Emergence of Bitcoin as an Investment Alternative: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Emergence of Bitcoin as an Investment Alternative: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Although Bitcoin has experienced immense popularity and growth since its inception, it has been essentially ignored by researchers because of its volatile and highly speculative nature. Hence, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies constitute a highly dynamic but not fully understood field of research. This paper presents a systematic review of the research conducted thus far relating to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Using the databases of Web of Science and ScienceDirect through Boolean criteria, the authors initially identified 246 papers on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. After applying multiple acceptance and rejection criteria, the authors selected 121 of these papers for review. Their analysis found that the thematic framework of prior research on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be constructed around the introduction of concepts, price return and volatility behavior, relationship to other financial indicators and instruments, determinants of Bitcoin, degree of use and value, regulations and accounting framework, and future scope. Based on a review that highlights major trends, directions, and results available from existing literature, this paper identifies five important research gaps and presents a roadmap for future researchers and policymakers.