It was the goal of this paper to provide the results of desk research and expert interviews on blockchain governance in consortia. The topics of governance, corporate governance, and IT governance are introduced by an extant literature review to find common ground for the research.

Firstly, extant literature research on blockchain (BC) governance shows the state of knowledge. Secondly, expert interviews were conducted to fill the gaps discovered during the literature research. Additionally, literature on BC functionalities was researched to gain an understanding of the BC features. The research part focuses on BC governance-related issues. The topic is narrowed down to important elements for the development of a BC consortium governance, i.e. the establishment of a legal entity, decision rights, incentives, and why an organization should found or join a BC consortium.

The principal findings include that the analyzed BC consortia prefer a centralized approach for their decision-making processes. Moreover, transparency and legal entity frameworks are essential for governing processes and structures in BC consortia. Another fundamental aspect is compliance with data regulations since consortia are most often used as a platform to share information. Moreover, the flexibility of a governance system is highlighted. Finally, the preference for off-chain governance (in comparison to on-chain governance) structures is explained. Finally, the paper recommends further fields of research in three areas. Namely, input rights, incentives, and on-chain governance.