Blockchain Governance: To Govern, or Not to Govern?
Evrim Tan · Auerbach Publications eBooks · 2023
This chapter discusses various theoretical approaches to blockchain governance within different disciplines. It examines what governance entails in blockchain-based systems, followed by what type of governance decisions need to be made by system designers. Micro-level governance is about the choices of system designers regarding the infrastructure of a blockchain-based system. The decisions concerning the infrastructure architecture of blockchain, modular applications of smart contracts and decentralized applications, and interoperability of the blockchain-based system with the existing IT infrastructure fall under this category. Blockchain infrastructures are predisposed to particular limitations in block-chain governance. However, these limitations can be mitigated through the use of decentralized applications and smart contracts. Meso-level governance concerns the interactions among the network community upon which the blockchain-based system rests. A consensus mechanism is at the core of blockchain-based systems to coordinate the decentralized actions of users in deciding which information can be added to the blockchain.