Abstract
I had the chance to present an earlier version of this chapter and receive valuable comments from participants at the ‘The Future of EU Private Law’ conference, 8 February 2019, at King’s College London. I am most grateful to Takis Tridimas, Mateja Durovic and Bilyana Petkova for wonderful comments. The usual disclaimer applies.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies emerged during the global financial crisis of 2008. Bitcoin was an effort to bypass the mainstream global financial system. Bitcoin and its background technology, blockchain, are at the same time the product of globalisation; they are a fundamentally global technology purporting to bypass national and physical boundaries. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are both symptoms and promoters of a globalised world.
[1]S Nakamoto, ‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System’ (2008), https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf/.
Since the creation of bitcoin, the importance of cryptocurrencies has been increasing. The price of bitcoin exceeded the price of gold on 3 March 2017. Cryptocurrencies have multiplied exponentially since. This explosion of the cryptocurrency market has led to the expected regulatory backlash: a reaction by governments around the world to protect national interests and re-embed money into national jurisdictions. The response has taken multiple shapes, and largely depends on how the relevant national legal orders perceive the nature of cryptocurrencies and their underlying blockchain technology. While the initial focus of regulators and scholarship was mostly on cryptocurrencies, the focus is starting to shift towards the technology supporting cryptocurrencies: blockchain technology and the related blockchain markets are becoming more important. Various types of laws come into play for the regulation of blockchain: most importantly, data protection laws, and, within the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). There is a potential conflict between blockchain technology and the GDPR when it comes to two of blockchain’s most important features: the visibility of information on blockchain for every node that participates in the blockchain network and the non-removable nature of information on blockchain – a subsequent transaction can annul the first transaction, but the first transaction will always remain in the chain....
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies emerged during the global financial crisis of 2008. Bitcoin was an effort to bypass the mainstream global financial system. Bitcoin and its background technology, blockchain, are at the same time the product of globalisation; they are a fundamentally global technology purporting to bypass national and physical boundaries. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are both symptoms and promoters of a globalised world.
[1]S Nakamoto, ‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System’ (2008), https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf/.
Since the creation of bitcoin, the importance of cryptocurrencies has been increasing. The price of bitcoin exceeded the price of gold on 3 March 2017. Cryptocurrencies have multiplied exponentially since. This explosion of the cryptocurrency market has led to the expected regulatory backlash: a reaction by governments around the world to protect national interests and re-embed money into national jurisdictions. The response has taken multiple shapes, and largely depends on how the relevant national legal orders perceive the nature of cryptocurrencies and their underlying blockchain technology. While the initial focus of regulators and scholarship was mostly on cryptocurrencies, the focus is starting to shift towards the technology supporting cryptocurrencies: blockchain technology and the related blockchain markets are becoming more important. Various types of laws come into play for the regulation of blockchain: most importantly, data protection laws, and, within the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). There is a potential conflict between blockchain technology and the GDPR when it comes to two of blockchain’s most important features: the visibility of information on blockchain for every node that participates in the blockchain network and the non-removable nature of information on blockchain – a subsequent transaction can annul the first transaction, but the first transaction will always remain in the chain....
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | New Directions in European Private Law |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. |
| Pages | 169-192 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781509935635 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781509935611 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |