Heeding the Call for Objective Investigation into Blockchain Adoption : An Empirical Analysis of the Partial Open vs. Completely Open Blockchain Tension

The empirical framework exists to test the proposition, “Does the extent of blockchain openness positively affect the willingness to adopt a platform?” We can compare a partially open blockchain like EOS with a more open platform like Ethereum. Both fund-raised by issuing cryptocurrencies through ICO's (Initial Coin Offerings). We collect extensive longitudinal data to determine the impact of blockchain openness on an objective performance measure — the price of the relevant cryptocurrency and several blockchain performance measures (e.g. scalability, security, throughput, etc.) Given that likelihood of widespread platform adoption is closely correlated with relative cryptocurrency price out-performance (Zhang 2019), this measure is not an unreasonable aggregate measure of adoption willingness by organizations (or individual users). We aim to use robust econometric causal inference designs to offer more granular insights as well, namely when a blockchain platform undergoes a regime change from completely open to partially open, or vice versa, how does that impact adoption willingness. We believe that our research will help inform these decisions for practitioners and break new theoretical grounds for IS research's longstanding interest in the open vs close tension in digital platforms