Abstract: Nowadays, China is stepping into a new era of digital economy. Blockchain technology, as one of the most critical infrastructures of digital economy, is accelerating a new round of industrial transformation and digital innovation, and has been accepted and applied by more and more firms. What is the mechanism underlying blockchain technology acting on firm performance? In view of the above scientific issues, this paper selects the listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets in China from 2014 to 2019 as the research samples by using the propensity score matching method (PSM), and studies the relationship between the application of blockchain technology and firm performance by econometric analysis, taking whether blockchain technology was introduced into corporate governance in that year as the dummy variable. The moderating effect of corporate governance structure on the relationship between blockchain technology application and firm performance is further explored. The research finds that the application of blockchain technology can promote firm performance; When the corporate governance structure presents a high proportion of independent directors and a high degree of ownership concentration, the application of blockchain technology to promote firm performance is strengthened.

Key words: blockchain technology, firm performance, corporate governance structure, proportion of independent directors, ownership concentration