---
id: "entity-blockchain"
type: "entity"
source_timestamps: ["¶3", "¶4", "¶7"]
tags: ["technology", "research-subject"]
related: ["claim-found-time-drives-exploration", "concept-mental-bandwidth"]
entityType: "other"
canonicalName: "Blockchain"
aliases: ["blockchain technology", "distributed ledger", "crypto"]
sources: ["commercial"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-commercial"
originDay: 5
articleStem: "hbr-foci-66-customers-willing-try-new-tech"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/11/research-when-are-customers-willing-to-try-a-new-technology"
sourceTitle: "Research: When Are Customers Willing to Try a New Technology?"
---
# Blockchain

**Blockchain** is the primary empirical subject of the authors' research — chosen as a canonical example of a *complex, opaque, hard-to-grasp* new technology that requires significant [[concept-mental-bandwidth|mental bandwidth]] to understand.

The study tracked search behavior for blockchain-related terms across **118 counties in California and New York** during the early Covid-19 pandemic to demonstrate that [[concept-found-time|found time]] — not hype — drives exploration (see [[claim-found-time-drives-exploration]]). Later, when crypto prices and media noise surged, that time-driven curiosity weakened (see [[claim-hype-crowds-out-exploration]]).

**Enrichment canonical references:** commonly resolved via the original Bitcoin whitepaper / *bitcoin.org*, or *ethereum.org* for smart-contract platforms. Definitionally a distributed-ledger technology used here to illustrate high-cognitive-load innovation.