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Blockchain and the law - legality, law-like characteristics, and legal applications

In: The Economics of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

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  • Eric Alston

Abstract

Because of the range of potential applications of blockchain, the technology has a complex relationship with the law. As a novel and economically significant form of organization, blockchain's intersection with the law tends to involve one of three things. First, when describing the most salient application of the technology - to develop and secure cryptocurrency networks - the question tends to deal with the legal status of a given cryptocurrency. Second, blockchains themselves have important law-like characteristics in terms of their effects in constraining and incentivizing network participants to act in the interest of network users. Third, blockchains have several potentially transformative legal applications in terms of facilitating smart contracts and more complex associational forms. In this chapter I detail each of these distinct relationships between blockchain and the law in order to clarify the legal space for blockchain scholars and protocol designers.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Alston, 2022. "Blockchain and the law - legality, law-like characteristics, and legal applications," Chapters, in: James L. Caton (ed.), The Economics of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, chapter 7, pages 117-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:20524_7
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