Luke Kowalski

Lackluster Adoption of Cryptocurrencies as a Consumer Payment Method in the United States—Hypothesis: Is This Independent Technology in Need of a Brand, and What Kind? Luke Kowalski

Cryptocurrencies were supposed to replace traditional payment methods when they were invented over 13 years ago, but adoption by the general consumer is still lacking, at least in the United States. Instead, crypto is often used as a speculative investment, by illicit actors, or for use cases unrelated to everyday purchases. A literature review on general adoption barriers and interviews with experts has only unearthed factors like usability, performance, and political drivers, among other barriers. Brand as an adoption barrier is mostly missing from literature, at least for cryptocurrencies. This led to the formation of a hypothesis related to crypto’s lack of adoption as a payment method. 

A framework is being designed based on the technology adoption model to find out if 'brand' has an impact on cryptocurrency adoption, which was paradoxically designed to be brandless and not needing any institutional trust. The intent is to focus on what 'Bitcoin 2.0' might look like, and to also delve further and gauge perceptions about various types of brands getting involved in the next generation of cryptocurrencies, including traditional banks, governments, technology companies, and also some of the decentralized and hybrid consortia currently vying to get consumers to use stablecoins, nation-issued cryptocurrencies, and other forms of digital instruments. While other studies had focused on trust, early adopter usability, or performance of blockchain networks, this work intends to focus on the general consumer’s perceptions about digital money, and the types of brands and evolution of this instrument liable to increase uptake.

Supervisors: Professor William Green and Dr Robert Cluley

Email: lxk214@student.bham.ac.uk

Research interests

Human Factors, Cryptocurrency, Money and Currency, Brand and Marketing Research.

Biography

Luke Kowalski is recognized for his loyalty and pragmatism, but he also excels in his ability to work across disciplines. He has executed projects involving legal issues (antitrust, IP, audits, litigation), acquisitions (due diligence, integration, or divestitures), technical standards (document formats), government affairs (EU/USA trade, IP reform, repatriation), and even managed functions like physical security, user interface design and accessibility.

He currently serves as an svp in the corporate architecture group at Oracle reporting to one of Larry Ellison’s EVPs. Before coming to Oracle, he worked for various startups in technical, design, and business roles, as well as for Netscape's Server and E commerce divisions. He holds several patents and professional certifications, serves as an ISO representative for US through ANSI and lectures frequently at conferences and universities. His educational background includes advanced degrees from UTA, Pratt Institute, and Columbia University. He is currently teaching a blockchain challenge lab at UC Berkeley's Engineering School on Mondays and pursuing a distance learning PhD at the University of Birmingham in his free time.

Teaching responsibilities

Teaches at UC Berkeley’s School of Engineering.

Professional memberships

Alchemist Accelerator

  • Member of Engineering Advisor Council, San Jose State University
  • Member of Board of Directors, Bay Area Council
  • Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE) -Inactive
  • Curriculum Advisor – Skyline College
  • Volunteer, Design Tech High School

Conference papers

Perceived benefits and adoption barriers for Bitcoin following 12 years of research: The unintended consequences of the missing Human Factor.Perceived benefits and adoption barriers for Bitcoin following 12 years of research: The unintended consequences of the missing Human Factor

International Finance and Banking Society Conference · Sep 7, 2022

Understanding Security Administrators Granting Access in Academic, Start-up, and Enterprise Environments. Understanding Security Administrators Granting Access in Academic, Start-up, and Enterprise Environments

Poster at Symposium On Usable Privacy and Security In-cooperation with USENIX · Mar 3, 2008 

10 Heuristics for Designing Administrative User Interfaces - A Collaboration Between Ethnography, Design, and Engineering ​

Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Design and Usability, 12th International Conference, HCI International 2007, Beijing, China, HCI (1) 2007: 133-1392006 ​ · Jul 22, 2007

When design is not the problem: better usability through non-design means ​When design is not the problem: better usability through non-design means ​

Computer Human Interaction Extended Abstracts, 2006 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2006, Montréal, Québec, Canada: 165-170 ​ · Apr 23, 2006

Publications

Kowaiski, L. and Green, W. (2022) Lackluster Adoption of Cryptocurrencies as a Consumer Payment Method in the United States—Hypothesis: Is This Independent Technology in Need of a Brand, and What Kind?  Journal of Risk and Financial Management· 16 (1).

Qualifications

Masters of Science, Columbia University, New York.