Events

Technology & the Law

Digital currencies and the blockchain are unique areas of inquiry for those interested in decentralized and distributed technologies. This rapidly growing community includes active networks of lawyers, technologists, policymakers, regulators, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and users. The Berkman Center and other members of our community are convening key stakeholders in academic environments that allow for serious debate and a space to create new connections, ideas, and proposals. Here is a sampling of upcoming activities our community members are participating in:

Past Events

  • March 2018: Policy Principles for a New Paradigm in Financial Services (Harvard Law School)
    • Broke down, refined, and rebuilt thinking about the new global paradigm by which policymakers can observe the rewiring of traditional financial service relationships. Worked to provide a direction for FinTech policy and propose an engaging role of the state.
  • February 2016: Shared Ledgers and Financial Law (Harvard Law School)
    • Discussed the challenges of settling tokenized assets with legal finality using distributed ledger technology. Identified three categories to investigate in depth (payments, securities and derivatives) and resolved to break up into working groups for follow-up meetings over the summer and next fall.
  • March 2016: Blockchain Patents (Stanford Law School)
    • Discussed model language for a patent pledge and resolved to work with OIN to draft a letter of intent to drive consensus among broader distributed leger tech companies to form a pool.
  • May 2016: Financial Crime and Shared Ledgers (Harvard Law School)​
    • ​Focused on new techniques to combat financial crime on shared ledger systems by leveraging advances in data science, like differential privacy, to reduce the compliance burden on individual firms and improve privacy protections for citizens.

Past hosted or co-sponsored events include:

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