Corporate Capture of Blockchain Governance

Corporate Capture of Blockchain Governance

Daniel Ferreira, Jin Li, Radoslawa Nikolowa

Series number :

Serial Number: 
593/2019

Date posted :

February 04 2019

Last revised :

June 14 2021
SSRN Share

Keywords

  • governance • 
  • blockchain • 
  • Industrial Ecosystem • 
  • Proof-of-Work

We develop a theory of blockchain governance. In our model, the proof-of-work system, which is the most common set of rules for validating transactions in blockchains, creates an industrial ecosystem with specialized suppliers of goods and services. We analyze the interactions between blockchain governance and the market structure of the industries in the blockchain ecosystem.

We show that the proof-of-work system may lead to a situation where some large firms in the blockchain industrial ecosystem -- blockchain conglomerates -- capture the governance of the blockchain.

Published in

Published in: 
Publication Title: 
The Review of Financial Studies, Volume 36, Issue 4, April 2023, Pages 1364–1407
Description: 
https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhac051
Date: 
Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Authors

Real name:
Jin Li
Real name:
Radoslawa Nikolowa