Background: As the world grapples with an increasing frequency of natural disasters and conflicts, the effectiveness of Humanitarian Supply Chain Management (HSCM) becomes increasingly critical in delivering timely aid to affected populations. Unlike commercial supply chains, HSCM faces unique challenges such as inefficiencies, lack of transparency, and heavy reliance on donor funds, often under conditions of urgency and logistical adversity. Blockchain Technology (BT) emerges as a promising solution, offering the potential to revolutionize these systems by enhancing operational efficiencies and transparency.

Research Problem: Although BT’s capabilities are acknowledged, detailed research into its application in humanitarian contexts, particularly how it addresses specific HSCM challenges and the barriers to its deployment, is lacking. This gap in research limits a comprehensive understanding of blockchain’s integration and effectiveness in humanitarian logistics.

Research Purpose: The purpose of our study is to analyse how BT can address the specific challenges faced by HSCM and to identify the potential barriers to its implementation.

Research Questions: RQ1: “How can the specific challenges of humanitarian supply chain management be addressed by blockchain technology?” RQ2: “What are the potential barriers and requirements to blockchain technology implementation in humanitarian supply chain management?”

Research Method: Employing a qualitative and inductive approach, this research involves conducting in-depth interviews with experts from both humanitarian operations and blockchain technology. It follows the relativistic ontology and social constructionist epistemology. The data is analysed utilizing thematic analysis and focuses on aligning BT capabilities with HSCM needs while identifying the practical and technical hurdles impacting its implementation.

Conclusion: The study reveals that BT presents promising solutions for HSCM specific challenges by fostering a secure, decentralized network and enhancing transparency, traceability, and efficiency. However, several barriers impede its full adoption, including BT’s technological immaturity, lack of understanding, poor infrastructure, and insufficient regulatory support. We synthesize these findings into a comprehensive framework and further discuss practical implications for humanitarian organizations, technology providers, and regulatory bodies as well as the ethical implications of our results.