Legalize Blockchain

In the last decades, digitalization has been enormously pushing innovation with a stunning impact on economy and society. In this book, the author illustrates that blockchain is one strong driver of the future digital economy, enabling a higher level of efficiency, trust, and legal security. As regulation can decide how a jurisdiction can participate in this development, the author discusses the current and future regulatory challenges and explains, why applying financial market laws for all Token Economy is not appropriate and would hinder its development. Consequently, he argues for a new regulatory fundament for Token Economy - as the Principality of Liechtenstein has introduced in 2020 - and explains the political regulatory decisions of the so-called »Blockchain-Act«. The author pleads also in favour of establishing a new regulatory framework for Token Financial Markets and drafts its cornerstones. In addition to that, he describes the need for an innovation process for the legal framework and emphasizes the importance of the innovation culture of governments and authorities to keep pace with the technological developments and ensure future prosperity.

Thomas G. Duenser is the director of the Office for Financial Market Innovation of the Principality of Liechtenstein. Since 2015, he has been supporting fintech- and blockchain-companies in questions regarding the legal and business framework. He also was responsible for the development and the introduction of the Liechtenstein »Block-chain-Act«, the first comprehensive regulatory framework of the To-ken Economy in the world. Among others, his professional experience covers a leading position in the treasury and financial risk manage-ment department of a bank. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.