The article presents the prospects for using distributed registry technologies (blockchain) in various socio-economic spheres related to state and municipal administration. Provided examples and forecasts of the use of blockchain technologies in the provision of state and municipal services for individuals and legal entities in the following areas: - formation of a unified register containing the history of the placement of the state, municipal order, as well as procurement of corporations with state participation and / or control; - registers of documents (diplomas, certificates, lost and disavowed passports, policies for movable and immovable property insurance, health, etc.); - database of court decisions and executive proceedings; - portals of public participation of citizens in the affairs of the district - city - country. The fact that the blockchain technology is, first of all, the principles, and not the only possible way of implementing them, allows us to count on maximum openness and multivariate application in a dynamically changing digital world .
After granting permission to the Internal Revenue Service to serve a digital exchange company a summons for user information, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California created some uncertainty regarding the privacy of cryptocurrencies. The IRS views this information gathering as necessary for monitoring compliance with Notice 2014-21, which classifies cryptocurrencies as property for tax purposes. Cryptocurrency users, however, view the attempt for information as an infringement on their privacy rights and are seeking legal protection. This Issue Brief investigates the future tax implications of Notice 2014-21 and considers possible routes the cryptocurrency market can take to avoid the burden of capital gains taxes. Further, this Issue Brief attempts to uncover the validity of the privacy claims made against the customer information summons and will recommend alternative actions for the IRS to take regardless of whether it succeeds in obtaining the information.
The article explores the problem of the legal regulations of cryptocurrencies, considering socio-economic factors and changes in the modern globalized world.
The article deals with the certain aspects of the criminal law measures appliedto legal entities, the phenomenon of electronic legal entities (Decentralized Autonomous Organization or Decentralized Autonomous Corporation), the possibility of applying criminal law measures to electronic legal entities.
The presentation is dedicated to problems and approaches in the legal regulation of the use of one of the cryptocurrencies -Bitcoin. Currently Bitcoin causes bigger interest among the world society, which is connected, in particular, with the highly increased exchange rate of this cryptocurrency. A number of countries have already formed a well-defined position and created a legal basis for development or for a complete or partial restriction of this cryptocurrency. But at the moment the most part of the world countries do not have a legal and regulatory framework of Bitcoin. In this presentation there is an analysis identifying pros and cons of this cryptocurrency and also the consequences of its further integration into the biggest world countries. Besides, our group has considered the experience of the number of countries in which the legal regulation of this cryptocurrency is established. The research offers a way for the further legal regulation of Bitcoin in Russia.
The Internet of Things is a proliferating industry, which is transforming many homes and businesses, making them smart. However, the rapid growth of these devices and the interactions between these devices, introduces many challenges including that of a secure management system for the identities and interactions of the devices. While the centralized model has worked well for many years, there is a risk of the servers becoming bottlenecks and a single point of failure, thereby making them vulnerable to Denial-of-Service attacks. As a backbone of these interactions, Blockchain is capable of creating a highly secure, independent and distributed platform. Blockchain is a peer to peer, distributed ledger system that stores all the transactions taking place within the network. The main purpose of the servers that form a part of the distributed system is to provide a consensus, using various consensus algorithms, on the state of the blockchain at any given time and to store a copy of all the transactions taking place. This thesis explores the Blockchain technology in general and investigates its potential with regard to access management of constrained devices. A proof of concept system has been designed and implemented that demonstrates a simplified access management system using Ethereum Blockchain. This was done to check whether the concept can be applied at a global level. Although the latency of the network depends on the computing power of the resources participating in the Blockchain, an evaluation of the proof of concept system has been made, keeping in mind the smallest device that can be involved in the consensus process. Docker containers have been used to simulate a cluster of the nodes participating in the Blockchain, in order to examine the implemented system. An outline of the various advantages and the limitations of Blockchains in general, as well as the developed proof of concept system, has also been provided.
The article deals with the certain aspects of the criminal law measures appliedto legal entities, the phenomenon of electronic legal entities (Decentralized Autonomous Organization or Decentralized Autonomous Corporation), the possibility of applying criminal law measures to electronic legal entities.
C. Lemmen, P. Knight, B. Beentjes, Jeroen van der Ham · 8 authors
Land and its administration are always negatively affected during conflicts and in post-conflict contexts.This has been confirmed both in the literature and in practice.This research has shown that if land and its administration are neglected or not properly addressed after the end of a conflict, they can be a cause for a renewed armed conflict and an obstacle in the rebuilding of a post-conflict society.The author's initial research on the topic revealed that there is a relation between land administration and post-conflict state building.Therefore, the main research objective was to identify which interventions in land administration and under which circumstances facilitate postconflict state building.In order to achieve the main research objective, a qualitative research approach with a fieldwork was applied on two main case studies: Kosovo and Rwanda.Findings from the main case studies were supported with three supportive case studies: Mozambique, Cambodia and Timor-Leste, by collecting data from the literature.Empirical data and literature were used to set the theoretical propositions as: (1) a framework for rebuilding post-conflict states, and (2) interventions in land administration for post-conflict state building.For the final discussions and for the analytical generalisation correlating analyses were performed in a three-dimensional matrix, where the theoretical propositions (1) and (2) formed a skeleton of the matrix and empirical data from the main case studies constitutes the third dimension.The research first derived general findings on land, conflict and post-conflict contexts and, finally, specific findings were presented as in the framework for rebuilding post-conflict states grouped as: institutional weaknesses, economic and social problems, and serious security problems.Main findings from this research lead to conclusion that the identified interventions in land administration can be seen as facilitators of post-conflict state building.
The paper analyzes legal issues associated with application of existing contract law provisions to so-called Smart contracts, defined in the paper as “agreements existing in the form of software code implemented on the Blockchain platform, which ensures autonomy and self-executive nature of Smart contract terms based on predetermined set of factors”. The paper consists of several sections. In the first section, the paper outlines peculiarities of Blockchain technology as currently implemented in Bitcoin cryptocurrency and which forms the core of Smart contracts. In the second section, the main characteristic features of Smart contracts are described. Finally, the paper outlines key tensions between classic contract law and Smart contracts.. The conclusion section sets the core question for analysis of the perspectives of implementation of this technology by governments: “How to align the powers of the government with Blockchain if there is no central authority but only distributed technologies”. The author suggests two solutions, which are not optimal: 1) providing the state authorities with the status of a Superuser with extra powers and 2) relying on traditional remedies and enforcement practices, by pursuing specific individuals – parties to Smart contract - in offline mode. It is emphasized that those jurisdictions, which have the most Blockchain-friendly regulations will have competitive advantage in attraction of new innovative business models and companies willing to exploit them in a legal way.
The reform of intergovernmental fiscal relations and budget required the development and approval of a significant number of regulations. This is due to the fact that each of the new organizational and legal forms (treasury, budget (public institutions of a new type) and autonomous institutions) have to be very essential features of the legal status of institutions, and the specifics of conducting basic and income-generating activities. Reforming the budget system of Russia is carried out for decades, but despite all efforts, the public sector is one of the weakest and most fragile sectors of the economy. Fiscal reforms are carried out on the Russian way «optimal decentralization», whose principles and concepts were borrowed from contemporary European experience of reforming the management of public finances. This concept involves the creation of a stable interest and incentives for all participants in the budget process to achieve specific, measurable and socially significant results.
Bitcoin is the world's first decentralized digital currency. According to Lawrence Lessig, cryptography is "the most important technological breakthrough in the last one thousand years" and will be transformative. Bitcoin, capitalizing on cryptography, is a revolutionary digital currency protocol--a software system capable of tracking financial transactions without the need for a third party intermediary. The Bitcoin software is a "community-driven open source project released under an MIT license.” This paper begins by briefly reviewing the mechanics of Bitcoin in Section I. Section II then surveys the rapidly expanding uses of Bitcoin, as well as the emerging application of Bitcoin. Since all new technologies face risk and downside, Section III will address a few of the risks and the highly publicized dark side of Bitcoin. Finally, Section IV will break down how the various governments have initially assessed this new technology and discuss policy implications going forward, as well as touch on the parameters for a twenty-first century regulatory framework by addressing emerging legal and policy issues. As the implementation of Bitcoin and other digital currencies continues, public policy makers should be encouraged to step back and assess the impact of the nascent technology prior to implementing regulatory schemes based upon pre-existing laws based upon outdated assumptions. The multiple applications of the emerging technology suggests policymakers take an innovative approach and adopt public policies and legal frameworks that accommodate the entire scope of its application. The new public policy formulates a regulatory scheme based upon a holistic understanding of the full range of characteristics of Bitcoin and digital currencies. Policymakers, starting with U.S. Congress and state legislatures, should develop public policies that recognize Bitcoin and digital currencies as possessing all of the following characteristics: currencies, payment systems, commodities, properties, investments, systems of commerce, and even systems of contracts. As this dynamic Smartmoney emerges, so emerges the requirement for a new innovative approach to laws and regulations: smart government.