Blockchain architectures promise disruptive innovation but factually they
pose many architectural restrictions to classical service-based applications
and show considerable design, implementation, and operations overhead.
Furthermore, the relation between such overheads and user benefits is not clear
yet. To shed light on the aforementioned relations, a service-based blockchain
architecture was designed and deployed as part of a field study in real-life
experimentation. An observational approach was then performed to elaborate on
the technology-acceptance of the service-based blockchain architecture in
question. Evidence shows that the resulting architecture is, in principle, not
different than other less complex equivalents; furthermore, the architectural
limitations posed by the blockchain-oriented design demand a significant
additional effort to be put onto even the simplest of functionalities. We
conclude that further research shall be invested in clarifying further the
design principles we learned as part of this study as well as any trade-offs
posed by blockchain-oriented service design and operation