A wide range of leaders gather at the DeCenter to identify issues facing blockchain technologies

Experts in fields ranging from computer science and engineering to economics, politics, human rights and law gathered at Princeton on Nov. 30 to help shape the agenda for the university’s new DeCenter, an interdisciplinary initiative exploring the promise and perils of blockchain technology.

Andrea Goldsmith (left), dean of engineering at Princeton, led a discussion with Rostin Behnam, chairman of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“DeCenter is about decentralization of power through blockchain technology,” said Jaswinder Pal (JP) Singh, DeCenter’s co-director, in his opening remarks. He thanked the 60 or so invited guests, including CEOs, entrepreneurs, academics and investors, for coming together and “helping us shape the agenda for the DeCenter and for the role that academia and scholars can play in this important field.”

Blockchain technology uses cryptography and the development of financial incentives to create a widely distributed record of transactions agreed upon by participants. The goal is to achieve trust without relying on a central authority. Best known for creating Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the technology also offers potential disruptive applications across many areas of finance, business, governance and society. This year, Princeton established the DeCenter, or more formally, the Center for the Decentralization of Power through Blockchain Technologies, to help develop the technology and its applications and to study its societal and political implications.

Singh, Princeton’s professor of computer science, technology and social change, opened the daylong event by outlining the vision for the new center. Speaking to a group gathered as the collapse of the FTX exchange rocked the cryptocurrency world, Singh said the fundamental innovation in blockchain technology is the potential for decentralization of trust. He said that this decentralization could not only create new applications, but also provide avenues for individuals to retain more control from larger, centralized organizations to which power has accumulated in society—that is, decentralizing power in appropriate areas. But he noted that recent events such as the collapse of FTX also demonstrated the pitfalls of the technology and its use. The goal of the DeCenter, he said, was to focus academic rigor and real-world experience on charting a course to avoid such harm while reaping the benefits of the technology.

JP Singh, professor of computer science and co-director of Princeton’s DeCenter, led one of several breakout groups following a panel discussion.

“That’s what we’re here to discuss today, to come up with the important questions that Princeton and our partners can pursue,” he said. “What are the most important applications in the short and long term? What are the consequences of the applications? How do we design the technology, applications and policy in the right way?”

Singh said it is critical for the community to tackle these questions at the outset to guide the designs and policies that will shape the area. He said this cannot be a purely technical approach, but must also involve bringing together leaders, thinkers and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines.

“Our goal at DeCenter is to be a thought and impact leader in this important area and help set a proper foundation for it,” Singh said. Singh identified three characteristics of DeCenter’s approach: examining both opportunities and risks; takes a highly interdisciplinary and integrated approach across real-world applications, technology, economics, policy and societal implications; and takes a global rather than US-centric approach.

Andrea Goldsmith, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and DeCenter co-director, said Princeton Engineering, working through initiatives like the DeCenter, is positioned to play that role.

“The DeCenter is at the intersection of technology, society, policy and benefit to humanity, and Princeton, given its culture and history, is uniquely poised to bring these critical elements together,” said Goldsmith, the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical and Computer Science. Engineering.

Experts in fields ranging from computer science and engineering to economics, politics, human rights and law gathered at Princeton on Nov. 30 to help shape the agenda for the university’s new DeCenter.

Goldsmith said the engineering school has researchers working at the forefront of blockchain technology and has the advantage of leveraging resources from a large liberal arts university as well as its community of alumni.

“In the DeCenter, the questions are particularly challenging because they’re not just technology questions,” she said. “The really deep questions are the ones at the intersection of society: How does this affect society? What regulatory framework do we need to ensure that we protect users but don’t stifle innovation?”

“These are the questions we need your help answering, and we want today’s discussion to help us formulate those questions.”

After introductions, today’s conference broke into panel discussions that were both vigorous and comprehensive. They addressed several areas: open challenges in developing the underlying blockchain technologies, blockchain applications and their societal implications, and lessons learned from the FTX collapse. To encourage open expression among participants, the discussions were held under Chatham House Rules, where content could be quoted without identifying individual speakers.

Some participants heralded new applications just around the corner, from decentralized mortgages and dematerialized passports to freer flow of information and media. Others, often in the same discussion, pointed to the “huge gap between theoretical value propositions and what we’ve seen have real impact.”

Participants emphasized the potential for blockchain to change the way trust is granted in societies that have traditionally placed their trust in large, centralized organizations, from the European Union to the Federal Reserve. The computer and the Internet changed society in ways their creators could never have foreseen, others noted. “Now a new kind of trust can change everything.”

A panel focusing on the societal implications of these technologies discussed the value that cryptocurrencies and other decentralized systems can bring to people living under autocratic regimes and countries with limited access to banking systems and stable currencies.

“Objective, thoughtful, deliberative conversations”

In addition to the panels, today’s session included a public question-and-answer presentation between Goldsmith and Rostin Behnam, the chairman of the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Behnam said he expected Congress and administrative leaders to make strong efforts to regulate the market involving cryptocurrencies. Recent developments, including the FTX collapse, have signaled to market regulators that action is needed.

“These are real, tangible events where voters and customers and investors and Americans are being hurt,” he said. – We cannot stay on the sidelines.

In the larger area of ​​blockchain, Behnam said the entire community must work to understand the technology, its applications and its implications.

“There are so many opportunities, and I don’t mean that in a positive or negative way, with this technology,” he said. “I think it’s so important that we collectively think about what are the risks and what are the opportunities — and to have objective, thoughtful, deliberative conversations about the technology and what role governments, agencies and regulators should play.”

Goldsmith said after the event that the discussions exceeded her expectations and clearly demonstrated the DeCenter’s potential for positive impact far beyond the university.

“The DeCenter event was among the most special academic meetings of my career,” she said. The conference offered “energizing breakout sessions for brainstorming around the deep and challenging interdisciplinary questions that require Princeton leadership to answer.”

“We are at a turning point”

Speaking during the morning session, University President Christopher L. Eisgruber said the conference was perfectly aligned with Princeton’s goal of fostering innovation and dialogue on critical societal issues.

“We are at a tipping point,” he said. “We’ve seen how quickly technologies are sweeping through society, changing the fabric of our lives and the ways we relate to each other.”

Eisgruber said blockchain technology promises new opportunities but also poses risks, some of which have become apparent in recent weeks. “Where paths of such importance meet, Princeton has a responsibility to shine a light, advance science and help steer this technology to greatly benefit humanity,” he said.

Concluding the conference, Princeton University Provost Deborah Prentice said it is unusual to see such a diverse group of academics and practitioners—including computer scientists, engineers, political scientists, economists, lawyers, policymakers, business leaders, and technology entrepreneurs—gathered to address a topic of increasing importance. She said it was especially exciting because the final shape of the research remains unknown and will be guided by the DeCenter’s participants.

“We have all these groups in the room, and everyone is talking across greater boundaries and with more uncertainty than they’re used to,” Prentice said. “And everyone listens really hard and is here to learn.”