DOI: 10.4018/JITR.2020010104

Journal of Information Technology ResearchVolume 13 • Issue 1 • January-March 2020

Copyright©2020,IGIGlobal.CopyingordistributinginprintorelectronicformswithoutwrittenpermissionofIGIGlobalisprohibited.

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Is it a New Tulip Mania Age?A Comprehensive Literature Review Beyond Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, and Blockchain TechnologySerkan Akar, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, USA

Ezgi Akar, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, USA

ABSTRACT

Althoughcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologycanbeconsiderednewadvances,theyhavestarted tobe recognizedwidely,and thishasbeendiscussedand investigated in lotsof researchstudies.Inparallel,theprimarypurposeofthisstudyistoinvestigatethedevelopmentandevolutionofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyoverthepastyearsintheacademicworld.Tothisend,334scholarlyjournalarticlesareexaminedto:(1)conductacomprehensiveliteraturereviewinthefieldofcryptocurrenciesandblockchain;(2)identifythepossibletrendsandchangesinthisfieldoverthetenyears;(3)comparethepublishingproductivityofjournals;and(4)guidefutureresearchinthisfield.Theresultshighlightthattheresearchersmainlyconcentrateonlegalandethicalissuesofthem;theirbenefits,challenges,andrisks;theirconceptualization,evolution,andfuture;theeconomicdimensionofthem;andfinancialandaccountingrelatedissuesofthem.

KeywoRdSBitcoin, blockchain, content analysis, cryptocurrency, digital currency, trend analysis, virtual currency

1. INTRodUCTIoN

BlockchaintechnologyandcryptocurrenciesincludingBitcoin,Ethereum,Litecoin,etc.areemergingdigital phenomena across the world and one of the hot topics in the industry especially in thefinancialone(Raymaekers,2014;Todorov,2017).Acryptocurrencyisknownsasanindependentcurrencywhichusescryptographyforitscreation(Todorov,2017).Inparallelwiththedevelopmentofcryptocurrenciesandcryptography,andadvancesindecentralizedcomputershavealsoledtotheemergenceofaninnovativetechnologycalledblockchain(Wright&Filippi,2015).Briefly,blockchaintechnologysupportsbusinessesandindividualstomaketransactionswithouttheapprovalofthird-parties(Underwood,2016).

After the spread and recognition of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology across theglobe, many online stores, platforms, and especially start-ups have announced that they acceptcryptocurrencies as a means of payment (Raymaekers, 2014). Although cryptocurrencies andblockchaintechnologyhavestartedtobeproliferatedamongbusinessesandindividuals,thereisalsoadebateamongacademics,businesses,andevenindividualsthatthisproliferationcanbeabubbleandwecanbeinvolvedinatulipmaniaage(Shane,2017).

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Inthelightofadvancesincryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology,thisstudyaims(1)toconductacomprehensiveliteraturereviewinthefieldofcryptocurrenciesandblockchain,(2)toidentifythepossibletrendsandchangesinthisfieldoverthetenyears,(3)tocomparethepublishingproductivityofjournalsaboutthecryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologysubject,(4)toguidefutureresearchaboutcryptocurrenciesandblockchain.Toachievetheseobjectives,relevantarticlesthatarepublishedbetween2008and2017inrefereedscholarlyjournalsareinvestigatedsystematicallyasapartofcontentanalysis.Aftertheanalysisofrelevantpapers,334articlesareselectedandschemedbasedonanalyzedarticlethemes.

In this paper, firstly, general information about cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, and blockchaintechnologyisintroduced.Afterthat,researchmethodologyandstudyfindingsarepresented,andthestudyisconcludedanddiscussedbyhighlightingthekeyfindings,trends,andresearchgapsinthefieldofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.

2. CRyPToCURReNCIeS ANd BITCoIN

Cryptocurrenciesorvirtualcurrenciescanbe recognizedasa technologicaladvance inpaymentprocessing(Luther,2016)andtheycanbeconsideredasacomputer-generatedcommodityratherthanlikeamonetarycurrency(Cusumano,2014).Acryptocurrency,whichisanunregulatedanddigitalcurrency,canbedefinedasamediumexchangethatusescryptographytosecure,validate,andcontrolthetransactions(Mikołajewicz-Woźniak&Scheibe,2015).Someofthemaincharacteristicsofthesecurrenciesarethattheyhaveahighervelocityofcirculation,theycarryanegativeinterestrate,andsotheycannotbeusedasameasureofsavings.

Cryptocurrenciescanalsodifferfromthetraditionalcurrency.Forexample;cryptocurrenciesarenotgenerallyacceptedtobeusedasapaymentmethodforgoodsandservices(Luther&White,2014).Inotherwords,althoughcryptocurrenciescanbeusedasamediumexchange,itisapparentthattheyarenotacommonmediumofexchangeinanywhere.CryptocurrenciesalsodifferfromotherdigitalpaymentslikePayPalbynotrequiringanintermediatepartylikeabankandbyhavingnolegaltenderstatus(Leeetal.,2015).Themainreasonisthatcryptocurrencieshaveadecentralizedcontrolratherthanacentralizedcontrolasinthecentralbankingsystems.Thesedifferencesimplythatthevalueofcryptocurrenciesisnotissuedbyacentralbankandonlinetransactionsaresentdirectlyfromonepartytoanotherwithoutgoingthroughafinancialinstitution(Raymaekers,2014).

BitcoinisknownasthefirstdecentralizedandpioneeredcryptocurrencythatwasdesignedbySatoshiNakamoto,whoisananonymousprogrammer,in2008(Dowd&Hutchinson,2015).ThisdecentralizedstructureofBitcoinsignifiesthatBitcoinisbuiltonatransactionlogwhichisdistributedacrossanetworkofparticipatingcomputers(Böhme,Christin,Edelman,&Moore,2015).Inotherwords,thecreationofabitcoinandthevalidationofbitcointransactionsdependonthetrustamongtheBitcoincommunitynetworkinsteadofanycentralauthoritylikeabank(Dowd&Hutchinson,2015).Thecommunityverifiesthetransactionsandmaintainstheintegrityofthesystem,andthereisonlyonemonetaryrulewhichisdictatedbytheBitcoinprotocolbySatoshiNakamoto.Nakamoto(2009)definesBitcoinasacashsystem“basedoncryptographicproofinsteadoftrust,allowinganytwowillingpartiestotransactdirectlywitheachotherwithouttheneedforatrustedthirdparty”(p.1).

Moreover,theanswertothequestionofhowabitcoinisproducedisaprocesscalledmining(Andy,2015).Miningstartswithincomingbitcointransactions.Userswhohavebitcoinsandwanttotransferthem,sendtransactionmessagestothecomputersrunningBitcoinsoftwareinthecommunitynetwork(Andy,2015;Sompolinsky&Zohar,2018).Computersorindividualsinthecommunitynetworkareknownasminers.Whentransactionscome,minersstarttocompetewitheachotherfortherighttoaggregatethetransactionsintobatchescalledblocks.Miningisamathematicalprocess,andminerstrytosolveamagicalnumberthatisencryptedalongsidethetransaction(Andy,2015;Todorov,2017).Thefindingofthisnumberisveryhard,anditrequiresmuchelectricityandcomputingresources(Andy,2015).Thewinner,whosolvetheproblemfirst,isrewardedwithabitcoindue

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todevotinghiscomputingresourcestosolvetheproblem,andtheblockisaddedtotheblockchainwhichisanonlineledgerincludingtherecordsofeachbitcointransaction.Asaresult,thisminingprocesseliminates theroleofcentralauthority,and itshowsthatnewbitcoinsarenotgeneratedthroughtheinteractionofmonetarypolicyinstrumentsofcentralbanks,commercialbanks,orbankcustomers(Brühl,2017).

ThesizeofBitcoinblockchainis161,904MBbytheendofMarch2018(BlockchainSize,2018).Theblocksarerecordedinchronologicalorderintheblockchain.Itguaranteesthatifaconsumerhasalreadyspenthisbitcoinsinsomewhere,thenhecannottransferhisbitcoinstootherconsumers(Andy,2015).Thistransferwillberejected.

Bitcoinsthatareminedorpurchasedarestoredindigitalwalletswhichareavailableasdesktopsoftware,mobileapplication,andwebwallets(Todorov,2017).Awalletcompany,whichcanbeconsideredassomewhatathird-partyintermediary,requiresconsumers’bankaccountorcreditcardinformationtodepositorwithdraworexchangebitcoins(Cusumano,2014).

Therewereabout1.7millionand10.6millionbitcoins in thecirculation in2010and2013,respectively(BitcoinsinCirculation,2018).Additionally,itsmarketpricewas$702attheendof2013(MarketPrice,2018).Today,thereareabout17millionBitcoinsinthecirculationbyMarch25,2018,anditsmarketpriceisabout$8,600.Thesestatisticsindicatethatthevalueofabitcoinisvolatileduetothechangingrelationshipbetweensupplyanddemand(Mikołajewicz-Woźniak&Scheibe,2015).Additionally,itshouldnotbeforgottenthatBitcoinsoftwarelimitsthesupplyto21millionbitcoins,anditisestimatedthatthisnumbermaybereachedbytheyear2140(Dowd&Hutchinson,2015).

AlthoughBitcoinisconsideredasafaster,cheaper,andmoreconvenientalternativemediumofexchangeregardingotherpaymentmechanisms,italsohassomedifficulties(Raymaekers,2014).Oneofthemaindifficultiesistheproblemoftrusttoserviceproviders,pricestability,technologyperformance,preciseregulation,andcompellingbenefits.Serviceprovidersshouldservereliableandavailableplatformsthatcanhandlemillionsoftransactionsfortheircustomersandconsumersmustfeelsafethattheirbitcoinscannotbestolenfromdigitalwalletsorlostiftheirexchangedisappears.Additionally,itisevidentthattheminingprocessrequiresanintensivecomputationalresourceandelectricitythatdecreasethesupplyofbitcoinsandcreateachallengefortheadoptionofBitcoin(Andy,2015).

Bitcoinsalso lack regulations,and it increases thepotentialuseofbitcoinsbycriminals. IntheBitcoinecosystem,auser’sorminer’sidentityisnotcheckedorverified,soitmakestheuseofbitcoinsincriminalactivitieseasier(Böhme,Christin,Edelman,&Moore,2015).

Anotherdifficultyiswidepricefluctuationsinthevalueofbitcoincanmakeanadverseeffectonconsumers,andsuchfluctuationsaffecttheadoptionofBitcoinnegativelyasapaymentmethodbyconsumers.Additionally,ifaconsumermakesanaccidentalorunwantedpurchasewithhisbitcoins,thispayment is irreversible. Inaddition to thiseffect,althoughabitcoincan looklikeacheapercurrency,theconversionfromregularcurrencyintoandoutofitcannotbemoreconvenientthanusingtraditionalcurrencies(Raymaekers,2014).

Although Bitcoin dominates the market, its success has led to the emergence of othercryptocurrenciescalledalt-coins.Someofthenotablealt-coinsareEthereum,Ripple,Litecoin,Dash,andDogecoin(Luther,2016).Themarketpriceofthesealt-coinsisabout$600,$0.63,$160,$418,and$0.0035,respectivelybyMarch25,2018(CoinMarketPrices,2018;CoinMarketCap,2018).Ontheotherhand,ifsomeoneisinterestedinhavingcryptocurrency,heorsheprobablychooseBitcoinduetoitsfamiliarityandthemostprominentnetwork(Luther,2016).ItindicatesthattheevolutionofcryptocurrencieslikeBitcoinandalt-coinswillcontinuetoprovideuswiththeopportunitytoconsideralternativeonlinepaymentsystems.

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3. BLoCKCHAIN TeCHNoLoGy

Itisstatedthatblockchaintechnologywillreducetheroleofoneofthemostcriticaleconomicandregulatoryactorsinoursocietycalledmiddleman(Wright&Filippi,2015).Inotherwords,itcanbesaidthatblockchaintechnologywillrevolutionizetheindustryandcommerceandmakeanessentialeconomicchangeonaglobalscale(Underwood,2016).

Blockchain technology, which combines peer-to-peer networks, cryptographic algorithms,distributeddatastorage,andadecentralizedconsensusmechanism,allowsbusinessesandindividualstomaketransactionswithouttheapprovalofthird-parties(Underwood,2016;Wright&Filippi,2015).Itcanbedefinedas“adistributeddatabaseofrecords,orpublicledgerofalltransactionsordigitaleventsthathavebeenexecutedandsharedamongparticipatingparties”(Crosbyetal.,2016,p.7;Underwood,2016).Inotherwords,itmeans“blocksofdatathatareconnectedviaacryptographicchain”(Letourneau&Whelan,2017,p.1).Inablockchaintechnology,eachtransactionisverifiedbyconsensusofamajorityof theparticipants. Inotherwords, toassure that ledgers indifferentparticipatingpartiesareconsistent,someprotocolsarerequired(Zhengetal.,2017).Althoughtherearedifferenttypesofconsensusalgorithms,themost-widelyuseoneisProof-of-Work(Yuan&Yang,2016).Thisalgorithmasksacomplicatedcomputationalprocessintheauthentication,anditrequestsparticipatingparties,whicharecallednodes,torunhashingfunctionscontinuously(Yuan&Yang,2016;Zhengetal.,2017).AnotherconsensusalgorithmisProof-of-Stake.WhenitiscomparedtoProof-of-Work,itsavesenergybyonlyrequiringlargeramountofstakelikethenumberofcoins.Themainreasonisthatitisassumedthatindividualswithmorecoinswillalesstendencytoattackthenetwork.Inadditiontothesetwoalgorithms,therearealsovariousalgorithmssuchasDelegatedProof-of-Stake,Proof-of-Movement,Ripple,Tendermint,andPracticalByzantinefaulttolerance.Whenaconsensusissecured,andatransactionisenteredtheledger,thistransactioncanneverbeerased(Crosbyetal.,2016).Theledgercannotalsobecontrolledorownedbyacentralauthority,andanyindividualcanviewallverifiedtransactionsinthegivenledger(Underwood,2016).

Ifwesummarizeit,eachpastorpresentonlinetransactioncanbeverifiedatanytimeinthefuturebyadistributedconsensus,andthisverificationprocessdoesnotrequiretheidentificationofthepartiesinvolved(Crosbyetal.,2016).Additionally,blockchainsprovidesecurity,anonymity,anddataintegritywithoutanythird-partyorganizationincontrolofthetransactions,sotheyavoidinformationleakage,decreasetransactiontime,eliminatetransactionintermediaries,reducetheriskoffraudandcybercrime,andtheyallowcompaniesorrelatedpartiestoobserveeachtransactioneasily(Underwood,2016;Yli-Huumoetal.,2016).

Bitcoinisthemostpopularexampleusingblockchaintechnology.ItisobviousthatblockchainisthecoreorbackbonetechnologyofBitcoin(Andy,2015;Crosbyetal.,2016).Althoughblockchainisnotacontroversialissueitself,itisdebatablewhenitisusedforBitcoin(Crosbyetal.,2016).Themainreasonisthatblockchainallowsamultibillion-dollarglobalmarketofanonymoustransactionswithoutanygovernmentalcontrol.However,theimportanceandvalueofblockchaindonotdependonthevalueofBitcoin(Davidson,Filippi,&Potts,2016;Yli-Huumoetal.,2016).

Blockchainscanbebothusedbyfinancialandnon-financialapplications.Financialinstitutionsandbanksconsiderusingblockchains.Forexample;Nasdaquses itsLINQblockchain to recordprivate securities transactions (Underwood, 2016). Additionally, master and visa try to exploresome applications of their current business models on blockchains. IBM, Samsung, Overstock,Amazon, UBS, Citi, eBay, and Verizon Wireless also investigate alternative uses of blockchainfortheirapplications.Nowadays,forexample;Porschetestsblockchainapplicationsinitsvehicles(Newsroom,2018).Additionally,Walmarthasbeenannouncedapatentcalledsmartpackagewhichemploysblockchain-basedtooltotrackpackagecontents,environmentalconditions,location,etc.(Cointelegraph,2018).

Therearealsonon-financialapplicationsofblockchains.Forexample;blockchaincanallowbusinessesorindividualstokeepproofoftheexistenceofalllegaldocuments,healthrecords,notary,

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marriagelicenses,orloyaltypaymentsinthemusicindustry(Crosbyetal.,2016).Forexample;ifblockchainisusedinnotarypublic,adocumentcanbeverifiedeasilywithoutaneedforcentralizedauthority,soblockchaineliminatestheneedforexpensivenotarizationfeesandineffectivewaysoftransferringdocuments.

Theevolutionofblockchainhasalsoledtotheemergenceofnewconceptssuchastokenization,smart-contracts,andsmartproperties.TokenizationtransformssomeformofassetintoadigitaltokenlikeBitcoin(Aru,2017;Dale,2018).Tokensrepresentmoneyaswellasotherthings(Aru,2017).Itisobviousthatthepricesofdifferentaltcoinsintheblockchainsettingvaryfromeachother.ThemainreasonbehindthisvariationisthatthedemandforacertainBlockchainproductsuchasSteemit,Dash,Zcash,LAToken,andWishKnishdeterminesthevalueandultimatemarketpriceofitstoken.ItimpliesthereasonwhyBitcoiniswidelyacceptedbysellersthanLitecoin.

Furthermore,thegrowthofblockchainalsocontributestothedevelopmentofsmart-contractsandsmartproperties(Wright&Filippi,2015).Thesmart-contracttechnologywasinventedbyNickSzaboin1994(Letourneau&Whelan,2017).Smartcontractscanbedefinedas“computercodesthatenablerelativelystraightforwardtransactionstooccurautomatically”(p.2).Inotherwords,smartcontractsusecomputerizedtransactionprotocolstoexecutethetermsofcontractsagreeduponbyindividualsofablockchain(Underwood,2016).

Anexamplecanexplainhowsmartcontractswork.Forexample;aChinesecompanyA(buyer)buysproductsfromanAmericancompanyB(seller)andacompanyC(carrier)deliverstheproductstocompanyA(Letourneau&Whelan,2017).Todeliverandreceiveproducts,somearrangementsmustbemade,andsomedocumentsmustbeverifiedwhichwillrequirelongstepsbetweenthebuyer’sbankandtheseller’sbank.Ontheotherhand,smartcontractsalongwithblockchaintechnologymakethesestepsbetrackedeasily.Theyeliminatesomestepssuchasusingbrokers.Itisevidentthatstandardizationofblockchainsupportsthedevelopmentofsmartcontracts,helpsintellectualpropertytransferssafer,makesgovernmentcontractingandsupply-chainserviceshappenfaster,anddecreasesintermediary,compliance,andauditingcosts.

BlockchaincanalsobeusedasasupportivetoolforthedeploymentoftheInternetofThings(Wright&Filippi,2015). It isevident that theInternetofThings involvesbillionsofnetworkedInternet-enableddevicesthatcannotbetrustedorevenmalicious.Atthatpoint,blockchaintechnologycanbeusedasacentralmechanismthatfacilitatesprivate,secure,andtrustlessmachine-to-machinecoordinationanditofferssmartproperties.Eachdeviceoreachtangiblepropertythatisregisteredinablockchainiscalledasmartproperty.SmartcontractsareusedtocontrolsmartpropertiesovertheInternetorbyothermachines.ThemainpurposeofablockchainisthatitkeepstherelationshipbetweenInternet-enabledmachinesatanytime.Moreover,smartcontractsdistributerelatedrightsandobligationsofconnecteddevices.Thiscryptography-basedtechnologyensuresthatonlyspecificpeoplecanaccesstotheproperty’sfeatures.

In summary, it is evident that blockchain technology is not only applied to cryptocurrencyecosystembutitcanalsobeusedinvariousenvironmentswheresomeformsoftransactionsaredone(Yli-Huumoetal.,2016).Additionally,itseemsthatblockchaintechnologyhasagreatpotentialtochangethewayhowtransactionsareconductedineverydaylife.

4. ReSeARCH MeTHodoLoGy

Cryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyhavebeendrawntheattentionofvariousdisciplinessuchaseconomics,finance,andinformationtechnologiesovertheyears.Academicshavecontributedtotheliteraturebyinvestigatingtheseadvancesfromdifferentperspectives,andthecontentofarticlespublishedbyacademicsgivesusanideaabouttheevolutionoftheresearchincryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.

Thisstudyembracescontentanalysisasaresearchmethodologytoenlightentheevolutionofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyintheacademicresearchsetting.Contentanalysis,which

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isanobservationalresearchmethod,isdefinedas“aresearchmethodthatusesasetofprocedurestomakevalidinferencesfromthetext”(Kolbe&Burnett,1991;Weber,1990,p.117).

Figure1showsthesixstepsofthemethodology.Thefirststepincludestheidentificationofrelevantarticlesandtheselectionofthesample.Thesecondstageinvolvesthespecificationofunitanalysis.The thirdstepcomprises the identificationof the themecategoriesbycodersand theirdecisionsonthecategoryscheme.Afterthat,thefourthstepconsistsoftheselectionofthefinalcategoriesfromthecategoryschemecreatedbycoders.Thefifthstageincludesthereliabilityanalysiswhichisconductedtofindouttheagreementlevelofthejudges.Lastly,thesixthstageconsistsoftheanalysisofthecollecteddata.

4.1. The First Step: Sample SelectionTosearchforrelevantpapersandselectsample,twodatabasesincludingProQuestABI/INFORMCollectionandEBSCOhostAcademicSearchCompleteareselectedasscientificresourcesduetotheirscholarlycomprehensiveness(seeTable1).ThesearchandselectionprocessesareadaptedfromYli-Huumoetal.(2016).Figure2showsthat415papersareinitiallyinvestigatedwhenthesearchprotocolisappliedinthescientificdatabases.Thefirstinclusionandexclusionroundarebasedonthetitlesandpublicationyearoftheretrievedpapers.Authorsidentifiedpossiblekeywordsthatcanindicatearesearchstudyinthefieldofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.Theidentifiedkeywordsarecryptocurrency,cryptocurrencies,virtualcurrency,virtualcurrencies,digitalcurrency,digitalcurrencies,Bitcoin,andblockchain.Inparallel,thepapersthatarepublishedbetween2008and2017andareinvolvingoneofthesekeywordsoranycombinationofthesekeywordsintheirtitlesareincludedinthescopeofthestudy.Allpapertitlesareexaminedbytwoauthorscarefully,and358papersareselected.Itindicatesthat57papersthatarenotrelatedtotheresearchtopicareexcludedfromthesample.Afterthisprocess,duplicatedpapersareremovedfromthesample,whichleadstotheselectionof343papers.Inthesecondround,twoauthorsareanalyzedtheabstractsofthepapers,andanypaperisnotexcludedfromthesample.However,therearesomepaperswhichareunclear,andtwoauthorsreadthemindetail.Finally,334papersareincludedinthesampleofthestudy.

Figure 1. The steps of the methodology (Adapted from Nasir, 2005, p. 444)

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Relateddataregardingeacharticlearealsoextracted.Thedataincludesthetitleofthearticle,authorsofthearticle,thejournalthatthearticleispublishedin,publicationsubject,andthepublicationforeacharticle.

Ontheotherhand, thepapersareexcludedbasedon thefollowing threecriteria: (1)paperswithoutfull-textavailability,(2)paperswheretheirmainlanguageisnotEnglish,(3)papersthatarenotpublishedinscholarlypeer-reviewedjournals.

4.2. The Second Step: Specification of Unit of AnalysisItisstatedthat“word,”“wordsense,”“sentence,”“theme,”“paragraph,”and“wholetext”areusedinthecontentanalysistoidentifythebasicunitoftesttomakeaclassification(Weber,1990).Inthisstudy,theunitofanalysisischosenasthe“theme”ofarticles.Inthissense,abstractsandifitisnecessary,full-textsof334articlesarereviewedtoidentifythethemes.Athemereflectswhatisstudiedinthegivenarticle.Thearticlesarecategorized(1)toidentifythemainthemesthatare

Figure 2. Sample selection process (Adapted from Yli-Huumo et al., 2016)

Table 1. Databases and their scopes

Database Scope

ProQuestABI/INFORMComplete

ABI/INFORMCompletewhichhasagoldstandardamongthebusinessresearchdatabasesislaunchedinthe1970s.Thisdatabasecoversahugeamountofcontentincludingimportantfull‐textjournalsandmanysought‐aftertitlesfromthebusinesspressaswellaskeytradepublications,dissertations,conferenceproceedings,andmarketreports.ItincludesallcontentfoundinABI/INFORMGlobal,ABI/INFORMDateline,andABI/INFORMTradeandIndustry.ItalsoincludesABI/INFORMArchive,whichoffersadeepbackfileofmanyofthemostimportantbusinessjournalsofthelastcentury(ProQuest,2018).

EbscoHOSTAcademicSearchComplete

AcademicSearchCompleteisoneoftheworld’svaluable,comprehensive,andmulti-disciplinarydatabase.Itincludes8,500full-textperiodicals,morethan7,300peer-reviewedjournals.Inadditiontofulltext,italsooffersindexingandabstractsformorethan12,500journalsandincludes13,200publicationsinvolvingmonographs,reports,conferences,andproceedings,etc.(Ebsco,2018).

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investigatedinthecryptocurrenciesandblockchainliterature,(2)todeterminethedistributionofthethemesofcryptocurrenciesandblockchainovertheyears,and(3)toshowthedistributionofcryptocurrenciesandblockchainarticlesinvariousjournaldisciplines.

4.3. Step Three: determination of the Category SchemeInthisstudy,anewcategoryschemeisdevelopedspecificallyforthisresearch.TwocodersincludingaPh.D.studentandamaster’sstudentintheDepartmentofInformationTechnologyandSystemsweretrainedtoanalyzetheextractedlistofthemesbytwoauthors.Eachcoderindependentlyaggregated334articlesintoasmallernumberofcategories.Thesecodersweretrainedtogrouparticlesthatwererelatedinscope,andtheycouldgenerateanynumberofcategoriesalltheywanted.WhereasthePh.D.studentaggregatedallthemesunder12categories,themaster’sstudentcombinedallthemesunder13categories.

4.4. Step Four: Selection of Final Category SchemeInthisstep,categoriesgeneratedbytwocodersinthepreviousstepwereevaluatedbytheauthorsanddecreasedthefinalcategoryto11themecategoriesbyconsideringthecommonthemecategoriesgeneratedbytwocodersandthecontextofthestudy.Table2includesthefinalcategoryscheme.Thefollowinglistalsoincludesthedescriptionofeachthemecategoryindetail.

1. ApplicationofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologyinDifferentSectorsandSystemscategoryincludesarticleswhichinvestigatetheapplicationofthesetechnologiesindifferentsectorsandsystemssuchasdigitalrecords,education,telecom,financial,andhealthindustries,andvehicular,governmental,residential,anddatasharingsystems.

2. Technical&TechnologicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategorycontainsarticleswhichexamineunderlyingtechnicalinfrastructureofthesetechnologiesandtechnicalimprovements.

3. Conceptualization,Evolution,&FutureofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategoryconsistsofarticleswhichincludeemergent,generalinformation,overview,history,evolution,andfutureofthesetechnologies,andrecentdevelopmentsaboutthem.

4. Legal&EthicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategoryincludesarticles which focus on current laws and regulations. Additionally, articles which examineprivacyandanonymity,andethicalissuessuchasmoneylaundering,financingofterrorism,andcybercrimeareincludedinthiscategory.

5. EconomicDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategorycontainsarticleswhichproposeeconomicsolutionsbyusingthesetechnologies,includeeconomicvalues,pricediscovery,pricefluctuations,marketefficienciesandinefficiencies,andmarketanalysis.

6. Financial&AccountingDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategoryincludes articles which focus on investment, portfolios, stocks, market value, tax reporting,exchangeratedetermination,crowdfundingandarticleswhichdealwithaccounting.

7. Benefits,Challenges,&RisksofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategoryconsistsofarticleswhichaimtooutlineadvantages,disadvantages,benefits,challenges,andrisksofthesetechnologiesindifferentindustries,businesses,andtheworld.Additionally,articlesdealingwithchallengesoftechnicalimplementationofthesetechnologiesareincludedinthiscategory.

8. Philosophical&OntologicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategoryincludesarticleswhichanalyzecryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyfromphilosophicalandontologicalperspectives.

9. Adoption&IntentiontoUseofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategoryinvolvesarticleswhichfocusonthepotentialuse,adoptionof,andintentiontousecryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologybyusersandvariousindustries.

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10.Impacts&ImplicationsofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategoryincludesarticleswhichaimtooutlineimpactsandimplicationsofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyonfinancialmarkets,businesses,economy,accounting,education,healthcare,realestate,andconsumers’goods.

11.StatisticsDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologycategorycontainsarticleswhichmakestatisticalinferencesfromtherelateddata.

4.5. The Fifth Step: Reliability AnalysisReliabilityanalysiswasconductedwithtwoindependentjudgeswhetherthethemesof334articlescouldbeplacedintothesamecategories.Inthissense,twojudges(Ph.D.candidatesattheDepartmentofManagementInformationSystems)weregiventhelistofthemesof334articlesextractedinthesecondstepandfinalcategoryschemeextractedinthefourthstep.Afterthat,theyindependentlyassignedeachthemeofeacharticletooneofthe11themecategoriesthatbestdescribethecontentofthearticle.Eacharticlewasassignedonlyinonethemecategory.

Therearedifferentwaystoassessthereliability.Oneofthemisapercentagematchthatidentifiestheinterjudgereliability.Itiscalculatedbycountingthenumberofthemesthatwereassignedtothesamecategorybythetwojudges.Table3showsthattwojudgesachievedasatisfactorylevelofinterjudgereliabilityof89%exceedingtherecommendedcoefficientagreementwhichis85%(Kaasarjian, 1977). On the other hand, some researchers criticize the percentage agreement forreliabilityasaninadequateway(Rust&Cooil,1994;Grayson&Rust,2001).Inthissense,inthisstudy,Cohen’sKappawhichrangesbetween-1and+1totestinterraterreliabilitywasconducted(McHugh,2012).Inthisresearch,Cohen’sKappais0.87.TheKapparesult,whichisbetween0.81and1.00,isinterpretedasalmostperfectagreement(McHugh,2012).

Additionally,PerreaultandLeigh’sreliabilityindex,whichisanotherwaytoassessthereliability,iscalculated(Perreault&Leigh,1989).Thisindex(Ir)equals0.88indicatingasatisfactoryreliabilityachievement.Thisreliabilityassessmentresultsstatethatthecategoryschemeisclearlydefinedandcanbeusedinthisstudywithlittleornoambiguity.

Table 2. Final list of category schemea

Number Theme Categories

1 ApplicationofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologyinDifferentSectorsandSystems

2 Technical&TechnologicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

3 Conceptualization,Evolution,&FutureofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

4 Legal&EthicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

5 EconomicDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

6 Financial&AccountingDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

7 Benefits,Challenges,&RisksofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

8 Philosophical&OntologicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

9 Adoption&IntentiontoUseofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

10 Impacts&ImplicationsofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

11 StatisticsDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology

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5. ReSeARCH FINdINGS

Thispartcoversthesixthstepofthemethodologythatistheanalysisandinterpretationofthedataandpresentstheresultsrelatedtothenumberofarticlespublishedoverthepasttenyears,themeanalysisandjournalanalysis.

5.1. distribution of the Number of ArticlesTheresultsoftheresearchoverthepasttenyearsareshowninFigure3.Figure3illustratesthenumberofarticlespublishedperyearinthefieldofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.Over334articles,onlyonepaperispublishedin2008asastart.Until2013,thereisnotasufficientincreaseinthenumberofarticlespublished.Ontheotherhand,thetotalnumberofarticlesreaches32,61,and79in2014,2015,and2017,respectively.In2017,thereisanobviousgreatincreaseinresearcharticlesandthetotalnumberofpublishedarticlesinthisyearis142.

5.2. Theme AnalysisFigure4showsthepercentagedistributionof334articlesbycategorythemes.Itisevidentthatthe“Legal&EthicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”(21%)isthemost

Table 3. Reliability assessment

Judges A and B

Numberofmatching(outof334) 296

Thepercentageagreement 89%

Cohen’sKappa 0.87

PerreaultandLeigh’sindex 0.88

Figure 3. The number of article per year

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popularthemecategoryintheliterature.Theresearchpapersinthiscategorymainlyfocusontherethinking,discussing,andgovernanceofBitcoinandblockchaintechnologytocreatealegitimacyas a payment of system (Kiviat, 2015; Rutherford, 2017; Prentis, 2015; Tu & Meredith, 2015).Additionally,fromtheethicalpointofview,thepapersaddresssomeproblemsrelatedtoprivacy,cybercrime,moneylaunderingtofinanceterrorismandtheyalsopresentsolutionstoprotectprivacyandpreventcriminalactivities(Huang,2015;Irwin&Milad,2016;Peck&Wagman,2017;Angel&McCabe,2015).Thesecondmostpopularthemecategoryis“Benefits,Challenges,&RisksofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”(16%).Thepapersmainlyinvestigatethepotentialvalueofusingblockchain technologyandcryptocurrencies forbusinesses indifferent industriesincluding governmental, military, and other private industries. For example; using blockchaindatabasescanovercome theproblemofdouble taxation (Hyvärinen,Risius,&Friis,2017), candecrease the transactionalcosts (Underwood,2016),can lead to transformationofgovernmentalprocesses(Ølnes,Ubacht,&Janssen,2017),candecreasethefinancialanddocumentationburden(Labbé,2017),canstreghtthesecurityintheInternetofThings(Kshetri,2017).Ontheotherhand,therearealsopapersconsiderthechallengesandrisksofblockchaintechnologyandcryptocurrenciesfortheglobaleconomyandbusinessesespeciallyincludingbanking,finance,andauditing(Rooney,Aiken,&Rooney,2017;Richter,Kraus,&Bouncken,2015;Vasek,2015).

“Conceptualization,Evolution,&FutureofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”(13%)themecategoryfollowsthesetwothemecategories.Thearticlesinthiscategorymostlypresentageneraloverviewaboutcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology(Aste,Tasca,&DiMatteo,2017;Noferetal.,2017;Underwood,2016;Zohar,2015)anddeterminethefutureroleofthem(Hurlburt,2016;Kewell&MichaelWard,2017;Luther,2016;Mikolajewicz-Wozniak&Scheibe,2015).

Furthermore, the studies in “Economic Dimension of Cryptocurrencies and BlockchainTechnology”(12%)mainlyconsidertheBitcoinmarket,priceformation,pricefluctuations,maineconomicfeaturesofthecurrencymarket,relationshipbetweenpricechangesandvolatilityreturns(Bouri,Azzi,&Dyhrberg,2017;Cheungetal.,2015;Cheah&Fry,2015;Ciaian,Rajcaniova,&Kancs,2016;White,2015;Kimetal.,2016).

Although,“Financial&AccountingDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”(10%),“ApplicationofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologyinDifferentSectorsandSystems”(7%),“Impacts&ImplicationsofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”(6%),and“AdoptionandIntentiontoUseofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”(6%)donothavesignificantimpactratherthanfirstfourthemecategories,thesecategoriesalsoinvolvecertainnumbersofarticles.Inthefinancialandaccountingdimension,researchersmainlyconsiderthetaxation,accounting,returnoninvestmentofBitcoin,financialassetcapabilities,andcrowdfunding,etc.(Barry,2014;Hong,2017;Stanley-Smith,2015;Zhu&Zhou,2016).Furthermore,inthefollowingthemecategory,researchpapers indicate the importance of the application of blockchain in different industries includingtelecom,healthcare,andpharmacy,andindifferentfieldssuchasvehicularcommunicationsystems,supplychainmanagement,residentialelectricityproduction,andindustry4.0.(AoLeietal.,2017;Apte&Petrovsky,2016;Darmwal,2017;Peck&Wagman,2017;Lu&Xu,2017;Szewczyk,2017;Sikorski,Haughton,&Kraft,2017;Lee&Lee,2017).Intheimpactsandimplicationsdimension,therearearticlesstating the impactsofdigitalcurrenciesorblockchain technologyonmonetarysystems,financialservices,internationalforeigncurrencyexchangemarket,anti-moneylaunderingenforcement,interactivegambling,andrealestateindustry(Łukasiewicz-Kamińska,2015;Owens&Lavitch,2013;Plassaras,2013;Nordrum,2017).Ontheotherhand,inthedimensionofadoptionandintentiontouse,therearepapersconsideringtheadoptionofblockchainsandcryptocurrenciesintheeducation,aircraftindustry,paymentsystems,andgamblingetc.(Connell,2014;Chenetal.,2015;Madhwal&Panfilov,2017;Neyer&Geva,2017;Wang,Chen,&Xu,2016).

Lastly, the themecategoriesof“Technical&TechnologicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”(5%),“Philosophical&OntologicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesand Blockchain Technology” (3%), “Statistics Dimension of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain

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Technology”(1%)includetheleastnumberofarticles,respectively.Inthetechnicalandtechnologicaldimension,researchersinvestigatealternativeconfigurationsfordifferentblockchainarchitectures,proposemechanismtoreduceriskagainsttoSybilattacksandtwo-factorauthenticationtoprotectBitcoinwallets,focusonfacialrecognitionsystemsondigitalcurrencyplatforms,andgivetechnicalinformationforminingetc.(Chow&Peck,2017;Shi,2016;Mann&Loebenberger,2017;O’Leary,2017). Moreover, in the philosophical & ontological dimension, authors present philosophicalinvestigationoftheontologicalconstitutionofBitcoin,areviewoftheblockchain,Libertarianism,andSocialistphilosophies,andtheyalsoprovideaphilosophicalaccountofhowblockchaintechnologiesaresociallyembedded.(Bjerg,2016;Dupont,2017;Swan,2017).Inthelastdimension,researchersprovideastatisticalanalysisofthelog-returnsoftheexchangerateofBitcoinversustheUnitedStatesDollar(Chu,Nadarajah,&Chan,2015).

Table4alsoincludesthedistributionaboutthefrequencyofarticlesconcerningeachthemecategory.

Table5displaysthefrequencyofarticlesforeachyeartofindthepossiblechangeandtrendsovertheyears.Table5indicatesthatin2008and2009,thereisonlyonearticlepublishedperyearandthereisnotanypublishedarticlein2010.SatoshiNakamotointroducedcryptocurrenciesandblockchain technology in2009,so it isexpected that itwillhavestarted to take theattentionofacademicsinthefollowingyears.Aftertheseyears,academicsstarttofocusonanddiscussmostly“Legal & Ethical Dimension of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology” in 2011, 2012,2013. It is alsoapparent that academicscontinue to investigatecryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyfromlegalandethicalperspectivesfrequentlyinthefollowingyears.In2014,academicsbegintopublishmorearticlesinthisfield.Althoughtheymainlyconcentrateon“Legal&EthicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology,”theyalsostarttoconsider“Financial&

Figure 4. Percentage of articles based on theme

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AccountingDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”andpublisharticlesrelatedwith“Conceptualization,Evolution,&FutureofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology.”Itcanbeinferredthatinparalleltotheirconceptualization,evolution,andfuture,cryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologybegintoberecognizedasafinancialmedium.

Moreover, in 2015, academics investigated “Economic Dimension of Cryptocurrencies andBlockchainTechnology,”andtheyalsocontinuedtoanalyzelegalandethicalissuesofcryptocurrenciesand blockchain technology as well as their conceptualization, evolution, and future. It indicatesthat theseadvancesstart to takeattentionofotherdisciplines includingfinance,accounting,andeconomics.In2016,academicscontinuedtoarguethedimensionsoflegalandethical,economics,conceptualization,evolution,andfutureofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.Additionally,theypayattentionto“Benefits,Challenges,&RisksofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology.”Itcanimplythatcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyspreadoverandgainavalidityamongindividuals,businesses,andotherrelatedparties.

In2017,cryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologybecomehottopicsintheacademicworldandacademicsexplicitlystarttoexaminethesetopics.Theymainlyscrutinize“Benefits,Challenges,&RisksofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology.”Additionally,theycontemplate“ApplicationofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologyinDifferentSectorsandSystems”andalso“Adoption&IntentiontoUseofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”attheleast.Itisexpectedthatthesenewdevelopmentswererecognizedbymanyindividualsandbusinessesaftertheirintroduction.Inthissense,ithasledtotheinvestigationofcurrent,andpotentialapplicationsofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyandthisinvestigationrevealtheimportanceoftheanalysisofbenefits,challenges,andrisksofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologiesforthepartieswhowanttoadoptthem.

Figure5demonstratesthechangeofeachthemecategoryovertime.Itisseenthat“Benefits,Challenges, & Risks of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology” had a great climb up in2017.Inadditiontothisthemecategory,thereisalsoanobviousriseinthethemeof“ApplicationofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologyinDifferentSectorsandSystems”in2017.Itshowsthatcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologytakesmoreattentiontomanydisciplines,businessesandevenindividualsinthisyear,soacademicworldinvestigatethecurrentandpossibleapplicationand

Table 4. The number of article per theme

Theme Frequency of Article

% of Article

ApplicationofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnologyinDifferentSectorsandSystems 24 7%

Technical&TechnologicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 17 5%

Conceptualization,Evolution,&FutureofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 44 13%

Legal&EthicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 69 21%

EconomicDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 41 12%

Financial&AccountingDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 33 10%

Benefits,Challenges,&RisksofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 53 16%

Philosophical&OntologicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 9 3%

Adoption&IntentiontoUseofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 19 6%

Impacts&ImplicationsofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 22 6%

StatisticsDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology 3 1%

Total 334 100%

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benefits,challengesandrisksoftheseadvancesforbanksandotherfinancialindustries,individuals,andseveralpublicandprivateindustriessuchasgovernment,military,music,anddigitalartetc.

Furthermore, Figure 5 shows that “Adoption & Intention to Use of Cryptocurrencies andBlockchainTechnology”also took theattentionof academicseven if it is little.The reasoncanbethatcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologystart tobenewlyunderstoodandrecognizedbyrelatedparties,sointhefollowingyearsafter2017,itcanmarkanewperiodofresearchscopechangetotheinvestigationoftheadoptionandintentiontouseofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.Additionally, in 2017,while “Adoption& Intention toUseofCryptocurrencies andBlockchainTechnology” increases, there isalso flowup in the themecategoryof“Technical&TechnologicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology.”Thisresultcanstatethatwhiletherecognitionofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyincreases,moretechnicalandtechnologicalproblems,needs,orsolutionsstarttoarise.

Ontheotherhand,“Legal&EthicalDimensionofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”takestheattentionofacademicstremendouslybystartingin2012anditflowsupin2015.Althoughstudiesmainlycontinuetofocusonthisdimension,thisthemecategorywitnessesadropdownin2016and2017.Itmayindicatethatresearchersbegintogivelowimportancetolegalandethicalaspectswhichhavealreadybeendiscussedinthepreviousyears.

Although “Economic Dimension of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology” gainspopularityin2015,theresearchscopeofacademicsshiftstowardto“Conceptualization,Evolution,&FutureofCryptocurrenciesandBlockchainTechnology”and“Financial&AccountingDimensionof Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology.” These two theme categories continue to gainpopularitybetween2015and2017.Itcanbeinferredthatsocietyandbusinessesareintroducedwithnewdevelopments,andtheyhavenotlearnedyetwhatthesedevelopmentsare,sotheysustaintowanttoknowwhattheseadvancesmeanindetail,howtheyevolve,andwhattheirfutureis.Additionally,theseresultsindicatethattheseadvancesareacceptedasafinancialmedium,anditstartstochangetheattentionof researchers toward the financial andaccountingaspectsof cryptocurrencies andblockchaintechnology.

Table 5. Theme category analysis of 334 articles for each year

Theme 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 18 24

2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 3 9 17

3 0 1 0 0 1 0 5 11 12 14 44

4 0 0 0 2 2 6 10 18 14 17 69

5 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 13 12 9 41

6 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 4 8 13 33

7 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 10 37 53

8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 9

9 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 7 7 19

10 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 3 3 12 22

11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 3

Grand Total

1 1 0 2 3 13 32 61 79 142 334

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5.3. Journal AnalysisFigure 6 illustrates the results of the journal analysis in between 2008 and 2017. Figure 6 onlyinvolvesthejournalsthatpublishedmorethanonearticleaboutcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.Thejournalsthatpublishedonearticlearegroupedintoonegroupcalled“Other”duetobettervisualizationandlistingof334articles.Theresultsindicatethat“IEEESpectrum”journalreachestohighestshareamong334articlesbypublishing12articlesaboutcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyduring2008-2017.Furthermore,“PLOSONE”and“InternationalFinancialReview”journalssharethesecondplaceinthelistwithtenarticleseach.“CommunicationsoftheACM”and“StrategicChange”journalsalsosharethethirdplaceinthelistbypublishingninearticleseachinbetween2008and2017.

Additionally,Table6showsthenumberofarticlesindetailthatarepublishedineachjournalduring2008-2017.Table6illustratesthatalthoughjournalsmentionedabovegiveimportancetopublishingaboutcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyinrecentyears,“StrategicChange,”“Metaphilosophy,”and“TechnologyInnovationManagementReview”journalsarepromisingbystartingtopublishlotsofarticlesin2017inthefieldofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.

Furthermore,Table7showsthedistributionofanumberofarticlesregardingthejournalsubjectarea.Somejournalsarecoveringmorethanonesubjectareas,sosomearticlesarerepresentedmorethanone time.Table7 indicates that the researchpapers includedwithin thescopeof thestudyare published in scholarly journals covering law, banking and finance, business and economics,management, engineering, computer applications, accounting, technology,medical sciences, andcomputerssubject,respectively.

6. CoNCLUSIoN ANd dISCUSSIoN

Thestudyaimstoidentifytrends,patterns,andresearchgaps,andtoenlightenfutureofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology,andtoprovideresearcherswithamapforinvestigatingunexploredsidesofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.Inthissense,thecontentofarticles,whicharepublishedinscholarlypeer-reviewedjournals,areanalyzedtounderstandadvancesincryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyovertheyears.

Figure 5. Change and trend analysis of theme categories over years

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Intheinitialyears,thereisonlyoneresearchpaperthatstartstotaketheattentionofacademicsin2008and2009.ThemainreasoncanbethatalthoughBitcoinisthefirstcreatedcryptocurrency,there is a pre-cryptocurrencies year including B-Money and Bit Cold (Marr, 2017). After that,SatoshiNakamotoshareshisarticlebysendingittoamailinglistaboutcryptographyin2008and2009,Bitcoinsoftwarebecomepublic,and transactionsstart toberecordedandvalidated in theblockchain.Inparallel,researchersarecuriousaboutthedefinition,conceptualization,andfutureofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology,aswellastheiradoptionbyindividualsandindustriesaftertheseadvances,areintroducedbySatoshiNakamoto.

Aftertheseyears,thelegalandethicaldimensionofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologystartstogainimportance.Especially,in2014andthefollowingyears,legalandethicalissueshavecontinuedtobeahotissue.Inthissense,manyresearcharticlesconsideringcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyfromalegalandethicalperspectivearepublishedinthoseyears.Thebreakingpointcanbethatin2014,acriminalactivitymakesatremendouseffectintheworld.Mt.Goxwhich,wastheworld’slargestBitcoinexchange,goesofflineand850,000Bitcoinswhichisvaluedat450milliondollarsatthattimewerestolen(Marry,2017).Suchactivitiestaketheattentionofresearchers,andtheyhavecontinuedtoexaminetheillegalactivitiesarisingfromtheanonymityintransactionssuchasbuyingdrugs,launderingmoney,supportingterroristacts,andotherrelatedcybercrimes.Inadditiontothelegalandethicalperspective,researchershavecontinuedtoexamineevolutionandfutureofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyinthefollowingyears.

Cryptocurrencieshavebeenonlymined so far, and in2010, someoneuses them tobuy fortwopizzasbyspendinghisorher10,000bitcoins(Marr,2017).Afterthat,cryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologystarttospreadamongindividualsandindustries.Themarketcapitalization

Figure 6. Number of articles per journal

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Table 6. Journal analysis of 334 articles for each year

Journal 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 TotalCommunications&Strategies

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2

Computer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2DukeLawJournal 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2FinanceResearchLetters 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2FordhamJournalofCorporate&FinancialLaw

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2

HarvardJournalofLaw&Technology

0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2

IEEECommunicationsMagazine

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2

IndianaJournalofGlobalLegalStudies

0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2

InternationalTaxReview 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2JournalofFinancialCrime 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2JournalofInvestmentCompliance

0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2

JournalofMoneyLaunderingControl

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2

ReviewofBanking&FinancialLaw

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2

Science 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2StrategicFinance 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2TheIndependentReview 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2TheInternationalBusiness&EconomicsResearchJournal

0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2

BiometricTechnologyToday

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3

CatoJournal 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3CentreforEuropeanStudies 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 3ComputerLaw&SecurityReview

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 3

FutureInternet 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 3MITSloanManagementReview

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3

RMAJournal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3TheBankingLawJournal 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 3CPAJournal 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 4GamingLawReview&Economics

0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 4

ITProfessionalMagazine 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 4JournalofAccountancy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4JournalofInternetBankingandCommerce

0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 4

JournalofSecuritiesOperations&Custody

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 4

VirginiaTaxReview 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 4EconomicsLetters 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 5TechnologyInnovationManagementReview

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6

JournalofPaymentsStrategy&Systems

0 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 2 7

Metaphilosophy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 7FinancialInnovation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 8CommunicationsoftheACM

0 0 0 0 0 3 1 4 1 9

StrategicChange 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9InternationalFinancialLawReview

0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 5 10

PLOSONE 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 2 3 10IEEESpectrum 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 8 12Other 1 1 0 1 3 17 40 36 67 165Total 1 1 2 3 13 32 61 79 142 334

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Table 7. Distribution of number of articles regarding journal subject area

Journal Subject Area Number of Articles

Journal Subject Area Number of Articles

LAW 77 ART 1

BANKINGANDFINANCE 51 MACHINERY 1

BUSINESSANDECONOMICS 35 COMPUTERENGINEERING 1

MANAGEMENT 24 COMPUTERGRAPHICS 1

ENGINEERING 20 DATABASEMANAGEMENT 1

COMPUTERAPPLICATIONS 16 ELECTRICALENERGY 1

ACCOUNTING 15 ELECTRONICDATAPROCESSING 1

TECHNOLOGY 13 ENVIRONMENTALSTUDIES 1

MEDICALSCIENCES 13 GEOLOGY 1

COMPUTERS 11 HANDICAPPED 1

ECONOMICSYSTEMSANDTHEORIES,ECONOMICHISTORY

10 HUMANITIES 1

INTERNET 10 BIOLOGY 1

PUBLICFINANCE,TAXATION 10 MICROCOMPUTERS 1

DATACOMMUNICATIONSANDDATATRANSMISSIONSYS

9 PATENTS,TRADEMARKSANDCOPYRIGHTS 1

PHILOSOPHY 8 COMPUTERNETWORKS 1

POLITICALSCIENCE 8 PHARMACYANDPHARMACOLOGY 1

SCIENCES 7 GEOGRAPHY 1

COMMUNICATIONS 6 PUBLICADMINISTRATION 1

EDUCATION 5 REALESTATE 1

HISTORY 5 SMALLBUSINESS 1

COMPUTERSECURITY 4

INFORMATIONSCIENCEANDINFORMATIONTHEORY

4

INTERNATIONALCOMMERCE 4

SPORTS&GAME 4

CRIMINOLOGYANDLAWENFORCEMENT 3

ELECTRONICS 3

SOCIOLOGY 3

INVESTMENTS 3

PHYSICS 3

SOFTWARE 2

ECONOMICSITUATIONANDCONDITIONS 2

INTERNATIONALDEVELOPMENTANDASSISTANCE

2

LIBRARYANDINFORMATIONSCIENCES 2

MATHEMATICS 2

MILITARY 2

OFFICEEQUIPMENTANDSERVICES 2

TELEVISIONANDCABLE 2

TELEPHONEANDTELEGRAPH 2

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ofBitcoinreaches$1billionin2013andcontinuedtoincrease(GrantThornton,2017).ThefirstBitcoinATMintheworldisopenedinSanDiego,Californiain2013(Futurism,n.d.).TheJudgeAmosMazzantofTexasacceptsBitcoinasacurrencyorformofmoney,andTheGermanFederalMinistryofFinancealsorecognizesBitcoinasaformofprivatemoneyin2013.Afterthisprogress,cryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologytaketheattentionofotherdisciplinesincludingfinance,accounting,andeconomics.Especially,in2014andthefollowingyears,manyresearchstudiesembracecryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologyacrosseconomic,financial,andaccountingstandpoints.

In2017,researchersbegintopayattentiontotheapplicationofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology in different sectors and systems, their impacts and implications among businessesand individuals, and especially they give high importance to benefits, challenges, and risks ofcryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. This trend can indicate that cryptocurrencies andblockchaintechnologygainhighpenetrationamongdifferentindustriesandpeople.Thefollowingexamplesareoneofthesignsofthewideacceptanceoftheseadvances.Blockchaintechnologyhasstartedarevolutioninthefintechindustryin2017andbanksincludingBarclays,CitiBank,DeutscheBank,andBNPParibashaveannouncedthattheyhavebeeninvestigatingnewwayswhichcanworkwithcryptocurrenciesespeciallywithBitcoin(Marr,2017).Additionally,BitcoinisacceptedasafinancialmediumbyKFCCanada,Playboy,Subway,MicrosofttobuycontentonXboxandWindowsStore,Expedia,Zynga,Bloombergtobuyonlinenewspapers,T-MobilePoland,andlotsofonlinestoresandplatforms(Chokun,2018).AccordingtoFinancialTimes,academicsincludingtheworld’sbest-knowneconomistsalsodecidetodeveloptheirowncryptocurrencycalledSagain2018.(Nguyenetal.,2018).Theseexamplesimplythatthecategoriesincludingadoption;impactsandimplications;benefits,challenges,andrisks;applicationswillcontinuetobethefocusofresearchers.

Additionally,whentheacceptanceofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnologygetswider,thetechnicalandtechnologicaldimensionwillstarttogainimportance.Becausebothindividualsandbusinesseswillstarttofacewithtechnicalandtechnologicalproblemswhentheystarttomostlyusethesedigitaltokensandplatformsintheirdailylives.Althoughsomeofthedisciplinesincludingphilosophy, ontology, and statistics get the less attention from researchers, cryptocurrencies andblockchaintechnologycanbestillinvestigatedfromtheseperspectives.

Apartfromthisthemeanalysisofcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology,academicjournalanalysisalsoprovidessomeinferencesaboutcryptocurrenciesandblockchainarticles.Theresultsindicatethatarticlesaremostlypublishedinjournalshavingasubjectareaoflaw.Also,journalshavingsubjectareofbankingandfinance,businessandeconomics,management,engineering,computerapplications,accounting,technology,medicalsciences,andcomputersarepopularamongresearcherswhoareinterestedinthepublicationofstudiesaboutcryptocurrenciesandblockchaintechnology.

7. LIMITATIoNS

Inthescopeofthestudy,somestudylimitationsmustalsobeaddressed.Itisevidentthatresearcharticlesareonlyobtainedfromonlytwodatabases,sotheresearchcanbeenhancedbyexpandingthenumberofdatabasesandsothenumberofarticles.Inadditiontothislimitation,thisstudyonlyfocusesonarticlesthatarepublishedonlyinscholarlypeer-reviewedjournals.However,tradepublications,dissertations,conferenceproceedings,andmarketreportscanalsobeinvestigated.

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Apte,S.,&Petrovsky,N.(2016).Willblockchaintechnologyrevolutionizeexcipientsupplychainmanagement?Journal of Excipients and Food Chemicals,7(3),76–78.

Aru, I. (2017).What isTokenization?DemocratizingOwnership&Real-WorldAssets on theBlockchain.Cointelegraph. Retrieved from https://cointelegraph.com/news/tokenization-the-force-behind-blockchain-technology

Aste,T.,Tasca,P.,&DiMatteo,T.(2017).Blockchaintechnologies:Theforeseeableimpactonsocietyandindustry.Computer,50(9),18–28.doi:10.1109/MC.2017.3571064

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Bouri,E.,Azzi,G.,&Dyhrberg,A.H.(2017).Onthereturn-volatilityrelationshipintheBitcoinmarketaroundthepricecrashof2013.Economic,11(2),1-16.

Brühl,V.(2017).VirtualCurrencies,DistributedLedgersandtheFutureofFinancialServices.Inter Economics,52(6),370–378.doi:10.1007/s10272-017-0706-3

Cheah,E.T.,&Fry,J.(2015).SpeculativebubblesinBitcoinmarkets?Anempirical investigationintothefundamentalvalueofBitcoin.Economics Letters,130,32–36.doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2015.02.029

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Chokun,J.(2018).WhoAcceptsBitcoinsasPayment?ListofCompanies,Stores,ShopsfromWhoAcceptsBitcoins as Payment? List of Companies. 99Bitcoins. Retrieved from https://99bitcoins.com/who-accepts-bitcoins-payment-companies-stores-take-bitcoins/

Chow,S.,&Peck,M.E.(2017).ThebitcoinminesofChina.IEEE Spectrum,54(10),46–53.doi:10.1109/MSPEC.2017.8048840

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Serkan Akar is a managing director at Uludag Sozluk Limited Company. He received his B.Sc. and M.A degrees in Marine Engineering from the Technical University of Varna. He is currently taking his Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree at the University of the Incarnate Word. He is also known as an entrepreneur across the globe, and he has lots of best-seller books. He co-authored the books of “Bitcoin Devrimi (Revolution)” and “Silikon Vadisi Kafasıyla 90 Yıllık Meseleler” in Turkey.

Ezgi Akar received her B.Sc., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in the field of Management Information Systems from Bogazici University in 2009, 2013, and 2018, respectively. In the meantime, she is a visiting assistant professor at the Department of Information Systems & Operations Research, the University of Texas at Arlington. She also worked as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Texas at Dallas. Her research areas are social networks, online communities, consumer behaviors, and data analytics.

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