World Journal of Engineering Research and Technology

*Alex Kibet, Simon Karume and Nelson Masese

ABSTRACT

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) has emerged as one of the transformational technologies of the last decade and its introduction is gathering significant pace around the world. Its desirable features have seen innovation in several use cases including identity management, supply chain verification, land registry, and many more. Perhaps the most important use case is payments using cryptocurrencies, where DLT can ensure secure, tamper-proof, verifiable transactions in a much simpler way as settlement and payment are the same processes. Many cryptocurrencies are being developed with various features that intend to address the challenges of the existing types and possibly attract a larger market share. When developing a new cryptocurrency, information about the existing cryptocurrencies is crucial. This ensures that new innovative features to address the limitations of the present alternatives are added. To facilitate the design of a better cryptocurrency alternative, this systematic review paper reviews the present cryptocurrencies and identifies weaknesses. The aim is to reveal the weaknesses of the present cryptocurrencies and highlight the possible issues that need attention to improve cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption. First, background information is discussed, followed by a description of the exact methodology used in this paper. Next, an analysis of the results is given, which includes a bibliometric overview, an analysis of gathered data and its properties, and the results of a literature quality assessment. Lastly, there is a discussion of the results of the analysis. The findings indicate that present cryptocurrencies still have various limitations including volatility, illiquidity, and insufficient data for modeling.

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