BlockTwins: Blockchain Empowered Supply Chain Digital Twins in Metaverse

Digital twins function as digital replicas of physical entities and play a pivotal role as facilitators in the digital world. They establish and foster the communication bridge between the physical and digital realms. Conversely, the metaverse represents an extension of digital twins, recognized as the 3D evolution of the Internet. These technologies aim to narrow the divide between the digital domain and human interaction, garnering considerable attention from academia and industry. Despite the metaverse predating digital twins by a decade, it remains in its emerging stages. In contrast, digital twins have found extensive applications across diverse fields. However, they are plagued by numerous security and privacy vulnerabilities that demand resolution for future communications. Therefore, leveraging the immutability and transparency inherent in blockchain, we have implemented these features into digital twins within the metaverse to enhance security and privacy. Consequently, a blockchain-empowered framework for the metaverse utilizing digital twins has been outlined. Furthermore, we have showcased the diverse applications of digital twins in the metaverse across various sectors. We have also designed a supply chain digital twins use-case scenario within the metaverse. The conceptual design and implementation details for the supply chain use case are discussed, focusing on traceability and data immutability. The proposed supply chain scenario is validated concerning various computational metrics. Finally, research trajectories concerning blockchain-based digital twins in the metaverse have been explored.