ISO/TR 3242:2022

Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies – Use cases

This document lists use cases that summarise common capabilities and usage patterns for attributes of distributed ledger technologies including the blockchain in order to help standards and technology development. This document includes use cases reflecting a range of industry sectors, processes and specific applications. This document can inform decision-makers considering or involved in applying these new technologies, including business, academia, government, technical and standards bodies.

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General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 30-Oct-2022
• ICS: 35.030 - IT Security
• ICS: 35.240.40 - IT applications in banking
• ICS: 35.240.99 - IT applications in other fields
• Technical Committee: ISO/TC 307 - Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies
• Drafting Committee: ISO/TC 307/WG 6 - Use cases
• Current Stage: 6060 - International Standard published
• Start Date: 31-Oct-2022
• Completion Date: 31-Oct-2022

Overview

ISO/TR 3242:2022 - Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies – Use cases is a Technical Report that catalogs and summarizes real-world DLT (distributed ledger technology) and blockchain use cases across multiple industries. Its purpose is to help standards developers, technology teams and decision‑makers understand common capabilities, usage patterns and practical requirements when evaluating or building DLT solutions.

Key topics

The report focuses on structured, repeatable analysis of use cases and includes:

• Use case templates covering functional requirements, system architecture, data flows and use case models.
• A classification scheme with categories: transversal, horizontal, vertical, sustainable development goals (SDGs) and status of use case.
• A comprehensive use case list and abstracts for domains such as Data Provenance, Fintech, Supply Chain, and Smart Energy.
• Detailed examples and country-specific cases (e.g., property records in India, student records and education certificates in India/Singapore, SSI in Cyprus, fintech and settlement examples in China/Italy/Korea).
• Insights on blockchain implementation types, open source considerations, and force‑field analysis to assess drivers and barriers.

Practical applications

ISO/TR 3242 is a practical tool to:

• Inform strategy and procurement: decide whether blockchain/DLT fits a business process and define procurement requirements.
• Define system requirements: use the report’s template approach to capture functional, architectural and data‑flow needs.
• Compare architectures and deployment models: evaluate permissioned vs permissionless approaches, integration and interoperability considerations.
• Support standards development and research: provide common, categorized use cases for standards bodies, academia and technical working groups.
• Guide policy and governance: help government and regulatory stakeholders assess societal impacts and SDG alignment.

Who should use it

• Business and IT decision‑makers evaluating DLT adoption
• Solution architects and system integrators designing DLT solutions
• Standards bodies and technical committees developing related standards
• Policymakers, regulators and public sector agencies exploring DLT use cases
• Academics and researchers studying applied blockchain scenarios

Keywords (SEO)

ISO TR 3242:2022, blockchain use cases, distributed ledger technologies, DLT use cases, blockchain standards, data provenance, fintech blockchain, supply chain blockchain, smart energy DLT, system architecture, functional requirements

Use ISO/TR 3242:2022 as a reference framework to translate high‑level blockchain potential into concrete, comparable use cases and requirements for implementation and standards work.

Standards Content (Sample)

TECHNICAL ISO/TR
REPORT 3242
First edition
2022-10
Blockchain and distributed ledger
technologies – Use cases
Reference number
© ISO 2022
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii
Contents Page
Foreword . vi
Introduction .vii
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Use case processes . 1
5 Template development . 2
5.1 General . 2
5.2 Functional Requirements . 3
5.3 System architecture . . 3
5.4 Data Flows . 4
5.5 Use Case Models . 5
5.6 Categories. 6
5.7 Category: Transversal . 6
5.8 Category: Horizontal . 7
5.9 Category: Vertical . 7
5.10 Category: sustainable development goals . 8
5.11 Category: status of use case . . 8
5.12 Category: Other use case classifications . 9
6 Use case list and abstracts .10
6.1 Data Provenance . 10
6.2 Fintech use cases . 14
6.3 Supply Chain cases . 18
6.4 Smart Energy use cases . 22
7 Use case overview and insights by category .24
7.1 General . 24
7.2 Insights - transversal categories . 25
7.3 Insights - horizontal categories .26
7.4 Insights - vertical category . 27
7.5 Insights - status .28
7.6 Sustainable development goals (SDGs) .29
7.7 Insights - blockchain implementation types .30
7.8 Insights – open source . 31
8 Use cases: Data Provenance .32
8.1 Data Accountability (European Union). 32
8.1.1 Categories . 32
8.1.2 Summary . 33
8.1.3 User requirements .34
8.1.4 Force field analysis .39
8.2 Property Record Management System (PRMS) (India) .40
8.2.1 Categories .40
8.2.2 Summary .40
8.2.3 User requirements . 43
8.2.4 Force field analysis . 47
8.3 Student records management system (SRMS) India . 47
8.3.1 Categories . 47
8.3.2 Summary .48
8.3.3 User requirements .49
8.3.4 Force field analysis . 53
8.4 Education certificates provenance (Singapore) .54
8.4.1 Categories .54
iii
8.4.2 Summary . 55
8.4.3 User requirements . 57
8.4.4 Force field analysis . 61
8.5 Content timestamp verification (Netherlands) . 62
8.5.1 Categories . 62
8.5.2 Summary . 62
8.5.3 User requirements .64
8.5.4 Force field analysis .66
8.6 Self-sovereign ID (SSI) (Cyprus) . 67
8.6.1 Categories . 67
8.6.2 Summary .68
8.6.3 User requirements . 70
8.6.4 Force field analysis .77
9 Use cases: Fintech .78
9.1 Accounts receivable financing system (China) . 78
9.1.1 Categories . 78
9.1.2 Summary . 78
9.1.3 User requirements .80
9.1.4 Force field analysis .83
9.2 Interbank loan reconciliation and settlement (China) .83
9.2.1 Categories .83
9.2.2 Summary .84
9.2.3 User requirements .84
9.2.4 Force field analysis .87
9.3 Organized CHIT funds (India) . .88
9.3.1 Categories .88
9.3.2 Summary .88
9.3.3 User requirements .90
9.3.4 Force field analysis .94
9.4 Transparent securitisation (Italy) . 95
9.4.1 Categories . 95
9.4.2 Summary .96
9.4.3 User requirements . 97
9.4.4 Force field analysis .102
9.5 Pension process optimisation (China) .104
9.5.1 Categories .104
9.5.2 Summary .104
9.5.3 User requirements .105
9.5.4 Force field analysis . 110
9.6 Decentralised Charity Platform (the Republic of Korea) . 110
9.6.1 Categories . 110
9.6.2 Summary . 111
9.6.3 User requirements .113
9.6.4 Force field analysis . 116
10 Use cases: Supply Chain .117
10.1 International trade transparency (Singapore) . 117
10.1.1 Categories . 117
10.1.2 Summary . 118
10.1.3 User requirements . 119
10.1.4 Force field analysis .123
10.2 Maritime Bill of Lading (Israel) .124
10.2.1 Categories .124
10.2.2 Summary .124
10.2.3 User requirements .126
10.2.4 Force field analysis .130
10.3 Franchised drugs and pharmaceutical equipment supply-chain management
(China) .130
iv
10.3.1 Categories .130
10.3.2 Summary .131
10.3.3 User requirements .132
10.3.4 Force field analysis .135
10.4 Anti-counterfeit solution for pharma industry (India) .136
10.4.1 Categories .136
10.4.2 Summary .136
10.4.3 User requirements .138
10.4.4 Force field analysis . 142
10.5 IGP provenance traceability (Italy) . 142
10.5.1 Categories . 142
10.5.2 Summary . 143
10.5.3 User requirements . 145
10.5.4 Force field analysis .149
10.6 Universal Farm Compliance (Ireland) . 149
10.6.1 Categories .149
10.6.2 Summary .150
10.6.3 User requirements . 151
10.6.4 Force field analysis .156
10.7 International waste transportation management system (Netherlands) .156
10.7.1 Categories .156
10.7.2 Summary .157
10.7.3 User requirements .158
10.7.4 Force field analysis .164
11 Use cases: Smart Energy . 165
11.1 Cooperative energy trading (Ireland) .165
11.1.1 Categories .165
11.1.2 Summary .165
11.1.3 User requirements . 167
11.1.4 Force field analysis . 170
11.2 Energy Trading with Transactive Energy Grids (India) . 171
11.2.1 Categories . 171
11.2.2 Summary .172
11.2.3 User requirements .173
11.2.4 Force field analysis . 178
11.3 Renewable energy consumer grids (Spain) . 178
11.3.1 Categories . 178
11.3.2 Summary . 179
11.3.3 User requirements .180
11.3.4 Force field analysis .184
Annex A Use case exemplar . 186
Bibliography . 188
v
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 307, Blockchain and distributed ledger
technologies.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
vi
Introduction
This document provides a selection of use cases to illustrate a spectrum of applications of distributed
ledger technologies including the blockchain (hereafter referred to as DLT). The use cases reflect
various international domains, business and industry sectors and processes.
The use cases help to identify actual and potential applications of the technology in the given context,
along with relevant requirements, options, benefits, and risk mitigation strategies.
The framework of this document enables this approach by providing a perspective of use cases that goes
beyond the traditional vertical sectors or DLT attributes. This document provides assessment across
five different categories to provide technology, market and social perspectives. The visualisation of
user flows and architecture enables a broader perspective of the role of a DLT as part of on-ledger and
off ledger ecosystems. By assessing current DLT implementations, these use cases provide learnings
that apply to governance, compliance, interoperability, cross-border regulations, and scalability.
The open innovation approach to use cases can contribute to accelerating the implementation of these
new technologies and help reduce the instance of duplication or repeated solution development. This
bridge of new information and existing standards can also inform innovators and SMEs to adopt a
standards-based approach to build the future of DLT, especially where new decentralised business
models apply for example in areas such as financial technology (fintech) and the energy sector.
This document is arranged in three sections for easy reference and comparison.
Clauses 4, 5, and 6 describe the approach, process and criteria of use case selection and study. This
provides a guide to the template structure and five key categories that draw out the impact of DLT
attributes across transversal (related technologies), horizontal (attributes), vertical (sector specific),
United Nations Sustainable development goals (SDGs) and status (from pilot to implementation stages).
The use cases each have a set of visualizations that provide further detail of DLT activity as well as the
relationship to the user and technology ecosystem. The diagrams include data flow models, a reference
architecture from a single node view, and behavioural UML. As such, the template and diagrams provide
a detailed insight into the individual use case.
Clause 7 provides commentary on the trends identified in the use case. This provides analysis of
categories and DLT types in the use cases. Examples include the clusters of DLT the adoption of hybrid
[1]
or new DLT and the use of open source .
Clauses 8, 9, 10, and 11 provide the detailed use cases reflecting the digital marketplace, arranging
them in the template format for easy comparison. The combination of categories and commentary in
this document is designed to help readers reference the relevant classification to their sector as well as
discover transferable attributes from other categories that can be applied to their DLT requirements.
The work on this document started with identifying the key themes which have the most DLT activity
and inviting use cases in these sectors. This resulted in a first set of sector clusters including Fintech,
Supply Chains, Data Provenance and Energy.
vii
TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/TR 3242:2022(E)
Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies – Use cases
1 Scope
This document lists use cases that summarise common capabilities and usage patterns for attributes
of distributed ledger technologies including the blockchain in order to help standards and technology
development. This document includes use cases reflecting a range of industry sectors, processes and
specific applications.
This document can inform decision-makers considering or involved in applying these new technologies,
including business, academia, government, technical and standards bodies.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 22739, Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies — Vocabulary
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO 22739 and the following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
hybrid
both a private (e.g. consortium) blockchain for internal business use and a public blockchain to publish
information of public interest (e.g. certification attainment)
4 Use case processes
The use case collection methodology was broad-ranging. A global call for use case contributions was
made. Use case authors submitted use cases to a use case repository and from that collection, the set of
use cases contained in this document was selected.
A blockchain/DLT use case template was created to ensure conformance and facilitate comparison
across use case application domains and contexts. The use case template applied here includes
descriptive text and visualisation formats and applies a System View representation of the Blockchain
[3]
and DLT Reference Architecture specified in ISO 23257 .
Given the application domain of blockchain and DLT use cases, where business and enterprise aspects
including tokenisation and autonomous governance can be facilitated on-chain, it is considered
important that use case descriptions elaborate both business and technical information.
In this way the document provides a comparative analysis of 22 international use cases to better
communicate:
— transferable blockchain attributes across vertical and horizontal domains
— infrastructures that support emerging decentralised business models
— detailed views of on-chain and off-chain DLT data flows
Figure 1 outlines this use case preparation workflow.
Figure 1 — Use case process and review flow
5 Template development
5.1 General
To provide a standard criterion for analysis, a comprehensive template was created that draws together
attributes of each use case in a way that enables comparison and review. The template includes five
sections that explore the distinct roles of blockchain/DLT in each use case:
— Title
— Categories
— Summary
— User Requirements
— Functional Requirements
— Visualizations
— Reference Architecture
— Data Flow Model
— Behavioural UML
[4]
— Force Field Analysis
5.2 Functional Requirements
The use case functions are visualised through a series of diagrams that include user models, data flows
and system architecture.
There is also reference to smart contracts, security, identity and privacy management, open-source
software and non-functional requirements.
5.3 System architecture
This is a Lab Project which analyses the system architecture to identify stakeholder interaction and
data flows using a reference architecture described in Figure 2 that describes a DLT network application
from the perspective of Node A connected to a blockchain network. This architecture derives from the
[3]
modular Reference Architecture System View described in ISO 23257 and has been applied to all the
use cases in this document. Common kinds of interfaces including external interfaces and intersystem
interfaces are included as well as the APIs including both user and admin ones.
The functional components of the system architecture are grouped and outlined as follows:
— DLT Nodes
— Application systems: for administration and for users, providing end-user capabilities and
capabilities for administration and management of the DLT system respectively. Use case authors
specify the functional models for both systems to illustrate the services enabled by the solution.
— Non-DLT systems: off-chain code, the DLT oracles, the non-DLT applications and off-ledger data are
presented and specified based on the actual use case situation.
— Other DLT systems: include the separate DLT systems that interoperate with the DLT system.
— Multi-layer functions: one or more of the multi-layer function components could be included as
per use case actual situation, such as development, the management and operations, security and
governance and compliance.
[3]
Figure 2 — Reference Architecture System View (ISO 23257 )
5.4 Data Flows
DLT Stakeholder roles:
The purpose of the DLT data flow diagram is to identify which data flows are triggered by the data-
related operations of stakeholders, between system components that belong to or are associated with
them.
DLT data can usefully be classified according to its source as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The sources
[3]
identified here align with the six DLT roles (ISO 23257 ) identified as DLT administrators, users,
providers, developers, governors and auditors. Among these, administrators, users and providers are
the most relevant roles to use case definition. Stakeholders achieve their aims by means of role-based
interactions with the DLT system.
NOTE The treatment of off-ledger data is similar to that of other information technology systems. However,
a ledger is immutable, which makes identifying transparency and privacy objectives important.
Figure 3 — Data categories from the data source perspective
System data flows:
The purpose of this data flow analysis diagram is to demonstrate a system-wide data flow, and identify
which data flows are triggered by the data-related operations of which stakeholders.
a) Specify the role of each stakeholder in facilitating the data flow.
b) Identify the type of data flow (See categories A to D and Z below)
c) Identify the data location: on- or off-ledger.
There are five fundamental DLT data flows. (See Figure 4) Categories A to D are important for
understanding a use case.
A: between 2 separate DLT systems when they interoperate.
B: between a DLT system and non-DLT systems connected to it.
C: between administration applications and a DLT system.
D: between user applications and a DLT system.
Z: within and between the nodes of the DLT system.
Figure 4 — DLT Data Flow diagram
5.5 Use Case Models
The purpose of a Universal Modelling Language (UML) behavioural model is to illustrate user and
system interactions, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, and to provide greater detail about user aims and
actions in the system and how these are achieved.
Figure 5 — Simple use case diagram
Figure 6 — Example sequence diagram
5.6 Categories
To provide a standard criterion for analysis, a comprehensive template methodology was created that
includes five categories of applications. These categories are selected so that this document can usefully
be referenced and incorporated into other research, analysis and standardization. These are:
— Transversal (related technologies).
— Horizontal (attributes).
— Vertical (sector specific).
— United Nations Sustainable development goals (SDGs).
— Status (classified across a spectrum of technical development phases).
This document includes commentary of the use cases and insights into these categories in Clause 7. An
example of the use case template is in Annex A.
5.7 Category: Transversal
The transversal category considers related technologies and is derived from the EU Information and
[5]
Communications Technology (ICT) Standardisation Rolling Plan .
This category reflects the ‘Key enablers and security’ section of the EU ICT Rolling Plan which includes:
a) Cloud computing.
b) Public sector information and open data.
c) Internet of Things.
d) Cybersecurity / network and information security.
e) Electronic identification, trust services, e-signatures.
f) e-Privacy.
g) e-Infrastructures for research.
h) Accessibility of ICT products and services.
i) Artificial Intelligence.
j) 5G.
k) Broadband infrastructure mapping
5.8 Category: Horizontal
The horizontal category reflects cross-sector applications and attributes from a market-based, business
analysis approach and uses terms commonly used in the current DLT ecosystem.
[6]
This category derives from consideration of ISO/TS 23258 leading to insights in taxonomic and
ontological descriptions. Both are deemed valid approaches and by referencing both approaches it is
understood that valuable insights into the DLT ecosystem as a whole are gained.
a) Identity Management
— Rights and Identity Management, Identification.
b) Data Provenance
— Disintermediation in Production, Actions Traceability
c) Governance
— Collaboration, Deci
...