Industry Emergence between Technology and Zeitgeist : The Case of Blockchain and Crypto

This chapter examines the dynamics of industry emergence using the case of the blockchain and crypto (BC) industry. The BC industry is a rapidly developing field that has—in less than a decade—transformed from initially being a volunteer project of a small group of cypherpunks to a global industry with a plethora of actors involving vivid entrepreneurial and corporate activity. Importantly, the review of the extant literature and evidence reveals that ideological driving forces, which have been neglected in prior industry emergence research, constitute a major catalyst of this rapid industry development. In this vein, the chapter shows that the ideological notion of ‘decentralization’ has strongly contributed to the BC industry’s rapid growth by matching the zeitgeist in times of financial crises with increasing centralization by large digital platforms