Does Blockchain Help Make the World Better? Analyzing the Effect of Blockchain Adoption on Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance of Firms

ABSTRACT Blockchain technology (BCT) use has been touted to have many corporate benefits including enhancing sustainability. However, there is limited understanding of whether and how it can help achieve sustainability outcomes, particularly along environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimensions. Based on a sample of 6,063 firm-year observations, we find that a firm’s BCT adoption leads to a 4.62 percent increase in the firm’s ESG performance compared to those that do not adopt BCT, underscoring its sustainability practices. In addition, firms with ESG-focused BCT adoption exert a 7.62 percent increase in ESG performance compared to firms that use BCT without necessarily that focus. Our results are also robust to difference-in-differences (DiD) and dynamic analyses, alternative sample specifications, and different dependent variable specifications. Overall, we provide novel empirical evidence to justify characterizing blockchain as an impactive technology for sustainability. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.