The Promise and Prospects of Blockchain-Based Decentralized Business Models

The emergence of Bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology have enabled novel solutions for creating, transacting, and validating digital assets. In this vein, inspired by Bitcoin, a variety of projects has been building blockchain-based “decentralized” business models (BDBM), market places, and organizations. However, there has been ambiguity and confusion around the meaning of “decentralized” in the context of blockchain technology-based business models in both research and practice. Moreover, the implications for mainstream adoption of BDBM from a mass customers’ perspective are insufficiently understood. This article discusses the notion of decentralization in BDBM and develops a two-dimensional framework explaining the decentralization focus of BDBM. Based on this typology, the article analyzes the implications, prerequisites, and desirability of decentralization for BDBMs’ mainstream adoption