Ethics of Blockchain Technology

Abstract

There are no doubts about the innovation-force and the economic potential of blockchain technology. It is the basis for new currencies and financial services, for smart contracts, ... After mainframes, personal computer, the internet, and mobile devices, blockchain technology can be seen as the fifth disruptive computing paradigm (Swan 2015; Polrot 2017). Outside the blockchain technology-community there are perhaps some questions how blockchain technology exactly works. This aspect can be easily addressed. The only necessary prerequisites are respective knowhow and patience with people without a technological background. There are though ethical questions, which arise in the context of blockchain technology requiring more attention due to their complexity (Kirchschlaeger 2021). This article tries to identify and to discuss them. This ethical analysis legitimated in itself gains even more concrete relevance in front of the background of fundamental criticism(s) blockchain technology or applications based on blockchain technology are facing. E. g., when looking at the use of blockchain in finance: the economist and Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman defines the crypto-currency “bitcoin” as “evil” (Krugman 2013), the economist and Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz makes the following assessment of crypto-currencies: “You cannot have a means of payment that is based on secrecy when you’re trying to create a transparent banking system (...) If you open up a hole like bitcoin, then all the nefarious activity will go through that hole, and no government can allow that. (...) By regulating the abuses, you are going to regulate it out of existence. It exists because of the abuses” (CNBC 2018). The timing of this endeavor seems to be apropos because blockchain technology is still an emergent technology. Maybe its further design and application could happen in an ethically informed manner ... Before addressing these ethical questions, a conceptual understanding of what blockchain technology embraces is necessary.