LikeStarter: a Smart-contract based Social DAO for Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding has become a popular form of collective funding, in which small donations or investments, made by groups of people, support the development of new projects in exchange of free products or different types of recognition. Social network sites, on the other hand, promote user cooperation and currently are at the basis of any individuals cyber-interactions. In this paper, we present LikeStarter, a blockchain-based decentralized platform that combines social interactions with crowdfunding mechanisms, allowing any user to raise funds while becoming popular in the social network. Being built over the Ethereum blockchain, LikeStarter is structured as a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), that fosters crowdfunding without the intervention of any central authority, and recognizes the active role of donors, enabling them to support artists or projects, while making profits.Comment: Proceedings of the 2st Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains for Distributed Systems (CryBlock'19). Paris, France, 29 April, 201

Making Sense of Blockchain Applications:A Typology for HCI

Blockchain is an emerging infrastructural technology that is proposed to fundamentally transform the ways in which people transact, trust, collaborate, organize and identify themselves. In this paper, we construct a typology of emerging blockchain applications, consider the domains in which they are applied, and identify distinguishing features of this new technology. We argue that there is a unique role for the HCI community in linking the design and application of blockchain technology towards lived experience and the articulation of human values. In particular, we note how the accounting of transactions, a trust in immutable code and algorithms, and the leveraging of distributed crowds and publics around vast interoperable databases all relate to longstanding issues of importance for the field. We conclude by highlighting core conceptual and methodological challenges for HCI researchers beginning to work with blockchain and distributed ledger technologies

Ley aplicable a los smart contracts y lex crytographia

Blockchain-based smart contracts pose significant challenges for Contract Law and Private International Law. At the same time, smart contracts using blockchain technology can largely operate outside the legal system and thereby, challenge the traditional legislative monopoly of the State. Some even predict that algorithms will eventually replace the law and the judicial system, once the socalled Lex Cryptographia is consolidated. Against this background, the present article addresses three main issues: First, it deals with the applicable law to smart contracts under the Rome I Regulation. Second, it studies the phenomenon of the Lex Cryptographia and its interaction with the state legal system. Finally, it analyses the ability of Private International Law to respond to some of the main challenges that arise in relation to smart contracts, namely, the need to provide legal certainty and a right balance between regulation and technological development.La irrupción de los smart contracts o contratos inteligentes basados en la cadena de bloques plantea importantes desafíos para el Derecho contractual y el Derecho internacional privado. Estos contratos tienen, además, la capacidad de operar, en gran medida, al margen del ordenamiento jurídico y, con ello, de poner en jaque al tradicional monopolio legislativo del Estado. Algunos ya vaticinan que los algoritmos terminarán por desplazar a la Ley y a jueces y tribunales, una vez se consolide lo que se denomina la Lex Cryptographia. Ante esta situación, el presente trabajo aborda tres cuestiones principales: Primero, analiza la ley aplicable a los smart contracts bajo el régimen del Reglamento Roma I. Segundo, estudia el fenómeno de la Lex Cryptographia y su interacción con el ordenamiento jurídico estatal. Finalmente, examina el papel del Derecho internacional privado para garantizar la seguridad jurídica en la contratación inteligente, así como el adecuado equilibrio entre regulación e innovación tecnológica