Blockchain has recently emerged as a general-purpose application of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for people, organizations, and governments alike, to enable the exchange of both information and goods, eliminating the need for an intermediating authority to act as a guarantor. Blockchain enables a distributed consensus where every online transaction can be verified at any time without compromising the privacy of digital assets and parties involved. As a result, it has the potential to revolutionize the digital world by enabling the security and privacy of all digital assets, enabling resilient chains, promoting sustainability, and securing democracy.

Already, organizations across the world are implementing the technology in a wide range of areas ranging from insurance and notary services to agricultural and automotive supply chains. As most Blockchain applications require radically different approaches than traditional solutions within organizations, they entail significant development and adoption risks (e.g., strategic risks, business continuity risks, regulatory risks, information security risks). Moreover, DLT is at its core a platform technology, increasing the complexity of innovation, diffusion, and adoption processes associated with products that are based upon this emerging technology.

This combination of radicalness on the one hand, and platform-based business models on the other, creates a multilevel and multidimensional riddle that most organizations are struggling with. Blockchain organizations need to simultaneously navigate challenges across levels of analysis, contrary to more linear existing models describing technological adaptation. A more holistic research endeavour is needed by interdisciplinary teams that include both researchers and practitioners to gain insights on the competition dynamics, innovation interdependencies, diffusion and implementation challenges underlying novel applications of DLT.