Blockchain Gov Research Workshop | Legitimacy, Confidence and Trust in Blockchain Governance

This workshop is aimed at academics and practitioners interested in blockchain governance, with a focus on trust, confidence and legitimacy.

(European University Institute)

While interrelated, the concepts of trust, confidence and legitimacy are distinct. Trust speaks to a relationship wherein the trustor believes that the trustee will encapsulate their interests. Trust can also exist at the level of systems, such as markets, when it is often referred to as ‘system trust’ or ‘confidence’. Confidence refers to a situation in which, because of previous experience or general knowledge, expectations

 are established with regard to a particular course of action, without even considering the risk that such an outcome might not happen. Legitimacy, in contrast, exists when a person or organisation conforms or consents to a set of rules, typically within asymmetrical power relations. Thus, trust and legitimacy can support one another but are not necessarily co-constitutive.

The purpose of this workshop is to explore how challenges of trust and legitimacy are materialising in the governance of blockchain technology―and how they may be overcome. 

In particular, we are interested in examining questions relating to the following themes:

• Actors – who should be responsible for blockchain governance?;
• Governance – how do trust and confidence relate to blockchain governance?; 
• Legitimacy – what legitimacy issues are specific to blockchain governance?
• Tools – what mechanisms can be put into play at the on-chain / off-chain level to promote better blockchain governance? 
• Case studies: Decentralised justice (Kleros), Virtual worlds (Decentraland), Art NFTs (DADA), Maximum Extractable Value, etc.