BISA Seminar - Contested Logics of Interoperability: Interpreting Blockchain-Based Reporting Systems

Room: HBS 102

By considering the re-cast roles of regulators in the post-financial crisis era along with blockchain technologies, we have been able to interpret a leading application in ways that reveal new tensions inherent in the interoperability of decentralized systems upon historically centralized patterns of practice. Specifically, we reveal tensions regarding, proactive and reactive supervision, ownership of market utilities, data reusability and ambiguity, rules and principles and calculative custodianship. The outcome sheds new light on the extent of, and appropriateness of interoperable blockchain applications in highly regulated industries beyond current hyperbole. It also reveals where the utility of blockchain lies and how we might better expect users to benefit.