Contribution to Book
Open Source Operational Risk: Should Public Blockchains Serve as Financial Market Infrastructures?
Handbook of Digital Banking & Internet Finance
(2017)
Abstract
This chapter explores the operational risks raised by the use of common 'grassroots' open source software practices in public blockchains, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, in their potential role as financial market infrastructures. These practices include the informal software development process, problematic funding for software development, and the possibility of forking inherent to open source software. The paper argues that the risks raised by these practices significantly undermine public blockchains’ suitability to serve as financial market infrastructures. Further, they herald the need to reevaluate the use of these practices outside the blockchain technology setting, in other critical infrastructures based on grassroots open source software.
Keywords
- blockchain,
- open source,
- open source software,
- software forking,
- distributed ledger technology,
- DLT,
- financial market infrastructure,
- operational risk,
- governance,
- critical infrastructure,
- bitcoin,
- ethereum
Disciplines
Publication Date
2017
Editor
David Lee Kuo Chuen & Robert Deng
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation Information
Angela Walch. "Open Source Operational Risk: Should Public Blockchains Serve as Financial Market Infrastructures?" Handbook of Digital Banking & Internet Finance Vol. 2 (2017) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/angela-walch/3/