Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 2021
Abstract
How should legislators write a law regulating a brand-new technology that they may not yet fully understand? With the advent of blockchain and other advanced computational technologies, this generation of legislators faces more complex questions than their predecessors. Drawing on the author’s experience as a member of California’s Blockchain Work-ing Group, this Article offers guidance to lawmakers, lawyers, and industry leaders seek-ing to draft effective laws regulating real-life applications of blockchain technology. This cutting-edge Article will do two things for its readers: (1) encourage them to be informed participants in conversations relating to federal and state blockchain regulation, and (2) offer a snapshot of these regulatory processes early in the development of blockchain technology, which will prove to be useful in coming years. Blockchain technology and its applications will continue developing quickly, regardless of how governments frame regulation. Everyone—including industry players, members of the public, and govern-ments themselves—will benefit if lawmakers can strike the right balance between inno-vation and public protection.
Recommended Citation
61 JURIMETRICS J. 185–217 (2021).