Architectural Considerations for Blockchain Based Systems for Financial Transactions

Systems supporting financial dealings at an enterprise scale must be able to handle large volumes of transactions in a secure manner while maintaining high level of operational availability. These systems must also have the flexibility to interface with many third-party applications with ease. In this paper we explore these architectural considerations for systems supporting financial transactions using the blockchain technology. We identify the strengths of this technology in achieving the qualities associated with these architectural considerations and suggest architectural tactics that can be used to overcome its weaknesses. A reference architecture is presented along with a prototype that implements this architecture using Iroha, a commercially available financial ledger for blockchain systems.