The rapid development of information technologies, the globalization of the world economy, and the formation of a digital economy in Ukraine lead to the transformation of socio-economic relations. The growth of digitalization of the economy, the large-scale introduction of information technologies into all spheres of human life contribute to the emergence of new industries, one of which is the crypto industry, with the appearance of which in 2008, the money market totally changed forever. More and more markets are collapsing, while more and more regulators from different countries are busy implementing legislation regarding the legalization, use and taxation of cryptocurrencies. The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of cryptocurrency legalization in Ukraine. The peculiarities of the law “ Pro virtualʹni aktyvy” and the stages of its implementation are considered. The draft law on amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding cryptocurrency taxation has been analyzed. The number of cryptocurrency users in Ukraine and other countries of the world, such as the USA, Venezuela, Kenya, North Africa, etc., was studied. The paper analyzes how countries such as Great Britain, the Netherlands, the USA, China, Japan and Canada regulate the cryptocurrency market and whether transactions with them are legalized at the legislative level. Conclusions were also made regarding the feasibility of legalizing cryptocurrency in Ukraine.So far, we have the Law, but for the final settlement of these issues, many different by-laws, instructions and documents still need to be developed. But already today it can be said that the State is dealing with the issue of cryptocurrency relations and is on the way to its settlement.
Blockchain is one of the most innovative technologies that is currently used in many areas as part of the spread of web3 technologies. Although the origins of blockchain are linked to the emergence of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, today’s application of blockchain technology focuses on a wider range of issues where trust is required for a large number of transactions. For this reason, many researchers today believe that these technologies have great potential for use in the public sector. The public sector can use these technologies to fulfill its role as a generator of innovation and progress, which is part of its responsibilities, and to modernize projects that will enable citizens to receive the services they need. Therefore, this work aims to determine the main factors of success or failure in the implementation of blockchain technology in public authorities based on the analysis of existing experience in this area, in particular, in EU member states. Blockchain has proven useful for government agencies for several reasons. First, blockchain is a technology characterized by the ability to generate trust in information and processes in a heterogeneous context with a large number of participants and users. Second, blockchain facilitates governance by leaving no traces and acts as a tool to promote transparency, as it allows people to know who did what and when. Third, it eliminates the need for a centralized certificate authority to control access and use of services by large groups of people. Fourth, the successful development of blockchain-based systems can lead to significant cost savings. However, the analysis shows that authorities are not yet ready to widely use and offer blockchain-based services. In many cases, a lack of understanding of the benefits and opportunities, as well as a still unclear interpretation of the legal and regulatory environment, prevent senior executives from making decisions that may involve greater risk. With this in mind, we believe that the implementation of blockchain technology in the public sector can be facilitated by the implementation of blockchain systems as a complement to existing tracking and transparency systems and processes, as well as increasing their efficiency while simultaneously reducing the cost of services provided. This will require the development of adaptive management structures in public institutions aimed at developing reasonable and acceptable solutions to solve real problems.
Віталій Носов, Oleksandr Manzhai, Ye. V. Panchenko
The mechanism of Ethereum transactions analysis during the prevention and investigation of criminal offenses based on the study of modern experience in this area has been proposed. The directions of cryptocurrency use by offenders have been revealed. The relationship between the decrease of the cash market and the increase in the use of cryptocurrencies has been described. The state of legal regulation of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine has been studied. The insufficient regulation of the issue of handling cryptocurrencies in criminal proceedings has been emphasized. The issue of impossibility to seize cryptocurrency assets during criminal investigation has been raised. The problematic issues faced by law enforcement agencies in other countries when seizing cryptocurrencies have been outlined.
 The structure and peculiarities of the cryptocurrency Ethereum circulation have been revealed. The features of the Ethereum platform and its distinctive features have been studied. The key standards that characterize the work of the Ethereum platform have been analyzed, explanations of key terms have been provided. The essential data in the blockchain for analysis have been highlighted, the procedure for accessing the Ethereum blockchain transactions has been described. Various web resources which one can access the Ethereum transaction blockchain through have been provided.
 The purpose of email mixing, the conditions under which the anonymity of the email address is lost have been revealed. Some software tools used to analyze ethereum transactions have been evaluated by experiment. Automation of searching and building a schema of relations of different identifiers of e-transactions on the example of Maltego Community Edition and Crystal Expert have been demonstrated. Additional modules that need to be installed in Maltego Community Edition to analyze the relevant transactions effectively have been described.
 It has been emphasized that when analyzing ethereum transactions, it is necessary to use not only ready-made tools, but also various scientific methods, such as identifying key criminal groups and wallets, identifying cases of money laundering using cryptocurrencies, additional address profiling, prevention of illegal behavior on the trading ethereum platform. The importance of effective analysis of cryptocurrencies for investigation has been described. The effectiveness of the Crystal Blockchain platform as a tool for analyzing Ethereum transactions in criminal investigations has been evaluated. The technical side of law enforcement training on the seizure of cryptocurrency assets has been revealed. For this purpose, it is recommended to use the so-called test networks. The mechanism of controlled transfer of cryptocurrency assets for custodial and non-custodial wallets has been proposed.
The article is devoted to the study of the administrative and legal status of local self-government bodies in the process of implementing the decentralization reform. Currently, Ukraine is undergoing a decentralization reform. Its beginning, in its current form, is considered to be the approval by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of the concept of reforming local self-government and territorial organization of power in Ukraine in 2014 and the approval of the action plan for its implementation, which launched the decentralization reform. In 2020-2021, a new stage of decentralization is taking place in Ukraine, which was characterized by a number of significant legislative changes. The article examines the administrative and legal status of local self-government bodies. It is argued that the term “local self-government body” is understood as an autonomous, non-sovereign legal entity of public law, which was created and received its power from a law adopted by Parliament. The degree of independence of local self-government in decision-making is determined by the nature and structure of administrative relations with state authorities. It is concluded that during the implementation of the reform, the legislation on local self-government and related legislation should be revised and improved in such a way as to expand the powers of local self-government bodies and contribute to the better performance of their functions, especially in the management of personnel issues, financial affairs and in determining their own priorities in the provision of public services. Despite the revision and amendment of the legislation on local self-government and other relevant legislation, the analysis of scientific sources gives grounds to assert that the exercise by local self-government bodies of their statutory powers and the performance of the functions assigned to them largely remained under the influence and control of the state authorities.
The article defines the essence of the concepts of cryptocurrency, bitcoin and mining, considers the status of cryptocurrency in Ukraine and other countries. In addition, problems related to the uncertain status of cryptocurrency are indicated, ways to solve them are proposed, special attention is drawn to the disclosure of the conceptual aspect in the qualification of criminal offenses related to cryptocurrency. At present, the use of cryptocurrencies as a financial instrument by various states is increasingly common, and Ukraine is no exception. According to the reports of the Chainalysis platform, Ukraine ranks high in the ranking of both the general use of crypto-assets and their use for illegal purposes. According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, our state is a leader in the use of virtual assets among the population; the Ukrainian community of blockchain developers is one of the largest in the world and is in the top 3. Cryptocurrency is a digital (virtual) currency, the unit of which is a coin, protected from counterfeiting, as it is encrypted information that cannot be copied, because the emission and accounting of cryptocurrency is based on asymmetric encryption using various cryptographic protection methods, such as Proof-of- work and/or Proof-of-stake. The physical feature characterizes the technical aspects of the functioning of the cryptocurrency, the economic feature is determined by the price that interested parties can pay for it, and the legal feature is established on the basis of a consistent analysis of the types of civil rights objects provided for by the current legislation. So, in the context of criminal law regulation, cryptocurrency is data in electronic form that has a price and is the subject of the right to information. The attractiveness of cryptocurrencies for the criminal world is due to the fact that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are based on the principle of decentralization and the Blockchain system: electronic money is not tied to and is not controlled by any financial authority of any country, users of the system remain anonymous and have equal statuses. Cryptocurrency, the main advantage is its anonymity, in addition, the personal data of the owner of the electronic wallet is kept secret and it is only a set of symbols by which it is impossible to determine the owner, therefore it is impossible to recognize the name or address of such a user, and the history of transactions is open information. Agreements related to cryptocurrency are also anonymous, besides, they are irreversible. Cybercrime has also become widespread, in particular criminal offenses with cryptocurrencies, because in Ukraine and the world, individuals and legal entities are increasingly faced with their illegal acquisition, however, in our country, the legal status of cryptocurrencies has not yet been determined, in addition, so far in Ukraine does not provide for liability for illegal possession of cryptocurrency, currently in the world there are already quite widespread situations of criminal offenses against property (theft, robbery, extortion, fraud), where the object of encroachment is computer equipment, hard drives or portable crypto wallets together with the corresponding passwords from them for the purpose of taking possession of cryptocurrency and receiving funds from its further conversion.
In this article, the author primarily aims to clarify from a technical and terminological point of view several notions relevant for the blockchain ecosystem. In this context, the analysis is focused on notions such as blockchain, Proof of Work or Proof of Stake consensus mechanism, virtual currency, crypto-asset, digital wallet, centralized or decentralized exchange platform, public address, public and private cryptographic key, seed phrase, etc. Beyond these technical and terminological clarifications, the author aims to analyse the European and national regulatory framework, in an attempt to resolve, among other things, different matters such as the difference between virtual currencies, crypto-assets and electronic money or the regulation of exchange service providers and digital wallet providers. Last but not least, the author analyses both the risks and benefits of blockchain technology from a cyber security perspective, as well as several criminal behaviours in regard to virtual currencies or other crypto-assets. In this context, behaviours such as ransomware, cryptojacking, unauthorized transfer of virtual currencies or other cryptocurrencies, counterfeiting of virtual currencies, cloning or restricting access to digital wallets, etc. are all taken into consideration.
The analysis of separate tools for the visualization of movement of cryptocurrency values, and also identification of users who carried out the corresponding transactions has been carried out. The advantages and disadvantages of cryptocurrency from the point of view of offenders and law enforcement agencies have been studied. The main directions of using cryptocurrency in a criminal environment have been determined. The current state and perspectives of normative and legal regulation of cryptocurrency in Ukraine have been analyzed. Theoretical principles of cryptocurrency functioning have been studied. The basic concepts used in this area have been revealed. The properties of cryptocurrency have been described. The mechanism of its issuance of guaranteeing pseudo-anonymity while working with cryptocurrency has been outlined. Some features of blockchain technology and formation of cryptocurrency addresses have been revealed. It has been noted that one of the first and most well-known cryptocurrency is bitcoin. The format of bitcoin address presentation has been described. It has been emphasized that bitcoin wallet software can operate with any number of addresses or each address can be served by a separate wallet. The technology of mixing transactions and the method of increasing the anonymity of CoinJoin have been described. The authors have revealed the possibilities of separate services intended for the analysis of cryptocurrency transactions (Maltego, Bitconeview, Bitiodine, OpReturnTool, Blockchain.info, Anyblockanalytics.com, Chainalysis, Elliptic, Ciphertrace, Blockchain Inspector). The process of risk assessment and construction of visual chains of cryptocurrency transactions has been demonstrated on the example of the “Crystal Expert” service. Different types of bitcoin addresses’ holders and risk levels have been described. The main and additional investigation tools used on the “Crystal Expert” platform have been revealed. Based on the conducted analysis, the authors have defined the main tasks for law enforcement agencies at the current stage of development of cryptocurrency. The basic requirements for tools designed for cryptocurrency analysis have been outlined. The authors have suggested some measures of law enforcement agencies’ respond to threats related to cryptocurrency.
Introduction. Cryptocurrency is a relatively new financial market instrument, but due to a lack of the fundamental principles of the legal regulation and legal regulation of market of cryptocurrency, individuals and legal entities, who have at their disposal the virtual assets are effectively deprived of an effective way to protect their ownership of such assets. The following key features of cryptocurrency are outlined: lack of control and restrictions on financial transactions, anonymity, the possibility of using it as an investment tool, the speed of transactions, a high degree of security. The purpose of the paper is explores the question of definition of legal essence, the maintenance of cryptocurrency is investigated. Results. Nature and legal uncertainty does not allow it to be identified with any of the related concepts (money, securities, currency value, means of payment, currency, money surrogate, etc.). That is, cryptocurrencies are currently in Ukraine outside the scope of legal regulation. The analysis of definition of a concept of cryptocurrency in the draft law on circulation of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine is carried out; prospects for the legislative implementation of cryptocurrency in Ukraine, in addition, the author draws attention to the novelties of the legislation on financial monitoring, namely certain provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention and Counteraction to Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation”. Conclusion. The analysis of the characteristics of cryptocurrency leads to a conclusion that the cryptocurrency can be understood as electronic money. The paper presents a vision of further trends in the use of cryptocurrency in everyday life and business environment, opens up an opportunity for further research in the field of the cryptocurrency market, further development of Ukraine and integration to the world financial system.
Олександр Сергійович Омельчук, О. С. Омельчук, Александр Сергеевич Омельчук, Oleksandr Serhiyovych Omelchuk · 13 authors
The article analyzes the legal nature and specific of legal regulation of cryptocurrency in order to reveal the features of inheritance of cryptocurrency assets. The article aims to reveal whether it is possible to inherit cryptocurrency in terms of the existent legislation and if so, what kind of peculiarities of cryptocurrency should be considered. The financial and legal nature of cryptocurrency are described in the article. The main differences between cryptocurrency and traditional electronic money are revealed. The current legislation of Ukraine and some European countries on cryptocurrency legal status is analyzed. It is stated, that in most countries of the world, cryptocurrency is not considered to be money or currency, but rather a kind of property. It is noted, that while solving the issue of inclusion of cryptocurrency assets in the legacy, it is necessary to take into account the functional features of cryptocurrencies in general and the specifics of a particular type of cryptocurrency. Most of the benefits of cryptocurrencies for their owner (such as anonymous character) are obstacles to their inheritance according to the procedures provided by applicable law. The classification of the methods of inheritance of cryptocurrency assets is made in the article. The differences in the inheritance of cryptocurrency and tokens are revealed.
The process of transformation of local self-government is connected with solving a complex of problems of its provision. Among them, the constitutional and legal problems of territorial governance, which are the subject of this study, play a significant role. In Ukraine, a course of improvement of Ukrainian unitarism was chosen through widespread decentralization of public power, formation of capable, effective local government on this basis as active interaction and cooperation of subjects, local self-government institutions, executive power, civil society, business environment. This approach actualizes the constitutional and legal discourse of decentralization. The article discusses the issues of constitutional and legislative support for the reform of the territorial organization of power. A constitutional and legal understanding of the decentralization of public power in the context of the provisions of the current Basic Law is given. Modern approaches to amending the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of decentralization of public power, reforming local self-government, and territorial administration are critically analyzed. The novelties of legislative developments concerning territorial governance are considered. The urgency of sectoral decentralization in areas such as local finance, education, health care, social protection, housing and communal services, administrative services, communal land and property, sustainable economic development, human resources, etc. is emphasized. It is noted that, given the principles of constitutionalism, the existing potential of the Constitution should be exploited, the shortcomings of permanent, point-to-point modification overcome, the careful and careful approach to regional level of territorial governance. It is emphasized that the transformation of local self-government in the context of decentralization of public power must be carried out in a comprehensive and systematic manner, taking into account the preservation and strengthening of the unitary nature of Ukraine. Keywords: transformation of local self-government, decentralization of public power, territorial governance, constitutional and legal support of reform, unitary principles of Ukraine.
Cybercrime, including cryptocurrency-related cybercrime, has become widespread in recent years. Despite a thorough study of cybercrime issues, there is still no legislative position on the legal regulation of cryptocurrencies and the responsibility for cryptocurrency-related cybercrime in Ukraine. The authors classify and characterize all cryptocurrency-related cybercrimes into five groups. In view of the spread of cryptocurrency-related cybercrimes, the EU’s counteraction measures have been analyzed. Ways to prevent and counteract to cryptocurrency-related cybercrimes in Ukraine are suggested.
Open access
Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies
Ukrainian Legal and Forensic Studies
Legal, Health, Environmental and COVID-19 Challenges
Recently smart contracts become more and more popular in such areas as initial coins offering (ICO), financial sector, international trade and public services. At the same time there is almost no legal regulation of smart contracts. There are unsuccessfull tries to regulate smart contracts bu security legislation. There are continuing discussions over whether a smart contract can be considered a civil contract and whether violated rights of the parties of smart contract could be protected in trail. The purpose of this article is to assess the practice of legal regulation of smart contracts worldwide and in Ukraine and to develop proposals for improvement of legal regulation of smart contracts. An analysis of law regulation of smart contracts in different countries of the world shows the initial state of the law in this area, significant differences between national systems of law and almost complete absence of judicial precedents. Most countries are trying to regulate smart contracts by securities and financial instruments legislation, which neither takes into account the economic nor legal nature of the smart contract. The greatest progress in legal regulation has reached Belarus, which has recognized the smart contract as a type of civil contract and cryptocurrency as the official means of payment. In Ukraine, despite the active implementation of blockchain technology in state registers, there is no legal regulation of smart contracts and cryptocurrency. The Government Concept of the development of digital economy and society for 2018 – 2020 and conclusions of financial regulators on the legal status of cryptocurrencies determine the need to develop legal regulation of the digital economy. In my oppinion, Ukraine should recognize the most widespread cryptocurrencies as official means of payment and issue its own state cryptocurrency. The legal regulation of tokens used in initial coins offering should be similar to the legal regulation of of debt securities. It is necessary to amend the civil legislation in order to recognize a smart contract as a type of civil contract expressed in the form of programming code and automatically executed in a distributed network. To minimize risks of smart contracts it is necessary to state requirements of mandatory identification of parties and to implement mandatory electronic application containing the essential terms of the contract which will have legal force in case of a programming code error and to resolve litigation between the parties.
Статтю присвячено дослідженню криптовалюти Bitcoin, її значення у реалізації кримінальних правопорушень. Визначено механізм використання Bitcoin як елемента системи легалізації доходів, одержаних злочинним шляхом.
Abstract This study develops a review of Blockchain legal regulations in Ukraine. The authors analyze use of Blockchain technology in administration and provision of public services in modern Ukraine. It is stressed that the illegal status of Blockchain and cryptocurrency in Ukraine is a barrier to the full use of these instruments in all spheres of modern life in Ukraine. The caselaw in the field of cryptocurrency use is analyzed.
Open access
Ukrainian Legal and Forensic Studies
Legal Studies and Reforms
Legal, Health, Environmental and COVID-19 Challenges
Sergey Ivantsov, E. L. Sidorenko, Борис Спасенников, Yuri Berezkin · 5 authors
The authors have analyzed crimes connected with the use of virtual currency in the regional and international aspects. They introduce a new category of «cryptocrime» understood as the aggregate of publically dangerous acts, united by their common systemic characteristics, committed against or using the products of distributed registries (cryptocurrency, tokens and other forms of digital financial assets). They analyze each of the cryptocrime segments separately: illegal trade in psychoactive substances (narcotics, psychoactive substances, precursors), pornography and other prohibited content (including illegal services); laundering of criminal proceeds; theft of cryptocurrency and tokens. Using the scientific research methods (comparative, sociological, statistical analysis and extrapolation of data, building a trend line, etc.) the authors identify regularities in the dynamics of each type of cryptocrime as well as key factors facilitating them. The goal of the authors is to conduct a systemic examination of crimes committed against and using cryptocurrency and to determine the prospects of developing different segments of cryptocrime. To achieve this goal, they analyze qualitative and quantitative characteristics of illegal trade in narcotics and pornography, legalization of criminal proceeds and theft of digital assets. They name the anonymity of cryptocurrency as a factor facilitating illegal trade in drugs, while the growing scope of the legalization of criminal proceeds and theft is facilitated by the fact that cryptocurrency and tokens do not have a legal status as objects of civil law and objects of encroachments on property. The analysis allows the authors to conclude that without effective criminological measures the level of such crimes will continue to grow and may double by the end of 2019. According to the authors, the priority directions of international criminal policy in the sphere of cryptocrime prevention include determining cryptocurrencies’ legal status, licensing cryptocurrency trade (stock exchange services, exchange platforms, companies issuing tokens), setting international standards of counteracting the legalization of criminal proceeds and the financing of terrorism, creating a cryptocrime database.
ГЕНЕЗИС ПРАВОВОГО РЕЖИМУ КРИПТОВАЛЮТ У ЗАРУБІЖНИХ КРАЇНАХ ТА УКРАЇНІПостановка проблеми.Нормативне визначення та регулювання відносин створення, обігу, статусу криптовалют є обмеженим у зарубіжних країнах і відсутнє в Україні, хоча цей елемент ринкових відносин є досить
The article provides an analysis of the standard of proof «reasonable suspicion» in practice of the European Court of Human Rights (further referred to as ECtHR), which is recognized as a source of law in Ukraine next to the European Convention of Human Rights (further referred to as ECHR). It is argued that a concept of standards of proof is relatively new in Ukrainian legislation, where no legal definition of particular standards is provided. National courts face complexities in application of the «reasonable suspicion» standard that leads to systemic violations of fundamental rights and numerous cases before the ECtHR versus Ukraine. Based on systemic analysis of academic literature and practice of the ECtHR regarding «reasonable suspicion» standard, that is applicable while a breach of Article 5 of the ECHR is at stake, the authors have elaborated criteria of the reasonableness of the suspicion in criminal proceedings that can serve a guidance for the national courts. Reasonable suspicion of committing an offence can be defined as an aggregation of facts and information capable to persuade an objective observer that the person may have committed an offence. Despite evidence to satisfy the reasonable suspicion standard shall not be of the same level as required for justification of the criminal charge or the conviction, reasonable suspicion cannot be of purely subjective nature, it shall not be described in abstract terms either. Finally, the standard of proof «reasonable suspicion» is of dynamic nature. The longer the period of fundamental rights limitation is the stronger justifications for such interventions are required. Even while rendering the first decision ordering the detention on remand, national courts shall substantiate not only the persistence of reasonable suspicion, but justify with evidence an existence of «relevant» and «sufficient» reasons for the detention. In this article existence of evidence at the pre-trial stage is consistently demonstrated, that is supported by numerous cases of the ECtHR regarding «reasonable suspicion» standard.
Development of information technologies, cryptocurrencies and technology of distributed networks has caused the appearance of smart con- tracts as new types of civil contract. They have been widely used in recent years in such areas as initial coins offering (ICO), financial sector, inter- national trade and public services. At the same time the legal status and legal regulation of smart contracts are uncertain. These uncertainties cause many legal risks of smart-contractsutilization. The purpose of this article is to find out the conception of smart contract as a form of civil contract, to research its legal status and legal regula- tion issues and to develop proposals for the improvement of legal regulation of smart contracts and cryptocurrencies in Ukraine. By its legal nature a smart contract is a digital form of a civil contract realized in programming code automatically executed in a distributed network. Like a civil contract, smart contract has such elements as parties, subject and essential terms of the contract. The legal force of a smart contract depends on whether it includes the fundamental features of a civil contact, such as evidence that parties have intention to create legal relations, understandabil- ity of contract conditions and possibility to perform the terms of the contract under duress. The main advantages of a smart contract are its ability to significantly accelerate and reduce costs of the transaction and guarantee the fulfillment of contract terms regardless of the contractual parties' and third parties' will. The main risks of a smart contract are uncertainty of legal status of a smart contract and cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, complexity of expressing the contact terms in a mathematical algorithm, risk of software bugs and hacking attack. To solve the problems of legal regulation of smart contracts in Ukraine it is necessary to change the legislation in order to settle the legal status of cryptocurrencies and recognize a smart contract as a form of a civil contract. It is necessary to identify parties of the smart contract, confirm their agreement on the terms of the smart contract by using digital electronic signature. A smart contract should be supplemented by text application containing the es- sential terms of the contract which will have legal force in trail. It is necessary to implement blockchain technology in the state registers and pro- vide legal ability to make adjustments in the registers automatically for the performance of smartcontracts.
The subjects of information legal relations are investigated in the scientific article. The authorities of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine (next – SFS of Ukraine) as a subject of information legal relations are separately considered. It is noted that the participation of the subjects of power authorities in information legal relations has its peculiarities, the main of which is the fact that the main prerequisite for the participation of such a subject in the information legal relationship is his competence.
The technology of blockchain (‘Blockchain’) realises a more efficient, equitable, and transparent distributed ledger system. An important characteristic of Blockchain is its automated, de-centralized, and neutral ledger system which could be useful to carry out Corporate Social Responsibility (‘CSR’) initiatives. Part I of this paper suggests that the Blockchain will evolve to become a permanent ‘disruptor’ with the potential to transform corporations’ CSR practices. Part II introduces the Blockchain and identifies its significance to CSR, both in the United States (‘U.S.’) and internationally. Part III explains how the Blockchain can help demonstrate that a corporation is a ‘responsible business’ through good corporate governance, effective supply chain management, and exercise of the triple bottom line – people, profit, and planet. Part IV examines how the Blockchain’s disruptive role influences corporate decision-making, especially its implications for corporate investors, financial institutions, and the practice of law as well as its impact on intellectual property and data privacy functions. Part V discusses the U.S. current regulatory landscape and growing trends relating to the Blockchain. Finally, Part VI recommends lawmakers and corporations consider adopting a legislative framework that aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (‘UN SDGs’) to demonstrate responsible investment and good corporate governance. Accordingly, the Blockchain can help corporations transform CSR practices and assist lawmakers to regain public trust through effective rulemaking that demands corporate accountability on domestic and international issues.