Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts in Risk Management

Abstract

Being a distributed ledger, blockchain is considered a disruptive technology which premises new solutions to existing business practices. High level of trust, data security, immutability, and traceability are the main properties of a blockchain and it has wide application potential which is attracting researchers’ and practitioners’ attention recently. Despite its popularity and potential, a limited amount of research is devoted to blockchain and smart contract potential in risk management domain. Risk management is an indispensable part of today’s challenging business environment and requires innovative solution to existing practices. Therefore, the primary aim of this chapter is to investigate potential application areas of blockchain and smart contracts in risk management domain. Project risk management, financial risk management, enterprise risk management, and supply-chain risk management areas are examined in detail and many potential application points have been determined and reported. The findings of this chapter suggests that blockchain and smart contracts have high potential; however, detailed frameworks are needed to use blockchain as a disruptive technology in the risk management domain. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.