Perceived Viability of Blockchain Technology Adoption

This study is qualitatively designed to explore the viability of blockchain technology adoption through the perception of regulators, Islamic banks officials and their Shari’ah board members in Nigeria. Thematic analysis was used to fill in gaps surrounding blockchain use in a Shari’ah regulated environment. Three themes-inadequate regulation, wider acceptance of technology and viability of blockchain adoption emerged using Nvivo. The findings of the study reveals the viability of blockchain technology acceptance and used by Islamic banks in Nigeria. The study further found that, the presence of Shari’ah board members and regulatory sandbox contributes to stability of Islamic banks operations. Despite the security and trust challenges in financial technology ecosystem; Islamic banks in Nigeria are not using blockchain technology in providing wide range of services to their customers due to non-existence of blockchain technology regulation designed for Islamic finance ecosystem, thus revealing the regulatory irresponsibility. Therefore, Banks are reluctant to deployed blockchain technology to render effective operation to their customer, leading to ethical issue and customer vulnerability. This brings to light the significance for the use of distributed digital ledgers in facilitating Shari’ah base compliance transactions, thus necessitating Shari’ah-based blockchain regulations in Nigeria.