Why is blockchain governance important? What kinds of decisions are made by people involved in these systems?

Subject: Financial Technology (FinTech), Digital Banking and Blockchain

Task: Write an essay of 2,000 words in length (bibliography and references not included) in response to the assignment outlined below. Your essay must be

a) properly referenced (i.e. use quotation marks unless paraphrasing together with in-text
citations in author-date format, and full references at the end of the assignment document),

and

b) should present clear discernible arguments that flow from your discussion/analysis of the
topic.

Requirements:

Context: Consider the following issues how can digital innovations and technologies (such as APIs, Distributed Ledgers, etc.), which were developed to address a variety of issues and create opportunities for organizations to organize or re-imagine their economic activity?

How can they have an impact on a firm’s business model and performance? One of the key
themes that emerged was the role of governance on building a platform and/or infrastructure to facilitate economic activity.

Start the paper by insights from Zachariadis et al. (2019) referenced below, on blockchain governance and extending your reading to other relevant papers and resources  answer each of the following questions:

1) What does it mean to govern a blockchain?

2) Who are the actors who play a role in blockchain governance? Does it differ from blockchain to blockchain?

3) Why is blockchain governance important? What kinds of decisions are made by people involved in these systems?

4) What are ‘on-chain’ and ‘off-chain’ governance? What are the pros and cons of each, according to the academic literature, industry reports, and commentators?

Reference for initial article: Zachariadis, M., Scott, S. V. & Hileman, G. (2019) “Governance and control in distributed ledgers: Understanding the challenges facing blockchain technology in services”, Information & Organization, forthcoming.

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