How the blockchain--a system built on foundations of mutual
mistrust--can become trustworthy.
The blockchain entered the world on January 3, 2009, introducing an
innovative new trust architecture: an environment in which users trust a
system--for example, a shared ledger of information--without necessarily
trusting any of its components. The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is the most
famous implementation of the blockchain, but hundreds of other companies
have been founded and billions of dollars invested in similar
applications since Bitcoin's launch. Some see the blockchain as offering
more opportunities for criminal behavior than benefits to society. In
this book, Kevin Werbach shows how a technology resting on
foundations of mutual mistrust can become trustworthy.
The blockchain, built on open software and decentralized foundations
that allow anyone to participate, seems like a threat to any form of
regulation. In fact, Werbach argues, law and the blockchain need each
other. Blockchain systems that ignore law and governance are likely to
fail, or to become outlaw technologies irrelevant to the mainstream
economy. That, Werbach cautions, would be a tragic waste of potential.
If, however, we recognize the blockchain as a kind of legal technology
that shapes behavior in new ways, it can be harnessed to create
tremendous business and social value.
