Location
Online
Event Website
https://hicss.hawaii.edu/
Start Date
3-1-2023 12:00 AM
End Date
7-1-2023 12:00 AM
Description
Like any organizational system, platform ecosystems reorganize to update its alignment with the internal and external environments. However, unlike reorganizations of centrally managed platforms performed by the owners, reorganizations of decentralized platforms ecosystems do not rely on formal authority. Instead, the network self-reorganizes to renew the structure, rules, and information to evolve. Little is known about how self-reorganizations influence the participation of various types of networks. In this study, we investigate nine reorganization events on Ethereum, a blockchain-based decentralized smart contract platform, to unpack how self-reorganization related to hard forking influence participation in the development, validation, transaction, and complementor networks. We find that, while participation increases across all networks show a small increase after hard forking events, more complex dynamics are at play within each network that builds on delicate trade-offs between participation structure, configuration, and incentives. Our findings have implications for blockchain research as well as for start-ups building decentralized applications on top of decentralized smart contract platforms.
Recommended Citation
Hsieh, Ying-Ying and Andersen, Jonas, "Reorganization and Participation in Decentralized Platform Ecosystems: Evidence from Blockchain Forking" (2023). Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2023 (HICSS-56). 8.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-56/os/blockchain/8
Reorganization and Participation in Decentralized Platform Ecosystems: Evidence from Blockchain Forking
Online
Like any organizational system, platform ecosystems reorganize to update its alignment with the internal and external environments. However, unlike reorganizations of centrally managed platforms performed by the owners, reorganizations of decentralized platforms ecosystems do not rely on formal authority. Instead, the network self-reorganizes to renew the structure, rules, and information to evolve. Little is known about how self-reorganizations influence the participation of various types of networks. In this study, we investigate nine reorganization events on Ethereum, a blockchain-based decentralized smart contract platform, to unpack how self-reorganization related to hard forking influence participation in the development, validation, transaction, and complementor networks. We find that, while participation increases across all networks show a small increase after hard forking events, more complex dynamics are at play within each network that builds on delicate trade-offs between participation structure, configuration, and incentives. Our findings have implications for blockchain research as well as for start-ups building decentralized applications on top of decentralized smart contract platforms.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-56/os/blockchain/8