Digital transaction platforms in Asia

In this special issue, we begin to investigate transaction platforms as vital organs in the bodily constitution of digital economies. In grounding this approach, our introductory article introduces different classes of transaction platforms that serve as functional interchanges for the complex transaction chains engendered within network economies. While this categorical analysis aims to be globally applicable, our exemplars are rooted in our respective research in Asia - the region demonstrating the strongest and swiftest transition to digital transactions, reflecting its more-mobile tendencies, digital majority, distinctive transactional cultures, competitive and cooperative investments in digital futures. Because context matters, we infer that digital transactions are not only the nerves and veins of algorithmic capitalism, but also symptomatic of emergent transactional cultures, each arising with their own material histories and aspirations, social and semantic ontologies.