Blockchain Technology and Legal Implications of （区块链技术和法律的影响）.pdfVIP

BNA’s Banking Report™ Reproduced with permission from BNA’s Banking Report, 104 BNKR 654, 03/31/2015. Copyright 2015 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) V I R T U A L C U R R E N C Y Blockchain Technology and Legal Implications of ‘Crypto 2.0’ BY JUDITH ALISON LEE, ARTHUR LONG, JEFFREY structure underlying virtual currencies: the decentral- ized ledger of transactions called the ‘‘blockchain.’’ STEINER, STEPHENIE GOSNELL HANDLER AND Proponents of blockchain technology believe that this ZACHARY WOOD underlying system could have far-reaching effects in a wide variety of industries and applications. irtual currencies—digital representations of value that can be transferred, stored and traded Virtual Currencies and the ‘Blockchain.’ Bitcoin’s sys- V electronically—have steadily become more wide- tem of transactions is decentralized: no central author- spread, with the most well-known, Bitcoin, increasing ity tracks, approves or secures transactions made on to a market capitalization of nearly $4 billion since its the Bitcoin network. To achieve a secure and usable creation in 2009.1 While much of the focus on virtual system, Bitcoin’s database (the ‘‘blockchain’’) relies on currencies has been directed at their potential to act as cryptography. The blockchain is essentially a publicly a substitute for or