Workshop on "blockchain and sustainable development"

Both from a private and a public perspective, distributed ledger technologies in general, and blockchain in particular, can introduce significant opportunities in national and international legal systems, while at the same time posing new and unexplored challenges. This legal clinic aims to provide the students with the basic tools for the understanding of some of the most important legal questions raised by the advent of blockchain technology. The possible use in both the private and the public sector will then be scrutinized. The legal clinic will be divided into two parts. In the first one, students will be provided with an understanding of how the technology works. Namely, concepts such as game theory, cryptography, mining, token, proof of work will be dealt with. In the second part, the legal clinic will deal with the main legal issues raised by blockchain technology. Particularly, it is of interest to understand how legislators have to tackle this new technology; it will be questioned whether a neutral technological approach should prevail over the attempt to enact new legal frameworks at both the national and the supranational level. As regards the method, some classes will be taught following the traditional Socratic approach; some others will require students'active participation. By fostering teamwork, critical analysis and problem-solving, the students will be guided in the study of the most recent legislative provisions, along with some case law.

The workshop will lead to the following outcomes: - basic knowledge on how the distributed ledger technology and blockchain work; - general understanding of the most relevant legal issues stemmed from blockchain application at all level: the national, and the international; - understanding of the capabilities and limitations of blockchain, enabling students to assess to which legal issue it can be of help; - ability to critically deal with blockchain from the legal perspective; - capability to understand the present, and the future application of the technology within both, the private and the public sector.