Blockchain technology offers considerable potential for decentralization and disintermediation. Behind these hopes of emancipation from the guardianships of domination, this technology nevertheless remains exposed to the influence of States or private interests and can conceal new tools of control.
Primavera De Filippi is a research fellow at CERSA/CNRS and a research associate at the Berkman-Klein Center at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the legal and policy implications of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Primavera is also the founder of the Dynamic Coalition on Blockchain Technologies (COALA) within the International Forum on Internet Governance (IGF). She is co-author of the book Blockchain and the Law published in 2018 by Harvard University Press and Que Sais-je Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies published in 2018 by Puf.
Blockchain technology is a certification process that is considered tamper-proof and allows applications in areas as diverse as electronic currencies, online voting, notarization, the exchange of cultural goods, the creation of databases, etc.
In his Que Sais-Je? on the subject, Primavera de Filippi defines it as “a distributed transaction register, a decentralized database that relies on a peer-to-peer network for storing and transferring data. Thanks to cryptography, the blockchain allows the transfer of resources in digital format (virtual currencies or other resources whose value depends on their rarity) without going through a trusted intermediary. Unlike traditional databases, administered by centralized operators, the blockchain is administered collectively by all the nodes of the network. These nodes all obey the same computer protocol, which defines the procedures to follow, as well as the conditions to respect to update this database. (…) Some of these applications allow us to certify and authenticate documents, without the presence of a notary being required. Other applications allow us to automate transactions, create new forms of organization or even coordinate without resorting to any trusted authority. This is the promise of blockchain: to disintermediate trust through a so-called “trustless” technology. Blockchain thus marks the transition from a system based on trust to a system based on proof: as long as we trust the underlying technology, we don’t need to trust anyone.” (p. 4-5)
The certification of the authenticity of the information stored on the chain is based on a key activity: “mining”. With each new transmission of information, a new “block” of the chain is created and its authenticity is guaranteed by the encryption of the latter. This “mining” activity is time-consuming and requires a lot of computing power in order to solve the mathematical problem allowing the transaction to be validated. These calculations, carried out using powerful software, are extremely energy-intensive. In addition, the “miners” are in competition with each other because the first to solve the problem allowing validation is rewarded using the cryptocurrency specific to the chain. The “miners” therefore tend to be reduced to a very small number of actors.
Shooting: Catherine Guesde, editing: A. Suhamy.
Primavera de Filippi answers the following questions:
1° What are the different possibilities of applying the certification and consensus process called “Blockchain”?
2° Can we speak, as is sometimes done, of a technological revolution on a par with what the Internet was?
3° How is Blockchain technology likely to transform politics (Governance, nationality, voting, political consultations, political disintermediation, etc.)?
4° Is it a tool that can promote a greater transfer of power to citizens? Can authoritarian states or private interests (large firms, etc.) control blockchains or does the technology prohibit this?