Bitcoin and beyond :  cryptocurrencies, blockchains and global governance / 
edited by Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn. 
 - 	1 online resource (xii, 207 pages) :  illustrations. 
 - RIPE series in global political economy .
<br/><br/> Introduction: what are blockchains and how are they relevant to governance in the contemporary global political economy? --<br/>Moneys at the margins: from political experiment to cashless societies --<br/>The internal and external governance of blockchain-based organizations: evidence from cryptocurrencies --<br/>The mutual constitution of technology and global governance: bitcoin, block chains, and the international anti-money-laundering regime --<br/>Between liberalization and prohibition: prudent enthusiasm and the governance of bitcoin/blockchain technology --<br/>Cryptocurrencies and digital payment rails in networked global governance: perspectives on inclusion and innovation --<br/>Governing what wasn't meant to be governed: a controversy-based approach to the study of bitcoin governance --<br/>Experiments in algorithmic governance: a history and ethnography of "The DAO," a failed decentralized autonomous organization --<br/>Conclusion: towards a block age or blockages of global governance? --<br/>Index. 
<br/><br/>Includes bibliographical references and index. 
<br/><br/> At their essence, blockchains are digital sequences of numbers coded into computer software that permit the secure exchange, recording, and broadcasting of transactions between individual users operating anywhere in the world with Internet access. Like most technological changes, the development of blockchains drew on and combined several existing technologies. Blockchains incorporate digital encryption technologies that mask, to varying degrees, the specific content exchanged as well as the identities of individual users. Algorithms, pre-coded series of step-by-step instructions, are also mobilised in solving complex mathematical equations and arriving at a consensus on the validity of transactions within networks of users. Time-stamping technologies then periodically bundle verified transactions into datasets, or 'blocks'. Linked together sequentially, these 'blocks' form 'chains' that make up larger 'blockchain' databases of transactions that broadcast a permanent record of transactions whilst maintaining the anonymity of users and specific content exchanged. Blockchains are intended to be maintained by all users in manners meant to be immutable, unless users arrive at a clear consensus to undertake changes. 
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<br/><br/><label>ISBN: </label>9781315211909 (ebk) 
<br/><br/><label>LCCN: </label>2017033217 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>Bitcoin.<br/>Electronic funds transfers.<br/>Financial institutions.<br/>International finance.
<br/><br/><label>Index Terms--Genre/Form: </label><br/>Electronic books 
<br/><br/><label>LC Class. No.: </label>HG1710  / .B545 2018 
<br/><br/><label>Dewey Class. No.: </label>332.1/78