Examining Online Peer-driven Transactions and their Contradictions in Blockchain Technologies

With the emergence of blockchain technologies, I argue that new forms of peer-driven transactions involving valued goods and services are being developed on the Internet. These online transactions are different from those previously examined in HCI. Blockchain-based transactions are often money-mediated, transnational, involve massive number of actors, and may transform large-scale collaborative work involving production and consumption of online media. While these online transactions seem beneficial to Internet users, the designs of these blockchain platforms are filled with contradictions with existing infrastructures as well as user practices. I provided examples of these contradictions including incompatibility with historic practices of finance, user transactions on the Internet, and questions of organizational forms of blockchain development. Finally, I propose examining novel online transactions while also paying attention to their contradictions as two important research agendas for blockchain researchers.