The BlockchainGov Newsletter #31 | March 2026
March marked a significant month for BlockchainGov. We released the Argentina Onchain report - a field-tested methodology for designing blockchain solutions around documented coordination failures rather than speculative use cases. In addition: a new Substack piece on voluntary interdependence from Edge City, research on the solidarity economy and AI, two calls for papers, and updates to our website.
I. Argentina Onchain: The Report Is Out
”Participatory Unblocking of Blockchain Use Cases: Lessons from the Argentina Onchain Residency” (Cossar, Björna & Shimony, 2026) is now published and open access here. Blockchain innovation has generated enormous technical sophistication - and not too much sustained real-world impact outside of DeFi.
In the report, we argue that this adoption gap is not primarily a regulatory or technical problem but a design problem. Solutions are too often built around self-referential systems rather than the concrete coordination needs of civil society. The report documents a participatory methodology that starts from institutional realities, and field-tests it through an immersive two-week residency in Argentina. In essence, the methodology surfaces real use cases from the ground up and enables a more user-oriented approach to prototype design.
The report documents a two-week immersive experiment, named (as you know) Argentina Onchain, held November 1–14, 2025, in San Martín de los Andes, Patagonia, as part of Edge City. Organized by Sofia Cossar, Ori Shimony, and Lovisa Björna in collaboration with the Ethereum Foundation Use Case Lab, BlockchainGov, Mechanism Institute, and SEED Latam, the residency brought together 50+ blockchain builders with public officials, private-sector actors, and civil society stakeholders from across Argentina.
Recognizing that governments, businesses, and communities operate under distinct constraints - and that these constraints define the contours of adoption - we gathered 21 real-world problem statements across areas such as public procurement, civic participation, credentialing, and community finance. Participants then co-designed and evaluated blockchain-based prototypes for feasibility, institutional fit, and real-world desirability using a six-step “Participatory Unblocking” methodology. The outcomes: seven working prototypes, including:
Teach ID — verifiable teacher credentials
Córdobras — onchain public procurement records
Señalica — privacy-preserving liquid democracy
MatePlus — community loyalty systems
Argentina, who is already a global leader in grassroots crypto adoption - provided a great testing ground for extending blockchain into the public sector. We hope what we learned here is useful both for those building in the space and for those who might need blockchain solutions but aren’t convinced yet.
By formalizing this problem-first, participatory framework, the report offers a replicable pathway for moving blockchain toward grounded, adoption-ready applications. The full report is 49 pages, open access, and written for researchers, builders, policymakers, and institutional leaders.
A sincere Thank You! to all who joined us and helped us make this possible.
🔗 Read/download the full report here → https://blockchaingov.eu/participatory-unblocking-of-blockchain-use-cases-lessons-from-the-argentina-onchain-residency/
🔗 SSRN link here
Two of the residency’s core organizers, Ori Shimony (Ethereum Foundation Use Case Lab) and Ian DAO, Co-Founder of [TBA] & Syndicate, are already iterating on this approach through user-first design sprints — well worth following for anyone interested in usability and practical blockchain adoption.
🔗 Read more about their work here
II. Network Nations Substack: Edge City and Voluntary Interdependence
Timour Kosters published a new piece on the Network Nations Substack: “What Edge City has learned about building voluntary interdependence at scale (so far)”. The article uses Edge City as a case study to ground the concept of entanglement — the intentional weaving of layered, voluntary ties between people, places, and institutions — in practice. Drawing on Primavera De Filippi’s framework, Kosters traces four sequential layers of entanglement (social, cultural, economic, and structural) through Edge City’s experience across events on multiple continents with over 12,000 participants. The central argument is that sequencing matters. Communities that formalize too early — reaching for governance structures, token models, or constitutional frameworks before sufficient social and cultural groundwork — tend to struggle. Edge City has developed strength at the social and cultural layers while deliberately keeping economic and structural entanglement as open questions. The article offers a candid account of what building voluntary interdependence looks like at this stage, and where the design space remains unresolved. Thank you for your contribution Timour!
Read it on the Network Nations Substack → https://networknations.substack.com/s/pilots/
This piece draws on Network Nations Episode 4: “Entanglement — Building Voluntary Interdependencies” (Green Pill Podcast).
Listen to the episode here →
III. Research Highlight: Building a Solidarity Ecosystem for AI
Trebor Scholz and Mark Esposito published “Building a Solidarity Ecosystem for AI” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review — part of a broader research initiative Scholz has been developing with Morshed Mannan. BlockchainGov’s Tara Merk is also involved in this project. The article argues that cooperatives, public institutions, and social movements need to actively construct and connect alternatives to Big Tech AI through what Scholz calls the “solidarity stack” — a cooperative digital economy spanning cooperative data centres, AI cooperatives, federated infrastructures, and small LLMs. With 1.2 million workers across 53 countries already engaged, the authors frame this as an emerging movement rather than a theoretical exercise. The piece emphasizes thinking in terms of ecosystems rather than isolated interventions, given the scale of global AI supply chains. For those following BlockchainGov’s ongoing work on community data centres and cooperative infrastructure, led by Tara & Morshed, this article provides useful context for where that research sits within the broader solidarity economy conversation.
Read it here → https://ssir.org/articles/entry/artificial-intelligence-solidarity-ecosystem
IV. Website Update
The BlockchainGov website has been updated — the Projects page is new, and the News & Communications section has been redesigned.
Take a look → https://blockchaingov.eu/
V. Calls for Papers
Two opportunities for researchers and legal scholars with rolling submissions:
Journal of Computational Law and Legal Technology — open call for papers (no fixed deadline) at the intersection of computational methods, law, and legal technology. Topics include AI & legal reasoning, RegTech, computational governance, smart contracts, and related areas. APCs waived until end of 2026.
More info & submit → https://ojs.bonviewpress.com/index.php/JCLLT/about/submissions
SCRIPTed: A Journal of Law, Technology & Society — (no fixed deadline) on any topic relating to law, technology & society. Accepts full articles (up to 10,000 words), analysis pieces, case comments and conference reports. No publication fees.
More info & submit → https://journals.ed.ac.uk/script-ed/about/submissions
VII. Walk the Talk
Esen Esener is asking her network for help testing an early crypto regulatory tracker covering 40+ jurisdictions.
If you work in crypto compliance or legal, she’d love 5 minutes of your time for feedback.
Read her posts here → Walk the Talk Series
VI. Coming Up
”Reclaim the Cloud! Contesting, Resisting and Reimagining Data Centers” (April 13, Berlin + livestream) Jointly presented by Bits & Bäume and the Weizenbaum Institute’s research group “Digitalization, Sustainability, and Participation,” this event sits at the intersection of AI-driven infrastructure demand, environmental impact, and community alternatives to Big Tech hyperscalers. Tara Merk will be facilitating. The event will be held at the Weizenbaum-Institut, Hardenbergstraße 32, 10623 Berlin, with a livestream option available.
More info → https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/en/research/research-projects/community-data-centers/
That’s all for this months newsletter, thank you for reading and see you next month!
/ The BlockchainGov Team