Some Public Economics of Blockchain Technology

11 Pages Posted: 8 Mar 2018

See all articles by Chris Berg

Chris Berg

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University)

Sinclair Davidson

RMIT University

Jason Potts

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University)

Date Written: March 2, 2018

Abstract

Distributed ledger technology emerged in 2009 as the protocol behind bitcoin, a cryptocurrency with origins in the ‘cypherpunk’ community who sought to use cryptography to secede from government control of money. Bitcoin’s pseudonymous inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto said Bitcoin would be “very attractive to the libertarian viewpoint” and many in the crypto-anarchist community saw, and still see, cryptocurrencies as a means to free citizens from the monetary depredations of governments. But from these revolutionary secessionist origins, it has become apparent that not only are there many possible use cases of distributed ledger technology for government, but that government action through both regulation, legislation, and public investment might be a key factor in the adoption and development of this technological innovation. Governments can use blockchain technology to exploit the service efficiencies they may bring. But also, and perhaps counter-intuitively given their revolutionary origins, blockchain applications are likely to need government cooperation to facilitate adoption and the development of the blockchain economic system.

Keywords: blockchain, public economics, public choice, institutional economics, comparative economics

JEL Classification: H00, H41, H23

Suggested Citation

Berg, Chris and Davidson, Sinclair and Potts, Jason, Some Public Economics of Blockchain Technology (March 2, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3132857 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3132857

Chris Berg (Contact Author)

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University) ( email )

124 La Trobe Street
Melbourne, 3000
Australia

Sinclair Davidson

RMIT University ( email )

124 La Trobe Street
Melbourne, 3000
Australia

Jason Potts

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University) ( email )

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