Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies are being developed into infrastructure for the regulation and distribution of data, rights, and obligations. This form of utility, wrapped in business logic, has meaningful implications for various enterprise use cases.

Yet its greatest potential lies in the creation of value for individuals and groups among which trust is either expensive or non-existent.

At the frontiers of our legal systems today, scholars of distributed systems and researchers studying behavioral economics theories are combining their understanding with breakthroughs in cryptographic science and hardware computing capabilities. They continue to experiment with new ways of shaping systems that can enable local and large-scale transformations in how humans interact with one another, in step with the proliferation of digitally intelligent machines that are coming online in our world today.

While CodeX has maintained a strong community and research agenda around computational law more broadly, we believe that blockchain technologies will have significant impact in the field of law, both as legal infrastructure for technology-mediated economic and social activity, and as a technology that can improve access to legal services.

Our Blockchain Group has the following mandate:

1. Research and publish informed perspectives around the blockchain ecosystem.
2. Track, guide and influence policy and regulations in this space.
3. Become an inclusive, neutral forum for regulators and policy-makers to convene with academics, professionals, and technologists across Stanford and the wider blockchain community.