Blockchain in Context (original) (raw)
Abstract
Blockchain has been used primarily in cryptocurrency applications like Bitcoin and Ethereum. These use cases show the staying power of blockchain technology and suggest additional uses such as smart contracting. We suggest these use cases, while producing knowledge, do not forecast the future of blockchain. Learning-by-doing reveals the evolution of blockchain as a sociotechnical system, suggesting that there is more to learn. Predicting how sociotechnical systems will evolve is difficult, but historical and lexical analyses suggest two areas for blockchain growth. One is provenance, authentication through recording of ownership or other control state, applicable to jewels, real property, art works, food stuffs, designer items, and anything else where genuineness is valued. The other is chain-of-custody, proving that duty of care has been faithfully executed regarding living beings (children, people in legal custody, research subjects, research animals, pets), or that inanimate things (evidence, data, representations such as photographs) have not been tampered with.
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Notes
- This paper does not explain the details of blockchain. See the following: (Beck 2018; Beck et al. 2017, 2018, Cao 2018; Marr 2017; XBT Network 2018))
- This is a fraught point: some equate distributed with decentralized, although they are not the same. It is an old issue. For interesting discussions of this see (King 1983; Buterin 2017).
- Some prefer “exploit” to “hack.” This paper uses the terms synonymously to mean a person doing something with a computer that is not allowed by laws or rules.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Roman Beck, Roger Ehrenberg, David Kobrosky, and Victoria Lemieux for their help.
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- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Andrew J. Ehrenberg & John Leslie King
Authors
- Andrew J. Ehrenberg
- John Leslie King
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Correspondence toJohn Leslie King.
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Ehrenberg, A.J., King, J.L. Blockchain in Context.Inf Syst Front 22, 29–35 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-019-09946-6
- Published: 22 July 2019
- Version of record: 22 July 2019
- Issue date: February 2020
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-019-09946-6