Watch the gap: Making code more intelligible to users without sacrificing decentralization?

Simona Ramos, Morshed Mannan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

The potential for blockchain technology to eliminate the middleman and replace the top-down hierarchical model of governance with a system of distributed cooperation has opened up many new opportunities, as well as dilemmas. Surpassing the level of acceptance by early tech adopters, the market of smart contracts is now moving towards wider acceptance from regular (non-tech) users. For this to happen however, smart contract development will have to overcome certain technical and legal obstacles to bring the code and the user closer. Guided by notions from contract law and consumer protection we highlight the 'information gap' that exists between users (including judges/legal bodies) and the source code. We present a spectrum of low-code to no-code initiatives that aim at bridging this gap, promising the potential of higher regulatory acceptance. Nevertheless, this highlights the 'The Pitfall of the Trustless Dream', because arguably solutions to the information gap tend to make the system more centralized. In this article, we aim to make a practical contribution of relevance to the wide-spread adoption of smart contracts and their legal acceptance by analyzing the evolving practices that bring the user and the code closer.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2022 IEEE 24th Conference on Business Informatics (CBI)
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pages133-139
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781665460163
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Nov 2022
Event24th IEEE International Conference on Business Informatics, CBI 2022 - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Duration: 15 Jun 202217 Jun 2022

Publication series

NameIEEE International Conference on Business Informatics
Volume2
ISSN (Print)2378-1963
ISSN (Electronic)2378-1971

Conference

Conference24th IEEE International Conference on Business Informatics, CBI 2022
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityAmsterdam
Period15/06/2217/06/22

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • blockchain
  • information gap
  • smart contract

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Watch the gap: Making code more intelligible to users without sacrificing decentralization?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this