Full Description
Less than a decade after the Financial Crisis, we are witnessing the fast emergence of a new financial order driven by three different, yet interconnected, dynamics: first, the rapid application of technology - such as big data, machine learning, and distributed computing - to banking, lending, and investing, in particular with the emergence of virtual currencies and digital finance; second, a disintermediation fuelled by the rise of peer-to-peer lending platforms and crowd investment which challenge the traditional banking model and may, over time, lead to a transformation of the way both retail and corporate customers bank; and, third, a tendency of de-bureaucratisation under which new platforms and technologies challenge established organisational patterns that regulate finance and manage the money supply.
These changes are to a significant degree driven by the development of blockchain technology. The aim of this book is to understand the technological and business potential of the blockchain technology and to reflect on its legal challenges. The book mainly focuses on the challenges blockchain technology has so far faced in its first application in the areas of virtual money and finance, as well as those that it will inevitably face (and is partially already facing, as the SEC Investigative Report of June 2017 and an ongoing SEC securities fraud investigation show) as its domain of application expands in other fields of economic activity such as smart contracts and initial coin offerings. The book provides an unparalleled critical analysis of the disruptive potential of this technology for the economy and the legal system and contributes to current thinking on the role of law in harvesting and shaping innovation.
Contents
Philipp Hacker, Ioannis Lianos, Georgios Dimitropoulos and Stefan Eich: Regulating Blockchain: Techno-Social and Legal Challenges - An Introduction
Part I: Technological and Business Challenges of Blockchain Technology
1: Paolo Tasca and Riccardo Piselli: The Blockchain Paradox
2: Aaron Wright and Jonathan Rohr: Blockchains, Private Ordering and The Future of Governance
3: Angela Walch: In Code(rs) We Trust: Software Developers as Fiduciaries in Public Blockchains
Part II: Blockchain and the Future of Money
4: Stefan Eich: Old Utopias, New Tax Havens: The Politics of Bitcoin in Historical Perspective
5: Claus D. Zimmermann: Monetary Policy in the Digital Age
6: Georgios Dimitropoulos: Global Currencies and Domestic Regulation: Embedding through Enabling?
7: Philipp Hacker: Corporate Governance for Complex Cryptocurrencies? A Framework for Stability and Decision Making in Blockchain-Based Organizations
Part III: Blockchain and the Future of Banking, Finance, Insurance and Securities Regulation
8: Rohan Grey: Banking in a Digital Fiat Currency Regime
9: Jonathan Greenacre: Regulating the Shadow Payment System: Bitcoin, Mobile Money and Beyond
10: Michael Abramowicz: Blockchain-Based Insurance
11: Alexandros Seretakis: Blockchain, Securities Markets and Central Banking
12: Philipp Hacker and Chris Thomale: The Crypto-Security: Initial Coin Offerings and EU Securities Regulation
13: Houman Shadab: Regulation of Blockchain Token Sales in the United States
Part IV: Beyond Finance: Blockchain as a legal and regulatory challenge
14: Agnieszka Janczuk-Gorywoda: Blockchain and Payment Systems: A Tale about Re-Intermediation
15: Florian Möslein: Conflicts of Laws and Codes: Defining the Boundaries of Digital Jurisdictions
16: Pietro Ortolani: The Judicialisation of Blockchain
17: Roger Brownsword: Smart Contracts: Coding the Transaction, Decoding the Legal Debates
Part V: Connecting the Dots: Competitive Advantage and Regulation in the Era of Blockchain
18: Ioannis Lianos: Blockchain Competition. Gaining Competitive Advantage in the Digital Economy: Competition Law Implications
