This volume explores from a legal perspective, how blockchain works. Perhaps more than ever before, this new technology requires us to take a multidisciplinary approach. The contributing authors, which include distinguished academics, public officials from important national authorities, and market operators, discuss and demonstrate how this technology can be a driver of innovation and yield positive effects in our societies, legal systems and economic/financial system. In particular, they present critical analyses of the potential benefits and legal risks of distributed ledger technology, while also assessing the opportunities offered by blockchain, and possible modes of regulating it. Accordingly, the discussions chiefly focus on the law and governance of blockchain, and thus on the paradigm shift that this technology can bring about.

Finck examines the emergence of blockchains (and other forms of distributed ledger technologies) and the implications for regulation and governance.

This book draws together themes in business model developments in relation to decentralised business models (DBMs), sometimes referred to as the ‘sharing’ economy, to systematically analyse the challenges to corporate and organisational law and governance. DBMs include business networks, the global supply chain, public–private partnerships, the platform economy and blockchain-based enterprises. The law of organisational forms and governance has been slow in responding to changes, and reliance has been placed on innovations in contract law to support the business model developments. The authors argue that the law of organisations and governance can respond to changes in the phenomenon of decentralised business models driven by transformative technology and new socio-economic dynamics. They argue that principles underlying the law of organisations and governance, such as corporate governance, are crucial to constituting, facilitating and enabling reciprocality, mutuality, governance and redress in relation to these business models, the wealth-creation of which subscribes to neither a firm nor market system, is neither hierarchical nor totally decentralised, and incorporates socio-economic elements that are often enmeshed with incentives and relations. Of interest to academics, policymakers and legal practitioners, this book offers proposals for new thinking in the law of organisation and governance to advance the possibilities of a new socio-economic future.

Since its inception, blockchain has evolved to become a crucial trending technology that massively impacts the fast-paced digital world. It has been a game-changing technology that is underpinned with cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin that eventually closed the doors for hacking activities. As blockchain is utilized across areas such as banking, voting, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, it is important to examine the current trends, difficulties, opportunities, and future directions in order to utilize its full potential. Blockchain Technologies and Applications for Digital Governance addresses the impacts and future trends of blockchain, particularly for digital governance, and demonstrates the applications of blockchain in digital governance using case studies. Covering a range of topics from cybersecurity to real estate tokenization, it is ideal for industry professionals, researchers, academicians, instructors, practitioners, and students.

Since Bitcoin appeared in 2009, the digital currency has been hailed as an Internet marvel and decried as the preferred transaction vehicle for all manner of criminals. It has left nearly everyone without a computer science degree confused: Just how do you “mine” money from ones and zeros? The answer lies in a technology called blockchain, which can be used for much more than Bitcoin. A general-purpose tool for creating secure, decentralized, peer-to-peer applications, blockchain technology has been compared to the Internet itself in both form and impact. Some have said this tool may change society as we know it. Blockchains are being used to create autonomous computer programs known as “smart contracts,” to expedite payments, to create financial instruments, to organize the exchange of data and information, and to facilitate interactions between humans and machines. The technology could affect governance itself, by supporting new organizational structures that promote more democratic and participatory decision making. Primavera De Filippi and Aaron Wright acknowledge this potential and urge the law to catch up. That is because disintermediation—a blockchain’s greatest asset—subverts critical regulation. By cutting out middlemen, such as large online operators and multinational corporations, blockchains run the risk of undermining the capacity of governmental authorities to supervise activities in banking, commerce, law, and other vital areas. De Filippi and Wright welcome the new possibilities inherent in blockchains. But as Blockchain and the Law makes clear, the technology cannot be harnessed productively without new rules and new approaches to legal thinking.

Blockchain Technology and the Law: Opportunities and Risks is one of the first texts to offer a critical analysis of Blockchain and the legal and economic challenges faced by this new technology. This book will offer those who are unfamiliar with Blockchain an introduction as to how the technology works and will demonstrate how a legal framework that governs it can be used to ensure that it can be successfully deployed. Discussions included in this book: - an introduction to smart contracts, and their potential, from a commercial and consumer law perspective, to change the nature of transactions between parties; - the impact that Blockchain has already had on financial services, and the possible consumer risks and macro-economic issues that may arise in the future; - the challenges that are facing global securities regulators with the development of Initial Coin Offerings and the ongoing risks that they pose to the investing public; - the risk of significant privacy breaches due to the online public nature of Blockchain; and - the future of Blockchain technology. Of interest to academics, policy-makers, technology developers and legal practitioners, this book will provide a thorough examination of Blockchain technology in relation to the law from a comparative perspective with a focus on the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

This important and topical book provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges raised by blockchain from the perspective of public law. It considers the ways in which traditional categories of public law such as sovereignty, citizenship and territory are shaped, as well as the impact of blockchain technology on fundamental rights and democratic values.