Blockchain, DLT and Fintech

Track Description
Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and the conspicuous blockchain, best known as the backbone technology behind Bitcoin, are technologies that are currently disrupting multiple industries and in particular the financial sector. In general, blockchain and DLT have the potential to make data processing more efficient, secure, transparent, and democratic. So far, the technology has been applied mostly in streamlining value chains, developing data registries, and forging cryptocurrencies. Although its full impact is yet to be unleashed, the exponential growth in the number and prominence of blockchain and DLT enabled applications in multiple sectors provide ample opportunities for IS research. Similarly, and highly intertwined with DLT, Fintech has disrupted the financial sector with algorithmic trading, high-frequency trading, digital securities, smart money, peer-to-peer lending, new models of cross-boundary payment systems, and digital anti-money laundering monitoring, for example. Yet, further research is needed to better understand the effect of these services on business and society.

In this track, we adopt a view that information systems are socio-technical phenomena that are created by shaping social, physical, semiotic and technological environments via intentional IT-oriented design. The conference theme calls for a broader and inclusive view of IS scholarship that aspires to foster environmental, economic and social value and to suggest ways of using information technology for providing leverage and fulfilling human needs. Papers can apply any perspective (behavioral, economics, organizational, design, computational), consistent theoretical frame, methodology, or unit of analysis. Both theoretical essays and empirical studies are welcome. Innovative approaches to the study of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, distributed business models and Fintech related phenomena are particularly desirable.

Track Chairs
Michel Avital, Copenhagen Business School, michel@avital.net
Hailiang Chen, University of Hong Kong, chen19@hku.hk
Rong Zheng, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, rzheng@ust.hk