From a social perspective, blockchain technology offers significant possibilities beyond those currently available. In particular, moving records to the blockchain can allow for:

• Self-sovereignty, i.e. for users to identify themselves while at the same time maintaining control over the storage and management of their personal data
• Trust, i.e. for a technical infrastructure that gives people enough confidence in its operations to carry through with transactions such as payments or the issue of certificates
• Transparency & Provenance, i.e. for users to conduct transactions in knowledge that each party has the capacity to enter into that transactions
• Immutability, i.e. for records to be written and stored permanently, without the possibility of modification
• Disintermediation, i.e. the removal of the need for a central controlling authority to manage transactions or keep records Collaboration, i.e. the ability of parties to transact directly with each other without the need for mediating third parties

The report concludes that blockchain applications for education are still in their infancy, though quickly picking up steam. It describes case studies of implementations at the Open University UK, the University of Nicosia, MIT and within various educational institutions in Malta: each of these implementations is in a piloting phase. However, even from these early pilots it is pertinent to conclude that blockchain could probably disrupt the market in student information systems and loosen the control current players have over this market.