Consequences of the implementation of blockchain technology

Abstract

Blockchain technology is increasingly being seen as a general purpose technology with far reaching (institutional) effects. However, the ongoing empirical blockchain discussions on these effects are unstructured, due to high complexities. Both practitioners and researchers therefore struggle to get to the core of blockchain technology consequences. We use a Grounded Theory approach to map the ongoing blockchain discussion, which leads to our empirical core category that explains the core of the blockchain discussions: the disintermediation of trust in environments with highly institutionalized values. Blockchain technology is thus often related to trust in our empirical data. However, following the conceptualization of Reliance – Trust and Control by Nooteboom, we show that blockchain technology should be more related to control, instead of trust. Futhermore, we argue that complete control is not always possible in blockchain- systems due to inherent character of decentralized decision making and thus, trust is still a factor in some blockchain environments. We conclude that blockchain technology is a technology that increases control over counterparties in a transaction, but decreases control from a systems-perspective. A transfer of power in the system therefore takes place in blockchain environments. We therefore present our final core category as: power transfer in environments with highly institutionalized values. This strong conceptualization of blockchain technology helps actors understand and discuss the essence of blockchain technology, and provides a much- needed empirical basis for further scientific research. Further development of this conceptualization of trust and control is needed to structure the ongoing blockchain discussions in both scientific literature and practice.