  Bitcoin's success has led to significant interest in its underlying
components, particularly Blockchain technology. Over 10 years after Bitcoin's
initial release, the community still suffers from a lack of clarity regarding
what properties defines Blockchain technology, its relationship to similar
technologies, and which of its proposed use-cases are tenable and which are
little more than hype. In this paper we answer four common questions regarding
Blockchain technology: (1) what exactly is Blockchain technology, (2) what
capabilities does it provide, and (3) what are good applications for Blockchain
technology, and (4) how does it relate to other approache distributed
technologies (e.g., distributed databases). We accomplish this goal by using
grounded theory (a structured approach to gathering and analyzing qualitative
data) to thoroughly analyze a large corpus of literature on Blockchain
technology. This method enables us to answer the above questions while limiting
researcher bias, separating thought leadership from peddled hype and
identifying open research questions related to Blockchain technology. The
audience for this paper is broad as it aims to help researchers in a variety of
areas come to a better understanding of Blockchain technology and identify
whether it may be of use in their own research.
