Blockchain Technology and the Decentralized Future of Regulation

    Press/Media: Expert CommentProfessional

    Description

    Advancements in the digital domain, for example, in blockchain technology, big data, and machine learning, are increasingly shaping the lives of individuals, groups, organizations, and societies. These developments call for effective governance to protect the basic interests and needs of these actors. Simultaneously, the very nature of governance is also changing. Policy-making is increasingly moving away from top-down governance by the state toward more horizontal modes of governance. This change is in part caused by new forms of digital communication, such as social media, and new forms of digital decision making and contracting, such as through blockchain technology. In addition, the power balance particularly in the digital domain has shifted from state agencies towards tech companies, who provide these digital solutions, and other digital interest groups and actors. Power relations become more networked and relational than ever before. This new form of understanding and exerting power and control online and offline (or on-chain and off-chain) is yet to be conceptualized.

    Period30-Mar-2020

    Media contributions

    1

    Media contributions

    Keywords

    • Blockchain
    • Governance
    • Cyber-governance
    • Social Network Analysis