We often talk about “history books” as if such things still existed, or mattered. Oh well, for what it’s worth, let me discuss the first (U.S.) case of blockchain antitrust. We long thought United American Corp. v. Bitmain was the one (read). In this case (filed in December 2018), United American Corp. acted against various firms (including those of prominent...Read More
I am absolutely delighted to let you know about the publication of a new article I co-authored with Vitalik Buterin (co-founder of the Ethereum): “Blockchain Code as Antitrust“. It starts from the following premise: the rule of law does not govern all human interactions. Against this background, one may want to rely on other means to increase...Read More
Blockchain was first introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto with her/his/their article “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” published on October 31, 2008 (although… interestingly enough, Satoshi Nakamoto never used the word “blockchain” in the white paper). Hundreds of millions of transactions have since been implemented on it. This is me being sarcastic on Twitter: Confirmed #Bitcoin transactions per...Read More
Blockchain antitrust is a fascinating subject. The number of cases is rising (I will discuss that shortly), and antitrust agencies are slowly but surely starting to devote resources to the topic. With that in mind, I am delighted to publish my latest article entitled Libra: A Concentrate of “Blockchain Antitrust”. This is a short one (10 pages) dealing with a...Read More
Dear readers, these past few weeks, I have been publishing videos in which I presented and explained the “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems” (freely accessible on SSRN). This post puts them all in one place. Thank you for watching. Thibault. *** Video #1: Understanding the theory of the firm as used...Read More
Dear readers, here’s the fourth and final video of the series dealing with “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems” (freely accessible on SSRN). I previously showed that antitrust law is based on Ronald Coase’s theory of the firm, that public blockchains escape that theory, and that, accordingly, a new theory is needed. I now want...Read More
I am pleased that my article entitled “The Fundamental Unimportance of Algorithmic Collusion for Antitrust Law” as just been published at the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology website. Here’s the introduction: Antitrust and competition law is subject to increasing polarization, especially regarding Internet giants. Some scholars argue that the tech giants abuse their dominant positions,...Read More
Dear readers, following a first video (link) in which I exposed the theory of the firm as used in antitrust law, and a second one (link) in which I explained that, by escaping that theory, public blockchains escape antitrust law, I am pleased to publish a third video today. In it, I explain what the theory of granularity is. It will serve...Read More
Dear readers, following last week’s video (link) in which I exposed the theory of the firm as used in antitrust law, I am discussing today the reason, by escaping that theory, public blockchains escape antitrust law. Again, for more information, you may read my article entitled “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems“(freely accessible on SSRN)....Read More
Dear readers, I am pleased to introduce a new series of videos in which I will discuss the main ideas developed in my recent article entitled “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems“(freely accessible on SSRN). Here’s video #1, dealing with the theory of the firm. Thanks for watching. Read More
Dear friends, Following months of (d̶o̶u̶b̶t̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶b̶u̶s̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶d̶) research, I am very pleased to share my latest article: “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems“. In this article, I ask the following question: how to apply antitrust law, whose case law is almost entirely based on analyzing firms’ practices,...Read More
Imagine a space in which the Rule of Law does not have the same prevalence it has in the real space. Imagine a space where fundamental rights are created and enforced by the technology, a space in which your rights are absolute, meaning that you enjoy no limits on them in exchange for not being...Read More
Dear readers, I had the honor of participating in Professor Caron Beaton-Wells’ terrific podcast, Competition Lore. We talked at length about blockchain antitrust. I invite you to listen to the three dedicated episodes that have just been released: The first one is dedicated to a general presentation of the technology The second is focused on a discussion...Read More
Dear readers, I am very pleased to finally introduce my second article on the subject of blockchain and antitrust/competition law: “Collusion by Blockchain and Smart Contracts”. (click here to download it) I believe that this is the first article to introduce a taxonomy of collusion on blockchain and to explore their functioning, their robustness, and their...Read More
LINK TO DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE Dear Friends, We often hear that the end is near, that we’re all going to die (Keynes / Steven Spielberg’s movie) and that technology (especially robots) is leading us to our end. But what if that were to be true, at least as far as competition law is concerned? Last Friday, I...Read More
