🤖 AI Summary
This study addresses a critical gap in blockchain research, which has predominantly focused on on-chain transactions while neglecting the comprehensive lifecycle management of cryptographic assets. For the first time, the paper introduces the ISO 15489-1:2016 records management standard into the blockchain domain, leveraging records lifecycle theory to propose a seven-stage data lifecycle framework spanning from creation to disposition. The applicability of this model is demonstrated through case studies involving Bitcoin, fungible tokens, and non-fungible tokens. By elucidating the inherent characteristics of blockchain as a records management system, the framework clarifies the boundaries between on-chain and off-chain data and examines how privacy-enhancing technologies affect lifecycle visibility. This structured perspective offers valuable insights for the governance of crypto-assets, regulatory compliance, and forensic investigations.
📝 Abstract
Current blockchain research and analytics tend to prioritize observable on-chain transactions, obscuring the processes through which cryptocurrencies are created, publicised, retained, and disposed of. In response, this paper considers distributed ledger technologies from records management principles in ISO 15489-1:2016. Setting off by specifying the parallels -- that is transactions as "records", crypto-asset units as "information assets", and blockchains as "aggregations" -- we introduce a seven-stage lifecycle for blockchain data. We apply the framework to Bitcoin, a fungible token, and a non-fungible token. On this basis, we argue that blockchain systems are not merely transactional infrastructures but record management systems with distinctive characteristics. We discuss how the on-chain/off-chain boundary and privacy-enhancing technologies can complicate lifecycle visibility, with particular relevance for crypto-crime research and investigation. As a meta-level framework, the lifecycle perspective enables positioning existing research, decomposing legal, regulatory, technological, and operational challenges by stage, and informing lifecycle-aware approaches to blockchain governance, analytics, and regulation.