Analysing the Benefits and Risks of Developing Blockchain Platforms for Financing Startups

Abstract

In today's environment of dynamic development of digital technologies and the globalisation of financial markets, blockchain technologies play an important role in ensuring innovative progress.This technology opens up wide opportunities in the financial sector, particularly for attracting investment, increasing transparency of transactions, reducing costs, and ensuring the security of financial transactions. However, the introduction of blockchain technologies is accompanied by significant challenges, such as legal uncertainty, technical risks, scalability issues, etc., which necessitates a comprehensive study of them. The main purpose of the study is to analyse the principles of blockchain technologies, assess their benefits and risks in the context of startup financing, and explore the potential for stimulating the development of innovation ecosystems. Methods. The study used a comprehensive approach. The system analysis made it possible to determine the basic principles of blockchain functioning, analytical methods provided an assessment of its advantages, such as decentralisation, transparency and security, and comparative analysis helped to identify the specifics of financial mechanisms built on blockchain compared to traditional approaches. The analysis shows that blockchain technologies have significant potential to reduce costs, reduce the number of intermediaries, and increase the level of trust between the parties in financial transactions.In particular, blockchain platforms create conditions for attracting investment in startups on a global scale, which contributes to their rapid development. However, a number of risks have also been identified, including legal uncertainty, technical challenges, fraud and scalability issues. Conclusions.A detailed analysis of the state of implementation of blockchain technologies in Ukraine shows a high level of their use, which allows the country to be among the three world leaders in terms of the popularity of cryptocurrencies. Such development dynamics indicate the significant potential of this sector in the national economy. Legislative initiatives create a legal framework for the integration of blockchain into financial and economic processes. The main areas of regulation include taxation of income generated from cryptocurrency transactions, establishing a clear legal status of virtual assets, and developing a regulatory framework for their legal use in business. The research results confirm that blockchain technologies can become a powerful tool for transforming the financial sector.Further development of this area requires the removal of legal and technical barriers, improvement of infrastructure and adaptation of regulatory mechanisms to promote innovative economic development.