Research Catalog

Title

The blockchain and the new architecture of trust / Kevin Werbach.

Author

Werbach, Kevin

Publication

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2018]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 322 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

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.

Series Statement

Information policy series

Uniform Title

Information policy series.

Subject

• Electronic funds transfers
• Blockchains (Databases)
• Bitcoin
• Trust
• Finance > Technological innovations

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-304) and index.

Contents

Introduction: The parable of the tree -- I. A revolution in nine pages. The trust challenge ; Satoshi's solution ; More than money ; Why Blockchain? -- II. Ledgers meet law. Unpacking blockchain trust ; What could possibly go wrong? ; Blockchain governance ; Blockchain as/and law ; We're from the government, and we're here to help -- III. Building the decentralized future. Connecting the legal and the technical ; An unpredictable certainty ; Conclusion.

Call Number

JFE 19-8103

ISBN

• 9780262038935
• 0262038935

LCCN

• 2018011211
• 40028643446

OCLC

1029064460

Author

Werbach, Kevin, author.

Title

The blockchain and the new architecture of trust / Kevin Werbach.

Publisher

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2018]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Information policy series

Information policy series.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-304) and index.

Other Standard Identifier

40028643446

Research Call Number

JFE 19-8103