Effects of ethics and culture on one’s trust in cryptocurrencies: an inter-country configurational analysis

• Blockchain technology has evolved rapidly, influencing various aspects of human experience from the first to the fourth industrial revolution. • Key features of blockchain include the ability to exchange and verify decentralized ledgers, creating tamper-proof systems for data storage and asset transfer. • The study examines how ethical and cultural factors influence trust in cryptocurrencies through fuzzy set comparative qualitative analysis (fsQCA). • An analysis of 644 participants from China, Germany, and the USA reveals complex configurations of ethical and cultural attributes that influence trust. • The decentralized, fluctuating, and anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies raises ethical concerns regarding privacy, cybersecurity, and well-being, affecting trust. The characteristics of cryptocurrencies, such as decentralization, fluctuation, and anonymity, have often raised ethical concerns about their impact on privacy, cybersecurity, prosperity, and liberty. With an increased awareness of the potential consequences, it is essential to address how, in the face of ethical challenges, and together with one’s unique cultural values, various influences may affect the issue of trust toward cryptocurrencies. From an inter-country perspective, this study examines how ethical elements and cultural dimensions can interact to influence trust. In particular, we examine the ethical and cultural aspects of trust formation among cryptocurrencies’ users in the three predominant countries of Germany, China, and the United States. We use configurational analysis to investigate the relationships among ethics, culture, and trust in cryptocurrencies across these countries. The results of this study contribute to a greater global understanding of how different configurations of ethics and culture can influence one’s trust in cryptocurrencies.