Digital Currency and Consumption: The Meaning of Money in an Era of Digital Currency

The digitalization of payment modes, combined with the development of Blockchain technology, is shaping the future of digital currency worldwide. Many financial regulators are experimenting with the feasibility of digital currencies nationally in a variety of forms, such as cryptocurrency, virtual currency, and central bank digital currency. These digital currencies are just some of those discussed in this book. Each facilitates a transaction efficiently and will likely open an alternative payment system, possibly leading to a global digital currency.

This book will present and highlight a broad view of digital currency in the era of globalization. The book will address the meaning of money in a global world. By going beyond fungible national fiat-based currencies to global cryptocurrency and stablecoins, virtual currencies promise to disintermediate and decentralize money. The digital currencies that are the focus of this book use the internet for transactions and harbour the potential to make a unified digital currency system across the globe. The book explores the role of digital currency in influencing consumer behaviour, from spending or saving to gaming, tipping, and gambling. It asks, what is the future of digital currency and what is its role in facilitating and transforming the future of the metaverse?

Digital Currency and Consumption will be useful reading for a postgraduate audience to understand how digital currencies are shaping the digitalization of transactions and behavior of consumer citizens. It will be of value to researchers interested in a wide variety of disciplines, including international business, finance, and consumer behaviour.

Jashim Khan is director of International Business Management at Surrey International Institute, the University of Surrey. He earned a doctorate in business marketing from Auckland University of Technology and a Master of Management (with Distinction) degree from Massey University in New Zealand. His research is concerned with understanding the influence of emerging technologies on consumer behaviour. His work appears in various international journals such as the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Economic Psychology, Association for Consumer Research, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, International Journal of Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, Journal of Wine Research, International Journal of Wine Business Research, International Journal of Online Marketing, Journal of Product & Brand Management, and Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Qualitative Market Research, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal.

Russell Belk is York University Distinguished Research Professor, Royal Society of Canada Fellow, and Kraft Foods Canada Chair in Marketing at the Schulich School of Business in York University. His research involves the extended self, meanings of possessions, collecting, gift-giving, sharing, digital consumption, and materialism. He co-initiated the Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Film Festival, the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) Conference, and the Consumer Behavior Odyssey. He is the past president and fellow in ACR and has over 750 publications including more than 30 in Journal of Consumer Research. This work is primarily qualitative and is often conceptual, visual, and cultural. In 2012 a 10-volume compendium of his work was published in the Sage Legends in Consumer Behavior series. In 2023 he will receive a Doctorate Honoris Causa from Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne with a festschrift and volume in his honor.