Technology and Corporate Governance: Blockchain, Crypto, and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Over recent decades, the on-going “digital revolution” has transformed many aspects of everyday life. Think of the increased power and shrinking size of personal computers and smartphones; the global expansion of the Internet and the new forms of social interaction that have been created; and, the ready availability of massive amounts of cloud-based information (“Big Data”), which is processed by automated algorithms for use in multiple settings. But, how has the digital transformation affected the organization and operation of a business, and what does this mean for current regulatory frameworks, particularly those related to corporate governance? And, how are current and near-future technological developments - think distributed ledger technologies, “smarter” forms of automation and artificial intelligence - likely to disrupt the current corporate governance discussion? This paper explores these questions and concludes that current corporate governance approaches need to adapt to these technological and business developments in order to remain relevant.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Corporate Governance, Cryptocurrency, Crypto, Decentralization, Deep Learning, Digital Transformation, Distributed Ledger Technology, Machine Learning, Smart contracts, Technology, Tokens

JEL Classification: D26, D85, G30, K20, K22, L17, L26, O16