Blockchains and the Law

Catalog description

In 1993, hardly anybody had heard the word Internet. Yahoo was two years from its founding. Not a soul foresaw Instagram, Snapchat, WikiLeaks, or the explosion of cat videos. Mark Zuckerberg was 9 years old. Yet, in less than 20 years, the Internet has transformed the world for both good and bad, changing the media landscape, tethering us to our phones, and powering new forms of commerce. Today many argue that blockchain-decentralized databases maintained by a distributed network of computers--will soon pervade our lives, just like the Internet before?disrupting financial systems, supporting civic participation, and changing the way we contract with one another. This course will provide students with an introduction to the salient features of blockchain-based computing platforms and the legal challenges they raise. We will explore five aspects of blockchains: (1) payment systems, finance, and contracts; (2) information systems and government applications; (3) organizations and machines; and (5) modes of regulation for this new technology. The course will be collaborative and is a joint class between Cardozo and Duke Law School.