Emergence of a scale-free network topology in a blockchain-based Shared Manufacturing

Abstract

The development of smart manufacturing modes, following the guidelines of the Industry 4.0 paradigm, suggests the use of new technologies to ensure greater agility, individualization and personalization. Blockchain technology, as one of the new technologies, enables decentralization and trustless environment, however, on the other hand, introduces scalability limitations into the system. This paper presents an exploratory network analysis of money flow in blockchain-based Shared Manufacturing. We conduct an experiment in the form of an online game with people in order to obtain real data on network of prosumers in the said concept. We describe a relation between the money flow network, the supply of services in the market and the state of occupancy of the blockchain network in blockchain-based Shared Manufacturing. A greater supply of services in the market and a more occupied blockchain network causes a tendency for money flow network to organize like scale-free networks, however, this claim will be further verified in future work.