Splitchain: the legal and technological strands of blockchain

This paper has considered blockchain technology in its real-world context of laws and regulations. It has highlighted some of the misconceptions within the current blockchain environment. By undertaking a splitchain analysis of blockchain use cases - or, more radically, re-conceiving blockchain as a splitchain, comprising technological and legal rules - allows risks to be identified, managed or avoided. Splitchain can support a variety of use cases, no matter how varied, not only to survive but to thrive.

Finally, this paper concludes that adopting a purely technological focus is the antithesis of splitchain and is not only flawed but destined to fan the fires of its own demise. Splitchain offers a pathway out of needless volatility. It provides an alternative method of understanding, analysing and ultimately enabling blockchain technology and its various use cases. Seeing blockchain as a splitchain is intended to highlight the potential of this technology, as a powerful means of delivering an outcome on a small or global scale, provided the legal dimensions of a blockchain project form an essential part of its inception and development.