Is Blockchain Suitable for Data Freshness? An Age-of-Information Perspective

Recent advances in blockchain technology have led to a significant interest in developing blockchain-based applications. While data can be retained in a blockchain, the stored values can be deleted or updated. From a user viewpoint that searches for data, it is unclear whether the discovered data from the blockchain storage is relevant for real-time decision-making processes for block-chain-based applications. The data freshness issue serves as a critical factor, especially in dynamic networks handling real-time information. In general, transactions to renew data require additional processing time inside the blockchain network, which is called ledger-commitment latency. Due to this problem, some users may receive outdated data. As a result, it is important to investigate if the blockchain is suitable for providing real-time data services. In this article, we first describe block-chain-enabled (BCE) networks with Hyperledger Fabric (HLF). Then, we define age-of-information (AoI) of BCE networks and investigate influential factors on this AoI. Experiments are conducted to explore the impacts of the influential factors on data freshness in BCE networks. Lastly, we conclude by discussing future challenges.