Blockchain technology has the potential to influence many aspects of society, including the way we conduct business, manage our personal lives, and interact with one another. It might revolutionise diverse activities such as medicine, financial regulation, supply chain integrity, property and art markets, voting, and many more. The central concerns of blockchain have for many been on matters such as cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance, and while they are important, the social and cultural aspects of blockchain will be even more significant.

This will become apparent as people seek robust ways to conduct life in an uncertain world, with automation becoming a crucial part of this shift. For example, we will see smart cities incorporating blockchain and artificial intelligence; increased mobility of people will demand better and secure access to medical, and other private, records around the world; and essential utilities will require transparent means of distribution.

This handbook is an interdisciplinary reference work which brings together social, legal, cultural, arts, ethics, politics, and health perspectives in alliance with blockchain. With contributions by leading scholars, this timely volume explores the theoretical, substantive, and methodological aspects of blockchain by situating the chapters in the phenomena of the everyday world.

Autorentext

John Flood is Professor of Law and Society at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. He is also Adjunct Professor of Law at Queensland University of Technology and Research Associate at University College London Centre for Blockchain Technologies. He has previously held chairs at University College Dublin, Ireland, University of Westminster, London, and Bremen University, Germany. He has held visiting professor positions at the University of Miami Law School, University College London Faculty of Laws, and the School of Oriental and African Studies. He has been awarded research fellowships by the Leverhulme Foundation, the European University Institute, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, and Indiana University-Bloomington. He is General Editor of Legal Ethics , and a governor of the London School of Innovation.

Lachlan Robb is a senior lecturer at the School of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. His research focuses on the social, legal, and technical regulation of emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain. His research draws upon ethnographic and socio-legal research methods to examine the normative orders that animate tech start-ups, law firms, and regulators. He has published and presented across areas of technology, innovation, law, and socio-legal studies, and he has extensive experience working with blockchain companies, legal service providers, and government.