Volume 6, Issue 1 to Volume 1, Issue 1

ESG in general and an agenda focused on sustainability in particular can and should be applied to taxation to ameliorate the impact of the crypto industry on society and the planet.

Blockchain games and their characteristics open new conversations on novel ways of addressing the wealth gap and income inequality, exploring property ownership possibilities, and encouraging the blurring of work and play culture.

By dispelling blockchain misconceptions, highlighting the code in certain NFT smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, and probing the concept of ownership through the lens of IP law, we can demystify what NFT “ownership” really means for both creators and NFT holders.

This Article explores the question of what, if any, of the copyrights to tokenized works should be transferred or licensed to NFT purchasers, and clarifies issues of copyright transfer and licensing in the world of NFTs and blockchains.

The Author proposes an effect-based jurisdiction rule limited by a de minimis exception to mitigate blockchain’s impact on conduct-based jurisdiction rules, enhance legal certainty, and promote international coordination.

With respect to DeFi, this Article highlights ambiguities inhabiting legacy disclosure obligations and offers a conceptual roadmap for assisting developers and regulators. Furthermore, it introduces a series of crypto-native tools to modernize disclosure delivery in DeFi systems.

In this Article, we have found the distinction between public and private investment capital, seen why the public and private sectors must manage their own shares of the aggregate, and designed a full architecture (including digital P2P Citizen & Business wallets) to enable that.

The application of blockchain in supply chain logistics in a way that benefits both the Global North and the Global South requires making blockchain technology accessible to Global South participants and implementing measures to reduce the potential for exploitation.

The Author's NFT projects show how NFTs are de facto securities, reflect on the history of securities art, investigate what it means to own an NFT, and illustrate the copyright puzzles posed by NFTs.

This paper explores why we need to think differently about the oversight of cryptoassets to avoid the costs of incrementalism, and proposes how we might develop a more meaningful regulatory response that better engages with blockchain’s fundamental characteristics.

Through empirical and policy analysis, this Article explores a fundamental disconnect between the statutory objectives of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the actual outcome of its policies in digital-asset markets.

The Authors present a critical assessment of ODR+ mechanisms to settle Belt & Road Initiative disputes (primarily smart courts and smart contracts).

Direct legal regulation is not the most efficient primary tool for regulating DEX protocols. Code is. When DEX protocol’s architecture falls short is when the law should step in to supplement code in order to shape behavior to ensure maximum public value for minimum public cost.

The use of distributed ledger technology-based tools and smart contracts for customs compliance purposes subjects the idea of a “declarant” or “declaration” to potential re-characterization.

The AsicBoost patent controversy led to the creation of the Blockchain Defensive Patent License and may also have influenced the creation of the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance.

The Author explores the nature of DAOs and highlights several areas where states and regulators can adapt existing legal regimes to potentially accommodate DAOs. Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

The existing governance arrangements in the Bitcoin network have been largely successful in dealing with major crises that would have otherwise become existential threats to it. Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

The interplay of RegTech and SupTech should be at the forefront of regulatory activity in the near future. The Authors examine the challenges of relevant blockchain proposals. Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

Via a study of digital sovereignty and its blockchain interactions, this paper shows the tensions and frictions born from the last twenty years of the Internet’s evolution. Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

This paper reviews the main theoretical principles underlying the nascent field of decentralized justice and the early empirical experience in real life use cases. Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

These concluding remarks aim at following up on the presentations that took place at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg by clarifying three closely related philosophical and anthropological issues that emerged during the seminars.

The Authors assess the contributions of stablecoins, then the macroeconomic risks they generate, and finally, the responses that these risks merit.

On-chain DAO governance enables dynamic regulatory features that facilitate unprecedented decentralized regulatory solutions. Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

Blockchain technology can address the main problems with the current intermediated proxy voting and engagement systems. Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

The Author inquires, "How should a DAO be apprehended by a legal system?" Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

Mathematical certainty and certainty with respect to some technologies are able to sustain and produce particular relations within a state. Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

Blockchain technologies are operating as useful supplements within the Chinese judicial system. Part of the Blockchain & Procedural Law seminars (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law).

Regulators need to cooperate with other stakeholders including the engineering community, businesses and users to achieve regulatory goals, and should establish a multi-stakeholder governance mechanism for the coming blockchain-based financial ecosystem.

While centrality has been a useful and hitherto inevitable nexus point for regulatory agencies, the prospect of alternative decentralized environments signals a need to reconsider how regulatory oversight can work to service its intended functions.

The Author proposes a specific use for Treasury-issued ‘Digital Greenbacks’ and TreasuryDirect Digital Wallets -- equitable distribution as ‘Treasury Growth Dividends’ under normal circumstances, and deployment as a countercyclical policy lever under abnormal circumstances.

The tax treatment of cryptocurrency forks presents unique challenges. This Article provides evidence that each issue complicates the determination of income realization, or basis apportionment. We compare three existing approaches for assets acquired without a purchase.

The Authors lay out Libra’s design concept, the problems it seeks to solve, and the potential implications of its successful launch on the redesign of the global tax system that is already in progress.

Regulators need to cooperate with other stakeholders including the engineering community, businesses and users to achieve regulatory goals, and should establish a multi-stakeholder governance mechanism for the coming blockchain-based financial ecosystem.

Defining the relationship between blockchain-based smart contracts and secured transactions law would situate emerging market activity in relation to a major category of private-law rules that express longstanding policy choices.

The Authors introduce First Order Principles for stable cryptocurrencies. The core design features and their interoperative feedback effects revolve around: (1) burning coins through bonds vs. reserves, (2) transaction vs. holding taxes, (3) repegging, and (4) governance.

The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shows an openness to further developments and the evolution of money and currency. Even if the Libra project fails, the technological concept must be considered separately.

This Essay focuses on the admissibility of digital evidence in courts with an emphasis on blockchain evidence. After comparing recognition criteria for courts in China, the US, and European countries, it describes how to best address the challenges identified.

With respect to the incentives and operations of prominent public blockchains, the role played by core developers in the governance of these networks does not exhibit the structural dynamics that warrant the imposition of fiduciary duty for the benefit of cryptoasset holders.

Blockchain could enable the tracking of share ownership through the complete settlement cycle, enhancing the “shareholder democracy” of listed companies.

Fintech utopians are right that our money is changing, but wrong about what change will look like. It will look like a digital dollar administered by a "Citizens’ Fed."

Digital technologies can contribute to better-targeted regulation to coordinate behavior and reduce risks. They may in particular reduce costs of regulation where it is over- and under-inclusive thus far due to a lack of monitoring, data crunching and predictive capabilities.

This Essay highlights the preliminary guidance issued by the French Data Protection Authority on the interplay between the GDPR and blockchain technology. It also provides a snapshot of the reflection conducted at the European level as of March 2019.

In the context of IP-heavy industries, blockchain and related distributed ledger technology offer obvious possibilities for evidencing IP protection and registration, either at the registry stage or in court during infringement proceedings.

This Article is an exploration of the similarities and differences, for lawyers, not just of language and code, but also those aspects of human thinking and interaction that will continue to be the most difficult to replicate on a machine.

The goal of this Essay is to explain the architectural structure of decentralized exchanges, and the performance and security tradeoffs associated with various architectural choices.

This Essay discusses the development of taxonomies that seek to map digital assets onto existing financial markets laws as a means of assisting regulatory clarity.

Given the IRS’s steady shift to a more holistic tax enforcement approach, the Author believes that the IRS is likely to take a broad-based approach to cryptocurrency tax enforcement.

Hirschman’s Exit/Voice conception shines explanatory light on stakeholder responses in firms and states in moments of decline. We apply it here to the Bitcoin blockchain, where it illuminates strange and unencountered qualities of the reactive choices open to varied stakeholders.

The Author codes the regulatory responses of the top 25 ICO jurisdictions in the world and provides a comparative analysis of their respective regulatory actions.