Architecture-Driven Blockchain Governance (Perspectives in Law, Business and Innovation) [9789819213498]

Overview

This book provides a groundbreaking architecture-driven approach to blockchain governance, arguing that regulations must preserve blockchain's decentralized design to foster innovation and competition. Drawing parallels between blockchain and Internet architecture, the work demonstrates how blockchain's end-to-end principle creates an environment conducive to innovation by decentralizing the creative process and placing it into the hands of diverse users.

The work comprehensively analyzes blockchain technology from its ideological foundations in the cypherpunk movement through the Global Financial Crisis to contemporary Web 3.0 applications. It examines regulatory challenges posed by decentralization, immutability, and pseudonymity, while exploring how blockchain networks create autonomous legal orders that coexist with traditional state law through a pluralistic lens.

The book critically assesses existing regulatory approaches—including wait-and-see strategies, self-regulation, government regulation, and hybrid models—evaluating their effectiveness in achieving regulatory objectives while respecting blockchain's architecture. It proposes blockchain neutrality principles as a concrete implementation of architecture-preserving governance, analogous to network neutrality in Internet regulation.

This work fills a crucial gap in blockchain scholarship by moving beyond cryptocurrency regulation to address the broader implications of blockchain as infrastructure for decentralized applications. It provides essential guidance for regulators, policymakers, legal scholars, and blockchain developers navigating the complex intersection of technology, law, and governance in the emerging Web 3.0 era.