Abstract

The acceptance of Bitcoin as an electronic currency is steadily on the rise. This implies there is a surge in the diffusion and adoption of the blockchain technology introduced by Bitcoin as well. Moreover, the potential of this novel disruptive technology has been acknowledged by academic researchers and practitioners alike. IS research has shown that trust is a significant antecedent enabling the adoption of a novel technology and attenuating the apprehensions of risk and uncertainty among consumers. Trust in a technology is formed by the trusting beliefs of a trustor regarding the trustworthiness of the IT artifact. The blockchain technology, the trustee, has features like cryptography, decentralization, hash functions, digital signature, consensus mechanism, which embody trust in the technology. We present an extensive description of Bitcoin as an instantiation of the blockchain technology, while offering a detailed account of the literature on trust in a technology. We conceptually present, through the use of knowledge mapping, how blockchain ensures trust in the technology. We propose future research directions for trust research in the blockchain context and urge IS academics to explore trust in this novel context.

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