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

Recent advances in blockchain have led to a significant interest in developing blockchain-based applications. While data can be retained in blockchains, the stored values can be deleted or updated. From a user viewpoint that searches for the data, it is unclear whether the discovered data from the blockchain storage is relevant for real-time decision-making process for blockchain-based application. The data freshness issue serves as a critical factor especially in dynamic networks handling real-time information. In general, transactions to renew the 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 Due to this problem, some users may receive outdated data.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 blockchain is suitable for providing real-time data services. In this article, we first describe blockchain-enabled (BCE) networks with Hyperledger Fabric (HLF). Then, we define age of information (AoI) of BCE networks and investigate the influential factors in this AoI. Analysis and experiments are conducted to support our proposed framework. Lastly, we conclude by discussing some future challenges.