Practitioner Perceptions of Blockchain Adoption in Emerging-Market Fintech: Multi-Country Evidence on Drivers, Barriers and Regulatory Conditions

DOI

https://www.doi.org/10.59256/ijire.20260704016

Published In

Volume 7, Issue 4 (2026)

Published Online

July-August 2026

Pages

126-139

Article Type

Original Article

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Practitioner-level primary data on blockchain adoption in emerging markets are scarce; the literature is dominated by conceptual work, case studies, and evidence from institutions in advanced economies. This study reports a cross-sectional survey of 114 fintech leaders and entrepreneurs working on blockchain and digital- asset initiatives across 60 emerging and developing economies, recruited purposively between October and December 2024. The author-developed instrument captured self-rated familiarity and belief in transformative potential on 0 to 10 scales, and 21 perception statements on a five-point agreement scale organised around the technological, organisational, and environmental dimensions of the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework. Analysis is descriptive and exploratory at the item level. Respondents endorsed technological, organisational, and environmental drivers and barriers; perceived benefits in transparency, cost, and efficiency; and clear regulatory guidance, sandboxes, and consumer protection. Fintech leaders reported greater familiarity and stronger belief than entrepreneurs, although the strong association between role and firm age limits attribution of these differences to role independently of organisational maturity. The distribution of responses is itself a finding: all 21 item means fell within a band of 0.29 scale points, between 4.26 and 4.55, with standard deviations between 0.58 and 0.70, and closely related regulatory propositions attracted near-identical endorsement. The instrument produced a severely compressed distribution and limited differentiation among substantively distinct propositions, illustrating the restricted discriminating capacity of survey designs that combine sector-engaged samples with uniformly agreement-keyed items. Findings describe the perceptions of engaged practitioners and do not support inference about adoption outcomes, cross-national variation, or causal relationships.