Authentic leadership is one of the many leadership styles that are gaining importance in today's fast-paced and increasingly complex business environment. Focusing on transparency, integrity, morals and ethical aspects, more and more companies want to stand out from the crowd of others who increasingly ignore these very values. Long-term success is almost impossible without innovation and innovative employee behavior, which is becoming imperative for all companies on the market. The creation, promotion and realization of ideas are key activities in the very complex process of innovative behavior, which many authors observe through several phases and dimensions. Leaders as initiators of change try to influence their employees by their example and encourage them to innovate. Positive psychology and positive psychological capacities give authentic leadership an inspirational dimension that influences the innovative behavior of employees. The paper consists of a theoretical and an empirical part. The empirical research was conducted through an anonymous survey questionnaire in which 103 people participated, of which 10 were superiors and 93 were employees in the blockchain/crypto sector in Croatia. The research found that employees gave their superiors very high ratings of authenticity. The superiors also rated the innovative behavior of their employees as very high. We can conclude how authentic leadership encourages innovative work behavior.