Blockchain Oracles for Digital Transformation in the AECO Industry: Securing Off-Chain Data Flows for a Trusted On-Chain Environment

As noted in recent blockchain review articles, several blockchain studies have attracted attention to the architecture, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) industry. The reason is that blockchain offers opportunities to revolutionize the AECO industry owing to its transparency, traceability, and immutability. However, these benefits cannot be realized without blockchain “oracles”. Oracles are intermediary agents that connect blockchain systems to real-world applications. They function by collecting and verifying off-chain data, which is then fed into the blockchain for use by smart contracts. To investigate this uncharted territory, this paper adopts a hybrid research method of descriptive, bibliometric and content analysis; cross-mapping; and gap analysis to identify the trend; key topics; current status; future directions; and governance, ethical, legal, and social implications (GELSI) framework of blockchain oracles. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge by synthesizing trends, current status, key topics, and GELSI of blockchain oracles, promoting areas of improvement, and bridging knowledge gaps on blockchain oracles in the AECO industry.