The Impact of Blockchain on Emerging Economies

Abstract

The development of blockchain technology - an open distributed ledger of entries that records transactions in a permanent way without requiring third-party authentication (Marr, 2018) - and the subsequent appearance of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin in 2010 ignited a wave of investor enthusiasm and extraordinary projections for its use and impact, especially in the emerging economies. This article reviews the early expectations for blockchain in emerging economies, examines its progress in the first decade of its use, identifies implementation obstacles unique to emerging economies, and projects its most likely impact in the next decade. The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 is likely to affect the expansion of blockchain and cryptocurrencies throughout the world, including emerging economies. Some expect that blockchain will encompass sovereign currencies, with experiments in the future by China and Sweden (Canesin, 2020).