Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the applications and contributions of blockchain technology in finance in general, and to identify areas where the technology can make a larger impact in payment systems. Design/methodology/approach The authors do an exhaustive review of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, and examine the successful applications of blockchain technology in several finance disciplines including cryptocurrency. The authors critically evaluate the technical studies on behaviors in cryptocurrency prices. Findings Cryptocurrency is the first successful application of blockchain technology and can be used as the main fuel of the global money transfer network. Research limitations/implications Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that can change the world with its convenience, transparency, accuracy and efficiency in speed and cost. The growth of blockchain usage in finance depends on further familiarization and trust gained by an increasing number of proven successful usage cases and testimonials as well as appropriate legislative changes. Originality/value This paper provides a comprehensive review of the contributions that blockchain technology has made and is expected to make in the field of finance with the aim of adding value to corporate executives, investors, policy makers and a general audience.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate board co-option and employee welfare practices.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ several analysis techniques including univariate analysis, OLS regressions, Poisson regressions, and propensity score matching methodology. The sample consists of US public firms for the period of 1996–2017. The variables of interest are the employee welfare index (EWI) proposed by Ghaly et al. (2015) and the co-option ratio proposed by Coles et al. (2014).FindingsThe authors find that firms with a higher fraction of co-opted directors on their boards are less committed to the firms' employee well-being. The empirical results support the argument that the interests of co-opted directors are more closely aligned with the interests of the CEO who had an influence on selecting them to the board, which compromises their monitoring role.Originality/valueThis paper contributes in several ways to the literature on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) by linking board co-option to employee welfare. By focusing on board co-option to explain the degree of firms' involvement in employee welfare, which is one of the crucial components of CSR performance, the authors provide pinpointed and detailed findings on a timely issue of CSR.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to recognize the benefits of the initial coin offering (ICO) as a way of raising funds and to present a detailed comparison between the ICO and the initial public offering to realize the future possibilities that this new funding method holds. Design/methodology/approach It is an exhaustive review of the ICO, the mechanism of crowdfunding, the blockchain technology behind it, benefits and current shortcomings of the ICO, and the potential future development of the ICO as a convenient and efficient way of raising capital. Findings ICOs have brought billions of dollars of funding to startups and projects worldwide in less than two years. Concurrently, many successful ICOs yielded extremely high returns to investors and believers of this new way of funding businesses. Research limitations/implications While the ICO is a revolutionary vehicle for business funding, it has raised concerns among users as well as potential investors about its risk and lack of regulation. The future of this innovative funding method highly depends on further development and placement of appropriate regulatory supervision, better understanding of risk and benefits and attaining the confidence of users. Originality/value This is a review of the advantages and drawbacks of the ICO. If the current fraud, market and cybersecurity risks can be mitigated and standardized regulations are developed, the ICO has a future to become an established way of capital funding or even replace the existing options, regardless of the size and age of companies.

PurposeThe authors revisit the inquiry into the primacy of shareholders vis-à-vis stakeholders that has been debated since 19th Century. The authors consider B-business firms as the closest groups of firms that have considerable similarities to stakeholders' firms. The authors model the impact of being certified as stakeholders (B-business) firms in a worldwide environment.Design/methodology/approachEmploying daily returns data of B-corporations in a global setting during 2010–2021, the authors quantify and compare the firms' performance in the pre- and post-certified periods, measure the effect of their environmental social governance (ESG) scores on their performance and gauge the entire results on a standardized approach that yields easy interpretation.FindingsSubject to some caveats arising from limited coverage and the lack of data on proper control variables, the findings, based on the statistical significance of the estimated coefficients, do not indicate any changes in B-corporations' performance in their post-certification dates. Notwithstanding that, market factor appears to be the driving force consistently.Originality/valuePrior studies on B-corporations are overwhelmingly qualitative. The current study is the first study that evaluate performance of B-corporations' returns at firm level with daily data.