Abstract

This article analyses the legal nature of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain as new manifestations of digital private law operating within an emerging jurisdiction: the Internet. This jurisdiction is governed by its own principles--decentralization, universality, voluntary submission, private issuance, and self-enforcement--which constitute an autonomous regulatory order. It is, therefore, a new form of digital private law that poses significant challenges for states and traditional institutions, whose rules are alien to the normative codification of Internet ...