Blockchain-powered distributed governance
for communities, institutions and the world.
We are a 5-year long, transdisciplinary research effort aimed at restoring trust in institutions at the community and global levels, by promoting better on chain and off chain distributed governance practices.
We are funded by the European Research Commission (grant ID: 865856).
THE PLAN
Despite the promises of decentralization, the governance of most blockchain networks is highly centralized.
Yet, these are still early days, and there’s time to move things in a different direction.
Here’s our game plan:
GOAL #1
Diving in
We will examine the onchain and offchain governance of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tezos, to provide an empirical overview of the multiple forces that collectively govern these networks.
GOAL #2
Looking out
With a transdisciplinary approach, we will articulate a set of principles that can support the emergence of distributed governance models, with greater transparency, accountability, representativity and inclusion.
GOAL #3
Building with
We will work in collaboration with selected communities to support and guide them in the process of choosing and implementing their own mechanism of distributed governance.
THE TACTICS
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
While on chain governance rules are clearly defined within the code of a blockchain, off chain rules are often loosely defined, poorly formalized, or simply non binding. To understand how these underlying power dynamics operate, our team will engage in digital ethnography and analyse specific case studies where the “trustless” nature of blockchains is challenged.
THEORICAL FRAMEWORK
There are several missing links between the existing literature on blockchain governance and previous work on legal theory & philosophy as well as the social & political sciences. Our goal here is to reconceptualize ideas as they apply to a new setting; use existing theories to better explain, predict and understand blockchain governance; and identify whether parts of these theories may need to be revisited or expanded, to better reflect the specificities
DESIGN & MODELLING
Here we will synthesize our empirical and theoretical findings into specific governance models aimed at public and private institutions on the one hand, and blockchain communities on the other hand. We want to explore new ways of leveraging blockchain technology to restore confidence in public and private institutions, companies and organizations; and design new governance models for decentralized communities—local and global.
EXPERIMENTATION
Our premise is that “you cannot understand a system until you try to changeit”. With a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology, our research team will engage in real world settings to work with communities and test the feasibility, acceptability and social implications of new governance models. BlockchainGov will engage in a real world setting to test the feasibility, acceptability and social implications of new governance models
TEAM
PhD Candidate (Legal Theory)
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WE ARE RECRUITING
Communications
Manager
Postdoctoral Researcher
Legal & Constitutional Theory
EVENTS
Upcoming Events
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Past Events
Blockchain networks and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have seen a surge in adoption in recent years. However, to fulfill their promise of widespread structural innovation and change meaningfully, they require […]
Lisbon, Portugal
BlockchainGov will be participating in the upcoming International Conference on DAO Regulation, hosted by the Lisbon DAO Observatory. The event will take place on April 20th, 2023, at the Faculty […]
NEWS
Research Report – Blockchain Constitutionalism: The Role Of Legitimacy In Polycentric Systems
Research Report – Blockchain Constitutionalism: The Role Of Legitimacy In Polycentric Systems Primavera de Filippi, Morshed Mannan, Kelsie Nabben, Jamilya Kamalova, Sofia Cossar, Tara Merk, Silke Noa, Marco Crepaldi, Joshua
Blog Posts 2022-2023
Blog Posts 2022-2023 Our researchers’ network is publishing its work not only in academic journals but all around the Web. Here you can find a list of the most relevant
DAO Harvard 2023
DAO Harvard 2023 DAO Harvard took place on April 2-4, 2023 bringing together policymakers, blockchain experts and scholars to discuss and explore different aspects of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. The conference
Conference Organizations Update 2022-23
Conference Organizations Update 2022-23 We organized conferences, seminars and workshops as part of our research activity all over the world. Conferences 2023: Organizer of the conference on “Blockchain Constitutionalism: the
September 2023 Papers Update
September 2023 Papers Update Our team has been keeping busy with a variety of research projects, focus groups, and initiatives, analyzing from different perspectives the evolution of the blockchain space!
Compliant Book-Keeping for DAOs through “Proof of Trusted Origin:” A Technical Guide
Isaac Patka, Sofia Cossar, Eric Alston, Primavera De Filippi, Frederick Dudley, Fatemeh Fannizadeh, Jake Hartnell, Rolf Hoefer, Aaron Lane, Will Papper, Joshua Tan, & Michael Zargham The Problem As novel
This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The BlockchainGov project has been funded by an European Research Council Grant.