Proof by Earnestness (PoE) to determine the authenticity of subjective information in blockchains - application in supply chain risk management

摘要

Blockchain is being used in various global supply chains with its ever-increasing maturity and popularity. However, in the presence of subjective information that does not have a digital footprint, blockchain application is a grey area. This is due to the difficulty in confirming the authenticity or legitimacy of information before achieving consensus on it using existing mechanisms such as Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Authority (PoA) or Proof of Stake (PoS). In this paper, we attempt to address this issue. Specifically, we propose the Proof by Earnestness (PoE) consensus mechanism that determines the subjective information’s truthfulness before further processing and formalising in blockchains. We consider supply chain risk management (SCRM) as our application area due to the vast amount of available subjective information.