Blockchain White Paper

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) undertook a research project in fiscal year 2018 to understand how blockchain works, to learn how it is being used in the Federal government, and to discuss the potential implications for records management.

This white paper represents NARA’s findings as of July 2018. Research consisted of attending various interest group meetings, webinars, symposiums, and discussions with external experts. The research team also performed a technical review and analysis of articles surrounding blockchain. This paper contains a selected bibliography of these articles as a resource. This paper also contains various terms in bold italics, which are defined in a glossary.

This white paper is intended to help federal records managers to better understand blockchain technology and to consider the records management implications at their own agencies. On the whole, NARA’s current guidance issued for federal records management applies to records created by blockchain technology. NARA will continue to monitor how blockchain use evolves in government and will determine if any future guidance is needed to address specific aspects or implications for blockchain records.