Abstract
Blockchain technology has emerged over the past 17 years (2008–2025) as a transformative innovation with significant implications for supply chain management. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of how blockchain has shaped modern supply chains across industries, tracing its evolution from the 2008 inception of Bitcoin’s ledger to diverse applications
in 2025. We discuss blockchain’s core features – decentralisation, immutability, transparency and smart contracts – and how these features address long-standing supply chain challenges such as traceability, trust and coordination. The paper surveys over 50 high-quality studies, industry projects and case examples to highlight key applications of blockchain in food
and agriculture, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, logistics and shipping, manufacturing, retail and other sectors. We detail the benefits observed, including improved product provenance, faster and more efficient tracking, enhanced transparency for stakeholders and new models for supply chain finance. We also critically examine the limitations and challenges that
inhibit widespread adoption, including scalability and performance constraints, regulatory and legal uncertainties, data privacy concerns, high implementation costs and the need for industry standards and collaboration. Visual illustrations – including timelines, architecture schematics and tables – are provided to summarise the technology’s development and current state.
Finally, we outline emerging trends (including integration with the Internet of Things, industry consortia and advances in blockchain protocols) and future directions for research and practice. In summary, blockchain has demonstrated significant potential to enhance supply chain management by increasing transparency, security and efficiency, but realising this potential fully will require overcoming technical, organisational and regulatory hurdles. The insights from 17 years of innovation presented in this review aim to inform researchers, practitioners and policymakers of the achievements to date and the path forward for blockchain in modern supply chains.
Keywords: Blockchain, Supply Chain Management, Traceability, Transparency, Smart Contracts, Decentralisation, Provenance, Industry 4.0, Logistics, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
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