Keywords
Blockchain, crypto-economics, transactions, data
Abstract
Proponents of blockchain proclaim that the technology’s greatest innovation is trust. Blockchain create trust by serving as an indispensable ledger (a central point of truth), for all stakeholders to a transaction. Instead of companies managing and reconciling records of the same transaction in privately held databases, both sides of a transaction are recorded simultaneously on a shared ledger — the blockchain. As a result, the crypto economic environment is characterized by the decentralized coordination of business processes and transactions. Proponents of crypto-economics regard decentralized coordination as an opportunity for new forms of economic innovation, forms designed to increase value for individuals and decrease the power of intermediaries. Blockchains enable decentralized coordination by increasing the transparency of information between parties. Transparency allows the blockchain network to police itself by allowing users to collectively verify the legitimacy of every network transaction. Agents to a transaction can presume fair play in this system because the transparency, security, and immutability of data should theoretically lead to increased accountability for all participants.
Recommended Citation
Noah Walters, "Privacy Law Issues in Public Blockchains: An Analysis of Blockchain, PIPEDA, The GDPR, and Proposals for Compliance" (2019) 17:2 CJLT 276.