Potentials of Blockchain Technology for Developing Countries

The spread of blockchain technology within industrialized countries has progressed increasingly in recent years, revealing numerous potentials. In consideration of the numerous challenges that developing countries are facing on a social, economic and environmental level, it is necessary to explore the opportunities of the new technology for these countries. The goal of this paper is to identify ways in which developing countries can benefit from the use of blockchain technology. For this purpose, the following research question is posed: What are the opportunities for societies in developing countries through blockchain technology? To answer the central question, an integrative review was conducted. Specifically, the work examined the opportunities and risks of three application areas: supply chains, the public sector, and cryptocurrencies. The focus is primarily on the area of supply chains. The results show that the use of blockchains in supply chains can increase transparency, reduce companies' running costs and make logistics processes more efficient. This is offset by high implementation costs. For the use of blockchains in politics and administration, opportunities for fighting corruption as well as increasing the efficiency of the systems could be shown. The research on the scope of cryptocurrencies found that the use of decentralized cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies can promote the financial inclusion of developing countries. Future research could concretize the evidence of cost savings from blockchains in supply chains using business metrics. An investigation of the cost-benefit ratio by means of ex-post analyses of existing projects could empirically consolidate the findings.