Law and Technology - Blockchain and Virtual Currency

"7.60bData has been conceptualized as the 'new oil' and although this is a flawed statement, it catches well the high value attached to data as a driver of economic growth and innovation, and as a force of change in all facets of societal life. The implications of data and data analytics are multiple and some of them can be far-reaching. At a micro-level, for instance, the value of data changes the traditional relationship between consumers and producers. While in the past, companies sold products to their customers in return for money and some negligible data, 'today, transactions and indeed every interaction with a consumer produce valuable information. Sometimes the data itself is so valuable that companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and many others are willing to offer free services in order to obtain it'. Data has also become essential in terms of competition and market power. Some firms, like Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft or Baidu, have had a sizeable first-mover advantage in the field and become 'analytics leaders', while at the same time establishing themselves as some of the most valuable companies in the world, as they benefit from double-sided markets. The capacity to handle data has increasingly turned into a competitive advantage not only for companies but also for countries and plays out as a power move in the global political economy. For instance, China unveiled in 2016 that it is in possession of the world's fastest supercomputer, which was 40 times more powerful than the fastest computer of 2010, only to be overcome by the United States in the following years by two IBM-built supercomputers. The ongoing battle between China and the US with regard to 5G dominance is equally revealing. Overall, companies as well as governments are increasingly encouraged to use the potential of data and to mobilize their resources aptly, so as to make the data-driven economy real f7.60"-- Provided by publisher.

"This book in the Library Futures Series examines blockchain technology, a concept with far-reaching implications for the future of record keeping"-- Provided by publisher

Since Bitcoin appeared in 2009, the digital currency has been hailed as an Internet marvel and decried as the preferred transaction vehicle for all manner of criminals. It has left nearly everyone without a computer science degree confused: Just how do you ?mine? money from ones and zeros? The answer lies in a technology called blockchain, which can be used for much more than Bitcoin. A general-purpose tool for creating secure, decentralized, peer-to-peer applications, blockchain technology has been compared to the Internet itself in both form and impact. Some have said this tool may change society as we know it. Blockchains are being used to create autonomous computer programs known as ?smart contracts,? to expedite payments, to create financial instruments, to organize the exchange of data and information, and to facilitate interactions between humans and machines. The technology could affect governance itself, by supporting new organizational structures that promote more democratic and participatory decision making. Primavera De Filippi and Aaron Wright acknowledge this potential and urge the law to catch up. That is because disintermediation?a blockchain's greatest asset?subverts critical regulation. By cutting out middlemen, such as large online operators and multinational corporations, blockchains run the risk of undermining the capacity of governmental authorities to supervise activities in banking, commerce, law, and other vital areas. De Filippi and Wright welcome the new possibilities inherent in blockchains. But as Blockchain and the Law makes clear, the technology cannot be harnessed productively without new rules and new approaches to legal thinking. Source: Syndetics

How the blockchain-a system built on foundations of mutual mistrust-can become trustworthy.The blockchain entered the world on January 3, 2009, introducing an innovative new trust architecture: an environment in which users trust a system-for example, a shared ledger of information-without necessarily trusting any of its components. The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is the most famous implementation of the blockchain, but hundreds of other companies have been founded and billions of dollars invested in similar applications since Bitcoin's launch. Some see the blockchain as offering more opportunities for criminal behavior than benefits to society. In this book, Kevin Werbach shows how a technology resting on foundations of mutual mistrust can become trustworthy. The blockchain, built on open software and decentralized foundations that allow anyone to participate, seems like a threat to any form of regulation. In fact, Werbach argues, law and the blockchain need each other. Blockchain systems that ignore law and governance are likely to fail, or to become outlaw technologies irrelevant to the mainstream economy. That, Werbach cautions, would be a tragic waste of potential. If, however, we recognize the blockchain as a kind of legal technology, which shapes behavior in new ways, it can be harnessed to create tremendous business and social value

"In Blockchain democracy, William Magnuson provides a ... tour of the world of blockchain and bitcoin, from their origins in the online scribblings of a shadowy figure named Satoshi Nakamoto, to their furious rise and dramatic crash in the 2010s, to their ignominious connections to the dark web and online crime. Magnuson argues that blockchain's popularity stands as a testament both to the depth of distrust of government today, and also to the fervent and undying belief that technology and the world of cyberspace can provide an answer. He demonstrates how blockchain's failings provide broader lessons about what happens when technology runs up against the stubborn realities of law, markets, and human nature"--Back cover.

The product of a unique collaboration between academic scholars, legal practitioners, and technology experts, this Handbook is the first of its kind to analyze the ongoing evolution of smart contracts, based upon blockchain technology, from the perspective of existing legal frameworks - namely, contract law. The book's coverage ranges across many areas of smart contracts and electronic or digital platforms to illuminate the impact of new, and often disruptive, technologies on the law. With a mix of scholarly commentary and practical application, chapter authors provide expert insights on the core issues involving the use of smart contracts, concluding that smart contracts cannot supplant contract law and the courts, but leaving open the question of whether there is a need for specialized regulations to prevent abuse. This book should be read by anyone interested in the disruptive effect of new technologies on the law generally, and contract law in particular. Source:Syndetics

"Crypto Finance, Law and Regulation investigates whether crypto-finance will cause a paradigm shift in regulation from a centralised model to a model based on distributed consensus. This book explores the emergence of a decentralised and disintermediated crypto-market and investigates the way in which it can transform the financial markets. It examines three components of the financial market - technology, finance, and the law - and shows how their interrelationship dictates the structure of a crypto-market. It focuses on regulators' enforcement policies and their jurisdiction over crypto-finance operators and participants. The book also discusses the latest developments in crypto-finance, and the advantages and disadvantages of crypto-currency as an alternative payment product. It also investigates how such a decentralised crypto-finance system can provide access to finance, promote a shared economy, and allow access to justice. By exploring the law, regulation and governance of crypto-finance from a national, regional and global viewpoint, the book provides a fascinating and comprehensive overview of this important topic and will appeal to students, scholars and practitioners interested in regulation, finance and the law"-- Provided by publisher.

"Digital Technologies and the Law of Obligations critically examines the emergence of new digital technologies and the challenges they pose to the traditional law of obligations, and discusses the extent to which existing contract and tort law rules and doctrines are equipped to meet these new challenges. This book covers various contract and tort law issues raised by emerging technologies - including distributed ledger technology, blockchain-based smart contracts, and artificial intelligence - as well as by the evolution of the internet into a participative web fuelled by user-generated content, and by the rise of the modern-day collaborative economy facilitated by digital technologies. Chapters address these topics from the perspective of both the common law and the civil law tradition. While mostly focused on the current state of affairs and recent debates and initiatives within the European Union regulatory framework, contributors also discuss the central themes from the perspective of the national law of obligations, examining the adaptability of existing legal doctrines to contemporary challenges, addressing the occasional legislative attempts to deal with the private law aspects of these challenges, and pointing to issues where legislative interventions would be most welcomed. Case studies are drawn from the United States, Singapore, and other parts of the common law world. Digital Technologies and the Law of Obligations will be of interest to legal scholars and researchers in the fields of contract law, tort law, and digital law, as well as to legal practitioners and members of law reform bodies"--Source: Syndetics

What new directions in China''s digital economy mean for us all China is the largest homogenous digital market on Earth: unified by language, culture, and mobile payments. Not only a consumer market of unrivaled size, it''s also a vast and hyperactive innovation ecosystem for new technologies. And as China''s digital economy moves from a consumer-focused phase to an enterprise-oriented one, Chinese companies are rushing to capitalize on ways the newer wave of tech--the Internet of Things, AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and data analytics (iABCD)--can unlock value for their businesses from non-traditional angles. In China''s Data Economy , Winston Ma--investment professional, capital markets attorney, adjunct professor of digital economy, and bestselling author--details the profound global implications of this new direction, including how Chinese apps for services such as food delivery expand so quickly they surpass their U.S. models within a couple of years, and how the sheer scale and pace of Chinese innovation might lead to an AI arms race in which China and the U.S. vie aggressively for leadership. How China''s younger netizens participate in their evolving digital economy as consumers, creators, and entrepreneurs Why Online/Office (OMO, Online-merge-with-Offline) integration is viewed as the natural next step on from the O2O (Online-to-Offline) model used in the rest of the world The ways in which traditional Chinese industries such as retail, banking, and insurance are innovating to stay in the game What emerging markets can learn from China as they leapfrog past the personal computer age altogether, diving straight into the mobile-first economy Anyone interested in what''s next for Chinese digital powerhouses--investors, governments, entrepreneurs, international business players--will find this an essential guide to what lies ahead as China''s flexes new digital muscles to create new forms of value and challenge established tech giants across the world.Source: Syndetic

This groundbreaking work offers a first-of-its-kind overview of legal informatics, the academic discipline underlying the technological transformation and economics of the legal industry. Edited by Daniel Martin Katz, Ron Dolin, and Michael J. Bommarito, and featuring contributions from more than two dozen academic and industry experts, chapters cover the history and principles of legal informatics and background technical concepts - including natural language processing and distributed ledger technology. The volume also presents real-world case studies that offer important insights into document review, due diligence, compliance, case prediction, billing, negotiation and settlement, contracting, patent management, legal research, and online dispute resolution. Written for both technical and non-technical readers, Legal Informatics is the ideal resource for anyone interested in identifying, understanding, and executing opportunities in this exciting field.
Source: Syndetic