Beyond Cryptocurrencies: Economic and Legal Facets of the Disruptive Potential of Blockchain Technology

Abstract

While the most prominent applications are represented by virtual currencies (especially Bitcoin) and other financial technology solutions (FinTech), blockchain technology is a powerful new tool that has significant disruptive potential - both from an economic and legal perspective. Not only private investors, but also governmental institutions focus their attention on this complex distributed ledger technology which is seen as a ground-breaking solution for long-standing problems in traditional highly centralized systems belonging to the public and private sectors. However, blockchain technology faces some important challenges – mainly regarding scalability, privacy, regulatory uncertainties, business models, and standardization.