[AISWorld] Final Call for Papers: Scenarios for the Further Development and Impact of Blockchain Technologies @MDPI Future Internet

[Horst Treiblmaier]

Dear Colleagues,

Blockchain technology is predicted to disrupt industries, economies, and societies. The properties of distributed ledgers allow the creation of immutable data structures that facilitate shared access in real time and enable a plethora of innovative applications. However, blockchain is not a uniform technology, but rather a bundle of evolving components whose implications are notoriously hard to predict. At present, it is not clear how current trends will evolve, with technical evolution, legislation, and public policy being three contingency factors that make ongoing disruptive transformations particularly hard to predict. In light of blockchain’s potentially disruptive impact, it is surprising that scenario analysis has hitherto been largely ignored in academic research. In a recent publication in Future Internet, I therefore outline the potentials of this technique to produce blockchain research that is both academically rigorous and relevant to the industry.

In this call for papers, I look for academic research that applies scenario analysis to thoroughly investigate the impact of blockchain technologies and the relevance of potential contingency factors. Furthermore, I encourage the investigation of how the respective components of blockchain technologies as well as the surrounding business and legal frameworks might evolve and what the consequences would be. The focus of this Special Issue is the exploration of diverse scenarios that might arise from blockchain technologies, and not on the identification of the most likely development. Furthermore, I am especially looking for research that deals with “what if” questions and outlines disruptive developments.

>From a methodological perspective, both quantitative and qualitative approaches are welcome. The research design has to be rigorous and can include the application of various methods simultaneously (i.e., mixed-method approach). Scenario analysis does not hinge on a specific method but allows the combination of different approaches. I encourage its application to generate blockchain papers that are creative, inspiring, and thought-provoking.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
• Future developments of core blockchain technologies
• Use cases that can be created with blockchain technologies and how their successful deployment depends on external factors
• Extreme scenarios (both positive and negative) that may arise from the use of blockchain technologies
• Potential impact of blockchain on business/economy/society
• Identification of contingency factors that enable or hinder the acceptance and adoption of blockchain technologies

Prof. Dr. Horst Treiblmaier
Guest Editor

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2022

Special Issue Information
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/futureinternet/special_issues/Scenarios_Blockchain