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Cited by 102Blockchain Technology Applications and SecurityTechnology Adoption and User BehaviourPrivacy, Security, and Data Protection

Understanding the creation of trust in cryptocurrencies: the case of Bitcoin

Open access
Marella, Venkata, Upreti, Bikesh, Merikivi, Jani, Tuunainen, Virpi Kristiina·2020·Electronic Markets
DOI 10.1007/s12525-019-00392-5
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Abstract

Contemporary cryptocurrencies lack legal, monetary, and institutional backing that traditional financial services employ. Instead, cryptocurrencies provide trust through technology. Despite the plethora of research in both trust and cryptocurrencies, the underlying attributes of the technologies that drive trust in cryptocurrencies are not well understood. To uncover these attributes, we analyze the corpus of 1.97 million discussion posts related to Bitcoin, the oldest and most widely used cryptocurrency. Based on earlier research, we identified functionality, reliability, and helpfulness as the focal constructs with which to evaluate users’ trust in technology. In our analysis, we discovered 11 different attributes related to three technology constructs that are significant in creating and maintaining users’ trust in Bitcoin. The findings are discussed in detail in the article.

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

Analyzes 1.97 million Bitcointalk discussion posts using doc2vec to identify technology attributes that create trust in Bitcoin. It finds 11 attributes across functionality, reliability, and helpfulness, with transfers, immutability, and openness semantically closest to trust.

Key findings

  • The analysis identified 11 trust-related attributes: functionality (transfer, decentralization, immutability, openness), reliability (stability, regulation, security, knowledge), and helpfulness (investment, profits, alternative currency).
  • Trust was semantically closest to transfers, immutability, and openness; immutability and openness are described as unique blockchain attributes that create accountability and transparency.
  • Example similarity scores reported include transfer [0.64], decentralization [0.65], immutability [0.54], openness [0.54], stability [0.63], regulation [0.63], knowledge [0.61], investment [0.66], profits [0.59], and alternative currency [0.58].
  • Users often viewed Bitcoin as an investment or alternative currency, while volatility, security of wallets/exchanges, regulation, and knowledge were linked to reliability.

Methods

  • Data: scraped Bitcointalk.org general discussions covering legal, press release, meetups, and important announcements; corpus of close to 1.97 million posts written between March 1, 2012, and September 21, 2018.
  • Text modeling: used doc2vec (Le and Mikolov 2014) via Python Gensim; trained three variants and selected paragraph vector with distributed bag of words (PV-DBOW) with document and word vectors trained together. Parameters: vector size 300, context window 10, minimum word frequency 5, epochs 50.
  • Analysis: extracted top 50 posts per keyword representing functionality, reliability, and helpfulness; read and analyzed 850 posts to identify attributes; computed pairwise cosine similarities and visualized a semantic proximity network.

Limitations

  • Stated: the forum includes both actual Bitcoin users and non-users, so identified trust attributes are not exclusively based on users with real experience; the authors also lack information on members’ technical skills or understanding, so findings reflect varying interest, experience, and technical knowledge.
  • Evident from the text: reliance on a single online forum and semantic similarity from discussion posts, rather than survey or behavioral measures, limits generalizability and causal claims about trust.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s12525-019-00392-5

Cites

43 of 43 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Claims the paper makes

0 of 26 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

  • Findingnone given

    Many users felt that transferring Bitcoins is much easier and quicker than transferring fiat money.

    “Many users felt that transferring Bitcoins is much easier and quicker than transferring fiat money.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Findingown data

    Coin transfers, immutability, openness, and decentralization are the functional attributes of Bitcoin responsible for creating trust among users.

    “Our findings suggest that coin transfers, immutability, openness, and decentralization are the functional attributes of Bitcoin, responsible for creating trust among the users.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The technology trust model with constructs functionality, reliability, and helpfulness is applicable to trust in cryptocurrencies.
  • Findingown data

    The analysis discovered 11 different attributes related to three technology constructs that are significant in creating and maintaining users' trust in Bitcoin.

    “In our analysis, we discovered 11 different attributes related to three technology constructs that are significant in creating and maintaining users' trust in Bitcoin.”
    • Also stated in: § Results · plain
      “We read through and analyzed these 850 posts and found eleven attributes relating to the three constructs functionality, reliability, and helpfulness.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The BitcoinTalk forum discussions are representative of the broader Bitcoin community's trust-related discourse.
    • Rests on an assumption: The keywords derived from the literature adequately represent the constructs functionality, reliability, and helpfulness in the cryptocurrency context.
  • Findingown data

    Users expressed concerns about volatility in Bitcoin's value.

    “with users expressing concerns about volatility in its value.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Findingown data

    The results showed that paragraph vector with a distributed bag of words with documents and words trained together performed better in comparison to other models.

    “The results showed that paragraph vector with a distributed bag of words with documents and words trained together performed better in comparison to other models, making it our preferred choice.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • May combine two claims. 18
  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. 40

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    Attributes such as stability, regulation, security, and knowledge of Bitcoin would make it a reliable technology.

    “In terms of reliability, we found that attributes such as stability, regulation, security, and knowledge of Bitcoin would make it a reliable technology.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingreasoning

    The decentralized structure, openness, and immutability are the unique attributes of blockchain technology and are major attributes contributing to trust creation among Bitcoin users.

    “The decentralized structure, openness, and immutability are the unique attributes of the blockchain technology and are major attributes contributing to trust creation among Bitcoin users.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingreasoning

    The other attributes that are semantically close to trust are ledger immutability and openness, with the former securing safe and fair transactions and the latter making the transaction information accessible to the public.

    “The other attributes that are semantically close to trust are ledger immutability and openness -the former securing safe and fair transactions and the latter making the transaction information accessible to the public.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The doc2vec paragraph vector model produces semantic representations that meaningfully capture trust-related attributes in forum posts.
    • Rests on an assumption: Semantic similarity between word vectors corresponds to conceptual proximity relevant to trust.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    The network graph shows grouping of attributes into technical aspects of the blockchain (openness, immutability, and security), financial (alternative currency, profitability, investment, transfer, and regulation), and information systems and other important requisite (knowledge, regulation, decentralization).

    “Additionally, the network graph also shows some interesting grouping of attributes like technical aspects of the blockchain (openness, immutability, and security), financial (alternative currency, profitability, investment, transfer, and regulation), and information systems and other important requisite (knowledge, regulation, decentralization).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The doc2vec paragraph vector model produces semantic representations that meaningfully capture trust-related attributes in forum posts.
    • Rests on an assumption: Semantic similarity between word vectors corresponds to conceptual proximity relevant to trust.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    Many users believed that regulations would make Bitcoin more reliable and would convince many others to use it.

    “many users believed that regulations would make Bitcoin more reliable and, thus, would convince many others to use it.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingnone given

    Users with a better understanding of the technology behind Bitcoin understood the situation better and were able to make a better investment decision to gain bigger profits.

    “They understood the situation better and were able to make a better investment decision to gain bigger profits.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisenone given

    Discussion data do not condition the study or experiment; they are naturally generated by users.

    “Second, discussion data do not condition the study or experiment that is being conducted; rather, they are naturally generated by the users.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Trust is a dynamic concept that develops over time.

    “Trust is a dynamic concept that develops over time (Luna-Reyes et al. 2004).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Luna-Reyes et al. 2004

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

    Study design and conductnone given

    We trained our models with 50 iterations, well above the practice of 10 iterations.

    “We trained our models with 50 iterations, well above the practice of 10 iterations.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Premisecitation

    Immutability in Bitcoin means the transaction histories recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain cannot be manipulated, deleted, or revised.

    “Immutability in Bitcoin means the transaction histories recorded on Bitcoin blockchain cannot be manipulated, deleted, or revised (Low and Teo 2017).”
    • Also stated in: § Discussion and conclusion · plain
      “Immutability means that the transaction history provided on Bitcoin ledger cannot be manipulated, revised, or deleted by anyone.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Low and Teo 2017 source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Cryptocurrencies have no central authority and are claimed to be immune to government interference and manipulation.

    “First, they have no central authority, and, hence, they are claimed to be immune to government interference and manipulation.This makes them a viable alternative, especially in countries with volatile currencies and unstable economies (Scott 2016).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Scott 2016 source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductnone given

    We manually evaluated the word and document similarity in randomly selected 20 words.

    “After training models, we manually evaluated the word and document similarity in randomly selected 20 words.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisereasoning

    Human-like trust constructs translate into helpfulness, reliability, and functionality when it comes to trusting the attributes of technology.

    “While benevolence, integrity, and ability are the trust constructs related to humans, these characters would translate into helpfulness, reliability, and functionality when it comes to trusting the attributes of the technology.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisereasoning

    The use of cryptographic techniques increases users' trust in cryptocurrencies, whereas traditional financial services benefit from institutional trust.

    “The use of cryptographic techniques increases the users' trust in cryptocurrencies, whereas traditional financial services benefit from institutional trust.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Cryptocurrencies are typically pseudonymous, making them an easy tool for money laundering, tax evasion, and illegal trade in drugs and weapons.

    “Second, cryptocurrencies are typically pseudonymous, meaning that users are identified by their public key address (a 32-bit string with a combination of characters and numbers) rather than their name and social security.Consequently, this makes cryptocurrencies an easy tool for money laundering, tax evasion, and illegal trade in drugs and weapons (Brezo and Bringas 2012).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Brezo and Bringas 2012

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Cryptocurrencies are not institutionally or legislatively backed, which makes them unpredictable, volatile, and risky.

    “First, they are not institutionally or legislatively backed; while this cuts down transaction costs, it also makes cryptocurrencies unpredictable, volatile, and risky (Brezo and Bringas 2012).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Brezo and Bringas 2012

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

    Study design and conductreasoning

    Given that the post could be of varying length, we considered the context window size of 10 to be a reasonable choice.

    “Given that the post could be of varying length, we considered the context window size of 10 to be a reasonable choice.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Premisereasoning

    The attributes linked to trust constructs are context-dependent because the uncertainty that technology creates for users depends on these users' goals.

    “Thus, the attributes linked to these trust constructs are context-dependent, which is because the uncertainty that technology creates for users depends on these user's goals.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

    Premisereasoning

    If technology resembles the qualities of humans, then people trust technology.

    “However, if technology resembles the qualities of humans, then people trust technology.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Bitcointalk.org is one of the oldest and most popular online forums, and it has a large user base.

    “Among various online discussion forums, "Bitcointalk.org" is one of the oldest and most popular online forums, and it has a large user base.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

    Premisereasoning

    Online discussion platforms serve as a good alternative to source data, as discussions, interactions, opinions, and the flow of information can be accessed on an unprecedented scale.

    “First, compared to other data sources mentioned in Table 3, online discussion platforms serve as a good alternative to source data, as discussions, interactions, opinions, and the flow of information can be accessed on an unprecedented scale.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Interpretationreasoning

    This allows us to infer the technological attributes related to trust in Bitcoin from the users' own words and statements.

    “This allows us to infer the technological attributes related to trust in Bitcoin from the users' own words and statements, which were used to address their concerns or share information within the Bitcoin community.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

    Premisenone given

    Cryptocurrencies rely on three technological elements: blockchain, cryptocurrency wallets, and exchange platforms.

    “Cryptocurrencies rely on three technological elements: blockchain, cryptocurrency wallets, and exchange platforms.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Bitcoin is often criticized for its volatility.

    “Bitcoin is often criticized for its volatility (Bouoiyour and Selmi 2006)”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Bouoiyour and Selmi 2006 source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisereasoning

    Trust in technology excludes moral volition.

    “While trust in technology excludes moral volition, as technology has typically left moral conduct and decision-making to its users, this seems to hold especially true when technologies, such as blockchain or other automated technologies like autonomous vehicles, eliminate the necessity of having a human intervention in the process.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The current literature on trust beliefs in technology employs two sets of trust constructs: human-like (benevolence, integrity, ability) and system-like (helpfulness, reliability, functionality).

    “The current literature on trust beliefs in technology employs two different sets of trust constructs.The first set consists of human-like trust constructs, such as benevolence, integrity, and ability.The second set of constructs are systemlike constructs, such as helpfulness, reliability, and functionality (Lankton et al. 2014).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Lankton et al. 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Mcknight et al. (2011) divide the trust in technology construct into three concepts: propensity to trust general technology, institution-based trust in technology, and trust in a specific technology.

    “Mcknight et al. (2011) divide the trust in technology construct into three concepts: a) propensity to trust general technology, b) institution-based trust in technology, c) trust in a specific technology.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Mcknight et al. 2011

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Premisecitation

    Functionality, reliability, and helpfulness are the focal constructs for evaluating users' trust in technology.

    “Based on earlier research, we identified functionality, reliability, and helpfulness as the focal constructs with which to evaluate users' trust in technology.”
    • Also stated in: § Introduction · plain
      “We then adopt a theoretical framework, which links trust in technology to three constructs: functionality, helpfulness, and reliability (Lankton et al. 2014).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Lankton et al. 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Bitcoin is the most popular and most widely used cryptocurrency.

    “In terms of empirical evidence, we focus on Bitcoin, as it is the most popular and most widely used cryptocurrency (Lindman et al. 2017).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Lindman et al. 2017

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Premisereasoning

    Discussion forums have played a crucial role in the growth of Bitcoin.

    “In this context, discussion forums have played a crucial role in the growth of Bitcoin, as users engage in the discussion and interaction to share knowledge and information.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Study design and conductreasoning

    Since these vectors are learned from data exclusive to Bitcoin discussions using several context windows with the given words, we deemed it as a suitable method to extract relevant posts.

    “Since these vectors are learned from data exclusive to Bitcoin discussions using several context windows with the given words, we deemed it as a suitable method to extract relevant posts.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Users tend to also trust (or not to trust) technology.

    “McKnight et al. (2011), for example, note that besides building trust in other actors (e.g., sellers and buyers) and agents (e.g., operators and intermediaries), users tend to also trust (or not to trust) technology.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites McKnight et al. 2011

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The use of technologies creating cryptocurrency transactions must come with low risk and uncertainty, just like any other financial transactions.

    “Moreover, the use of technologies creating the cryptocurrency transactions must come with low risk and uncertainty, just like any other financial transactions (Li et al. 2008).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Li et al. 2008

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Study design and conductnone given

    The membership of the forum includes both the actual Bitcoin users as well as non-users.

    “We acknowledge that the membership of the forum includes both the actual Bitcoin users as well as non-users.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductnone given

    We do not have information on the forum members' technical skills or understanding about the blockchain technology.

    “Secondly, we do not have information on the forum members' technical skills or understanding about the blockchain technology.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Study design and conductnone given

    We demonstrated the usefulness and functionality of large-scale data from the Bitcoin community combined with state-of-the-art textual analysis as a research methodology in studying the attributes that generate trust in technology.

    “Third, we demonstrated the usefulness and functionality of large-scale data from the Bitcoin community combined with state-of-the-art textual analysis as a research methodology in studying the attributes that generate trust in technology.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The doc2vec paragraph vector model produces semantic representations that meaningfully capture trust-related attributes in forum posts.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Our results can be generalized beyond cryptocurrencies to other blockchain-based applications.

    “Finally, we believe that our results can be generalized beyond cryptocurrencies to other blockchain-based applications.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The technology trust model with constructs functionality, reliability, and helpfulness is applicable to trust in cryptocurrencies.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductreasoning

    Our findings reflect the views and opinions of people with different levels of interest and experiences with cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in specific; and with different levels of technical skills and knowledge.

    “Accordingly, our findings reflect the views and opinions of people with different levels of interest and experiences with cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in specific; and with different levels of technical skills and knowledge.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    During the first half of 2018, cryptocurrencies worth 1.1 billion dollars were lost in cyber-attacks.

    “During the first half of 2018, cryptocurrencies worth 1.1 billion dollars were lost in cyber-attacks (Rooney 2018).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Rooney 2018

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Since cryptocurrencies could become an alternative method for international money transfers, many commercial banks are looking into launching their own cryptocurrencies.

    “Since cryptocurrencies could become an alternative method for international money transfers, many commercial banks are looking into launching their own cryptocurrencies.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

    Interpretationreasoning

    These are attributes afforded by technologies, such as blockchain that can create trust among the participants of business transactions by offering high degree of transparency and accountability through an open and immutable ledger.

    “These are attributes afforded by technologies, such as blockchain that can create trust among the participants of business transactions by offering high degree of transparecy and accountability through an open and immutable ledger.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    According to legal experts, Bitcoin would flourish under legal regulation.

    “According to the legal experts (Kaplanov 2012), Bitcoin would flourish under legal regulation.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Kaplanov 2012

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

    Interpretationreasoning

    When technology provides high enough level of transparency and accountability, it eliminates the necessity of a trusted central authority to govern the system.

    “When technology provides high enough level of transparency and accountability, it eliminates the necessity of a trusted central authority to govern the system.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Openness creates transparency, while immutability creates accountability.

    “Openness creates transparency, while immutability creates accountability.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, could make international transfers much easier, with lower transaction fees than those charged by traditional commercial banks.

    “Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, could make international transfers much easier, with lower transaction fees than those charged by traditional commercial banks (Bamert et al. 2013).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Bamert et al. 2013

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Premisecitation

    Transparency is considered as the key element in trust creation.

    “Transparency is considered as the key element in trust creation (Grimmelikhuijsen et al. 2012).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Grimmelikhuijsen et al. 2012

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The acceptance of Bitcoin as a payment system is yet to evolve completely.

    “The acceptance of Bitcoin as a payment system is yet to evolve completely (Pollock 2018).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Pollock 2018

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

    Interpretationreasoning

    The degree of transparency and accountability offered by Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies is unparalleled to that of any traditional financial institution.

    “The degree of transparency and accountability offered by Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies is unparalleled to that of any traditional financial institution.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductreasoning

    The trust attributes of technology that we identified from the textual analysis were not exclusively based on the opinions of actual users with real experience with Bitcoin.

    “Hence, the trust attributes of technology that we identified from the textual analysis were not exclusively based on the opinions of actual users with real experience with Bitcoin.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
49 of 49

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Trust is crucial to financial transactions and payments.

    “Trust is crucial to financial transactions and payments.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies are yet to obtain legal status as an investment option in many countries.

    “Third, Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies are yet to obtain legal status as an investment option in many countries.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The value of cryptocurrencies is extremely volatile.

    “Finally, the value of cryptocurrencies is extremely volatile for a wide variety of reasons, including cyber-attacks on cryptocurrency wallets (i.e., software that stores private and public keys needed to send and receive cryptocurrency), and exchanges (i.e., online intermediaries that help buy, sell, or exchange cryptocurrencies for other currencies).”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The BitcoinTalk forum discussions are representative of the broader Bitcoin community's trust-related discourse.

    “We base our analysis on the Bitcoin-related discussion posts collected from BitcoinTalk forum for two important reasons.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The keywords derived from the literature adequately represent the constructs functionality, reliability, and helpfulness in the cryptocurrency context.

    “To search for the constructs, we listed the keywords representing functionality, reliability, and helpfulness in the context of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, from the literature.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Bitcoin is the oldest and the most widely used cryptocurrency in the market.

    “we decided to focus on Bitcoin, because it is the oldest and the most widely used cryptocurrency in the market.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The technology trust model with constructs functionality, reliability, and helpfulness is applicable to trust in cryptocurrencies.

    “we employed the technology trust model proposed by Lankton et al. (2014) and focused on three distinct trust constructs: functionality, reliability, and helpfulness.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The doc2vec paragraph vector model produces semantic representations that meaningfully capture trust-related attributes in forum posts.

    “The analysis drew on a paragraph vector model termed doc2vec (Le and Mikolov 2014), which produces a semantical representation of words and posts.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Semantic similarity between word vectors corresponds to conceptual proximity relevant to trust.

    “we can use these vectors to compute semantic similarities.”
9 of 9

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Trust persists to play a pivotal role in any buyer-seller relationship.

    “Although cost-and time-saving opportunities have triggered a widespread implementation of AI-based systems and services in electronic markets, trust persists to play a pivotal role in any buyer-seller relationship (Bauer et al. 2019;Marella et al. 2020).”

    From Trustworthy artificial intelligence (2021) · cites this paper as Marella et al. 2020

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Berke, A. (2017). How safe are Blockchains? It Depends. Harvard Business School Press.
  2. Davidson, J., & Naveed, M. (2013). The Digital Coin Revolution-Crypto Currency-How to Make Money Online. (E. B. Series, Ed.) (1st ed.). JD-Bix Publishing.
  3. Jarvenpaa, S. L., & Teigland, R. (2017). Trust in digital environments: from the sharing economy to decentralized autonomous organizations. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, (2017), 5812–5816.
  4. Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An Ingetrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management, 20(3), 709–734.

Cited by

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Related

Authors
Marella, V., Upreti, B., Merikivi, J., & Tuunainen, V. K.
Affiliations
  • Aalto University (FI)
  • Grenoble Ecole de Management (FR)
Corresponding author
Marella, Venkata
ORCID
Venue
Electronic Markets
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-01-09
Volume
30
Issue
2
Pages
259-271
ISSN
  • 1019-6781 (ISSN-L)
  • 1422-8890
DOI
10.1007/s12525-019-00392-5
OpenAlex
W2999582630
Semantic Scholar
29f6635a84ef3863b0ea9d5b4687a607ba90e13f
Cited by
96
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 4
FWCI
11.29
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Electronic Markets (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Aaltodoc (Aalto University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Aalto University
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Technology Adoption and User Behaviour
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
Keywords
trust in technology, cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, user trust, technology attributes, functionality, reliability, helpfulness

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Claims read by deepseek-v4.1-flash under definition version 3 (extract-v3) on 2026-10-08.

Classified by jev-1.13-20260917 (gold-guideline-v0.2) on 2026-10-08.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

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