Web3 toolkits: A user innovation theory of crypto development

Allen, Darcy W. E., and Jason Potts (2023) Web3 toolkits: A user innovation theory of crypto development. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market and Complexity 9(2) 100050. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joitmc.2023.100050

28 Pages Posted: 1 Jun 2022 Last revised: 8 May 2023

See all articles by Darcy W E Allen

Darcy W E Allen

RMIT University

Jason Potts

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University)

Date Written: May 1, 2023

Abstract

The development of Web3 — a stack of decentralised technologies underpinned by blockchains — isn’t simply a technical or financing challenge, it is also a problem of innovation and entrepreneurial discovery. In this paper we apply the lens of user innovation toolkit theory to the development of Web3. Toolkits are an organizational design solution to an innovation problem with sticky and local information. Our aim is to explore how toolkits theory applies to Web3 innovation, proposing that Web3 innovation is being organized through toolkits (e.g., blockchains, token standards, DAO frameworks) that enable efficient organization of sticky information to facilitate innovation. The contribution of this paper is the first application of toolkits theory to Web3, reframing its development as a problem of entrepreneurship and innovation in the context of distributed information. We provide implications for the role of developers as user innovators, the economic problem of emergent toolkit stacking, and the design of toolkit business models.

Keywords: toolkits, user innovation, web3, cryptoeconomy, entrepreneurial discovery

Suggested Citation

Allen, Darcy W E and Potts, Jason, Web3 toolkits: A user innovation theory of crypto development (May 1, 2023). Allen, Darcy W. E., and Jason Potts (2023) Web3 toolkits: A user innovation theory of crypto development. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market and Complexity 9(2) 100050. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joitmc.2023.100050, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4118296 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4118296

Darcy W E Allen (Contact Author)

RMIT University ( email )

Melbourne, 3000
Australia

Jason Potts

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University) ( email )

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