Why Care About Blockchain

Where does Blockchain fit in Legal?

SPEAKERS

John Alber

ILTA Futurist

Stephen Palley

Attorney, Speaker

Anderson Kill

Joseph Raczynski

Technologist

BLOCKCHAIN PRIMER

Why Care about Blockchain?

BLOCKCHAIN IS THE ANSWERTO LIFE, THE UNIVERSE

AND EVERYTHING

OR NOT

BASIC VOCABULARY

• Bitcoin

• Blockchain

• Distributed ledger

• Proof of stake

• Proof of work

• Consensus

• Ethereum

• Altcoin

• DAO

BIG PICTURE

• Coevolution of law and money

– Smart contract creator Nick Szabo:

http://unenumerated.blogspot.com

• Blockchain enables a major step change in how:

– value is exchanged

– agreements are made and enforced

• Blockchain is a DIY effort by clients to correct a deficient

legal service model—part of a much bigger New Law trend

PERFECTED DIGITAL COMMERCE

• May do for digital commerce what the Internet did for digital

content

• Self-contained, self authenticating, anonymous mechanism

for tracking and direct transfer of digital assets

• Goes far beyond digital currency

– Copyrighted work, intangibles, implements of title, much more

BLOCKCHAIN DOESN’T SOLVE EVERYTHING

• Do you really want secure data stored on a public ledger,

even if encrypted?

• Some business relationships are based on information

asymmetry that clients may prefer.

• In many cases, a standard relational database will make

more sense.

• Blockchain is still relatively slow and expensive compared to

standard servers, whether on site or in the cloud.

SOMETIMES A RELATIONAL DATABASE IS BETTER!

Gideon Greenspan, https://coincenter.org/entry/do-you-really-need-a-blockchain-for-that

Image: © GrowthPraxis

SMART CONTRACTS

• Wet code versus dry code

• Beyond the vending machine (the first smart contract)

• Bitcoin as the smart contract killer app

• Wet/dry potential

– Potential for managing off-chain assets

– Rise of the non-consensus mechanisms—Oracles, data feeds, etc.

WHAT SMART CONTRACTS AREN’T

• Smart contracts are neither smart, nor contracts!

• It’s a naming convention.

• Programmers must work with lawyers to make legally

enforceable smart contracts.

• ^^ Opportunity for law firms.

SMART *LEGAL* CONTRACT PROJECTS

• Mattereum

• Agrello

• OpenLaw.io

• AccordProject

• Common Accord

• Clause

MATTEREUM

http://internetofagreements.com/assets/MattereumDraftforPublicComment.pdf

PROCESS MANAGEMENT

• Consensus as a service

• BPM works within organizations

• Blockchain works across multiple organizations & untrusted

participants:

– Multi-organization record retention

– Trust accounting

– Discovery accounting

LEGAL TECH CAREERS

• Law firms may or may not influence development of the

blockchain

• But firms will definitely interact with blockchain

• Opportunity for leadership at intersection of law and tech

– Some firms will rise on opportunities in digital commerce

• May become basic infrastructure for legal process

management

THE FUTURE IS NOW…AND NOT

BLOCKCHAIN OF THINGS (BOT)

• Smart Contracts – self executing legal documents

• Real Estate – real estate transactions e.g. Honduras (Factom)

• Boardroom – recording which C-suite voted for various proposals at a company

• Identity – Passport (private & public blockchain) proof of validation – other info safe

• Chain of Title – track the ownership of a property back to creation

• Authentication – verification of things like diamonds or signed sports memorabilia

• Notary services – will be gone in the next few years

• Rental Contracts – Airbnb vulnerable - creating a rental network (Slockit)

• Music Licensing – Musicians directly selling music to their listeners (BitTunes)

• Money Transfer – absolutely be impacted with money exchange (Western Union)

• Smart Contracts – self executing legal documents

• Real Estate – real estate transactions e.g. Honduras (Factom)

• Boardroom – recording which C-suite voted for various proposals at a company

• Identity – Passport (private & public blockchain) proof of validation – other info safe

• Chain of Title – track the ownership of a property back to creation

• Authentication – verification of things like diamonds or signed sports memorabilia

• Notary services – will be gone in the next few years

• Rental Contracts – Airbnb vulnerable - creating a rental network (Slockit)

• Music Licensing – Musicians directly selling music to their listeners (BitTunes)

• Money Transfer – absolutely be impacted with money exchange (Western Union)

SMART CONTRACTS & CODING

REAL ESTATE - FACTOM

- Peter Kirby, Factom CEO and Founder

MUSIC LICENSING

CHAIN OF CUSTODY (COC)

DUAL INTEGRATION

https://monax.io/explainers/dual_integration/

BLOCKCHAIN RESOURCES

• Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash

System

• The Ricardian Contract

• White Paper: Building Our Blockchain Future

in the Legal Realm

• Blockchain Takes the Stage at the British

Legal Technology Forum 2017

• Blockchain, a Disruptive Force – Now

Impacting the Legal Industry

• Simple Blockchain Overview (3.30 minute

video)

• How to Sue A DAO

• Blockchain Jurisdiction