Wireless Blockchain Meets 6G: The Future Trustworthy and Ubiquitous Connectivity

Abstract

Blockchain has emerged as a foundational element in establishing trust relationships within networks, demonstrating its reliability and efficacy across diverse applications. It can coordinate all nodes within the network independently of third-party entities for unified decision-making and consistency, and is traceable and immutable, making blockchain particularly attractive for communication networks. Wireless networks are an important part of network and communication systems, their flexibility significantly enhances the coverage of communication systems, making their integration with blockchain undeniably promising. This synergy between wireless communication and blockchain has culminated in the development of Wireless Blockchain Network (WBN). It offers a more trustworthy communication paradigm for the forthcoming sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks. This paper serves as a comprehensive tutorial on the integration of WBN and 6G, to establish trustworthy wireless networks. We begin by defining the WBN and exploring its advantages, underscoring its broad applicability in various 6G scenarios. Furthermore, we present the key technologies underpinning WBN and its critical performance metrics. Subsequently, we provide a series of case studies that illustrate the integration of WBN with 6G use cases, which underscore the utility and effectiveness of WBN in practical communication settings, indicating potential benefits for future networks. Finally, we summarize the current practical blockchain cases deployed by network operators and discuss the future direction of WBN. This tutorial is expected to provide an in-depth exploration of the fundamental principles, technological architectures, and practical applications on the integration of blockchain with 6G.