The State and Blockchain: the need to define a relationship for the future

The transformative and exchange power that Blockchain technology has from the legal point of view was one of the great themes of the meeting. In the words of Almudena de la Mata, lawyer and founder of Blockchain Intelligence, the use of Blockchain means “designing our society on new technological possibilities. Some of these possibilities affect essential functions of the State, such as identity management, judicial or tax system, accounting or property registration. This requires a strategic approach based on a political consensus, given the possible constitutional significance. ”

                  

A statement to which Manuel Gonzalez-Menses, notary and expert in Blockchain, added that “the economy based on the use of crypto currencies also affects economic solidarity within a country. If we allow the development of such an economy, we must rethink and redesign the entire fiscal system; because this economic model is based on each citizen managing their own needs, so you may think that you do not have to pay taxes, since solidarity will do it as you wish, and it does not have to be through the State. ”

Also from the point of view of law, Antonio Camera, a lawyer for Allen, focused on the possibility that not all state structures should be based on this technology. In this regard, the lawyer affirmed that “we could find a great efficiency of the Blockchain in the basic infrastructures, and the ideal is that we had a public sector that would make the most of it. But the reality is that we currently have critical infrastructure that is operating in heavily regulated private hands. It is an alternative model to the Blockchain, which nobody doubts and that works. ” In this sense, Juan Andrés Aviles, Technical Director of IBM Spain, also highlighted that Blockchain technology “It is not necessary for everything. We must add value as experts in this technology and qualify when it does and when it does not."

Identity and Blockchain: myth or reality

The identity is one of the great debates that has awakened the arrival of the Blockchain, opening the possibility of certifying identities (ID) outside the traditional state regulatory channels. Moses Menendez, stated firmly that “the issue of identity is a myth of the Blockchain. We already have an identity, the means of identification for digital administrations are already legislated. Within them, for me the need to establish a framework of trust is fundamental, it is a critical aspect and usually it is also the great forgotten in the certification of identities; but it is the one that really defines the validity of an identity according to the uses made of it”.

A statement that found detractors among the participating speakers. Among them, Rodríguez Jaramillo, lawyer and co-founder of Legal block, said that “the developments and applications that are being made in terms of identity will have great potential for the settlement of the Blockchain, because they are part of the infrastructure necessary to enable solutions (based on in Blockchain) where business is done. It is necessary to have an adequate identification for security reasons, such as in the matter of anti-terrorism and money laundering, or for companies to fulfill their responsibilities”.

Simon Olsen, co-founder of Lykke.com, introduced in the debate the aspect of trust and control to establish identities. In this regard, and focused from the financial point of view in which Olsen is an expert, he affirmed that “identity within the Fin Tech world is related to control; but in reality it is an illusion because the financial world is based on trust and not control. ”