1134 | Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Regulation

This research-based seminar deals with fundamentals of the emerging field of blockchains and cryptocurrencies and is a standalone, elective course designed to give students an insight into their regulatory and policy ramifications.Cryptocurrencies have taken the world by the storm lately, with the Indian crypto market recording a massive growth of 641% over the past year, despite the vacillatory approach taken by the Indian Government. The decentralised, pseudonymous crypto ecosystem is booming with new digital currencies, wallets, exchanges etc., despite being largely unregulated. Moreover, blockchain technology (which underpins these cryptocurrencies) appears to be the next disruptive technology after the internet, moving beyond cryptocurrency applications to smart contracts, healthcare, voting and art. This represents novel challenges and prospects for both regulators and lawyers.

This course will look at the technology, governance as well as regulation of blockchains and cryptocurrencies. This course will discuss the technological underpinnings of the technology behind cryptocurrencies i.e., blockchain and its development beyond its first application i.e., Bitcoin.

This course relies primarily upon secondary sources of literature due to the contemporary nature of the subject area. Since the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is rapidly evolving, short articles may be added to the readings when required.