Mobile Smart Contracts: Exploring Scalability Challenges and Consensus Mechanisms

Mobile smart contracts (MSCs) are essential to facilitate quick, safe, and decentralized transactions on mobile blockchain networks. Scalable blockchain solutions facilitate the establishment of a mobile blockchain ecosystem characterized by enhanced resilience and adaptability. This encourages an increase in the number of users and, thus, spreads the adoption of blockchain technology in the mobile domain. With the inception of blockchain technology, a wide range of applications use smart contracts due to their high customizability. However, problems with scalability and resource-intensive consensus procedures prevent their general use. Therefore, this work seeks to identify and analyze these constraints by conducting a systematic survey using Kitchenham’s guidelines for available scalable blockchains and consensus methods. Out of a preliminary pool of 2,073 publications, our study, which consists of 25 selected studies, identifies 12 consensus mechanisms and 13 scalable blockchain systems. Our investigation shows that, despite the wide range of techniques, no blockchain solution provides the scalability and lightweight operating requirements to implement smart contracts on mobile devices. This realization draws attention to a significant gap in academic and industry-driven blockchain research that may have implications for creating MSCs. Our findings encourage academics to explore scalable and energy-efficient blockchain technology, targeting creating more approachable smart contracts designed with mobile devices in mind.