The States Perspective of Blockchain—A Qualitative Content Analysis

Currently, blockchain is mostly considered from an economics perspective followed by scientific approaches. A analysis of viewpoints from a governmental perspective is missing to this date. Therefore, we raised the research question “What are the general views of the world’s six most economically powerful countries on blockchain technology?”. To answer this research question, we performed a qualitative content analysis for the blockchain strategy paper by the six largest states by Gross Domestic Product. By using inductive category building, we were able to code statements into 28 identified categories. With these categories, we create three alternative main categories: rather positive views, rather neutral views, rather negative views. By doing so, we were able to show that all six states considered, and the views are rather positive (58.7% of statements) or rather neutral (35.2%). Only 6.1% of statements were coded as rather negative. With this, we can state that, in general, states are positive about blockchain technology and its possibilities and influences.