Pat Treacy and Alex Latham explore the main competition law issues related to blockchain technology in the latest issue of European Competition Law Review.
This material was first published by Thomson Reuters in Pat Treacy and Alex Latham, "Blockchain and competition law", European Competition Law Review, Issue 12 and is reproduced by agreement with the Publishers.
Arguably the technological buzzword of our times, according to many, blockchain is a revolutionary force that will change the face of commerce as we know it. Whilst the underlying technology itself is not novel, most of us only came into contact with the idea of blockchain when the meteoric rise of bitcoin caught international attention in late 2017, prompting many commentators to draw comparisons with Dutch Tulipmania in the seventeenth century. Originally conjuring up images of basement crypto-anarchists using the untraceable currency for nefarious purposes, over time the excitement around blockchain has led to extensive corporate interest and discussion of a myriad of potential uses.
This article aims to provide a broad overview of blockchain technology and of the surrounding potential competition law issues. View the full PDF version here.
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