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Cryptocurrency: governance for what was meant to be ungovernable

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin D. Trump

    (US Army Engineer Research and Development Center)

  • Emily Wells

    (US Army Engineer Research and Development Center)

  • Joshua Trump

    (US Army Engineer Research and Development Center)

  • Igor Linkov

    (US Army Engineer Research and Development Center)

Abstract

Cryptocurrencies have the potential to revolutionize the exchange of information and money through blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Despite the promise of such underlying technologies, their reliance upon distributed consensus processes to approve software updates raises the potential for governance failures to destabilize a given cryptocurrency. These governance failures, known as ‘hard forks,’ can separate a cryptocurrency into two rival camps. Where such events can destabilize a given cryptocurrency’s value, and instill distrust in the capacity of a cryptocurrency to survive as a reliable vehicle of exchange, it is imperative for the cryptocurrency community to improve their governance processes and limit the potential for hard forks to occur. While the distributed nature of cryptocurrency governance makes any traditional governing process unlikely to succeed, anticipatory approaches that establish thresholds and metrics to determine when software reform is necessary may help alleviate the governance failures presented by many hard forks.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin D. Trump & Emily Wells & Joshua Trump & Igor Linkov, 2018. "Cryptocurrency: governance for what was meant to be ungovernable," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 426-430, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:envsyd:v:38:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10669-018-9703-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10669-018-9703-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jon Baldwin, 2018. "In digital we trust: Bitcoin discourse, digital currencies, and decentralized network fetishism," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-10, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Santana, Carlos & Albareda, Laura, 2022. "Blockchain and the emergence of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs): An integrative model and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).

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