Postgraduate Course: Decentralised Technologies: Law, Finance and Society (LAWS11533)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course critically examines the legal and political dimensions of blockchain technology, from its ideological roots in the discourse on decentralisation to its practical applications for decentralised finance and decentralised governance of socio-technical systems. After examining the main crises encountered by blockchain networks and blockchain-based systems, we will examine the main legal approaches to regulating this technology and its applications, before evaluating how blockchain ecosystems use self-governance to address legitimacy concerns and deter external regulation. |
| Course description |
This course critically examines the legal and political dimensions of blockchain technology, in light of the interest in decentralised governance across various sectors of the economy and society at large. Beginning with the broader ideological foundations of decentralisation, we will explore how hackers (e.g., cypherpunks), digital ¿gold bugs¿, and digital rights activists (e.g., Electronic Frontier Foundation) influenced this discourse by shaping norms on metallism, privacy, anonymity, and censorship-resistance. Students will gain a technical understanding of the building blocks of two key protocols¿Bitcoin and Ethereum¿and will get to observe how simple transactions are made.
In addition to learning how cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin) and crypto-assets (e.g., stablecoins) are used to develop new financial products and services (i.e., ¿DeFi¿), we will investigate how they are used as instruments of resistance, by examining their role in financial inclusion, challenging monetary sovereignty, enhancing privacy, and improving individual and collective autonomy. At the same time, we will also look at the millenarian communities that look to cryptocurrencies for salvation from the perceived injustices of the current economic system, giving rise to ¿memecoins¿ and financial paranoia. The course then turns to the emergence and evolution of Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs)¿from community-governed DeFi DAOs (e.g., MakerDAO) to purportedly autonomous DAOs (e.g., Tornado Cash)¿examining their use for governing pools of crypto-assets (¿treasuries¿) and increasingly complex human-machine coordination.
After surveying these various uses and applications, we will draw on case studies to develop an understanding of the major hacks, emergencies, and reputational crises that have invited regulatory intervention (e.g., The DAO Attack). We explore the limits of the autonomy of blockchain-based systems, by considering the main approaches taken by lawmakers to regulate various objects (e.g., cryptocurrencies, crypto-assets) and diverse actors (e.g., crypto-asset service providers, blockchain developers, DAOs) in this ecosystem using relevant examples from financial regulations, case law, and legislation. Following this overview of the ¿regulation-by-enforcement¿ approach, we explore the possibility of ¿regulation-by-governance¿ where we will reflect on the abiding importance of concepts such as trust and legitimacy in governing blockchain networks and allaying some of the concerns of lawmakers about this new technology. We then turn to practical examples of how blockchain-based systems self-govern to serve the social good, from creating digital commons and investing in public goods to developing ¿constitutions¿ and codes of conduct. Finally, the course returns to where we started, by examining the topic of decentralisation in the context of contemporary political governance. We will use recent cases (e.g., Prospera in Honduras) to demonstrate the struggle between those who want to use the technologies discussed in this course to create a patchwork of colonial, technocratic ¿network states¿ and those seeking to realise communitarian or cypher-punk utopias.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 25 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by: «br /»
«br /»
1. In-class group presentation, along with an individual reflective essay of 1500 words relating to the presentation topic and presentation preparation process. The presentation and reflective essay will together be worth 40% of the final grade. These presentations will be held around Weeks 6-7 of the semester. There will be a selection of presentation topics available, which will be published towards the beginning of the course, as well as an explanation of the key components of a reflective essay. «br /»
«br /»
2. End-of-semester 3500 word essay worth 60% of the final grade. There will be a selection of essay topics available, which will be published towards the beginning of the course. |
| Feedback |
Students will receive in-class feedback on their learning through in-class voting on answers to questions relating to their reading (e.g., through Mentimeter), that will both reveal correct responses and also act as a springboard for classroom discussion. Further, students will be asked to informally present key critiques/assessments of the seminar readings, which the instructor will give feedback on. Finally, the students will have an opportunity to complete a formative assessment in the form of a mid-semester 1,000-word literature review relating to their final essay topic, which they will receive feedback on prior to the submission of their final essays. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of how crypto-assets and blockchain network participants are regulated in the European Union and the United States under applicable financial, consumer protection, and business laws.
- Critically assess the limits of state regulation of blockchain technologies, including through in-class discussions.
- Evaluate the opportunities and limitations of ¿blockchain communities¿ self-governing blockchain technologies
- Participate in contemporary debates on how blockchain technologies interplay with legal and political theories, including through the writing of an individual research assignment.
- Critically discuss the ideological and political influences on the development of blockchain technologies and decentralised governance.
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Reading List
We will consult a range of academic books, science fiction novels, book chapters, journal articles, legislation, and case law in this course, which will be available through the School of Law library, e-Reserve, or linked to on Learn. Reading lists will be made available in due course on a weekly basis, but two of the core readings are mentioned below.
For an introduction to Ethereum for lawyers and social scientists, we will consult:
Paul Dylan-Ennis, Absolute Essentials of Ethereum (1st ed., Routledge, 2024)
For an overview of key contemporary debates in blockchain governance, we will read chapters from:
Primavera de Filippi, Wessel Reijers, and Morshed Mannan, Blockchain Governance (Essential Knowledge Series, MIT Press, 2024 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will develop the mindset to:
1. Engage in enquiry and lifelong learning, as this course will require them to ask critical questions about the topics they are covering and provide them with the tools and resources to continue learning about the subject-matter of this course long after it has concluded.
2. Think internationally and transnationally, as this course will require them to engage with the law of jurisdictions beyond the United Kingdom and develop an in-depth critical knowledge of how private actors beyond the state shape the governance of blockchain technologies. Students will develop their skills and abilities in:
3. Research and enquiry, through the completion of a research assignment, group presentation, and reflective essay,
4. Personal and intellectual autonomy, by developing the ability to conduct independent research, and evaluating primary sources and secondary literature for in-class discussions.
5. Communication, by developing their oral communication skills by discussing complex interdisciplinary topics during the course and delivering (group) presentations, as well as their written communication skills through the formative and summative assessment. |
| Keywords | Blockchain,Blockchain Regulation,Cryptocurrency,Decentralised Finance,DAOs,Digital Commons |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Morshed Mannan
Tel:
Email: morshed.mannan@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Hannah Ackroyd
Tel: (0131 6)50 2008
Email: hackroyd@ed.ac.uk |
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