Blockchain Technology and Its Applications Across Industries: A Review of Current Trends and Future Opportunities

Blockchain technology has emerged as a transformative innovation across diverse industries by enabling decentralized, transparent, and secure data management. This paper presents a systematic review of blockchain applications in five key sectors: supply chain, health care, finance, energy, and education. The objective is to synthesize current trends, identify primary benefits such as enhanced traceability, fraud reduction, cost savings, and data integrity and examine prevailing challenges including high energy consumption, scalability limitations, and regulatory constraints. Through analysis of over fifty recent studies, we find that smart contracts automate workflows and improve transparency in supply chains; permissioned ledgers secure electronic health records; decentralized finance platforms accelerate transaction settlement; peer-to-peer energy markets emerge amid sustainability drives; and digital credentialing enhances academic record authenticity. Despite these advancements, widespread adoption is hindered by technical and legal barriers. We conclude that addressing energy efficiency through consensus algorithm optimization, establishing global standards for interoperability, and integrating blockchain with AI and IoT ecosystems are crucial for unlocking its full potential. Future research should focus on pilot implementations at scale and the development of hybrid architectures to balance performance with sustainability.

کلیدواژه ها:

Blockchain ، Smart Contracts ، Supply Chain ، Healthcare ، Decentralized Finance ، Scalability