Digital Opportunity Structures and Cryptocurrency Fraud: A Theoretical Framework

This article develops the Digital Opportunity Structures Framework (DOSF) to explain cryptocurrency fraud. Integrating opportunity theory, routine activity theory, and space transition theory, DOSF specifies how opportunity density, guardianship fragmentation, offender mobility, and target susceptibility interact within decentralized financial ecosystems. Cryptocurrency fraud is conceptualized as a dynamic process in which dense opportunities become more criminogenic when guardianship is fragmented, fragmented guardianship becomes more exploitable when offenders possess high mobility, and target susceptibility is environmentally amplified by information asymmetry and speculative conditions. Four empirically testable propositions distinguish DOSF’s predictions from component theories. The article contributes to criminological theory and provides a basis for targeted prevention strategies in emerging financial technologies.