Blockchains and provenance : How a technical system for tracing origins, ownership and authenticity can transform social trust

This chapter explores the use of blockchain technology to trace provenance, taking as a framework the "taxonomy of trust" derived from the discipline of archival science. After considering the taxonomy's three major requirements for trustworthy records-accuracy, reliability, and authenticity-the authors argue that tracing and documenting the provenance of data and records are at the nexus of how blockchains can be used to transform social trust, and that blockchain offers the potential to authenticate digital records.

But if the provenance of digital objects is to be authenticated and trusted over time, blockchain systems must be designed with a view to the long-term preservation of the provenance information that such systems convey. The chapter concludes with a review of two "real world" use cases: the tracing of health data provenance using blockchain, and the authentication of assets in the world of banking and finance.</p>