Original title: Blockchain for Next-Generation Digital Platforms: A Systematic Review of Decentralized Trust, Interoperability, and Governance
Yang Lu · September 2026
People want to use blockchain for digital platforms, not just cryptocurrency. But researchers study trust, connections between networks, and rule-making in separate silos. The authors reviewed 137 studies to connect these topics. Blockchain shifts trust from institutions to verifiable code, but it cannot remove the need for trust completely. Code-based trust and institutional trust must work together. Next, tools that connect different blockchains have grown, but their rules lag behind the tech, and standards differ between Europe and the United States. For platform rules, decentralized setups like DAOs struggle with low participation and power grouping among a few people. Running a platform works best when code-based rules blend with human, off-chain agreements. Powerful validators and platform coordinators also take over central coordination roles. Ultimately, all three areas depend on each other, meaning platforms cannot succeed by perfecting just one.
Imagine a group of friends planning a potluck dinner. They agree to bring different dishes, but no one wants to be in charge. They decide to use a shared online list to coordinate. But the list only works if everyone updates it honestly, and if they agree on what counts as a dish. Even with the list, they still need to trust each other and decide how to handle last-minute changes. In this paper, blockchain is like the shared list—it helps coordinate, but trust and rules still matter. The three dimensions—trust, interoperability, and governance—are like the friends' trust in each other, the ability to share recipes across different apps, and the rules for making decisions together.
For anyone building or using blockchain-based platforms, this review shows that success depends on balancing three interdependent factors: trust, interoperability, and governance. Ignoring any one can undermine the whole system. Regulators also need to see that governance must co-evolve with technical standards across different jurisdictions.
This review synthesizes existing research but does not test its proposed framework empirically. It covers only trust, interoperability, and governance, potentially omitting other critical dimensions like scalability or energy use. The analysis of regulatory compliance is high-level and does not resolve jurisdictional conflicts. The five research directions are suggestions, not validated pathways.
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Blockchain for Next-Generation Digital Platforms: A Systematic Review of Decentralized Trust, Interoperability, and Governance — Yang Lu — Journal of Emerging Technologies With Industrial Applications — doi:10.53941/jetia.2026.100006
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.