Lo, Yuen C;
(2023)
Travels along the hype cycle: a set of blockchain applications and the economic processes they impact.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Some commentators refer to blockchain as a potential General Purpose Technology. Yet despite a plethora of cryptoassets and projects, it has struggled to gain traction beyond payments and price discovery. This thesis explores how the technology is being applied to better understand the potential and risks of deploying blockchain. It examines four different use cases with econometric and case study methods: (1) Bitcoin mining as the token incentivized processing of records, (2) Initial Coin Offering tokens as a form of venture financing, (3) Uniswap the decentralized exchange and (4) Kompany improving the data integrity of compliance records via notarization to a public blockchain. It finds that blockchain enables capabilities that did not exist before, but that these capabilities are bounded by trade offs and developer priorities. Ultimately this research expands the literature on blockchain applications and argues that blockchain does not build better systems, but different systems that can achieve different objectives. It provides evidence that firms and society are gradually traversing the hype cycle, deploying blockchain, solving real world economic problems and creating value.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Travels along the hype cycle: a set of blockchain applications and the economic processes they impact |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2022. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| Keywords: | blockchain, bitcoin, ethereum, tokenomics, decentralized exchange |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10165748 |
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