Decentralized platform economy: emerging blockchain-based decentralized platform business models

Abstract

Emerging decentralized multisided platforms aim to create more open collaborations between participants and question currently centralized networked business models, such as Google, Amazon, Uber, or Airbnb. In this paper, a systematic analysis of the emerging decentralized platform economy is presented based on blockchain technology. The research aims to fill a gap in the literature, as there is currently no specific analyses on these emerging multisided decentralized electronic markets. Eighty-two decentralized platforms were studied. The study contributes to the literature on decentralized platform taxonomy to structure the emerging research domain of decentralized platform business models. Applying a cluster analysis, three emerging archetypes of decentralized platforms were found, referred to as hosted, federated, and shared platform models. The research contributes to a better understanding of emerging decentralized business platforms. According to the findings, two-thirds of the analyzed platforms, namely, federated and shared archetypes, do not follow traditional models. Rather, their aim is to create new business and community relationships. Furthermore, the archetype of shared platforms is the most disruptive, showing a higher level of decentralization and business model change.