by Bonnie Lawlor, Stuart Chalk, Jeremy Frey, Kazuhiro Hayashi, David Kochalko, Richard Shute, and Mirek Sopek.
Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2023-1204 (AOP 20 Mar 2025)
At the 2019 Council meeting of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) members requested that IUPAC shed some light on the scientific applications of blockchain technology ( see IUPAC News, 16 Nov 2020). The request was reinforced in 2021 when blockchain was identified as one of the top 10 emerging technologies in chemistry by IUPAC (see release) and a number of blockchain start-ups in chemistry were established. Nevertheless, blockchain technology has not been widely adopted across scientific disciplines including chemistry – the life sciences appear to be the most advanced in its use.
As a result of both the IUPAC member request and the positioning of blockchain technology in the emerging technologies top 10, this white paper was developed. Its main goal is to present an objective overview of the current use of blockchain technology along the scientific research workflow and in related areas such as chemical/drug supply chains and education. It should be noted that blockchain is one example of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that is a record of consensus with a cryptographic audit trail maintained and validated by nodes. The ledger can be either centralized or decentralized and while blockchain is one way of implementing a DLT, not all DLTs employ blockchain.
This paper is the culmination of three years of data gathering, including input from multiple interviews with pioneer users of the technology, as well as from more recent adopters and industry technology analysts’ reports.
You will find within these pages descriptions of successful applications of the technology at each step of the scientific research workflow – from the timestamping of ideas to funding, to actual experimentation, to the analysis of research results, and ultimately to the sharing of information and the publication of results. Many of these applications have resulted in major labor efficiencies and cost savings, especially on the administrative side. For example, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) uses blockchain technology to manage their grant program more efficiently and has been able to reduce the time required to complete grant assessment tasks from four-plus hours to 15 minutes. HHS also uses blockchain technology to lessen the time required to find the best deal for purchases of equipment, clinical tools, etc. While this regularly could take four to five months, their blockchain-based service allows people to find what they need in real time and resulted in a contract that will save the government $30 million U.S. dollars over a five-year period.
However, not all blockchain use cases have such a successful conclusion. In this white paper you will learn where the technology has not worked – and why – thanks to those interviewed who discussed in detail the lessons that they themselves learned during their own blockchain journey. The paper highlights the potential future uses of the technology; the pitfalls to avoid when considering its use; when and how legislation and regulatory policies come into play; and how the technology is evolving and growing stronger. The paper also discusses parallel developments in quantum computing, its potential impact on blockchain technology, and what developments are in progress to ensure a stable and provably secure, quantum-safe alternative to the existing blockchain approaches.
One of the key goals of this paper is to make the distinction between blockchain technology and cryptocurrency very clear. The two are quite separate entities. Blockchain is not cryptocurrency – it is the underlying engine that supports cryptocurrencies. More significantly, it is an engine that supports a diverse array of use cases across many industries and predates the emergence of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency by almost 20 years.
Another key goal is to encourage everyone who works along the scientific research workflow to learn more about blockchain technology and question if/how it might be of value to them now or in the future, for we believe that it is a proven, potentially-disrupting, technology that should not be ignored.
Related
– Lawlor, Bonnie, Chalk, Stuart, Frey, Jeremy, Hayashi, Kazuhiro, Kochalko, David, Shute, Richard and Sopek, Mirek. “Blockchain Technology and its Use Along the Scientific Research Workflow: A IUPAC White Paper Coming Soon”
Chemistry International, vol. 46, no. 3, 2024, pp. 12-17. https://doi.org/10.1515/ci-2024-0303
– B. Lawlor, “Blockchain Technology: Uses in Research and Communication”
Chem. Int. 2020, 42(3), 8-11; https://doi.org/10.1515/ci-2020-0304
– IUPAC project https://iupac.org/project/2023-009-1-024/