Journal of Energy Markets

In pursuit of good governance for the energy industry blockchain

Ana S. Trbovich

 

  • The principles of good governance and corporate governance are interpreted in the context of distributed ledger technologies, namely blockchain, analysing specifically how these principles apply to a blockchain-enabled energy market.
  • With blockchain, governance becomes decentralized and automated, creating a new, technical bureaucracy. However, a programmed decision tree does not inevitably produce a digitized democracy and a functional marketplace.
  •  While blockchain governance decisions have been predominantly technical, they increasingly embroil legal, moral, cultural, even philosophical considerations. Future, multidisciplinary research by lawyers, engineers, political scientists and philosophers should venture further into developing good governance principles for blockchain, focusing on equity and inclusion.

This paper interprets the principles of good governance and corporate governance in the context of distributed ledger technologies, namely blockchain, analyzing specifically how these principles apply to a blockchain-enabled energy market. With blockchain, governance becomes decentralized and automated, creating a new, tech- nical bureaucracy. However, a programmed decision tree does not inevitably produce a digitized democracy and a functional marketplace. While blockchain governance decisions have been predominantly technical, they increasingly embroil legal, moral, cultural and even philosophical considerations. As a result, governance is increasingly recognized as a critical challenge in the future development of blockchain-enabled marketplaces. Future, multidisciplinary research by lawyers, engineers, political scientists and philosophers should venture further into develop- ing good governance principles for blockchain, focusing on equity and inclusion.

Sorry, our subscription options are not loading right now

Please try again later. Get in touch with our customer services team if this issue persists.

New to Risk.net? View our subscription options

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a Risk.net account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an individual account here