Blockchain Technologies from the Consumers’ Perspective: What Is There and Why Should Who Care?

The blockchain, the ledger that underlies the famous cryptocurrency Bitcoin, has huge implications for many industries. There have been various papers dedicated to research how blockchain technology will transform businesses and industries. However, current research lacks an overview of what the blockchain implies for the biggest stakeholder of these businesses and industries: consumers. This paper aims to provide an overview of how the blockchain affects consumers. We conduct a systematic literature review and enrich it with interview-based knowledge from blockchain experts to show how blockchain technology changes business sectors, name affected consumers in these sectors, derive implications for these consumers and list existing as well as currently emerging blockchain-based products and services. Finally, we warn of the technical, institutional and human challenges and manifold pitfalls blockchain technology must overcome to gain widespread adaptation among consumers. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-145289 Veröffentlichte Version Originally published at: Schlegel, Manuel; Zavolokina, Liudmila; Schwabe, Gerhard (2018). Blockchain Technologies from the Consumers’ Perspective: What Is There and Why Should Who Care? In: 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2018), Hawaii, 4 Januar 2018 6 Januar 2018. Blockchain Technologies from the Consumers’ Perspective: What Is There and Why Should Who Care? Manuel Schlegel University of Zurich [email protected] Liudmila Zavolokina University of Zurich [email protected] Gerhard Schwabe University of Zurich [email protected]