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A New Kind Of Law: Interview With Thomas Spaas

Ethereum is a platform and a programming language. With Ethereum it is possible for any developer to build and publish next-generation distributed applications. Ether, Ethereum's cryptofuel, powers the applications on the decentralized network.

Ethereum has just completed a massive crowd sale, raising 30,051 BTC ($13.97M USD, Current BTC price). Investors were offered 2000 ‘Ether’ per Bitcoin during the crowd sale period and sold a total of 60,102,216 Ether.

Ethereum is a next-generation Blockchain, or Bitcoin 2.0, platform. The platform borrows Bitcoin’s concept of a decentralized consensus, which makes Bitcoin so resilient. Ethereum builds on this ideology by offering a programming language for developing applications beyond that of a currency. EtherScripter, makes this language readable to both people and the computer network.

The Official Ethereum Website describes Ethereum as “a new kind of law… traditional law is a form of agreement. It is an agreement among people and their leaders as to how people should behave. There are also legal contracts between individuals. These contracts are a form of private law that applies to the participants. Both types of agreement are enforced by a government’s legal system…. Agreements are ambiguous… and enforcement is hard"

Ethereum solves both these problems. It does this with the marriage of two special ingredients: a digital currency, and a complete programming language.

”Ethereum can be used to codify, decentralize, secure and trade just about anything: voting, domain names, financial exchanges, crowdfunding, company governance, contracts and agreements of most kind, intellectual property, and even smart property."
— Ethereum.org

Ether is a necessary element, the fuel, for operating the distributed application platform they are building. Seeing as this platform is a new form of law to conduct new types of legal agreements Bitto.co.nz took the opportunity to catch up with Thomas Spaas. Lawyer and Ethereum advocate.

Thomas Spass

Thomas Spaas is not only a lawyer specialising in Belgian and International taxation, he is also co-director of the Belgian Bitcoin Association. Thomas focuses on the regulatory aspects of Bitcoin in general and on providing legal support to the Association and its members.

Director at Belgian Bitcoin Association
Lawyer at Mattijs, Voet & Co

How did you first get interested in bitcoin?

I became interested in bitcoin at the end of 2012. To me, bitcoin is not only a techno tour-de-force, but also an invention that will have a major impact on the legal world. Bitcoin is a prime example of embedded legal knowledge, with rules about ownership and transfer of ownership hard-coded into the protocol and applying universally, without the involvement of authorities, lawyers, or courts.

What is the state of bitcoin in Belgium?

Many Belgians are interested in bitcoin, but most prefer to wait on the sidelines. We hope this improves as technical hurdles disappear, and that participation increases to the level of our neighbouring countries the Netherlands and Germany. Belgian press reports have been mixed, but all in all quite balanced. The Belgian authorities are also tolerant of bitcoin, for now. As most of the legal regulations that pertain to bitcoin exist at the level of the European Union, we will see quite some bitcoin action and lobbying taking place in our capital Brussels, i.e. the seat of the EU institutions.

What are you working on at the moment?

Being a lawyer for bitcoin initiatives in Belgium and abroad, as well as examining how bitcoin, Ethereum et al will play a role in the legal sector in the future.

Where do you think EtherScripter as a language is heading?

EtherScripter is a great way for non-coders to get acquainted with the Ethereum system. I do hope people will not stop at EtherScripter but will also look at the other Ethereum languages on offer.

EtherScriptor Contract

EtherScriptor Contract

How easy will it be for the legal community to use and understand?

Coding a smart contract or drafting a traditional contract are all about logic. You are basically doing the same thing, but in another language. A good lawyer should therefore be able to build a smart contract with EtherScripter. As with most new technical developments, I expect uptake to be the largest among the young lawyers and people currently in law school. I believe it is there that the Ethereum community should focus its efforts.

Most of the services you use today have something in common: they are centralized. For example, when you deposit money at your bank, you trust them to be honest, be secure and be independently audited. The same is true when you post pictures on Facebook, or an important document on Dropbox. History has proven time and time again that this model is flawed, but necessary, as ‘trustless’ operations have been so far both unprofitable and too complex to implement.
— Ethereum.org

Ethereum will use the proceeds of the Crowd-Sale to develop their Full-Stack Development platform. Their official development roadmap is available here,  and further information can be found through Ethereum’s official website We look forward to seeing the tsunami of development unfolding in the coming years and will be sure to follow up with news on it’s development.


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