2021 RDE

PROPOSAL
HEARING
Office of Research and Development and Extension
Services
 Blockchain: Awareness, Adoption
and Trust Among Banks and
Quasi-Banks in Tacloban City

Jeremiah Edison C. Nicart, CPA

Faculty, COBE/BSA Department
Jeremiahedison.nicart@evsu.edu.ph

2021 RDE Proposal Hearing

2
Cooperating Agencies Classification
 Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas  Basic Research

 Securities and Exchange Commission

Priority Agenda Discipline

 Inclusive Economic Growth  Information Technology
 Banking and Finance
 Good Governance and Public Resource Management
 Entrepreneurship
 Human Capital Development

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Significance
With the latest developments with business transactions and integration of digital technology, certain
risks arise concerning data privacy, system security, fraud, misappropriation of resources and
compliance with government regulations, which then influenced the level of trust and adoption of
certain technological advancements among individuals.

According to Investopedia, “blockchain technology was first outlined in 1991 by Stuart Haber and W.
Scott Stornetta, with an aim to create a system where document timestamps could not be tampered
with. Two decades later, with the launch of Bitcoin in January 2009 by a person or group of persons
with a pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto, blockchain had its first real-world application.

The goal of blockchain is to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed, but not edited.
Blockchain technology accounts for the issues of security and trust in several ways. First, new blocks
are always stored linearly and chronologically. That is, they are always added to the “end” of the
blockchain. After a block has been added to the end of the blockchain, it is very difficult to go back and
alter the contents of the block. That is because each block contains its own hash, along with the hash
of the block before it.

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Significance
Hash codes are created by a math function that turns digital information into a string of numbers and
letters. If that information is edited in any way, the hash code changes as well. In order to change a
single block, then, a hacker would need to change every single block after it on the blockchain.
Recalculating all those hashes would take an enormous and improbable amount of computing power.
In other words, once a block is added to the blockchain it becomes very difficult to edit and impossible
to delete.

As of today, there are certain business organizations and individuals within the country, adopting the
utility of blockchain technology, especially those significantly linked with finance and cryptocurrencies.
However, the level of awareness and trust are yet to be determined, thus, the need for this study.
Blockchain may be utilized in various disciplines summarized by Investopedia below:

 Banking Use
Certain issues associated with banking will be eliminated through the integration of blockchain such

as, transaction processing time, transactions costs and security of transactions.

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Significance
 Use in Cryptocurrency
Blockchain forms the bedrock for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Currencies like the U.S. dollar are
regulated and verified by a central authority, usually a bank or government. Under the central
authority system, a user’s data and currency are technically at the whim of their bank or
government. If a user’s bank collapses or they live in a country with an unstable government, the
value of their currency may be at risk. These are the worries out of which Bitcoin was borne.

 Use in Smart Contracts

A smart contract is a computer code that can be built into the blockchain to facilitate, verify, or
negotiate a contract agreement. Smart contracts operate under a set of conditions that users agree
to. When those conditions are met, the terms of the agreement are automatically carried out.

Therefore, with the multidisciplinary application of blockchain technology, a need for study arises in
order to assess the level of awareness, trust and adoption of it among banks and quasi-banks within
Tacloban City.

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Objectives
This study focuses on the assessment of the level of awareness and adoption as well as the extent of
trust on blockchain technology in the Tacloban City. Specifically, it intends to answer the following
questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of the following:

• 1.1 Business Profile
• 1.2 Profile of Company Employees
2. What is the level of awareness of the respondents on blockchain technology in terms of
• 2.1 Concepts
• 2.2 Application

3. What is the extent of adoption of the respondents of blockchain technology in terms of:
• 3.1 Cryptocurrency
• 3.2 Banking and finance
• 3.3 Smart contracts

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Objectives
4. What is the extent of trust of the respondents on blockchain technology in terms of:
• 4.1 Cryptocurrency
• 4.2 Banking and finance
• 4.3 Smart contracts

5. What are the issues, problems and challenges faced by the respondents in using the blockchain
technology?
6. From the findings of the study, what intervention activities can be proposed to increase the
awareness, adoption and trust regarding blockchain technology in the City of Tacloban?

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Methodology
An adoption of methodology from the study “Awareness, Trust, and Adoption of Blockchain
Technology and Cryptocurrency among Blockchain Communities in Malaysia by K. R. Mahamud, N.A.
Abu Bakar, M. Omar and I. Muraina”, will be done for some parts of this study.

Quantitative approach will be used in this study to examine different factors among individual
respondents, such as opinions, behavior and their attitudes. The process will be divided into three
phases: questionnaire development, questionnaire validation and survey proper and empirical study.

 Questionnaire development:
Extensive literature review will be done to single out matters and lapses related to the awareness of
blockchain and its utility. Literature survey will be used to construct main thoughts and facts by
revision of peer-reviewed journals, relevant books, documents and reports. The issues and related
matters relevant to this study will be identified from the ideas obtained. Moreover, the objective of the
questionnaire to be made and/or adopted, is to measure the level of awareness, trust and adoption of
blockchain among banks and quasi-banks in Tacloban City.

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Methodology
 Questionnaire validation and survey proper:
A pilot study will be done since the questionnaire to be used is considered new. That is to validate the
questionnaire before conducting the survey proper.
In the pilot study, the objective is to examine the integrity of the questionnaire in measuring what is
intended to be measured. Comments and recommendations from blockchain experts will be
documented and implemented to ensure validity of information contained in the questionnaire.
Random sampling will be conducted in gathering data within the locale. An extensive analysis will be
done to ascertain the representation of the respondents.

 Empirical study:
In this phase, data that will be gathered will be cleaned, coded, and rechecked several times before
commencing the analysis and interpretation of the results. Descriptive statistics and correlations will
be used to examine the respondents’ perceptions.

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Roadmap
MONTH
ACTIVITY
October January February March April
1. RDE Hearing and Project Approval         
2. Preliminary Assessment of Project Area         
3. Conduct of online research for related studies and literatures         
4. Data gathering         
5. Online correspondence with experts for comparative analysis        
6. Data presentation, analysis and interpretation         
7. Writing the research draft         

8. Conference with local experts for research critiquing and paper  

      
enhancement
9. Finalization of the research report        
10. Seminar for the research output in Tacloban City         
11. Presentation of paper in national/international fora/conference         
12. Publication of research output in a peer-reviewed and Scopus-
        
indexed journal

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Expected Output
a. Research report: Blockchain: Awareness, Adoption and Trust Among Banks and Quasi-Banks
Tacloban City
b. Publication of the research paper in a Scopus-indexed journal

c. Appropriate intervention strategy to increase awareness, adoption and trust of blockchain technology
among banks and quasi-banks in Tacloban City.

Target Beneficiaries
 Government and private banks, and allied agencies.
 Quasi-Banks
 Other Financial Institutions

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Budget
The proposed amount in the conduct of the study is P73,500. The expenses cover the personal
services, transportation and MOOE as itemized below:

A. MOOE
 Travel Expenses (local) P 15,000
 Communication Expenses 5,000
 Bond Paper 2,500
 Pen 500
 Folders 500
 Printing & Binding Expenses 5,000
 Survey Expenses (FGD) 15,000
 Professional Services (Expert Evaluator/statistician) 30,000
 Total P 73,500

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 Thank you.

“While it is true that knowledge is power. Control prevails to those who have cash flows and will.”

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