The BlockchainGov Newsletter #16 | 2024 Year in Review
As 2024 comes to an end, at BlockchainGov, we are happy to look back on this year as another one full of research activities, important milestones, and interesting and fun collaborations!
This end-of-year report is dedicated to recapping and celebrating these last 12 months at BlockchainGov. In such complex historical times, we feel the privilege and urge to be at the forefront of governance experimentation. We remain dedicated to working with communities and making our research results accessible. This spirit moved us this year and will continue for 2025!
I. Research Highlights
Our team has worked on extensive academic research throughout the year, including ethnographic research on DAOs, governance disputes, AI system dissection, and more.
This year also saw the publication of Blockchain Governance on MIT Press Essential - the new volume by Primavera de Filippi, Morshed Mannan & Wessel Reijers!
The book results from years of extensive research in blockchain technologies and communities and reads like an excellent introduction to Blockchain Gov’s research work on decentralized governance.
“How can digital cash truly be “trustless”? What does it mean that blockchain offers a new paradigm of the “rule of code”? How are decisions made when a blockchain system faces an emergency, and who gets to make those decisions? In Blockchain Governance, Primavera De Filippi, Wessel Reijers, and Morshed Mannan offer answers to these questions and more, in an accessible, critical overview of legal and political issues related to blockchain technology, now the foundation of a multi-billion-dollar industry. Moving beyond the hype, they show how blockchain offers fertile ground for experimentation with radically new ways to govern people and institutions.”
Find it here.
Academic papers and books were not the only formats that we used. This year, we released three comprehensive research reports:
Polycentric Governance Report Our foundational report explores how blockchain systems function through multiple autonomous decision-making centers operating under shared rules – a framework originally developed by Polanyi and the Ostroms.
Blockchain Governance Dynamics In collaboration with Project Liberty Institute, this report examines the layered nature of blockchain governance. It reveals how influence flows through both on-chain protocols and off-chain social practices, setting the stage for future governance recommendations.
The Blockchain Governance Toolkit – A Cookbook Our practical toolkit translates complex research into actionable recommendations, helping governance designers create resilient systems tailored to their specific contexts and goals.
Another initiative powered by BlockchainGov and EUI was the New Network Soveregnities Forum - an online symposium that builds upon the foundation laid by a previous symposium on Cloud Communities and delves into the emerging paradigms of Network States and New Network Sovereignties. At the moment, four essays have been released by Primavera de Filippi, Vitalik Buterin, Michel Bauwens, and Nathan Schneider. The symposium will continue to unfold in 2025 with new interventions.
One last mention dedicated to online articles: Sofia Cossar dedicated an interesting overview of the emerging paradigm of prediction markets for the Mechanism Institute and Kelsie Nabben’s Substack offers gems on blockchain security and white hacking.
II. Events
The cornerstone event of the year was the 1-day workshop 'Cooking up Better Governance’ that we organized during EthCC alongside Project Liberty. This workshop exemplified our commitment to bridging research and practice in blockchain governance.
In the first part of the workshop, we worked with practitioners from three decentralized projects - Kleros, MakerDAO, and DSNP - to identify one governance issue and then elaborate collectively on possible solutions, drawing from the research collected in 'The Blockchain Governance Toolkit'.
In the afternoon, we expanded the conversation to a broader perspective with fruitful dialogues between Web3 practitioners and policymakers from the EU Commission. These discussions tackled critical issues and opportunities in decentralized governance. The day felt like a significant step forward in realizing BlockchainGov's mission: using our research to actively participate in the design and modeling phases of decentralized networks, giving life to new and exciting areas of experimentation. What an unforgettable summer day!
Beyond ETHCC, our team participated in numerous prestigious gatherings worldwide: from crypto gatherings like DevCon in Bangkok or the network state adjacent event EdgeCity to academic or policy conferences: for instance, the UN Science Summit, the Ostrom Workshop, the Critical Legal Conference, or FinWork Futures.
III. BlockchainGov Knowledge Base
2024 marked one more milestone for our team with the launch of the BlockchainGov Knowledge Base – a comprehensive digital archive we've long envisioned. This living repository serves as a centralized hub for our collective expertise and research in blockchain governance.
The Knowledge Base features over 400 carefully curated resources, thoughtfully organized across key themes in blockchain governance, including:
NFT licensing frameworks
Exit-to-community strategies
Coordination mechanisms
Governance protocols
And much more
Whether you're a researcher, practitioner, or blockchain governance enthusiast, you'll find valuable insights in this evolving collection.
This is a wrap! We're grateful for your continued support of BlockchainGov's journey. Now, it's time to rest and get charged for 2025! We look forward to pushing the boundaries of blockchain governance research and practice in the new year!