About this Research Topic
The emergence of blockchain enables the development of novel tools for social innovation. The application of these evolving tools to increase the greater good is an area of growing interest.
We live in a time when virtually every aspect of the status quo is being questioned. All of our prevailing social, political, and economic institutions—and the assumptions behind these —are being reexamined. Humans are wired to pursue self-interest, but the pursuit of self-interest often translates to a reality other than a great society. Indeed, as Harvard evolutionary biologist Joseph Henrich notes in "The Secret of Our Success", all prosocial institutions over time collapse at the hands of self-interest.
We seek papers that envision blockchain-based token economic models that embody inclusive stakeholding, integrating the pursuit of self-interest with a contractually defined (i.e. smart contracts) vested interest in the success of other stakeholders. Discussed features should include how the model instantiates alignment of interests and goal congruence among stakeholders while minimizing conflicts of interest and perverse incentives.
Each paper should pick a specific case of a system that behaves dysfunctionally due to perverse incentives or significant misalignment of interests among stakeholders (examples: health insurance, music distribution, food, real estate contractors, financial services, academia, patient health records, political institutions, plastic water bottles).
The papers should discuss how a blockchain-based solution using vested interest in the success of other stakeholders and goal congruence can optimize system behaviors.
Contributions to this Research Topic should also specifically describe how stakeholders and the total system benefit, including those who don’t hold tokens. By reimagining incentive systems such that an individual’s success is a function of the success of others, the innate pursuit of self-interest could yield win-win outcomes for individuals while promoting the greater good.
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Frontiers in Blockchain is delighted to announce 2 journal-wide prizes of 10,000 USD in collaboration with the Yun Family Foundation and associates. Congratulations to the winning authors:
- Yun Family Best Inclusive Stakeholding Research Prize to Andrej Zwitter and Jilles Hazenberg for “Decentralized Network Governance: Blockchain Technology and the Future of Regulation”
- Yun Family Frontiers in Blockchain Prize to Stephan Leible, Steffen Schlager, Moritz Schubotz, and Bela Gipp for “A Review on Blockchain Technology and Blockchain Projects Fostering Open Science”
More information is available in the official announcement here.
Keywords: blockchain, social good, stakeholding, incentives, alignment, token, coin, crypto, cryptocurrency, distributed ledger, smart contracts, blockchain for good, B4G
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
