed-
ucation is imparted online and globally
verifiable certificates are issued.
X X X -X X X X X X Operational cost of transac-
tion, throughput, data storage,
number of simultaneous users,
and certificate revoking
Manufacturing
Management
Blockchain can support the develop-
ment of integrated trust-less collabora-
tive and compliance control monitoring
system for production and manufactur-
ing.
X X X -X X X X X - Dealing with voluminous data
and old obsolete data, security
attacks, legal issues and settle-
ments, interoperability among
collaborators
E-government Blockchain among other ICT technolo-
gies, can nurture realization of secure
and decentralized e-government that
can better facilitate citizens of country
X X X -X X X X X X Legal issues, updating smart
contracts which amendments
in laws, defining laws for de-
centralized systems, massive
data storage
Agriculture &
Food distribution
Blockchain based trustless digital mar-
ket can offer pragmatic solution to
buying, selling and distribution of
food. Also, it ensures transparency
with anonymity to the stakeholders like
donors, distributing agencies, bulk food
sellers, and needy recipients.
X X X X X X X X X X Integration and interoperabil-
ity challenges with the exist-
ing systems, massive volume
of data storage requirements,
ensuring compliance with gov-
ernmental policies
E. Resource Utilization
Blockchain technology is (hyper) resource-intensive due to
the inherent transaction validation process, which incentivizes
the mining process and distributed storage. The economic
incentive, in the form of rewards for mining a new block, has
paved the way for a dense global web of mining farms utilizing
high end application-specific processors. These mining farms
require massive energy input to run, which inevitably has
some adverse environmental effects. In this context, some
of the challenging questions are: How can a light-weight
more energy-efficient blockchain be built? How can renewable
energy sources be used to supply the energy required for

blockchain mining farms? How can the heat dissipated by
mining farms be reused such that cost of mining is reduced
and impact on the environment is minimized?
Possible Solutions: To promote and ease the use of
blockchain technology, dedicated cross-community and col-
laborative research will be required to innovate light-weight
cryptographic algorithms. These algorithms must be secure
and resilient to futuristic quantum computing-based attacks
while remaining computationally inexpensive. Moreover, a
new application-specific consensus algorithm will be required
with the roll-out of 5G enabled IoT applications.
IV. CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many sectors of
life, including healthcare, finance, politics, economics, and
education. Blockchain can play a vital role in the management
of the post-COVID-19 world. The key features of blockchain
can support proper implementation of many use cases, such
as contact tracing, disaster relief, patient information sharing,
e-government, supply chain management, online education,
immigration management, manufacturing management, au-
tomated surveillance and contact-less delivery. However, a
variety of challenges, such as legal, security, privacy, latency,
throughput, scalability and resource utilization issues must
be resolved before blockchain can be fully utilized for these
purposes.
ACK NOW LE DG EM EN T
This work is partly supported by European Union in RE-
SPONSE 5G (Grant No: 789658), Academy of Finland in
6Genesis (grant no. 318927) and Secure Connect projects.
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Anshuman Kalla is working as Associate Professor at Department of
Computer and Communication Engineering, Manipal University Jaipur, India.
His research interests include Blockchain, ICN, IoT and networking.
Tharaka Hewa is a Doctoral student at the Centre for Wireless Communica-
tion, University of Oulu. His research interests include Blockchain, IoT, PKI
and data privacy in healthcare systems.

Raaj Anand Mishra is an engineering student at the Department of Computer
and Communication Engineering, School of Computing and Information
Technology, Manipal University Jaipur, India. His research interests include
Blockchain and Networking.
Mika Ylianttila (M. Sc, Dr.Sc, eMBA) is a full-time associate professor
(tenure track) at the Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC), University
of Oulu, Finland. His research interests include edge computing, network
security, network virtualization and software-defined networking.
Madhusanka Liyanage is an Assistant Professor/Ad Astra Fellow at School
of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Ireland. He is also an adjunct
professor/docent at the University of Oulu, Finland. His research interests
are SDN, IoT, Blockchains, MEC, mobile and network security. More info:
http://www.madhusanka.com.