The landscape of Blockchain research: impacts and opportunities

Blockchain technology has emerged as an important research domain in recent years. It not only supports the secure and efficient storage and processing of information but may also transform the business principles and processes embedded in traditional centralized organizations and societies. This editorial first provides a framework that identifies the emerging areas of blockchain research. The key characteristics of this framework in Blockchain 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 are defined and introduced. The impacts and opportunities associated with blockchain research are identified and discussed. At last, the six articles in this special issue are characterized using the proposed research framework of blockchain research.