Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies: Shaping the Future of Digital Asset Management

Abstract

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are disrupting the digital asset management services as they provide improved transparency, effectiveness and security in the financial networks. This research uses a critical lens to explore the following blockchain basic building blocks: tokenization, decentralized exchange, cross-chain solutions, and privacy-preserving techniques such as ZKPs. The research adopts a secondary mixed-methods approach to generate insights into empirical evidence from the leading platforms and institutional case studies as a means to evaluate how blockchain can decentralize asset ownership and decrease reliance on intermediaries. These findings demonstrate how blockchain can redefine finance’s inherent limitations and how current issues, including scalability, regulation, and energy consumption, can be solved. The paper also aims to establish the theoretical foundation for the systemic impact of blockchain through Network Effect Theory and Modularity Theory. It establishes the basis for further research on the application of blockchain in scaling up, reducing the environmental impact, and designing regulatory frameworks that shape the development of digital economies around the world.