Ethics of Blockchain Technologies

2025-04-03

AI Summary

Blockchain technologies introduce distinctive ethical challenges—including permissionless operation, incentive misalignment, and privacy paradoxes—that lack systematic engineering-oriented frameworks. Method: This paper proposes the first engineering-centered blockchain ethics framework, integrating conceptual modeling, techno-ethical analysis, and systemic trade-off design. It introduces the “ethics-as-engineerable” paradigm, emphasizing value-conflict modeling, quantification, and co-design within complex socio-technical systems. Contribution/Results: First, it establishes blockchain ethics as an autonomous engineering discipline, transcending traditional normative approaches. Second, it defines a core set of ethical principles and objectives while identifying critical implementation barriers. Third, it delivers actionable tools: a structured trade-off analysis methodology and an information-asymmetry diagnostic framework. Collectively, these contributions provide a pragmatic, implementation-ready pathway for ethically grounded design, governance, and regulation of blockchain systems.

Technology Category

• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Bias, Fairness & Equity
• Natural Language Processing: Ethics — Bias, Fairness, Transparency & Privacy
• Machine Learning: Ethics, Bias, and Fairness

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Blockchains and distributed ledgers
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Economic aspects of blockchain and cryptocurrencies
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization

Abstract

This chapter explores three key questions in blockchain ethics. First, it situates blockchain ethics within the broader field of technology ethics, outlining its goals and guiding principles. Second, it examines the unique ethical challenges of blockchain applications, including permissionless systems, incentive mechanisms, and privacy concerns. Key obstacles, such as conceptual modeling and information asymmetries, are identified as critical issues. Finally, the chapter argues that blockchain ethics should be approached as an engineering discipline, emphasizing the analysis and design of trade-offs in complex systems.

Problem

• Examines ethical challenges in blockchain applications
• Identifies key obstacles like conceptual modeling
• Proposes blockchain ethics as engineering discipline

Innovation

• Integrates blockchain ethics with technology ethics principles
• Analyzes ethical challenges in permissionless blockchain systems
• Approaches blockchain ethics as engineering discipline