Blockchain, Metaverse, and Digital Payments

Blockchain, metaverse, and digital payment technologies, collectively called digital ecosystem, have received much attention from academia, regulators, and industry alike. However, their usage across various sub-sectors of the economy and industry is slow, and deployment is still largely experimental. Due to its secure nature, many industrial players including banking and payment firms are looking for ways on using blockchain to develop consumer confidence and trust in the digital payments for wider adoptability and use.

This book provides an in-depth and relevant overview of the main theories, frameworks, technologies and innovations, institutional structures or regulations (GDPR, PSD2), and empirical research that investigates users’ perspectives on blockchain technologies, metaverse, and digital payments. With chapters from international contributors, the book presents historical and contemporary developments, innovations, laws and legislation, research, and analysis using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches to the adoption and continuous usage of these technologies and platforms.

This timely collection offers valuable insights and empirical findings for bank executives, regulators, payment associations (VISA, MasterCard, etc.), policymakers, FinTech, BigTech, and start-up leaders who express interest in blockchain, metaverse, digital payments, as well as academia and researchers in the fields of business management, digital economy, digital technologies, and digital marketing.

Aijaz A. Shaikh is Professor at NUST Business School, National University of Sciences and Technology Campus, in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Information and Computational Technologies in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Previously, he served as a senior lecturer at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. Shaikh is renowned for his significant contributions to research in digital business, digital marketing, digital social innovation, digital payments, and mobile financial services. His work is widely recognized, cited, and respected, with over 60 publications indexed by Scopus and a Google Scholar h-index of 28. He maintains an active research network spanning 12 countries.

Galimkair Mutanov is currently Acting General Director of the Institute of Information and Computational Technologies in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In this role, he is crucial in enhancing computational methods and technologies. His work significantly impacts the scientific community within Kazakhstan and extends to international collaborations and contributions. Prof. Mutanov has an extensive publication record, contributing valuable insights and advancements in his field through scholarly articles and research papers.

Heikki Karjaluoto is Professor at the University of Jyväskylä (Faculty of Information Technology). His research interests include technology and innovation management, digital business, and software industry. Karjaluoto has published extensively in business and information system journals and is the author of several books. He has collaborated with several researchers both in Finland and abroad and actively co-operates with companies in joint research and development projects. He has won numerous research and teaching awards, including several Best Teacher Awards and Best paper awards.