Blockchain Papers

Jiyu Zhang, Zhang Wen-ke

No abstract is available for this record.

Christian Twigg‐Flesner

INTRODUCTION Much has been said about the effect of disruptive technology on business. In this contribution, an attempt is made to consider, in general terms, the implications of ‘disruptive technology’ for the law, particularly contract law. The particular disruptive technology focused on in this contribution is more of a ‘disruptive development’: the so-called digital revolution, and the new business opportunities and production methods which have emerged from the increasing digitalisation of so many activities, not least by utilising the potential of the Internet combined with smart-technology. These developments undoubtedly pose interesting challenges for contract law, particularly established paradigms forming the basis of many legal rules. This analysis begins by exploring the notion of disruptive technology, before considering the general challenges for, and possible responses by, the law as a result of new developments in technology or business practice. It will then highlight the main novelties of the digital revolution and turn to some of the specific legal issues which the digital revolution seems to create and consider potential legal responses. The key argument of this contribution is that there is a danger of rushing towards introducing new legal rules in response to new developments without rigorous consideration of the specific issues for both businesses and consumers which are created by things such as the digital revolution. Once these issues have been fully scoped, any legal responses need to be calibrated carefully so as to deal with these issues in a focused manner – there is a risk that, in the rush to provide a legal response, more problems might be created than solved. DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY Before considering the impact of the digital revolution on contract law, a few words should be said about the meaning of ‘disruptive technology’, a term used frequently in this context. This notion has gained prominence in the writings of Clayton Christensen, and focuses on the way technological developments can affect the way existing business models operate. In brief, Christensen distinguishes between two types of technological evolution: first, there is ‘sustaining technology’, by which he means technology which is evolving gradually or simply improving established technologies, particularly their performance. In contrast, ‘disruptive technology’ is a new type of technology, which, when first introduced, might be less reliable than established technologies, but will become reliable rapidly.

Michael Bacina

Lawyers in practice today live in a world of ongoing disruption. As automation, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology assists in reducing the costs of business transactions and increases the reliability of record keeping, the adoption of smart contracts is an opportunity for lawyers to help their clients improve efficiency and to reduce the scope for disputes, and a challenge for lawyers who do not stay abreast of this area.

Jeremy Barnett, Philip Treleaven

Legal Services industries are entering a period of major disruption caused by new legal technologies (LawTech), such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain. An area already undergoing major innovation is alternative dispute resolution (Alternative Dispute Resolution (2017) Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_dispute_resolution), especially automated online dispute resolution (Online Dispute Resolution (2017) Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_dispute_resolution; Katsh, E. and Rifkin, J. (2001) Online Dispute Resolution: Resolving Conflicts in Cyberspace. Jossey-Bass Wiley, New Jersey). In terms of LawTech, we broadly divide online dispute resolution into (a) Consumer ODR—uses technology to facilitate the resolution of disputes between ecommerce parties, typically online suppliers and consumers; (b) Judicial ODR—covers any means of settling ‘ordinary’ disputes where there is a hearing (using technology) but outside of the courtroom, such as divorce or personal injury cases; and what we refer to as (c) Corporate ODR—the use of technology to manage the resolution of any contractual disputes that may emerge from major multi-partner projects or financial transactions. This paper focuses on ODR and specifically the future use of automating anticipatory Corporate dispute resolution using AI and blockchain technologies. The paper describes the legal sector, and how it is being radically transformed by computer science.

Karin Sein

JIPITEC 8 (2017) 2 - The European Commission’s approach in the “Proposal of Digital Content Directive” to regulate digital content contracts based on the object, rather than the type of contract, has led to a situation where a component of a product (the embedded digital content) can end up being subject to a contractual regime different from that applicable to the rest of the “smart” product. Different solutions have been proposed to solve this situation: firstly, one could apply goods rules to the whole product, including embedded digital content; alternatively, one could use split rules and subject the hardware of the product to goods rules and embedded digital content to digital content rules. One could even imagine subjecting the whole good to the digital content rules – an approach that would mean a major shift for the existing sales and leasing law. The article discusses the legal consequences of these different options, describes their advantages and disadvantages, and concludes that while there is no ideal solution to be found, the split-approach would be preferable.

Authors unavailable

Headline INTERNATIONAL: Bitcoin faces law enforcement fall-out

Purwono Purwono, Alfian Ma’arif, Wahyu Rahmaniar, Qazi Mazhar ul Haq · 6 authors

Blockchain technology has a promising future in a number of industries and enterprises. Formerly connected to virtual currency like Bitcoin, blockchain has evolved into a versatile technology with many applications. In the upcoming years, it is predicted that blockchain will revolutionize a variety of industries, including banking, supply chain management, healthcare, voting systems, and more. The future of blockchain technology depends critically on its ability to increase security and transparency. By providing a decentralized and unchangeable record, eliminating the need for middlemen, and boosting participant confidence, blockchain promotes secure and traceable transactions. This transparency has the potential to transform whole industries by reducing fraud, streamlining processes, and increasing output. Blockchain also has the power to change financial systems. Blockchain-based smart contracts facilitate faster, more efficient transactions by automating and enforcing contractual agreements without the need for middlemen. By enabling speedier cross-border transactions, reducing costs, and boosting financial inclusion, tokenization and blockchain-based digital currencies have the potential to overturn conventional banking institutions. Blockchain’s key attributes, including decentralization, transparency, immutability, and security, make it a desirable choice for a range of organizations. Cross-border payments, trade finance, and smart contracts are just a few of the financial sector processes that blockchain technology has the potential to enhance and automate, lowering costs and increasing productivity. Additionally, the tamper-resistance of blockchain technology can boost transaction security and reliability, allowing for a wider use in traditional financial institutions. Outside of the financial industry, blockchain technology has a lot of promise, particularly in industries like supply chain management, healthcare, energy, intellectual property, and governance. By enabling transparent and traceable transactions, blockchain may improve supply chain efficiency, ensure product authenticity, and boost customer trust. By facilitating the secure exchange of patient data and research data, the decentralized nature of blockchain technology can enhance data security, interoperability, and privacy in the healthcare sector. A more decentralized and sustainable energy ecosystem may be supported by blockchain technology through peer-to-peer energy exchange, grid management, and monitoring of renewable energy certificates in the energy sector. Additionally, blockchain technology has the potential to transform decentralized governance structures, voting procedures, intellectual property rights, and digital identity management. By allowing people to own and manage their digital identities, blockchain can enhance privacy and reduce identity theft. Blockchain-based voting systems can offer transparency, security, and verifiability, thereby increasing voter turnout and public trust in democratic institutions. Blockchain can also enable the secure and transparent management of intellectual property rights, fostering author credit and just compensation.

Michael Bacina, Katrine Narkiewicz

Lawyers today live in a world of ongoing disruption. As automation, artificial intelligence and block-chain technology assists in reducing the costs of business transactions and increases the reliability of record keeping, the adoption of smart contracts is an opportunity for lawyers to help their clients improve efficiency and reduce the scope for disputes, and a challenge for lawyers who do not stay abreast of this area.

Michael Bacina, Katrine Narkiewicz

Growing use of smart contracts - issues to be addressed when contracts can self-execute based on computer code - reliance on blockchain technology - legal issues for smart contracts in Australia - ...

Angela Guo

No abstract is available for this record.

Daniel Hellwig, Goran Karlic, Arnd Huchzermeier

This chapter looks beyond the novelty of self-executing ‘smart contracts’ in blockchain networks and explores developments against the background fact that commercial parties have, for centuries, used documentary credit to simulate autonomous performance. Blockchain-based smart contracts and documentary credit share three core functionalities which are essential to any effective autonomous performance, analogue or digital—they both (i) act through internalized media of exchange; (ii) operate as closed systems; and (iii) provide means of securing sufficient resources to guarantee contractual performance. Using these three functionalities as a framework, this chapter conducts a comparative analysis of mechanisms for effecting autonomous contractual performance in a commercial setting. From this comparison, a few hypotheses are drawn regarding the potential areas where smart contract technology is more likely to find fruitful application. In particular, the chapter considers potential limitations to applying smart contracts to scenarios beyond digital asset transfers, how dispute resolution mechanisms should be designed to complement (rather impair) the autonomous nature of contractual performance under smart contracts, and potential capital cost implications which might arise in some cases when parties seek to replace human intermediaries with smart contracts.

Jim Mason

Advances in technology have resulted in a fast changing landscape for construction contracts. Lawyers struggle to keep up with the pace of innovation and the need to provide legal solutions and accommodate new approaches. Building Information Modelling (BIM) has become part of the common parlance in construction notwithstanding limited evidence of its impact on the ground... Intelligent contracts appear as a logical extension to BIM whereby the contractual performance itself becomes automated. However, intelligent contracts work best where they are short term or are of instantaneous effect. This is at odds with the complicated and long-running nature of construction projects. Further, storage constraints, compatibility and reliability issues together with confidentiality and the long term nature of distributed ledgers pose additional problems. The aim of this paper is to present the debate about what could be achieved in the construction industry by the adoption of intelligent contracts. An on-line forum provided the secondary data on which the discussion is based. The objectives are to introduce aspects of technological advancement within commerce generally and to discuss their application in construction. The hypothesis advanced is that certain aspects of the construction contract cannot be fully intelligent and the best that can be achieved in the short to medium term is a semi-automated position. Further, intelligent contracts should be viewed as part of the BIM-led revolution in construction and not separate from it. The recommendation is that incremental advances such as the coding of project management and contract administration data be targeted to provide improved operational efficiency and value savings.

Navneet Kaur, Nidhi Chahal, Ritu Dewan, Shikha Singh · 7 authors

Distributed ledger technology, a method of storing and maintaining the integrity of multiple copies of critical data using a massively redundant network of participating machines, has found a “killer application” in blockchain, a type of distributed ledger. A blockchain consists of sequential blocks that may never be modified or reordered, leaving a public, auditable record that is consistent and highly resistant to tampering and deletion. These qualities make blockchain eminently suitable for its most common use, cryptocurrency, and its occasional variants in the form of cryptocurrency tokens, used to represent ownership or some other right to virtual or physical goods and capabilities. Blockchain also enables smart contracts, discrete bodies of software written to serve both as the memorial and the means of execution of an agreement between parties. Smart contracts can have all the elements of a traditional contract, and as jurisdictions legislate or jurists rule on the fine points of enforceability and the acceptability of smart contracts as traditional contracts, applications in nearly every area of commerce have emerged. Digital lawyers may not need to become software developers, but deepening their understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the technology, developing a keen awareness of the issues at the intersection between code and the law, as well as the law’s readiness in this area, will be of great advantage to them and their clients in this rapidly evolving area at the intersection of technology, commerce and law.

Wulf A. Kaal, Craig Calcaterra

No abstract is available for this record.

Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen

No abstract is available for this record.

Karen Yeung

No abstract is available for this record.

Alexander Savelyev

No abstract is available for this record.

Christopher D. Clack, Vikram A. Bakshi, Lee Braine

Smart Contract Templates support legally-enforceable smart contracts, using operational parameters to connect legal agreements to standardised code. In this paper, we explore the design landscape of potential formats for storage and transmission of smart legal agreements. We identify essential requirements and describe a number of key design options, from which we envisage future development of standardised formats for defining and manipulating smart legal agreements. This provides a preliminary step towards supporting industry adoption of legally-enforceable smart contracts.

Christopher D. Clack, Vikram A. Bakshi, Lee Braine

In this position paper, we consider some foundational topics regarding smart\ncontracts (such as terminology, automation, enforceability, and semantics) and\ndefine a smart contract as an automatable and enforceable agreement. We explore\na simple semantic framework for smart contracts, covering both operational and\nnon-operational aspects, and describe templates and agreements for\nlegally-enforceable smart contracts, based on legal documents. Building upon\nthe Ricardian Contract, we identify operational parameters in the legal\ndocuments and use these to connect legal agreements to standardised code. We\nalso explore the design landscape, including increasing sophistication of\nparameters, increasing use of common standardised code, and long-term research.\n

Ahmet Shala

No abstract is available for this record.

Riikka Koulu

By Riikka Koulu. As cross-border online transactions increase the issue of cross-border dispute resolution and enforcement becomes more and more topical. Disputes arising from e-commerce are seldom taken into the public courts and therefore online dispute resolution (ODR) is becoming a mainstream solution for resolving them. Simultaneously, different applications and possibilities of blockchain technologies such as cryptocurrencies have caught the attention of both computer scientists and legal scholars, increasingly gaining momentum. However, the potential of blockchains reach further than their use as a currency: they can be used for the decentralised execution of programmable contracts known as smart contracts, completely without the need for intermediaries like e-commerce sites, credit card companies or courts. These possibilities have not previously been discussed in relation to dispute resolution. This article provides an introduction to this new technological possibility by examining self-executing smart contracts that utilise novel blockchain technologies. To demonstrate the logic behind smart contracts more concretely, a weather bet (i.e. a bet on what the weather is going to be in a given location) is translated into a programmable smart contract and then discussed in lines of code with further explanations. In addition to this, the author suggests that smart contracts could also be employed for the purposes of dispute resolution, which might provide a solution for the problem of enforcing ODR decisions. Instead of normative analysis, the article provides an introductory analysis of the legal implications that the blockchain technology has outside its application as virtual currency.

Joël Emery

No abstract is available for this record.

Javier Prenafeta Rodríguez

Los «contratos inteligentes» se conciben como codigo informatico que contiene instrucciones para ejecutar pactos entre usuarios, ofreciendo una solucion tecnologicamente segura y con numerosas ventajas y aplicaciones. No obstante, no estan exentos de problematica cuando tratamos de encajarlo en el sistema tradicional del derecho contractual, y sus beneficios se convierten en limitaciones.

Siddharth Misra, Vishal Kashyap, Poonacha K.B., Arjun Mukund · 5 authors

Tema ovog rada su kriptovalute. Budući da većina ljudi nije pravodobno upoznata s ovom temom, ovaj rad prikazuje i opisuje kriptovalute te način na koji se upotrjebljuju u svakodnevnom životu. Kriptovalute (eng. cryptocurrency) digitalne su valute dizajnirane kao sredstvo razmjene. Poznate su po tome što su državne agencije i banke isključene iz procesa razmjene. Kriptovalute omogućuju jednostavnu, jeftinu i brzu transakciju na području cijeloga svijeta. Trenutno najisplativije kriptovalute su Bitcoin i Ethereum, a u radu je opisana njihova korisnost, prednosti i mane. Budući da se Bitcoinu predviđa uspješna budućnost i sve je prisutniji i prihvatljiviji na tržištu, u radu su navedeni primjeri iz Hrvatske koji to potvrđuju. Sve veći broj poduzetnika odlučuje se za uvođenje kriptovaluta. U primjerima je obuhvaćen širok spektar djelatnosti, od frizerskih usluga, preko raznih tvrtki koji se bave prodajom računalne opreme, ugostiteljskih usluga preko mogućnosti brzog i lakog podizana gotovine na kripto bankomatima pa sve do plaćanja komunalnih usluga, pa čak i humanitarno djelovanje. Mnogi smatraju da su kriptovalute samo sinonim za prijevare i pranje novca, no programeri tvrde da su kriptovalute samo jedna vrsta tehnologije, alat koji sam po sebi ne može biti ni dobar ni loš, ovisno o tome za što se koristi. Autor ovoga rada proveo je istraživanje o tome kako se može besplatno započeti trgovanje kriptovalutama te je anketom ispitao stavove ispitanika o implementaciji kriptovaluta u društvu.