By Charles Belle* & Michele Neitz*

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Introduction

One evening in 2018, Professor Michele Neitz sat in a law school classroom surrounded by judges. She was teaching a workshop on the basics of blockchain technology. When the discussion turned to cryptocurrency, one judge raised his hand and asked, “But where does cryptocurrency actually live? Can I hold it in my hand?” Professor Neitz answered, “No, blockchain is a digital technology, and cryptocurrency is a digital asset.” The judge sat back, shook his head, and replied, “Nope. If I can’t touch it, it isn’t real.”

The judge’s feelings about cryptocurrency are understandable. Blockchain can, at best, feel like something that might only be used in video games. Blockchain technology, however, is not an abstract concept. People use the technology in the same way they use their phones and smartwatches to pay for coffee or board a plane: invisible but relied upon. Like other everyday tools, blockchain has clear technical definitions and uses. For example, although only a small segment of the global population uses cryptocurrency, the market value is nearly $2 trillion at the time of this writing.[1]

Blockchain technology does, however, face various technical and legal challenges. Government entities are using terms and definitions without standardization, resulting in a fragmented set of rules.[2]

Lack of legal clarity combined with the technology evolving at an incredible pace mean that grasping the basics of blockchain can be difficult. This is especially true for law and policymakers, who must create regulations that govern today’s technology and tomorrow’s technical evolutions. Individual states, as America’s famous “laboratories of democracy,”[3] are flexible and dynamic. However, this new technology is pushing the limits of the legislative and regulatory processes.

The Blockchain Law for Social Good Center (“the Center”)[4] was created to address these problems: How can we train current and future lawmakers to understand the risks and opportunities afforded by emerging technologies? At the same time, how can we train technologists to understand the legal issues accompanying blockchain technology? As society moves into a technology-driven future, these questions will extend beyond blockchain to encompass all emerging technology.

A.    Our Origins

Fast forward to 2022, when Professor Neitz founded the Center. As the first of its kind,[5] the Center’s mission is “to equip the next generation of lawyers and leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the future of emerging technology with equity and purpose.”[6] The Center was initially funded with over $1 million in grants from the Algorand Foundation and the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (“FFDW”).[7]

Located at the University of San Francisco School of Law (“USF Law”), the Center’s activities focus on three goals. The first goal is to promote legal education on blockchain and emerging technologies. The second goal is to develop a legal community fluent in blockchain-related issues, including wide-use potential applications in finance, healthcare, art, and government. This requires creating educational events and resources for students, policymakers, attorneys, technologists, and the public. The third goal is to advance research and policy in emerging technology law, focusing on how new technologies can advance socially beneficial causes.

B.   The Challenge of Emerging Technologies

Emerging technologies are not well understood by the public. For example, many people doubted the initial value of the internet or at least did not recognize its potential.[8] In the case of blockchain, the media’s focus is primarily on cryptocurrency, for understandable reasons.[9] While the focus on cryptocurrency makes sense, given the value and economic impact of blockchain financial tools, too much focus on one area means other areas of potential impact can be lost. In a historical parallel, one might argue that the lack of understanding about the internet meant that many people overlooked the rise of music services like Napster.[10]

It is important for judges and policymakers to understand that blockchain is not limited to financial tools. The core of blockchain technology is information provenance,[11] where parties can exchange items of value without an intermediary, meaning there is no need to trust third parties.[12] When blockchain technology is understood as a tool to exchange information without trust,[13] it is easier for lawmakers to think about blockchain as a technology with broad potential applications. For example, governments in Singapore[14] and California[15] are exploring the use of blockchain technology to enhance certification efficiency in areas from education to the Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”). It is critical, therefore, for law and policymakers to recognize the difference between the underlying technology that enables trustlessness and its applications. Lawmakers do not need to know how to code software, but they need trustworthy docents in the space to navigate emerging technology.

I.    How the Center Executes Its Mission

Technical courses are available to understand blockchain, artificial intelligence (“AI”), and other emerging technologies.[16]However, there are few academic centers that policymakers can look to for neutral expertise regarding laws and regulations.[17] The Center fills this gap, providing a trusted and unbiased resource for policymakers to learn about technology.

Today, the Center’s curriculum at USF Law includes two courses taught by faculty associated with the Center: “Blockchain Technology and the Law”[18] and “DeFi: Decentralized Finance Law.”[19] Both courses are unique to USF Law. The Center also hosts a Learn & Lunch Series[20] that brings together law, computer science, and management scholars to discuss trending topics at the intersection of law, technology, the economy, and society.

A.    The Center’s Research

The Center investigates, researches, and assesses potential use cases emerging between blockchain, law, and multidisciplinary nexuses. Faculty members conduct independent research on a range of legal issues. Stakeholder partners in academia and private industry work with the Center to advance industry-leading, unbiased research in the form of academic journals and white papers.[21]

Most recently, Professor Neitz and then-second-year law student Katherine Stromin published an article on the rise of the courts as proxy regulatory agencies.[22] In their article, Neitz and Stromin argue:

[T]he failure of the United States Congress to successfully pass a cohesive legislative approach, coupled with the inter-agency turf battle between the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and other federal agencies, is leaving important decisions regarding federal oversight of this industry in the hands of judges.[23]

The article identifies “the negative consequences that will occur if government agencies and the crypto asset industry must rely on judge-made law for regulatory clarity” in the United States.[24]

In 2024, the Center plans to launch a research hub by leveraging USF Law’s academic community. The hub will publish work on various topics, including (1) landscape studies to reduce fragmented legal definitions, (2) decentralized governance formation, and (3) IP licensing standards to enable creators to launch decentralized applications better. Contributions will come from faculty across the university, affiliates, and students.

B.   Government Training Offerings

One of the Center’s main programmatic functions is to provide trainings. The Center conducts government training on blockchain technology for agencies including the National Association of Attorneys General, the California State Controller’s Office, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI”), the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California, and the DMV.

Any new policy regulating a technology may inadvertently extend beyond the targeted area. When providing training, the Center addresses the audience’s needs and issues to solve. This approach helps attendees connect their specific issues to the bigger innovative picture. How could regulations in one area hinder technological innovation in others?

This is where the Center’s role as a neutral expert best helps policymakers. The faculty does not advocate for issues but instead serves as a trusted resource to educate others, answer questions, and assist policymakers in understanding the technology to create informed policies.[25]

C.   A Global Outlook

There is a joke in software development that 1’s and 0’s do not see borders. Government officials and lawyers would likely raise (reasonable) objections to this thinking. The no-border concept, however, reflects the practicality of the technology. Ideas, discourse, concepts, and technologies circulate throughout the world almost instantly. Near-instant dissemination of information is particularly relevant for many emerging collaborative technologies, such as blockchain and AI. It’s common for software to be published under an open source license.[26] Working with collaborative technology thus demands a global view from inception.

Accordingly, the Center is dedicated to building a global academic community that is informed and fluent in emerging technology-related risks and opportunities. It aims to serve as a hub for underserved and marginalized areas of the United States and populations worldwide, focused on systemic injustice.

Incorporating a global mindset was crucial to the Center’s founding, and in 2023, the Center launched the International Affiliate Scholars (“IAS”) program with support from FFDW.[27] The Center’s “inaugural cohort features scholars from Brazil, Denmark, and Rwanda”[28] who share thought leadership at the “nexus of blockchain law and social good.”[29] They play a valuable role in ensuring a global perspective to encourage the responsible development of blockchain and emerging technology. In February 2024, the IAS scholars came together on USF Law’s campus at the Center’s Social Impact Summit to share their work with our community.[30]

II.   How the Center Is Expanding

A constant of technology is change. However, a defining feature of emerging technology is that innovators are still learning the technology. Indeed, new applications are developed and deployed daily. As part of the conversation on emerging technologies, the Center is focused on two evolving areas: (1) assisting government understanding and adoption of emerging technology, and (2) the convergence of emerging technologies. For that reason, beginning in 2024, the Center will expand its work to include a broader scope of technologies, including AI, the Internet of Things,[31] and—of course—blockchain.

A.    Uniting Blockchain, AI, and Other Technologies

All technology is on a vector with AI. Blockchain, however, is different. Blockchain protocols are built on encryption, immutability, and transparency. This provides possible innovative solutions to restrict access to data, require payment for data, or keep encrypted data private. The Center, by looking ahead, has positioned itself for this convergence.

For many industry actors, blockchain and AI are complementary technologies.[32] AI requires access to massive amounts of data.[33] This data may be inaccessible for legal reasons (such as copyright-protected content)[34] or technical reasons (e.g., legacy architecture).[35] But “[w]hen data is acquired from a data repository or a dependable, safe, trusted, and credible platform [such as a blockchain], machine learning algorithms perform better.”[36] The future will see more examples of blockchain and AI working together to store and analyze data more efficiently, especially in health care,[37] finance,[38] supply chain,[39] and other data-reliant industries.

As technology becomes more innovative—and complicated—lawyers need to learn from other sectors to develop effective laws and regulations. For that reason, the Center is coordinating its work with other disciplines at USF. For example, our first Lunch & Learn event in February 2024 involved a discussion about AI, privacy, and civil rights with Professor Tiffany Li from the School of Law and Professor Chris Brooks, chair of the undergraduate Computer Science Department.[40] The Center is also partnering with professors from the School of Management on interdisciplinary grant applications. It is imperative that USF Law provides students with a multidisciplinary framework to understand the ways lawyers must work with technologists and business leaders in the real world.

Conclusion

Emerging technology is advancing rapidly. The work of lawmakers and policymakers must be multidisciplinary, as each discipline contributes unique perspectives on how to navigate the way forward. The Center builds on this approach: As a beacon of leadership, the Center provides a unique opportunity to ensure that the technology evolves with social good values. Faculty at the Center train law students, lawyers, and leaders to focus on values that will help others, build a better democracy and more effective government, and increase economic equity and opportunity. Technology is not value-neutral. At USF Law, the Center is building a platform to unite all disciplines to work together and enable laws to evolve with technology.

          *     Charles Belle is the Filecoin Foundation for Decentralized Web’s Teaching Fellow at the Blockchain Law for Social Good Center (“the Center”) at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Professor Belle is a non-residential Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society (“CIS”).

          *     Michele Benedetto Neitz is a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco School of Law and the Founder and Academic Director of the Blockchain Law for Social Good Center at USF. She served on the California Blockchain Working Group advising the California legislature in 2019–2020. She was a Professor of Law at Golden Gate University School of Law from 2006 to 2021.

         [1].     Today’s Cryptocurrency Prices by Market Cap, CoinMarketCap, https://coinmarketcap.com/ (last visited Mar. 1, 2024).

         [2].     See, e.g., Heather Morton, Cryptocurrency 2022 Legislation, Nat’l Conf. of State
Legs. (June 7, 2022), https://www.ncsl.org/financial-services/cryptocurrency-2022-legislation [https://perma.cc/9HHF-SL3U].

         [3].     Charles W. Tyler & Heather K. Gerken, The Myth of the Laboratories of Democracy, 122 Colum. L. Rev. 2187, 2187 (2022).

         [4].     After Summer 2024, the Center will be called the Center for Law, Tech, and Social Good.

         [5].     Blockchain Law for Social Good Center, Univ. of S.F. Sch. of L., https://www.usfca.edu/law/school-life-careers/centers/blockchain-law-social-good-center [https://perma.cc/46EN-HD6A] [hereinafter USF Blockchain Law for Social Good Center].

         [6].     Our Mission: Educating Leaders In Emerging Technologies & Law, Blockchain L. for Soc. Good Ctr., https://www.blockchainlawsg.org/about-us [https://perma.cc/GA79-WU4K]; see generally Zia Qureshi, Technology, Growth, and Inequality: Changing Dynamics in the Digital Era (Brookings Inst., Working Paper No. 152, 2021) (discussing inequity).

         [7].     Rebuilding the internet. For good., Filecoin Found. for the Decentralized Web, https://ffdweb.org [https://perma.cc/82GF-XFLS].

         [8].     One of the most well-cited examples is the article by author Clifford Stoll in 1995. See, e.g., Clifford Stoll, Why the Web Won’t Be Nirvana, Newsweek (republished Apr. 19, 2023, 7:20 AM) https://www.newsweek.com/clifford-stoll-why-web-wont-be-nirvana-185306 [https://perma.cc/
DZ9U-C3T4].

         [9].     See, e.g., Sam Bankman-Fried and the Collapse of FTX, N.Y. Times, https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/ftx-sbf-crypto [https://perma.cc/9AJA-4JYK].

      [10].     Jonathan Zittrain, A History of Online Gatekeeping, 19 Harv. J.L. & Tech. 253, 273–74 (2006) (discussing the rise of Napster).

      [11].     See Stephen P. Williams, Blockchain: The Next Everything 2 (Simon & Schuster, Inc. ed., 2019) (discussing in more detail that, as early as 2008, “technologists began to realize that the underlying blockchain might have even greater value in the long run than the cryptocurrencies it was created for.”).

      [12].     Michele Benedetto Neitz, How to Regulate Blockchain’s Real-Life Applications: Lessons from the California Blockchain Working Group, 61 JURIMETRICS J. 185, 186 (2021).

      [13].     Gili Vidan & Vili Lehdonvirta, Mind the Gap: Bitcoin and the Maintenance of Trustlessness, 21 New Media & Soc’y 42, 44 (2019).

      [14].     OpenCerts – An Easy Way to Check and Verify Your Certificates, Sing. Gov’t Dev. Portal, https://www.developer.tech.gov.sg/products/categories/blockchain/opencerts/overview.html
[https://perma.cc/UH54-F56N].

      [15].     Jeff John Roberts, California DMV is now on the blockchain. Why that’s a bigger deal than you think, Fortune Crypto (Jan. 27, 2023, 7:29 AM), https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/01/27/california-dmv-is-now-on-the-blockchain-why-thats-a-bigger-deal-than-you-think/ [https://perma.cc/7AMH-BS4A].

      [16].     See, e.g., Choose the Blockchain Course That Aligns Best with Your Educational Goals, Coursera, https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=blockchain [https://perma.cc/P56B-8PV9]; see also blockchain technology and crypto currency courses by the digital currency initiative, digit. currency initiative, https://dci.mit.edu/courses#freeonlinemitcourses [https://perma.cc/BE89-QMSV].

      [17].     USF Blockchain Law for Social Good Center, supra note 5.

      [18].     Univ. of S.F. Sch. of L., Fall 2023 Upper Division Course Schedule, https://myusf.usfca.
edu/sites/default/files/documents/Law/Registrar/Fall%202023%20Upper%20Division%
20Course%20Schedule.pdf [https://perma.cc/5RT4-Y2TA].

      [19].     Univ. of S.F. Sch. of L., Spring 2024 Course Schedule, https://myusf.usfca.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Law/Registrar/Spring%202024%20Upper%20Div%20Course%20
Schedule.pdf [https://perma.cc/A3W8-TY2C].

      [20].     Events & Media, Univ. of S.F.: Blockchain L. for Soc. Good Ctr., https://www.blockchainlawsg.org/events-and-media [https://perma.cc/B4CN-NM52].

      [21].     See Bridging the Gap Between Ethics and Emerging Technology, Univ. of S.F.: Blockchain L. for Soc. Good Ctr., https://www.blockchainlawsg.org/ [https://perma.cc/6S6Q-XBQ6].

      [22].     See generally Michele Benedetto Neitz & Katherine Stromin, All Rise for the Honorable Judge: The Increasing Power of United States Courts in Crypto Asset Regulation, 3 Int’l J. for Fin. Servs. 1 (2023).

      [23].     Id. at 2.

      [24].     Id. at 3.

      [25].     See, e.g., Michele Benedetto Neitz, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/
michele-neitz_blockchain-digitalassets-blockchain-activity-7112918291324571648-cYq0?utm_
source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop [https://perma.cc/AYA7-9TS4].

      [26].     See OSI Approved Licenses, Open Source Initiative, https://opensource.org/licenses [https://perma.cc/7YFQ-3ZHJ] (providing further discussion on open source licenses).

      [27].     International Affiliated Scholars Fellowship Program, Univ. of S.F.: Blockchain L. for Soc. Good Ctr., https://www.blockchainlawsg.org/ias [https://perma.cc/8KFC-MGRW].

      [28].     The Blockchain Law for Social Good Center, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/
posts/blockchain-law-for-social-good-center_introducing-the-first-international-affiliated-activity-7108128156116516864-J2TV?trk=public_profile_like_view [https://perma.cc/3WWL-NCJG].

      [29].     International Affiliated Scholars Fellowship Program, supra note 27; see also Introducing the
First International Affiliated Scholars Cohort, Filecoin Found. for the Decentralized Web
(Sept. 14, 2023), https://ffdweb.org/blog/introducing-the-first-international-affiliated-scholars-
cohort/[https://perma.cc/C3AZ-RF2E].

      [30].     Blockchain Law for Social Good Center Announces Inaugural Social Impact Summit 2024, Univ.
of S.F.: Blockchain L. for Soc. Good Ctr., https://www.blockchainlawsg.org/blog/
blockchain-law-for-social-good-center-announces-inaugural-social-impact-summit-2024 [https://
perma.cc/R89K-N89D].

      [31].     The “Internet of Things” is a common industry term for items that connect to the internet (“the cloud”) and communicate often, but not always, with sensors, such as smart watches, lights, etc. See, e.g., What is IoT (Internet of Things)?, Amazon Web Servs. [AWS], https://aws.amazon.
com/what-is/iot/#:~:text=The%20term%20IoT%2C%20or%20Internet,as%20between%20
the%20devices%20themselves [https://perma.cc/8KUZ-2XLF].

      [32].     See, e.g., What is blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI)?, Int’l Bus. Machs. [IBM], https://www.ibm.com/topics/blockchain-ai [https://perma.cc/N6MX-9LL8].

      [33].     Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid & Sean K. Hallisey, “Equality and Privacy by Design”: A New Model of Artificial Intelligence Data Transparency Via Auditing, Certification, and Safe Harbor Regimes, 46 Fordham Urb. L.J. 428, 439 (2019) (“Once the AI structure is installed, the data trainer exposes it to vast amounts of data, teaching it what outcomes are desirable and to reject unwanted ones.”).

      [34].     See Michael M. Grynbaum & Ryan Mac, The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work, N.Y. Times (Dec. 27, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/business/media/new-york-times-open-ai-microsoft-lawsuit.html (last visited Mar. 1, 2024).

      [35].     See Rafael Umann, Artificial Intelligence: A New Era For Legacy Application Modernization, Forbes (Nov. 20, 2023, 7:00 AM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/11/
20/artificial-intelligence-a-new-era-for-legacy-application-modernization/?sh=3d95d0bb3130
[https://perma.cc/G8JG-SA45] (“When legacy applications fail, the results can be catastrophic. Modernization challenges, in the form of code complexity, high development costs and the risk of introducing security vulnerabilities (just to name a few) are widely known and haunt the nightmares of CTOs and business leaders.”).

      [36].     Priti Tagde et al., Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence Technology in e-Health, 28 Env’t Sci. & Pollution Rsch. 52810, 52825 (2021).

      [37].     Id. at 52825–27.

      [38].     Hamed Taherdoost, Blockchain Technology and Artificial Intelligence Together: A Critical Review on Applications, Applied Scis. 1, 8–9 (2022).

      [39].     Id.

      [40].     University of San Francisco School of Law, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/
posts/university-of-san-francisco-school-of-law_usflaw-usfca-techlaw-activity-716293013007449
7025-VbK- [https://perma.cc/N2XC-87VX].