Blockchain: Post-Quantum Security & Legal Economics

Abstract

Blockchain technology is subject to security vulnerabilities resulting from recent developments in quantum computing and cryptography. All the while, the technical complexities of blockchain’s peer-to-peer system require the intervention of third-party intermediaries to facilitate financial transactions across blockchain networks. Current legal scholarship describes blockchain technology as a peer-to-peer system without a central authority, supporting the secure decentralization of economies and financial markets. Yet, with consideration to recent advancements in quantum computing, blockchain technology is not secure. Further, the technology’s legality is subject to the will of the central authorities whose economic systems it seeks to decentralize.

This article contributes the first post-quantum analysis of the intersection of blockchain security and law. Additionally, this is the first piece of legal scholarship to analyze the complex relationships between Congress, the Federal Reserve, and blockchain technology in the creation of money. In doing so, this article challenges conventional assumptions relating to blockchain technology’s decentralizing economic impact. Ultimately, this article takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on informatics, law, and economics scholarship, to argue blockchain fails to provide a legal or secure means of establishing a peer-to-peer payment system.

Keywords: Blockchain, Quantum Computing, Quantum Cryptography, Law and Economics, Cryptocurrency, Constitution

JEL Classification: H10, H30, G18, G28, G00, E40, E50, P16, O40, O30, K20, K22, C00, C02, C10