Customers’ blockchain adoption and suppliers’ provision of trade credit: A pre-registered report

Abstract

China gravitates strongly towards a digitized economy. Given that many Chinese firms heavily rely on informal financing access, such as trade credit, we seek to investigate whether and how this increasing digitization, particularly blockchain technology, impacts suppliers' trade credit provision. We argue that if blockchains facilitate information transparency and corporate profitability, suppliers should be incentivized to grant more trade credit to customers using blockchain technology. Otherwise, suppliers should have reservations about providing trade credits to firms that have adopted blockchain technology if it increases the likelihood of illegal activities and poses information leakage risk from cyberattacks. As a further analysis, to the extent that blockchain technology may impact customers' credit quality, we explore the effects of customers' blockchain usage on suppliers' receivable financing through securitization. Overall, this study aims to investigate the potential association between blockchain technology and supply chain financing in China.