Unraveling the Cryptocurrency Landscape through Bibliometrics

This paper explores the academic discourse surrounding cryptocurrencies, a digital or virtual currency that uses blockchain technology. The study uses bibliometric analysis to understand research trends, geographical/country contributions, institutional and departmental analyses, keyword occurrences and data visualizations to identify central topics and themes in the literature. The dataset of last five years was retrieved from the Web of Science database on February 12, 2024 and analysed. The results showed that China is the most significant contributor, followed by the USA and England. The University of London had the highest number of articles, followed by Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Lebanese American University. The study also identified two key topics: "cryptocurrency" and "bitcoin." The research was categorized into five clusters based on economic, financial, and technological trends. The analysis identified influential papers in cryptocurrency research, such as "A survey on the security of blockchain system" and "An overview of smart contracts: Challenges, advances and platforms." These papers highlight a growing interest in security concerns and cryptocurrency as an alternative investment platform, particularly during times of crisis.