Transparency

One of the ways power can be centralized in a system is through information dominance, where one set of actors in a system has access to more or greater information than other actors. In most current blockchain technology, each participant on the chain gets the same amount of information. There are some exceptions. Hyperledger Fabric, for instance, has the capacity to have information hiding from participants.

The ability to have perfectly enforced transparency is one of the drivers of interest in blockchain systems. By creating transparent and unforgettable records, blockchain has an obvious utility for logistics and legal record keeping. With records on a blockchain, it is possible to know for certain that data was not altered. A transparent blockchain also ensures a level of fairness—participants can all be sure that at a minimum there is a shared level of truth available to all which will not change.