In pursuit of good governance for the energy industry blockchain
Ana S. Trbovich · The Journal of Energy Markets · 2019
This paper interprets the principles of good governance and corporate governance in the context of distributed ledger technologies, namely blockchain, analyzing specifically how these principles apply to a blockchain-enabled energy market. With blockchain, governance becomes decentralized and automated, creating a new, tech- nical bureaucracy. However, a programmed decision tree does not inevitably produce a digitized democracy and a functional marketplace. While blockchain governance decisions have been predominantly technical, they increasingly embroil legal, moral, cultural and even philosophical considerations. As a result, governance is increasingly recognized as a critical challenge in the future development of blockchain-enabled marketplaces. Future, multidisciplinary research by lawyers, engineers, political scientists and philosophers should venture further into develop- ing good governance principles for blockchain, focusing on equity and inclusion.