Blockchain Economics in Supply Chain Finance and Operations: Integrating Financial Innovations, Behavioral Insights, and Decentralized Mechanisms

Blockchain technology has fundamentally altered supply chain management by providing immutable, transparent, and decentralized ledgers that enhance traceability, reduce fraud, and automate processes through smart contracts. Applications range from real-time provenance tracking (e.g., food and pharmaceuticals) to tokenized invoices and collateral in trade finance. In parallel, the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) and tokenization has introduced new mechanisms for supply chain funding, such as asset-backed tokens, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) for multi-party financing, and blockchain-based marketplaces. However, the economic foundations – collective decision-making, incentive structures, token circulation, behavioral responses, and contagion risks – remain underdeveloped. This Research Topic aims to provide rigorous economic analyses of these emerging systems, filling a critical gap between technological capability and socio-economic theory.

This Research Topic seeks to address the persistent disconnect between the rapid technological adoption of blockchain in supply chain finance and operations, and the limited economic understanding of the resulting socio-economic systems. Despite growing deployment of distributed ledgers, smart contracts, and token-based financing, we still lack robust theoretical and empirical frameworks for evaluating how these technologies reshape incentives, collective decision-making, risk dynamics, and value creation across decentralized networks. To close this gap, the article collection will bring together interdisciplinary scholarship that integrates blockchain economics with insights from economics, finance, operations management, and computer science. By encouraging rigorous modeling, data-driven analysis, and innovative experimental designs, the Research Topic aims to develop new economic tools and insights capable of guiding the design of incentive-compatible, resilient, and behaviorally informed blockchain platforms. The ultimate objective is to equip researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with the knowledge needed to build more efficient, transparent, and sustainable global supply chains in a decentralized economy.

This Research Topic focuses on the economic analysis of blockchain applications in supply chain finance and operations. The scope encompasses interdisciplinary studies that integrate distributed ledger technologies with behavioral finance, corporate finance, financial contagion, econometrics, machine learning, supply chain and operations management. Contributors are particularly encouraged to address themes such as:
- incentive mechanisms and tokenomics in decentralized supply networks;
- behavioral aspects of token adoption and decision-making;
- financial risk propagation and contagion in blockchain-enabled chains;
- corporate finance implications of asset tokenization;
- machine learning applications for economic modeling and forecasting;
- governance of DAOs in collaborative operations;
- the design of resilient smart-contract marketplaces.

We welcome high-quality manuscripts including theoretical and empirical papers, experimental studies, and policy-oriented analyses. Submissions should be original, unpublished work adhering to the journal's guidelines. All papers will undergo rigorous peer review. Interdisciplinary collaborations are strongly encouraged.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: financial innovation, behavioral finance, supply chain management, operations management, decentralized finance (DeFi), cryptocurrency, machine learning, blockchain economics, tokenization

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.