Blockchain Technology and Competition Policy - Issues paper by the Secretariat

Abstract

Blockchain is a general-purpose technology that threatens to disrupt markets and institutions across the world. Where the internet enabled the publishing and digital transfer of information, blockchain authenticates the ownership of assets, makes them unique, traceable, and facilitates the digital transfer and hence trading of assets by providing trust in the transaction and reducing uncertainty (through its use of trustworthy self-executing code). Blockchain Technology creates both opportunities and challenges for competition policy.

Keywords: competition, blockchain, antitrust, distributed, collusion, decentralised

JEL Classification: L40, L50, O31, O38