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Blockchain can help supplement antitrust where it does not apply or applies imperfectly, and the law can help enforce proper market functioning where code is not self-sufficient (situations in which it cannot prevent or settle conflicts). If they help each other they will dramatically increase their chances of success. West Coast code (programming) and East Coast code (laws and regulations) can no longer oppose each other they must collaborate.Īntitrust law was introduced as a reaction against the increasing power of Standard Oil Company in the late-19th century, while blockchains were designed to minimize our reliance on middlemen. One cannot apply the law to all illegal practices (for instance, because of detectability issues or because jurisdictions are mutually unfriendly), and the technology cannot systematically trump the law (as an exponential number of litigations shows, even when it comes to blockchain). Neither of these two strategies is optimal. Related: Blockchain Code Can Fill In When Antitrust Law Fails For that reason, a common strategy comprises first putting a product on the market, and only after considering laws and regulations.
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They are meant to prevail over architecture (the design of analog and digital things), markets (economic incentives), and social norms (what is acceptable).īy contrast, many developers consider technology as deterministic (the determining factor of society, which it could very well be). Policymakers tend to conceive laws and regulations as the ultimate tool of common good improvements. See also: Vitalik Buterin: Blockchains Will Discourage Monopolies, Not Create Themįirst, mentalities. This collaboration demands a change in mentalities in both fields as well as reciprocal concessions, as we argue in “ Blockchain Code as Antitrust.” For that reason, West Coast code (programming) and East Coast code (laws and regulations) can no longer oppose each other they must collaborate. And if they keep an adversarial approach to each other, both will put up strong resistance. Blockchain tech, for example, can be used to reach some goals of antitrust law – which seeks to improve competition in the marketplace – where the rule of law may not be enforceable.īy themselves, technology and the law will fail to maximize the common good. This need not be a negative thing.Īs Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin and I argue in a recent research paper, computer scripts can help complement laws and facilitate human interactions. The COVID-19 crisis has increased our reliance on technology and reinforced the place of code in organizing society. Thibault Schrepel is a Faculty Associate at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and Assistant Professor in Antitrust Law at Utrecht University School of Law.