Chain of Fools? Sensemaking Dynamics regarding the Issue of the Blockchain Technology in the FinTech Field

Description

Our aim in this paper is to understand sensemaking dynamics regarding the opportunities and threats of the blockchain technology in the FinTech field, which we characterize as an interstitial issue field bringing together a variety of actors and meaning structures. Conceptually, we are particularly interested in how sensemaking unfolds in a distributed and virtually mediated setting and with regard to a highly uncertain future. Empirically we conduct a content analysis of one traditional news source (Financial Times) and two online media (Cryptocoinsnews and Medium) to identify dominant frames and their usage of different actors in the public debate about the blockchain. Overall, we identify ten different frames, the majority of them with a positive stance towards the blockchain, indicating that the field is still far from a common meaning structure and reflecting a dominance of commentators and journalists in the discourse who tend to stress the potential of the new technology. We also observe a dominance of past and present rather than future-oriented metaphors, indicating that while the blockchain is still seen as science fiction by some, visions of how the world could look like in the “blockchain age” are currently rare.

Period	20 Oct 2017
Event title	The First Annual Toronto FinTech Conference
Event type	Conference
Location	CanadaShow on map