Blockchain Innovation for Sustainability: Unraveling Its Market Impact Through Public Attention and Financial Performance

This study investigates the dynamic interplay between blockchain innovation, public attention, and financial performance, with a focus on sustainability applications. Using a state-space model and the Kalman filter, it analyzes data from blockchain-related patents and Google Trends to assess their influence on the excess returns of blockchain-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The findings highlight that innovation activity significantly enhances financial performance, underscoring blockchain’s role as a general-purpose technology with transformative sustainability potential. Public attention, measured through search interest, independently drives investor sentiment and market outcomes, while the interaction between innovation and public attention does not exhibit significant synergistic effects, suggesting distinct channels of influence. This study contributes to the growing stream of literature in sustainable finance, innovation management, and behavioral finance by introducing a real-time measure of blockchain innovation for sustainability into an asset pricing model, by showing that patent activity and public attention operate as separate predictors of financial returns, and by advancing methodological practice through the use of a state-space approach to capture latent innovation dynamics. The findings suggest actionable strategies: investors can track patent-based innovation and search trends as early signals of thematic-ETF performance; industry leaders can align blockchain projects with sustainability goals to unlock valuation gains; and policymakers can foster environmental, social, and governance innovation ecosystems by encouraging transparent patent disclosure and public awareness.