AUTHOR=Kim Tae Wan , Zetlin-Jones Ariel 

TITLE=The Ethics of Contentious Hard Forks in Blockchain Networks With Fixed Features

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Blockchain

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/blockchain/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2019.00009

DOI=10.3389/fbloc.2019.00009

ISSN=2624-7852

ABSTRACT=<p>An advantage of blockchain protocols is that a decentralized community of users may each update and maintain a public ledger without the need for a trusted third party. Such modifications introduce important economic and ethical considerations that we believe have not been considered among the community of blockchain developers. We clarify the problem and provide one implementable ethical framework that such developers could use to determine which aspects should be immutable and which should not.</p>