A contextualized study of blockchain technology adoption as a digital currency platform under sanctions

PurposeThe blockchain technology is based on distributed ledger. Many stakeholders, such as developers, entrepreneurs and technology lovers, consider the blockchain as an economic and business re-creation that is faced with numerous challenges in its application. Blockchain technology is the backbone of many digital currencies, i.e. Bitcoin and Ethereum. Although presently digital currencies are recognized as payment and exchange instruments in many countries, the economic sanctions imposed on some countries have restricted the possibility of the trading. So, this study seeks to evaluate the adoption of blockchain for digital currency use in Iran in the shadow of economic sanctions.Design/methodology/approachThe developed value-based technology adoption model and smart PLS software have been used in this research. The statistical population of the study was people active in the Iranian stock market; the purpose for this selection was their familiarity with financial and digital currency issues.FindingsThe results show that the terms of sanctions, usage and facilitating conditions are directly related to users' perceived value of digital currency and its use; As a result, in a sanctioned country like Iran, the use of digital currencies is being accepted as a way of rolling out economic sanctions and thus making commercial payments.Originality/valueAs well as the fact that evaluating the adoption of the blockchain technology in a sanctioned country like Iran is considered as the originality aspect of the research, applying an extended model in the technology adoption is also the research innovation.