Jin, Bruce Siyuan, HUANG, ALLEN, Li, Zitong and Tam, Kar Yan. "From Mining to Meaning: How Do Blockchain Infrastructure Platforms Respond to Environmental Sustainability Concerns?" Journal of Management Information Systems, Forthcoming.

Abstract
Environmental sustainability is a critical concern in IT infrastructure governance, yet its implications for blockchain infrastructure platforms (BIPs), such as Bitcoin, remain insufficiently understood. We first provide evidence that Tesla’s 2021 suspension of Bitcoin payments due to its negative environmental impact increased investor awareness of BIPs’ environmental impacts. Consistent with nonpecuniary preference theory in behavioral finance, we find that BIPs, especially energy-intensive proof-of-work-based platforms, experience losses in token valuations following the suspension. We further show that, after the suspension, investors value environmental disclosures more positively, and BIPs substantially increase environmental disclosures. Our findings highlight investor awareness as a potential policy lever for mitigating blockchain infrastructures’ environmental impacts.