Inclusive Deployment of Blockchain for Supply Chains: Part 3 – Public or Private Blockchains – Which One Is Right for You?

The report analyzes the trade-offs between public and private blockchains for global supply chain applications, emphasizing that the choice depends on specific needs regarding data privacy, performance, and governance. It highlights that while private blockchains are often preferred for their control and GDPR compliance, public blockchains offer greater interoperability and immutability. The document provides a set of seven key questions to guide organizations in their selection process and presents various case studies of both public and private implementations.

• The supply chain industry is generally cautious about adopting blockchain due to a historical lack of collaboration and data sharing. Consequently, private blockchains are seen as a more likely near-term entry point to help organizations acclimatize to the technology before potentially moving toward public chains.
• Public blockchains generally offer higher interoperability because they rely on widespread consensus, whereas private blockchains require participants to agree on shared standards from scratch.
• Private blockchains are typically better suited for compliance with personal data protection laws, such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), because they allow for tighter control over who can join the network and access data.
• There is a performance trade-off between the two structures: public blockchains tend to be slower and more constrained regarding transaction volume and file size, while private blockchains allow for fine-tuned processing power to meet specific time constraints.
• To protect sensitive data on public blockchains, organizations can use cryptographic hashing, which stores an irreversible fixed-length output on-chain while keeping the original data off-chain.
• Hybrid blockchains offer a middle ground by storing actual data on a private blockchain for invited parties and writing a hash of that data to a public blockchain to prevent any single authority from altering the records.

APA

Hanebeck, H. C., Hewett, N., & McKay, P. A. (2019). Inclusive Deployment of Blockchain for Supply Chains: Part 3 – Public or Private Blockchains – Which One Is Right for You? World Economic Forum. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Inclusive_Deploymentof_Blockchain_for_Supply_Chains.pdf

Chicago

Hanebeck, Hanns Christian, Nadia Hewett, and Peter A. McKay. Inclusive Deployment of Blockchain for Supply Chains: Part 3 – Public or Private Blockchains – Which One Is Right for You? World Economic Forum, 2019. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Inclusive_Deploymentof_Blockchain_for_Supply_Chains.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hanebeck |first1=Hanns Christian |last2=Hewett |first2=Nadia |last3=McKay |first3=Peter A. |title=Inclusive Deployment of Blockchain for Supply Chains: Part 3 – Public or Private Blockchains – Which One Is Right for You? |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=July 2019 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Inclusive_Deploymentof_Blockchain_for_Supply_Chains.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hanebeck2019inclusive, author = {Hanebeck, Hanns Christian and Hewett, Nadia and McKay, Peter A.}, title = {{Inclusive Deployment of Blockchain for Supply Chains: Part 3 – Public or Private Blockchains – Which One Is Right for You?}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2019}, month = jul, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Inclusive_Deploymentof_Blockchain_for_Supply_Chains.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }