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Despite the growing interest of the media, businesses and consumers in recent years, cryptocurrencies have not reached widespread adoption to date. Research on the factors that induce consumers to use this new technology or that prevent them from using it is scarce. Therefore, this thesis aims at identifying factors that influence consumer adoption of cryptocurrencies. First, a research model based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was developed and extended by the factors perceived risk and perceived trust. Then, primary data was collected by conducting a survey on consumers’ perception of cryptocurrencies. The hypotheses were tested through a multiple regression analysis and perceived usefulness was found to have the strongest impact on consumers’ intention to use cryptocurrencies, followed by perceived trust. Furthermore, gender has proven to have an effect on the intention to use cryptocurrencies, with male consumers being more likely to use cryptocurrencies.
New developments in decentralized ledger technologies may have a huge impact on how we perceive and use money now and in the future. Most notably, it has led to the development of cryptocurrencies and a variation thereof –stablecoins. This thesis discusses the potential impact of Proof of Work based cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin on the money market and the central bank’s ability to maintain control over the money supply. The IS-LM model is used to evaluate the effects of a private-issued digital currency. However, due to the characteristics of POW based cryptocurrencies, their impact on the money market is neglectable. In contrast, private-issued stablecoins of large international businesses with the potential of gaining enough users to overcome hindering network effects may pose a serious threat to the financial system, if there is no regulation on their usage.
As a response to this development and combined with the phenomenon of a declining cash usage in many countries, central banks have started to conduct research in their own digital currency, namely central bank digital currency (CBDC). Countries such as Sweden or The Bahamas have already started with the implementation of trial phases of their respective CBDC. However, design choices of the country’s digital currency differ due to financial, geographical, and cultural circumstances, among others. Nevertheless, many countries have utilized decentralized ledger technologies as the underlying technology for CBDC, showing its promising potential for further research and future developments.