A CFTC Primer on Smart Contracts
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s LabCFTC released, “A CFTC Primer on Smart Contracts” which is part of LabCFTC’s effort to engage with innovators and market participants on a range of financial technology (FinTech) topics, and follows on a 2017 primer on virtual currencies and the agency’s recent FinTech Forward conference.
Blockchain Basics: A Primer
Blockchain, the technology underlying the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is poised to revolutionize how all commercial transactions are conducted.
How Can Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology Play a Role in Building Social and Solidarity Finance?
The decentralized digital currency Bitcoinâand its underlying âblockchainâ technologyâhas created much excitement in the technology community, but its potential for building truly empowering social and solidarity-based finance has yet to be tested. This paper provides a primer on the basics of Bitcoin and discusses the existent narratives about the technologyâs potential to facilitate remittances, financial inclusion, cooperative structures and even micro-insurance systems. It also flags up potential points of concern and conflict; such as the tech-from-above âsolutionismâ and conservative libertarian political dynamics of some of the technology start-up community that surrounds Bitcoin. As a way of contrast the paper considers âblockchain 2.0â technologies with more overtly communitarian ideals and their potential for creating âcooperation at scaleâ. It concludes with suggestions for future research.