This article aims to explore the affinity between thermodynamic and blockchain. An approach is presenting consisting of comparing the PoW process and an inverse Carnot cycle with the proposal of abstract space-time parameters. This opens a thought on where the trust is and how to model the state machine associated with blockchain consensus towards a possible architecture based on a layer model with a consensus layer. This paper presents a theoretical approach to fundamental issues related to blockchain and is both educational.

The creation of blockchain technology is generally dated to that of Bitcoin in 2008. However, the main question, perhaps the question of all the questions: “How to reconcile governance and decentralization? ?” is still open. The question is all the more critical in the case of permissionless public blockchain. An original approach, inspired by the concepts of thermodynamics, is presented in this article: the Blockchain Engine and its ideal information cycle. Some ideas are presented on the resilience of a blockchain, from the point of view of the information cycle. The object is to open new approaches in support of the industrial governance of the blockchain.

In the period that has passed, many projects in the form of proof of concept have been developped, and the most famous blockchain like Bitcoin and Etherium are old enough to start thinking about industrial projects and research trends in a more mature approach. This document aims to ask questions from the perspective of the relationship between consensus mechanisms and blockchain governance tools, and more generally, research and industrial need. Two research trends are presented, as likely to emerge in the coming years. This article ends with a reflexion on the life cycle of blockchain technology, regarding the current period.

This document describes the computational models associated with blockchain and, in a second step, what is for blockchain the shutdown problem. He then asks questions about the link between shutdown problem, computation, and governability in a blockchain project. This document aims to contribute to the implementation of industrial good practices. At the same time, it opens questions to possible areas of research.

For blockchain governance, data is an asset, and the time parameter is strategic and sensitive. This document aims to explore this issue for blockchain. It analyses the issues related to two properties associated with the parameter time : the ability to measure time (timestamp), and the guarantee of the ordering between events and proposes an innovative approach promoting blockchain technology as an infinite state machine. It is illustrated by the concept of simultaneous states to take into account uncertainty as a transition between two states. After recalling the mechanisms of the consensus algorithm in the case of the PoW, and analyzing the associated issues, this document proposes two data governance functions that can be derived from the notion of time between two blocks : the alert, and the control loop. This paper proposes the abstract concept of temporal structure, understood as the four functions derived from time parameter in support of the data governance strategy for blockchain in an industrial context, and governance by design the resulting approach.