Blockchain-based governance of commons – the limits of the decentralized revolution

Maxime Malafosse ()
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Maxime Malafosse: IMT Atlantique - SSG - Département Sciences sociales et de gestion - IMT Atlantique - IMT Atlantique - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris]

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Abstract: The theoretical framework of the commons (Ostrom, 1990) offers a powerful vision of how citizens can take collective action to redefine aspects of our socioeconomic system towards greater social or ecological justice. Recently, some authors have highlighted the potential of blockchain-based tools to support the governance of the commons (Rozas et al. 2021). Until now, these possibilities although very relevant were only theoretical. Recent research updated these possibilities, as some commons projects that have mobilized blockchain-based tools already have feedback that can be very informative. New contributions coming from real-life situations helped to better understand how blockchain is being used in a real digital commons experiment (Malafosse and al. 2022). Further analysis of these results through the lens of limitations highlights some of the constraints, challenges, and risks that may be associated with use of blockchain in the CBPP or cooperative context. This paper focus on theses limits of commons governance trough decentralized, distributed, blockchain-based systems pointing out issues about digital identity, design dilemmas (Cila et al. 2020), asymmetric power of IT developers, the fork dilemma, hypertransparency, low decentralization, the difficulty of having a minimum level of participants and stakeholders, the relevance of blockchain, legal recognition, etc. This paper is an attempt to reveal and categorize these limitations and risks.

Keywords: Commons; Blockchain; Ostrom; Commons Dilemma; Money Creation; Decentralisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-07-03
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Published in GBT-2023: GOVERNANCE BY TECHNOLOGY - THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE DECENTRALIZED?, Jul 2023, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04541005

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