Top-class multidisciplinary research around the topic “Blockchain”

The disruptive technology of blockchain is now likely to be “the next big thing.” The decentralized directories (distributed ledger technology, or DLT for short) distributed on thousands, and in the future perhaps millions, of computers could replace the trust intermediaries (banks, credit card organizations, notaries, state-organized directories such as the land register, commercial register, etc., but also platforms such as Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, Dropbox, which currently still seem so “modern”) that have been necessary in electronic business and legal transactions over long distances and, through smart contracts, even make state law enforcement appear superfluous in certain areas. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

“Trustless trust” based on DLT will bring profound changes to the way we use the Internet and how we do business through the disintermediation it enables. The possibility of building decentralized (possibly even autonomous) organizations of members who neither need to know nor trust each other leaves hardly any area of the information society untouched. DLT also provides the IoT (Internet of Things) with a functioning data backbone. Previously unsolved problems of data protection, administrative reform, the handling of health data, electronic voting, consumer protection, the disposal of movable property or “intellectual property,” etc., etc., seem manageable with DLT. It is even expected to strengthen and modernize democratic structures.

The transformation processes that are now beginning will take years, even decades, and will require interdisciplinary research efforts at the intersections of computer science, economics, law, social sciences and the humanities with the goal of making the information society more efficient, more comfortable and – last but not least – a little more equitable for everyone through the socially acceptable use of technology. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

This is the goal to which those involved in Blockchain-Center.eu are committed. Through high-level multidisciplinary research, they are helping to achieve it.