The Disrupted Society: mapping the societal effects of blockchain technology diffusion

Project Information

BLOCKCHAINSOCIETY

Grant agreement ID: 759681

DOI 10.3030/759681

Closed project

Start date 1 January 2018

End date 30 June 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost € 1 499 631,00

EU contribution € 1 499 631,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - BLOCKCHAINSOCIETY (The Disrupted Society: mapping the societal effects of blockchain technology diffusion)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Blockchain technologies were subject to much hype in the last few years. The aim of this project is to give a fair and hype-free assessment of the technical innovations under the umbrella-term 'blockchain'. We study the long term innovations in the domain, and the long term societal and policy challenges they pose.

So far the project identified the following technical innovation to which legal and policy research needs to pay attention:

- decentralization and censorship resistance networks
- tokenization, and the re-introduction of digital scarcity
- mass automation of simple transactions
- private ordering through technical architectures, and the emergence of regulatory technologies
- the global standardization of certain currently non-standardized domains through tokenization, automation, network effects, and informal technical standards
- democratization of strong cryptography
- the development of technical encoding of economic incentives to structure human behavior

These developments are yet to reach their full potential, or manifest in widely used applications. That being said there are significant developments in Self-sovereign identity provision services, and decentralized financlcial applications. Our research in these domains focuses on data protection issues around electronic (decentralized) identity provisioning systems, and privacy questions, including financial privacy.

Therefore we are conducting high level theoretical work on the intersection of these issues and information law.
The main theoretical construct we focus on is trust in and trust by decentralized techno-social systems.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Peer reviewed publications
1. Bodó, B., Gervais, D. J., & Quintais, J. P. (2018). Blockchain and smart contracts: the missing link in copyright licensing? International Journal of Law and Information Technology. DOI: 10.1093/ijlit/eay014\
2. Bodó, B., & Giannopoulou, A. (2019) The Logics of Technology Decentralization: the Case of Distributed Ledger Technologies. In M. Ragnedda, & G. Destefanis (Eds.), Blockchain and Web 3.0: Social, Economic, and Technological Challenges Routledge. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3330590
3. Bodó, B., & van de Velde, R. N. (2019). Big Data & Data Science in information law and policy research. In H. Van den Bulck, M. Puppis, K. Donders, & L. Van Audenhove (Eds.), Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research Palgrave Macmillan.
4. Giannopoulou, A. & Ferrari V., Distributed Data Protection and Liability on Blockchains. (2019) In S. S. Bodrunova et al. (Eds.), INSCI 2018 Workshops, LNCS 11551, Springer, pp. 203–211. DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-17705-8_17
5. Quintais, J. P., Bodó, B., Giannopoulou, A. & Ferrari, V., Blockchain and the Law: A Critical Evaluation: [Review of: P. De Filippi, A. Wright (2018) Blockchain and the law : the rule of code]. 2019, In : Stanford Journal of Blockchain Law & Policy. 2, 1, p. 86-112.
6. Bodó, B. (2020). Mediated trust: A theoretical framework to address the trustworthiness of technological trust mediators. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820939922
7. Giannopoulou, A. (2020). Algorithmic systems: the consent is in the detail? Internet Policy Review, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.1.1452 [details]
8. Giannopoulou, A. (2020). Data Protection Compliance Challenges for Self-sovereign Identity. In J. Prieto, A. Pinto, A. K. Das, & S. Ferretti (Eds.), Blockchain and Applications: 2nd International Congress (pp. 91-100). (Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing; Vol. 1238). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52535-4_10 [details]
9. Giannopoulou, A. (2019). Access and reuse of machine-generated data for scientific research. Erasmus law review, 2019(2), 155-165. https://doi.org/10.5553/ELR.000136
10. Giannopoulou, A. (2018). Understanding Open Data Regulation: An Analysis of the Licensing Landscape. In B. van Loenen, G. Vancauwenberghe, & J. Crompvoets (Eds.), Open Data Exposed (pp. 101-125). (Information Technology and Law Series; Vol. 30). The Hague: Asser Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-261-3_6 [details]
11. Ferrari, V. (2020). The regulation of crypto-assets in the EU: Investment and payment tokens under the radar. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law. https://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X20911538

Research white papers
12. Ferrari, V., Quintais, J. P., Giannopoulou, A., & Bodó, B. (2018). Report on the “GDPR, data policy and compliance” workshop organized by the EU Blockchain Observatory. (Blockchain&Society Research Nodes; Vol. 1, No. 1). Institute for Information Law. Download

13. Bodó B. , Quintais J.P. Giannopoulou A., & Ferrari V. (2018). Trust in decentralized data infrastructures. (Blockchain&Society Research Nodes; Vol. 1, No. 2). Institute for Information Law.
14. Giannopoulou, A., Bodó, B., Ferrari, V., & Quintais, J. P. (2019), Report on “Validation rules for blockchain research: International workshop on scholarly blockchain research priorities” (Blockchain&Society Research Nodes; Vol. 2, No. 1). Institute for Information Law. Download
15. Bodó, Balázs, Trust, Blockchain-based Technologies, Public Sector, and the Social Good (2020). Blockchain & Society Policy Research Lab Research Nodes 2020/1, Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2020-40, Institute for Information Law Research Paper No. 2020-06, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3641501

Policy documents
16. Bodó, B., van de Pol, J., van Deventer, O., Hoepman, J-H., van den Hoven, J., de Kok, A., ... Stevens, M. (2018). Dutch Blockchain Research Agenda. NWO.
17. Giannopoulou, A. (Accepted/In press). Blockchain aux arts : Quand la décentralisation rencontre la conformité légale. In G. Emmanuel , & Y. Vernet (Eds.), Blockchain of love France: Presses du réel.

Online publications
18. Quintais, J. P., Groeneveld, L., & Bodó, B., Blockchain Copyright Symposium: Summary Report. Kluwer Copyright Blog (03.08.2017). http://copyrightblog.kluweriplaw.com/2017/08/03/blockchain-copyright-symposium-summary-report/
19. Quintais, J. P. & Bodó, B., Blockchain Copyright Symposium. Kluwer Copyright Blog (2706.2017). http://kluwercopyrightblog.com/2017/06/27/blockchain-copyright-symposium/ Web Publication.
Conferences, events, (as organizers)
20. J.P. Quintais (Organiser), B. Bodó (Organiser), Blockchain and Copyright Symposium, 5 Jun 2017. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
21. Giuseppe Dari Mattiacci (Chair), Balázs Bodó (Organiser/Participant), Stefan Bechtold (Organiser): Blockchain, Law & Policy workshop 12 Feb 2018, University of Amsterdam
22. B. Bodó (Organiser/participant), J.P. Quintais (Organiser/participant), A. Giannopoulou (Organiser/participant), V. Ferrari (Organiser/participant), Workshop: Controlling your data: the competing visions of blockchains and GDPR, part of the Amsterdam Privacy Conference, 5/10/18, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
23. B. Bodó (Organiser), J.P. Quintais (Organiser/Participant), A. Giannopoulou (Organiser/Participant), V. Ferrari (Organiser/Participant), Blockchain and Society Policy Research Lab: ERC Advisory Board Meeting, 3 Dec 2018, IViR, University of Amsterdam.
24. B. Bodó (Organiser), J.P. Quintais (Organiser/Participant), A. Giannopoulou (Organiser/Participant), V. Ferrari (Organiser/Participant), Validation rules for blockchain research : International workshop on scholarly blockchain research priorities, 4 Dec 2018, IViR, University of Amsterdam.
25. B. Bodó (Organiser/Participant), A. Giannopoulou (Organiser/Participant), Panel: Blockchain technology and the GDPR: the beginning of a beautiful privacy whac-a-mole?, CPDP, 30 January 2019, Brussels, Belgium
26. Valeria Ferrari (Participant), A. Giannopoulou (Organiser), B. Bodó (Chair), J.P. Quintais (Organiser), D.J. Gervais (Participant), To Decentralize Everything, Hash Here: Blockchains, Intellectual Property and Data Protection, TILTing Perspectives 2019, Tilburg University, Netherlands, 17 May 2019.

Conference participation (keynote speaker, paper presenter, panelist)
27. B. Bodó (Speaker), D.J. Gervais (Speaker), João Quintais (Speaker), Blockchain and Smart Contracts: The Missing Link in Copyright Licensing? 12 Feb 2018, "Blockchain, Law & Policy workshop", Amsterdam, Netherlands.
28. Bodó, B. (keynote) (10-4-2018). Innovation in the age of distributed ledger technologies, The Future of Digital Innovation in the European Union, Brugge, Belgium.
29. Bodó, B. (keynote) (24-5-2018). Keynote: Trust in Data on Blockchains, Barlaeus dinner, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
30. Bodó, B. (keynote) (28-5-2018). Keynote: Key research questions on blockchain technologies, Advisory Board meeting of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
31. J.P. Quintais (Participant), #Blockchain for Good: wat zijn de opbrengsten? 26 Jun 2018, Workshop with members of projects funded by the SIDN fonds under the umbrella program "Blockchain for Good", Amsterdam, Netherlands.
32. Bodó, B. (speaker) (4-9-2018). The conditions of doing policy research, 5 Years of Internet Policy Review, Berlin, Germany.
33. Bodó, B. (speaker) (20-9-2018). DECENTRALIZED TECHNOLOGIES AND GOVERNANCE AT SCALE – DE/RE/CONSTRUCTING THE BLOCKCHAIN NARRATIVE, The Internet, Policy & Politics Conference 2018, Oxford, United Kingdom.
34. J.P. Quintais (Speaker), Blockchains and Data Protection: a brief overview, 5 Oct 2018, Workshop: Controlling your data: the competing visions of blockchains and GDPR, part of the Amsterdam Privacy Conference, 5/10/18, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
35. Bodó, B. (speaker) (8-10-2018). The social organization of distrust: does technology have a role?, Amsterdam Privacy Conference 2018, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
36. Bodó, B. (keynote) (17-10-2018). Will blockchain become a wave in the copyright distribution market?, Seoul Copyright Forum 2018, Seoul, Korea, Republic of.
37. Valeria Ferrari (Speaker), Fare Impresa e Nuove Tecnologie - Uno sguardo al fenomeno blockchain, 22 Oct 2018, Torino, Italy.
38. J.P. Quintais (Speaker), Blockchains, Smart Contracts and Copyright, 29 Nov 2018, International Conference on Blockchain, Public Trust, Law and Governance, Groningen, Netherlands, 28 Nov 2018 - 30 Nov 2018.
39. Valeria Ferrari (Speaker), Unlocking the gateways between law enforcement and blockchain technologies. A study on the enforcement of Anti-Money Laundering policies over crypto-assets, at International Conference on Blockchain, Public Trust, Law and Governance, Groningen, Netherlands, 28 Nov 2018 - 30 Nov 2018.
40. Bodó, B. (keynote) (30-11-2018). Decentralization, Objectification and the Social Organization of Distrust: Exploring the Logics of Power and Governance through (Blockchain) technology, Blockchain, Public Trust, Law and Governance, Groningen, Netherlands.
41. J.P. Quintais (Speaker), Blockchains, Smart Contracts and Copyright, 3 Dec 2018, Blockchain and Society Policy Research Lab: ERC Advisory Board Meeting.
42. J.P. Quintais (Speaker), Blockchains, Smart Contracts and Copyright, 4 Dec 2018, Validation rules for blockchain research : International workshop on scholarly blockchain research priorities.
43. Bodó, B. (speaker) (6-12-2018). The social construction of trust, and decentralized technologies, ALFA - Amsterdam Law & Finance Association, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
44. Valeria Ferrari (speaker), Unlocking the gateways between law enforcement and blockchain2028 technologies, JURIX 2018 : 31st International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems, Groningen , Netherlands, 12/12/18. (Winner of Doctoral Consortium best paper award).
45. Bodó, B. (speaker) (21-1-2019). On the notions of “trust” and “trustless”, Blockchain Workshop Theory & Practice, Paris, France.
46. Balázs Bodó (Speaker), Policy questions around decentralized technologies, Annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 17/02/19, Washington, DC, United States
47. J.P. Quintais (Speaker), Blockchain and Intellectual Property, Max Planck Institute (Max Planck Institute), 02/21/2019
48. J.P. Quintais (Speaker), Blockchains, Smart Contracts and Copyright: Beyond the Hype, 23 Feb 2019, 7th Annual MIPLC Alumni Conference on Intellectual Property and Competition Law,
49. Balázs Bodó (Speaker), Trust and decentralization - talk at the interdisciplinary colloquium on Law, Technology and Society, Haifa University Law School, 14 Mar 2019
50. Balázs Bodó (Speaker): How not to “mortgage our future to temporary things” – introducing the research program of the Blockchain&Society Policy Research Lab, Haifa University Law School, 13 Mar 2019.
51. J.P. Quintais (Speaker), Blockchain, Smart Contracts and Copyright, 14 Mar 2019, Seminar organized by the Grup de Recerca en Dret Patrimonial, Law School, Pompeu Fabra University (International),
52. Valeria Ferrari (Speaker), Financial regulation meets decentralized technologies: regulatory and enforcement issues raised by crypto-assets, The Second Toronto FinTech Conference, Toronto, Canada, 14-15 Mar 2019.
53. Valeria Ferrari (Speaker), Crypto-assets under European financial law: legal and enforcement issues, TILTing Perspectives 2019, Tilburg University, Netherlands, 17 May 2019.
54. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Speaker), Data protection by design and by default on the blockchain, TILTing Perspectives 2019, Tilburg University, Netherlands, 17 May 2019.
55. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Speaker), Personal data on the blockchain and GDPR compatibility, 5 Oct 2018, Workshop: Controlling your data: the competing visions of blockchains and GDPR, part of the Amsterdam Privacy Conference, 5/10/18, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
56. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Speaker), Data minimisation on the blockchain, part of CPDP Panel: Blockchain technology and the GDPR: the beginning of a beautiful privacy whac-a-mole?, 30 January 2019, Brussels, Belgium
57. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Speaker), Blockchains and GDPR, 3 Dec 2018, Blockchain and Society Policy Research Lab: ERC Advisory Board Meeting.
58. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Speaker), Distributed data protection and liability on the blockchain, 4 Dec 2018, Validation rules for blockchain research : International workshop on scholarly blockchain research priorities.
59. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Keynote Speaker), Blockchain and Society, When decentralization meets compliance, 6 December 2018, Legal Innovation Center launch event, Ulster University, Belfast, UK
60. Alexandra Giannopoulou, (Speaker) Algorithmic systems: the consent is in the details, talk at Network of Centers conference “AI: Law & Ethics: AI: Legal & Ethical Implications”, 29 November 2018, Haifa University Law School, Israel
61. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Speaker), Distributed data protection and liabilities on the blockchain, Internet Science Conference Workshop: The Future of Decentralized Governance: Encryption, Blockchains, and Personal Data, 26 October 2018, Saint Petersburg, Russia
62. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Speaker), Blockchain et société : Quand la décentralisation rencontre la conformité légale, invited speaker at the closing event of the Blockchain of Love project, 24 November 2018 Arles, France
63. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Speaker), Distributed data protection and liability on the blockchain, Blockchain for Science conference, 6 November 2018, Berlin, Germany
64. Alexandra Giannopoulou (Speaker), Distributed data protection and liability on the blockchain, 1st Istanbul Privacy Symposium: Data Protection and Innovations, 12 October 2018, Istanbul, Turkey
Media appearances
65. Blockchain could democratise banking, music – but at what cost?, Horizon, 13 March 2019, interview with Balazs Bodo
66. De invloed van nieuwe technologieën op de maatschappij valt vaak wat tegen, New Scientist, April, 2018, interview with Balazs Bodo
67. 1,5 miljoen voor onderzoek naar maatschappelijke impact van blockchain, AG Connect, 22 February, interview Balázs Bodó;
68. Bodó, Balázs (16-12-2017): Muziek terwijl u de artiest direct betaalt [Print] Het Financieele Dagblad. Muziek terwijl u de artiest direct betaalt.
69. Bodó, Balázs (10-11-2017): Nederlandse bedrijven testen tientallen vernieuwingen voor economie[Print] De Telegraaf. Nederlandse bedrijven testen tientallen vernieuwingen voor economie.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

We are progressing beyond the state of the art in the following domains:

- identity provision, intersection of self-sovereign identity architectures, and GDPR
- financial privacy, and the trade-offs between financial regulation, and data protection and privacy in cryptocurrency applications
- trust mediation through technical systems, and the trustworthiness of trust mediators
- different (technical, legal) modes of data governance

In all of these domains the project is expected to produce peer reviewed papers, workshops, and subsequent grant applications.

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