Blockchain: state of the art and impact on business models

Abstract

A disruptive technology (or a disruptive innovation) is an innovation, generally created by smaller and less resourceful companies, that creates a new market and a value network, and finally goes on to disrupt an existing market and value network, challenging the dominant companies in a certain sector. Blockchain, a protocol for exchanging value over the internet where there is no central authority to intermediate in the process, has been defined as one of the most potential disruptive innovations in the modern days. This technology has different applications in a wide variety of sectors and has the potential to alter existing and create entirely new and unprecedented business models, posing a direct threat of disruption to traditional incumbents. The goal of this thesis is to understand the impact the blockchain can have on business models. After a review of blockchain technology, its features, and the current adoption of this innovation in the market, the focus will lie on the business side. Thanks to multiple research works and the use of the Business Model Canvas it will be analyzed how blockchain has an impact on business models, what archetypal patterns of business models can be identified, and which are the most promising sectors for its application. A case study analysis taking into consideration a set of blockchain companies operating in different sectors will be performed in order to understand the validity of the obtained results.