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56 The developer of a dApp would define that upper limit – the ‘gas limit’ based on an estimation of the type of dApp. For
example, before a compiled SC can be executed, payment of the ‘gas’ transaction fee for the SC to be added to the
chain and executed upon.
57 See Nakamoto relating to the use of a peer-to-peer network to remove dependence on financial intermediaries.
Nakamoto, S (2009) Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, available at http:// bit .ly/ 32Bje4n
58 ‘On-Chain governance’ refers to a set of predefined rules which are encoded into the blockchain protocol, intended to
effectuate governance by the community, where users/nodes can vote on changes proposed. Red, R (2018) What is
On-chain Cryptocurrency Governance ? Is it Plutocratic? , available at http:// bit .ly/ 2O0yWD2
59 Bitcoin was developed by an unknown person(s) Satoshi Nakamoto along with developer Martii Malmi. When
Nakamoto departed from the project he divested himself of ownership of the domain and project to several unrelated
developers to ensure a decentralization of ownership over the project. This included the domain bitcoin.org, which was
used from 2011-2013 to develop the software, now known as ‘Bitcoin Core’ or BTC.2014 fully opened the project to the
public, which included the creation of developer docs and the beginning of attempts to create a protocol for continued
development efforts, github commits, etc. See Bitcoin.org (2019) About bitcoin.org, available at http:// bit .ly/ 2JCyQ0i;
Lopp, J (2016) Who Controls Bitcoin Core?, available at https:// bit .ly/ 2IX90Wt; Van Wirdum, A (2016) Who Funds
Bitcoin Core Development? How the Industry Supports Bitcoin's 'Reference Client', https:// bit .ly/ 2tTcPlf; Bitcoin Core
(2016) Bitcoin Core Sponsorship Programme FAQ, available at http:// bit .ly/ 2M0rNQo
60 Improvement proposals ‘must have a champion’ for the cause and make ‘attempts to build a community consensus’
around the idea. Taaki, A (2016) BIP Purpose and Guidelines, available at http:// bit .ly/ 2YdjZkW
61 Walch, A (2019) Deconstructing 'Decentralization': Exploring the Core Claim of Crypto Systems, available at http:// bit
.ly/ 2JIhT36
62 Lack of identification of those transacting led to the imprisonment of Charlie Shrem, co-founder of the now-defunct
startup company BitInstant in New York who in December 2014 he was sentenced to two years in prison for aiding
and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money-transmitting business related to the Silk Road marketplace. See
Raymond, N (2014) Bitcoin Backer Gets Two Years Prison for Illicit Transfers, available at https:// reut .rs/ 2JFJqnk
63 One criticism of the mysterious ‘Nakamoto’ was that he published his ground-breaking work, but did not indicate any
markers of how it could be improved and who should do so. The result of course is that coding communities have
either formed cliques to undertake such improvements, or the Bitcoin protocol has ‘forked’ into multiple versions of
Bitcoin.. Bitcoin improvements are known as Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs).
64 For example, ERC-20 is a technical standard used for smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain for implementing
tokens. Simply, 20 was the number that was assigned to this request. ERC-20 was proposed on November 19 2015 by
Fabian Vogelsteller and defines a common list of rules that an Ethereum token has to implement, giving developers the
ability to program how new tokens will function within the Ethereum ecosystem. The ERC-20 token standard became
popular with crowdfunding companies working on ICOs due to the simplicity of deployment, together with its potential
for interoperability with other Ethereum token standards. See Reiff, N (2019) What is ERC-20 and What Does it Mean
for Ethereum?, available at http:// bit .ly/ 2LzopwP
65 Lack of transparency, as well as susceptibility to corruption and fraud, can lead to disputes.
66 As transactions occur and data is transferred, the agreements and the data they individually control need to be
synchronized. Often though, the data will not match up because of duplication and discrepancies between ledger
transactions, which results in disputes, disagreements, increased settlement times, and the need for intermediaries
along with their associated overhead costs.
67 See also IBM (2016) Blockchain Basics: Introduction to Business Ledgers, available at https:// goo .gl/ dajHbh.
68 The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, the company that serves as the back end for much Wall Street trading
and which records information about every credit default swap trade, is replacing its central databases as used by the
largest banks in the world with blockchain technology from IBM. See NY Times (2017) Wall Street Clearinghouse to
Adopt Bitcoin Technology, available at http:// nyti .ms/ 2iac0iM.

69 Partz, H (2019) Medici Portfolio Firm Partners with Caribbean Bank to Pilot Digital Currency, available at https:// bit .ly/
2FOuTDD
70 ZDNET (2016) Why Ripples from this Estonian Blockchain Experiment may be Felt around the World, available at
https:// goo .gl/ eaLf3G.
71 Memoria, F (2019) Canadian Town Starts Accepting Bitcoin for Property Tax Payments, available at https:// bit .ly/
2WFnVGN
72 This would, with current developments, be more applicable to identity systems rather than national identity systems. It
can be applied then to digital identity, with notes that certain attributes have been attested by certain authorities. The
keys associated with the identity, and the details of the attributes and the associated attestations, would be held in a

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