Patterns for Blockchain-Based Payment Applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces 12 blockchain-specific design patterns for payment applications, providing a systematic framework to guide architects in developing secure, efficient, and cross-border blockchain payment systems.

Contribution

It establishes a comprehensive set of patterns based on token lifecycle analysis, filling a gap in structured knowledge for blockchain payment application design.

Findings

Identified key token lifecycle stages in blockchain payments

Developed 12 patterns covering token state transitions

Provided a systematic view for designing blockchain payment systems

Abstract

As the killer application of blockchain technology, blockchain-based payments have attracted extensive attention ranging from hobbyists to corporates to regulatory bodies. Blockchain facilitates fast, secure, and cross-border payments without the need for intermediaries such as banks. Because blockchain technology is still emerging, systematically organised knowledge providing a holistic and comprehensive view on designing payment applications that use blockchain is yet to be established. If such knowledge could be established in the form of a set of blockchain-specific patterns, architects could use those patterns in designing a payment application that leverages blockchain. Therefore, in this paper, we first identify a token's lifecycle and then present 12 patterns that cover critical aspects in enabling the state transitions of a token in blockchain-based payment applications. The lifecycle and the annotated patterns provide a payment-focused systematic view of system interactions and a guide to effective use of the patterns.