HARNESSING BLOCKCHAIN FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES
The paper’s main messages are that blockchain technology can be used in many applications that could contribute to sustainable development. However, at this moment, blockchain innovation has focused on financial applications dissociated from the real economy.For most of the innovations in this field, the Goal is to profit by extracting rents through financial intermediation and speculative gains in crypto-financial assets instead of creating real value through new products and services. Such behaviour, combined with the lack of regulation and the swift pace of innovation, is a receipt for financial bubbles and bursts.
