Executable Models and Instance Tracking for Decentralized Applications -- Towards an Architecture Based on Blockchains and Cloud Platforms

TL;DR

This paper proposes an architecture combining executable models on cloud platforms with blockchain smart contracts to improve scalability and enable decentralized coordination beyond organizational boundaries.

Contribution

It introduces a novel architecture that integrates executable models with blockchain and cloud platforms to enhance decentralized application execution and tracking.

Findings

Proposes a new architecture for decentralized application execution.

Demonstrates coupling of executable models with smart contracts.

Explores scalability and coordination improvements.

Abstract

The execution of decentralized applications on blockchains is limited today by technical and organizational barriers, including scalability and the high complexity to specify execution correctly for developers as well as for domain experts in organizations. Overcoming these limitations could allow for decentralized coordination beyond data, where distributed parties rely on higher-level abstractions for coordinating their actions using decentralized applications, not limited to organizations. Towards this goal, the paper at hand proposes executable models as high-level abstraction that can be observed and tracked by distributed parties. In particular, it is investigated how executable models on cloud platforms can be coupled with smart contracts for tracking their execution, concluding with an architecture as exploratory research result towards supporting scalability and decentralized coordination.