Corporate and Institutional Risk

Beyond external threats from criminals, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology also introduce internal and institutional risks. Luo, Fang, Li, and Chen (2024) identify a form of "managerial opportunism," where companies may adopt blockchain technology not for its functional benefits but using to capitalize on market "hype." By announcing a pivot to blockchain, managers can potentially inflate their stock price and mask poor underlying performance, thereby increasing corporate default risk and misleading investors. For legitimate organizations, they are also trying to protect their digital environment against these new threats is a difficult task. As explored by Nkambule, van Vuuren, and Leenen (2025), institutions face challenges in developing robust cybersecurity frameworks to protect sensitive data. With the rise of malware and phishing attacks that add another layer of complexity, it is requiring a level of user knowledge and institutional awareness about the current digital criminal world, which as Mehta and Chawla (2024) note, is often lacking.