The BlockchainGov Newsletter #20 | April 2025
As spring unfolds, so too does the most exciting field of research: that of decentralised governance. Here's a glimpse into what's been happening across the BlockchainGov network.
I. Research
How to Govern the Confidence Machine? Our highlight of the month was the publication of a new Special Issue in Regulation & Governance, co-edited by Morshed Mannan, Primavera De Filippi, and Wessel Reijers.
Playing with the myth of "trustless" systems, the issue goes into the interplay between algorithmic confidence and social trust. It is essential reading for regulators, researchers, and communities designing new governance infrastructures. Contributors include Bodo Balazs, Kevin Werbach, and Eric Alston.
🌐 Unmissable Symposium
If you haven’t already explored our New Network Sovereignties symposium with the European University Institute’s Schumann Centre, now is the time. Featuring contributions from Vitalik Buterin, Michel Bauwens , @Nathan Schneider, Primavera De Filippi, and Morshed Mannan, the symposium ties together questions of sovereignty, legitimacy, and governance beyond the nation-state. We examine how decentralised communities and private actors are gaining “functional sovereignty” in digital spaces — and what that means for democratic governance. It’s a really great read.
II. Podcast: Blockchain Governance: North Korea, Tornado Cash, and Trust
This month, The Blockchain Socialist podcast hosted our own Wessel Reijers and Morshed Mannan to discuss their new book Blockchain Governance. They explore the legal and philosophical history of blockchain, speak on North Korean mega hacks, Tornado Cash, and the need to rethink property relations in decentralized networks.
III. Events & Participation
Jamilya Kamalova joins Scroll as Governance Facilitator, contributing to governance design at the cutting edge of ZK infrastructure. 🔗 Announcement
Wessel Reijers publishes his latest book: Introduction to the Ethics of Emerging Technologies. 🔗 Explore the book
Tara Merk contributes to Other Internet’s upcoming book project on institutional analogies. 🔗 Preorder
Sara Horowitz reflects on the next generation of mutualism. A relevant read for communities rethinking solidarity in Web3. 🔗 Read the article
Nathan Schneider released some of his "favourite interviews of his career" with the Protocol Oral History Project. It explores wildly diverse kinds of protocols as a form of human governance, from state diplomacy to food in our guts: 🔗 Collection
Jamilya Kamalova plays with shifts in alternative governance: Hogwarts as a quasi-state? 🔗 Tweet
Our team hosted the Governance Module at Polkadot Blockchain Academy: bridging the gap between applied research and technical education. 🔗 See more
Thanks for reading BlockchainGov's April roundup. We’ll be back next month with more news from the frontier of governance research. Until then!