{"id":91873,"date":"2019-06-10T11:59:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T18:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/?p=91873"},"modified":"2019-06-10T12:05:42","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T19:05:42","slug":"blockchain-bitcoin-and-law-a-distributed-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/blockchain-bitcoin-and-law-a-distributed-disruption","title":{"rendered":"Blockchain, Bitcoin, and Law: A Distributed Disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The future of the legal industry is being reshaped by a number of <\/em>rapidly advancing technologies and the <\/em>disruptive <\/em>ideas they enable<\/em>.<\/em> <\/em>Today\u2019s l<\/em>awyers are <\/em>being<\/em> <\/em>advised to learn to code, develop an <\/em>artificial intelligence (<\/em>AI<\/em>) application<\/em>,<\/em> <\/em>and<\/em> <\/em>outsource discovery to machines.<\/em> <\/em>Of the many new technological drivers <\/em>impacting<\/em> <\/em>law firms is the <\/em>secure information exchange platform <\/em>known as blockchain.<\/em> <\/em>Some see it as a the basis for the reinvention of economies while others simply see it as means of secure and incorruptible information exchange between counterparties. <\/em>This cloud-based <\/em>distributed <\/em>ledger technology<\/em> <\/em>provides a source of irrefutable <\/em>record of every transaction. In legal<\/em> <\/em>it is <\/em>enabl<\/em>ing fully automated<\/em> self-executing <\/em>\u201c<\/em>smart<\/em>\u201d<\/em> contracts,<\/em> and<\/em> has the potential to help attorneys provide new services and create new value for clients<\/em> and <\/em>law <\/em>firms<\/em>.<\/em> <\/em>Blockchain<\/em> is known as the structure underlying Bitcoin and other digital currencies, but its applications <\/em>in<\/em> <\/em>the legal <\/em>sector<\/em> <\/em>are still evolving.<\/em> <\/em>This article provides an o<\/em>verview of <\/em>the <\/em>technology<\/em>, <\/em>highlights <\/em>example applications and case s<\/em>tudies<\/em>,<\/em> and <\/em>presents <\/em>a <\/em>possible <\/em>timeline of future <\/em>developments over the next decade or so<\/em>.<\/em> <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overview<\/strong>:<\/strong> <\/strong>Blockchain and Bitcoin<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blockchain and Bitcoin have gained notoriety lately as a potential solution to an outdated and burdensome system for managing financial transactions between counterparties. Today most financial transactions between counterparties are settled via financial intermediaries which adds time and cost to the settlement process. Blockchain offers a distributed ledger model whereby the parties settle directly with each other, the transactions are recorded, secure, and immutable, and the counterparty identities remain anonymous. The goal is to enable a simplified and trustworthy financial ecosystem- but these digital peer-to-peer networks, also challenge the authority of institutions (banks, regulators, and governments) and are thus creating disruption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to its advocates, the decentralized nature of blockchain and Bitcoin will cause much-needed disruption, with reverberations far beyond the financial realm. There is an element of social revolution in blockchain, thus it is often portrayed as a conduit for challenging the status quo. Though Bitcoin, a digital currency, is an explicitly financial innovation (i.e., for payments, transfer of funds) blockchain is far less specific. Blockchain serves a critical role in the administration of Bitcoin, and that of other digital currencies, but it can actually be used to complete other objectives and track the movement, transfer, and ownership of all sorts of things besides money (examples include luxury goods, education credits, property titles, and patents, to name a few). Though

Continue reading \u201cBlockchain, Bitcoin, and Law: A Distributed Disruption\u201d | ><\/a><\/div><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The future of the legal industry is being reshaped by a number of rapidly advancing technologies and the disruptive ideas they enable. Today\u2019s lawyers are being advised to learn to code, develop an artificial intelligence (AI) application, and outsource discovery to machines. Of the many new technological drivers impacting law firms is the secure information [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":404,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1318],"tags":[2161,2121,1413],"class_list":["post-91873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bitcoin","tag-bitcoin","tag-blockchain","tag-law-tag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91873"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91877,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91873\/revisions\/91877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}