Blockchain technologies are seen as a key solution to contain poor social and environmental production conditions in many global value chains (GVCs) through more transparency and traceability. The new ÖFSE briefing paper presents the basic concepts behind these technologies and discusses the opportunities and limits of these applications in GVCs. To overcome the main challenges from chain governance and power asymmetries, the potentials of these technologies must be used to empower GVC actors in the Global South.