Abstract

The rapid rise of cryptocurrency adoption appears to effect the ability of people to improve their lives. In this paper, the most ubiquitous cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is used to investigate effects on financial inclusion and human development. The findings in this paper show a strong positive correlation between bitcoin transactions and human development, between bitcoin transactions and financial inclusion and between financial inclusion and human development. The Bitcoin effect is identified as having a cyclical relationship on financial inclusion and human development. While the Bitcoin effect has a very positive effect on the global economy, this paper uses these results to investigate what business models are enabled through the Bitcoin effect. Cluster analysis is carried out to identify business models that are relevant to the country categories they represent. Three business models are identified from the Bitcoin effect that relate to the country categories they represent. These are miners, innovators and wallets. This paper’s contribution is in discovering and describing the key characteristics of the Bitcoin effect and the business models it generates globally.

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