From 14 to 21 November, Argentina revalidated its position as a technological epicentre. Beyond niche events, Gavin Wood, icon of Blockchain technology, set out his vision of the world to come. C5N spoke exclusively with Harvard researcher Primavera De Filippi.
Argentina revalidated its position as a technological epicentre.
From mid-month, in Buenos Aires, a series of events took place that brought together around 30,000 technologists, academics, entrepreneurs and Blockchain enthusiasts, the decentralised internet whose paradigm proposes an evolution that Gavin Wood, author of the Ethereum code and founder of Polkadot, sponsor of Inter Miami, called Web3, in reference to the elimination of large technology tanks that store user data.
For the vast majority of Argentines, it is not easy to understand the phenomenon described, and less so when it is immediately associated with financial speculation through cryptocurrencies.
The level of complexity and abstraction of this practice remains very high, which explains how slow the adoption of Blockchain technology is, compared with, for example, the almost immediate way in which we have accepted coexisting with Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents. Nevertheless, certain facts merit further consideration.
Gavin Wood’s appearance in Buenos Aires, signing a cooperation agreement with the National Technological University (UTN) and then participating in a panel discussion at the UBA Faculty of Law, does not follow the exclusionary logic of meetings designed for those who live behind a screen trying to get rich overnight.
“At a time when uncertainty reigns because it is increasingly difficult to distinguish the true from the false, Blockchain offers a certainty that is its differential value,” explained Juan Corvalán, Director of the Artificial Intelligence Innovation Laboratory at the UBA, following the panel discussion, “but there are still many obstacles to its adoption, and few incentives.”
For her part, Marina Marchesotti, head of business at Polkadot’s educational arm, Polkadot Blockchain Academy (PBA), expressed satisfaction following a series of events held in Santiago del Estero. “It is moving that we came to this province to tell 400 secondary school students what the internet looks like, the one in which they will be able to have fun, work and build ventures. The participation they showed left us all very motivated.”
The day, entitled The Future Is Web3, was part of a programme organised by the 10 provinces that make up the Norte Grande region.
The day was part of a programme organised by the 10 provinces.
How and Why Blockchain
As stated, the discourse proposed by Polkadot is far removed from speculation or the exchange of digital assets. This is tangible in the various interviews in which the English scientist describes what kind of society he envisions, and what motivations drive him to create new technological tools.
It is worth noting that, having distanced himself from the Ethereum foundation in 2016 “because the objectives of the leadership did not coincide with the values that led us to develop that technology,” in clear reference to financial speculation, he went on to create a software company to write the code for Polkadot, and is now driving JAM, “an update that will allow applications and all kinds of digital solutions to be uploaded simply, as engineers using cloud services do today.”
Before landing in Buenos Aires, Wood had been in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Great Britain. He travels without pause, explaining why it is better to use Blockchain: resilience (networks do not collapse), interoperability, cybersecurity, open-source code, cryptographic certainty.
The obstacles to its adoption remain, however. Beyond technical difficulties and unfriendly interfaces, one of the great points of debate is how to regulate the functioning of developments that run on Blockchain.
The Intersection Between Blockchain and the Law
This is where the contributions of Primavera De Filippi, a French lawyer who researches at Harvard the intersection between Blockchain and the law, prove key. We spoke with her privately, on her first visit to Santiago del Estero, with the oppressive midday sun on the other side of the second-floor window of the Hilton Garden Inn, where the Polkadot delegation was staying.
Journalist: Could you explain how it is possible to regulate what occurs on a decentralised digital network?
Primavera De Filippi: When it comes to open-source technology, it is complicated to hold programmers responsible for its use, because they create code and make it available to society. The law, however, always seeks out the pressure points on which regulation can have an effect. In that regard, the focus is often placed on the consumer or user, which also tends not to resolve the underlying problem.
Our legal systems will of course attempt to identify all those responsible for a hypothetical harm occurring on Blockchain, and that is the current situation. In fact, we can differentiate, for example, those who hold more tokens within certain organisations, because that usually gives them decision-making power over others. Then comes the matter of establishing jurisdiction to determine which country presides, which is not straightforward, but is possible.
De Filippi researches at Harvard the intersection between Blockchain and the law.
Now, we must bear in mind that, even when individuals are arrested, systems such as DAOs, Decentralised Autonomous Organisations, made up of those who hold digital assets on a Blockchain, never switch off.
J: That is truly a change for the law. Does it mean that if the courts determine a Blockchain must be shut down, it is impossible to enforce that decision?
PDF: Yes, exactly. It is like peer-to-peer systems, that is, networks that activate when any one of their nodes does, and each user, with their device, is a node.
J: Like eMule or Napster, the ones we used to download music?
PDF: Napster was centralised, but eMule is a comparable example. You can also look at BitTorrent. (Editor’s note: an entertainment content and large file-sharing platform.)
J: That is a good example for understanding the problem. In those systems, each user was both consumer and server at the same time.
PDF: Well, that is how the internet was originally conceived. Without owners, free.
J: That is true. Now, at the UBA panel discussion you put forward a particular way of regulating Blockchain, and I think it is fundamental to explore this further, because it does not seem possible for a technology to be used without being reachable by the law.
PDF: Well, first of all, one must understand that an organisation created on Blockchain is not considered a subject of regulation because there is no legal figure to represent it. So today, in order to comply with regulations and not operate outside the law, a legal wrapper is commonly used, that is, another entity that does have a standard legal standing, such as a Limited Liability Company or a Corporation, which is answerable to the state.
“The problem is that we are not regulating Blockchain organisations, but rather the entities or companies created to respond legally,” she summarised.
J: That is how Polkadot closed the sponsorship contract with Inter Miami.
PDF: I am not familiar with that particular case, but I know that is what they are doing now. The problem is that we are not regulating Blockchain organisations, but rather those traditional entities or companies created to respond legally. My proposal is that we begin to give legal recognition to DAOs.
Rather than threatening or pursuing them, what I believe the law must do is provide incentives for DAOs to acknowledge their legality, if they wish to manage assets and genuinely form part of society. Let us give them the chance to follow the rules. We cannot force them, so the best approach is to seduce them into accepting regulation. If it is framed correctly, I am certain it will be to the benefit of both parties.
J: But to do that, one must create in the law the legal figure that encompasses DAOs. That means going through Congress, and so forth.
PDF: Of course. In fact, together with a group of lawyers we created the Model Law for DAOs, in which we did precisely that: we defined what we are regulating, the scope of the law, the articles, the class of responsibility of each role within the organisation. Today it is applied in the state of Utah, United States. In that regard, I believe what is important is to distinguish between fantasy and reality. For this technology to be genuinely used, it must be capable of being regulated.
Source: c5n.com