Il presente lavoro, partendo dalla nozione di «cripto-attività» come «rappresentazione digitale d... more Il presente lavoro, partendo dalla nozione di «cripto-attività» come «rappresentazione digitale di un valore o di un diritto» adottata dal Regolamento MiCA, intende indagare a fondo sul significato di tale espressione dando un contributo per il corretto inquadramento dei «token» da una prospettiva meramente civilistica e, quindi, considerandoli come un particolare formato che assume l'informazione in ambiente digitale tale che, a seconda del contenuto di tale informazione, i token siano considerati come titolo al portatore ex art. 1992 c.c. ss. (es.: token collegati ad attività e token di moneta elettronica), come mero supporto virtuale per la riproduzione di un contenuto più o meno creativo (es.: NFT di opere dell'ingegno) o, infine, come generico bene ex art. 810 c.c. (es.: criptovalute e land di metaverso o di altri beni virtuali). * Il Tavolo di lavoro "Token & Crypto-Asset", oltre ai relatori del presente contributo, riunisce professionisti con competenze diverse che, dalle loro diverse prospettive, contribuiscono alla libera discussione per lo studio, definizione, disciplina e pratica applicazione di token e crypto-asset.
This paper aims to demystify a lot of misconceptions still widely circulating today about the all... more This paper aims to demystify a lot of misconceptions still widely circulating today about the alleged properties of blockchain and then illustrate the real opportunities that this technology offers for "food system" and how it must be correctly implemented for it to be truly useful, for producers and consumers, particularly in the agrifood sector. The concepts of blockchain opportunities and incompleteness of agri-food chain projects based on blockchain technology are then explained, setting out the minimum and necessary characteristics required to make the use of this technology useful and effective (Minimum Viable Ecosystem). The process governance levels for the development and maintenance of a blockchain traceability project are then illustrated, focusing on the role and responsibility of each player in the supply chain.Finally, the structure of a blockchain solution is described, focusing on a number of structural and technological solutions by outlining the concepts ...
Public keys and hashes are the two fundamental cryptographic solutions commonly used to develop b... more Public keys and hashes are the two fundamental cryptographic solutions commonly used to develop blockchain networks. They are considered almost unanimously pseudonymous data, that is personal data concealed behind an alphanumeric string that, in combination with additional information, can be nevertheless linked to a specific individual. If this were true, the development of blockchain technology would be hurdled by the necessity to comply with GDPR. In this paper, I held that the definition of personal data, albeit in the form of pseudonymous data, set forth in Directive 95/46/EC and today in the GDPR (taking into account the CJEU interpretation and Article 29 Working Party opinion) does not apply to either the public keys or the hashes as they are used in a blockchain. Indeed, they are not used for concealing identities but rather to solve a technical problem (the so-called double spending problem) creating trust in a peer-to-peer network. Hence, although they could be (and someti...
A spectre is haunting World: the idea that money is nothing but an illusion, a thing no more real... more A spectre is haunting World: the idea that money is nothing but an illusion, a thing no more real than a fiction we tell each other and we have decided to believe in. But behind the scenes, someone is quetioning this story and something is happening. Every day a new cryptocurrency is born. Among those that have been recently created, the most important is undoubtedly Libra, sponsored by Facebook, which puts itself forward as a real international currency and has aroused both curiosity and concern in the banking, political and institutional world. The change seems unstoppable and is destined to significantly affect the daily life of each of us. The real question is: are cryptocurrencies money? Can they aspire to replace in all respects traditional national currencies? Is there a single evolutionary line that begins with bartering, in the mists of time, and ends with Libra, in the glittering digital age? Or are cryptocurrencies a different and temporary phenomenon, perhaps destined to carve out a small niche in the global digital ecosystem, but nothing more? In this paper, I will try to answer these questions by adopting a new perspective compared to the traditional technical and regulatory approach, observing the phenomenon from a historical, social and macroeconomic perspective. I will conclude by pointing out that money is nothing more than a register of public debt (coins and banknotes are a means of updating the register), which was at first centralised, then decentralised, and is now distributed thanks to blockchain technology. Cryptocurrencies are therefore money for all intents and purposes.
Ciberspazio e diritto, vol. 19, n. 61 (3 - 2018), pp. 457-20, 2019
Public keys and hashes are the two fundamental cryptographic solutions commonly used to develop b... more Public keys and hashes are the two fundamental cryptographic solutions commonly used to develop blockchain networks. They are considered almost unanimously pseudonymous data, that is personal data concealed behind an alphanumeric string that, in combination with additional information, can be nevertheless linked to a specific individual. If this were true, the development of blockchain technology would be hurdled by the necessity to comply with GDPR. In this paper, I held that the definition of personal data, albeit in the form of pseudonymous data, set forth in Directive 95/46/EC and today in the GDPR (taking into account the CJEU interpretation and Article 29 Working Party opinion) does not apply to either the public keys or the hashes as they are used in a blockchain. Indeed, they are not used for concealing identities but rather to solve a technical problem (the so-called double spending problem) creating trust in a peer-to-peer network. Hence, although they could be (and sometimes are) used to carry out advanced digital forensic searches to track down the identity of the private key holders, they are not actually designed to conduct or allow for such searches and, consequently, they should be considered neither personal nor pseudonymous data.
Smart contracts, in spite of the name, are not contracts, but computer programs, already regulate... more Smart contracts, in spite of the name, are not contracts, but computer programs, already regulated by the Directive 2009/24/EC and by Italian copyright law. Under a different perspective, a smart contract is a document, or a thing that bears signs on it that we consider as evidence of a fact or a human act. Besides, being written in computer code, smart contracts are mostly not intelligible by the parties and therefore the content cannot be intended as an expression of their will. On the other hand, although it must be ruled out that smart contracts are contracts, it must be said that their execution, being the users identified by means of some digital signature, can allow the constitution, transfer, change, and termination of a legal relationship. In fact, they pose as the digital equivalent of common vending machines, traditionally traced back to the legal institute of the offer to the public, or among those means that allow conclusion of contracts without agreement.
Il famoso motto di Lessig «The Code is Law» è erroneamente interpretato come un presunto primato ... more Il famoso motto di Lessig «The Code is Law» è erroneamente interpretato come un presunto primato del linguaggio formalizzato (codice informatico) sulla legge, ovvero sulla sua incertezza interpretativa. Da qui discende un’altra idea, altrettanto fuorviante, secondo cui non vi sarebbe alcun bisogno di giudici e avvocati se leggi e contratti fossero scritti in linguaggio informatico.
Token e NFT sono fenomeni recenti che tuttavia affondano le loro radici in soluzioni antiche, omo... more Token e NFT sono fenomeni recenti che tuttavia affondano le loro radici in soluzioni antiche, omologhi non digitali, che risalgono addirittura al neolitico e che consistevano in forme primitive di “annotazione sicura” su supporti durevoli di rapporti patrimoniali. Il presente lavoro vuole quindi dimostrare l’inadeguatezza della distinzione tradizionale tra security e utility token e porre invece l’accento sulla natura profonda di tali fenomeni criptografici riconducendoli alla generale nozione di titolo informatico, ovvero di documento informatico avente un particolare formato tale da renderlo durevole, rivale e storicizzato, idoneo cioè ad incorporare posizioni giuridiche soggettive ed essere quindi veicolo per la loro circolazione. Su tale conclusione, il lavoro prosegue qualificando le criptovalute e gli NFT come supporti digitali, ovvero documenti non aventi contenuto dichiarativo ma reale (contabile o creativo), scambiabili cioè sul mercato come collezionabili, beni digitali scarsi, e che si distinguono gli uni dagli altri per il fatto di essere o meno frazionabili.
This paper aims to demystify a lot of misconceptions still widely circulating today about the all... more This paper aims to demystify a lot of misconceptions still widely circulating today about the alleged properties of blockchain and then illustrate the real opportunities that this technology offers for "food system" and how it must be correctly implemented for it to be truly useful, for producers and consumers, particularly in the agrifood sector. The concepts of blockchain opportunities and incompleteness of agri-food chain projects based on blockchain technology are then explained, setting out the minimum and necessary characteristics required to make the use of this technology useful and effective (Minimum Viable Ecosystem). The process governance levels for the development and maintenance of a blockchain traceability project are then illustrated, focusing on the role and responsibility of each player in the supply chain. Finally, the structure of a blockchain solution is described, focusing on a number of structural and technological solutions by outlining the concepts of consistency checking for the validation of input data with appropriate smart contracts, and of information frameworks for the subsequent scrutiny of data in audit operations and the assignment of levels of reliability. These are essential prerequisites for a collaborative blockchain data management to pursue the objective of actual reliability and transparency of information.
Il presente lavoro, partendo dalla nozione di «cripto-attività» come «rappresentazione digitale d... more Il presente lavoro, partendo dalla nozione di «cripto-attività» come «rappresentazione digitale di un valore o di un diritto» adottata dal Regolamento MiCA, intende indagare a fondo sul significato di tale espressione dando un contributo per il corretto inquadramento dei «token» da una prospettiva meramente civilistica e, quindi, considerandoli come un particolare formato che assume l'informazione in ambiente digitale tale che, a seconda del contenuto di tale informazione, i token siano considerati come titolo al portatore ex art. 1992 c.c. ss. (es.: token collegati ad attività e token di moneta elettronica), come mero supporto virtuale per la riproduzione di un contenuto più o meno creativo (es.: NFT di opere dell'ingegno) o, infine, come generico bene ex art. 810 c.c. (es.: criptovalute e land di metaverso o di altri beni virtuali). * Il Tavolo di lavoro "Token & Crypto-Asset", oltre ai relatori del presente contributo, riunisce professionisti con competenze diverse che, dalle loro diverse prospettive, contribuiscono alla libera discussione per lo studio, definizione, disciplina e pratica applicazione di token e crypto-asset.
This paper aims to demystify a lot of misconceptions still widely circulating today about the all... more This paper aims to demystify a lot of misconceptions still widely circulating today about the alleged properties of blockchain and then illustrate the real opportunities that this technology offers for "food system" and how it must be correctly implemented for it to be truly useful, for producers and consumers, particularly in the agrifood sector. The concepts of blockchain opportunities and incompleteness of agri-food chain projects based on blockchain technology are then explained, setting out the minimum and necessary characteristics required to make the use of this technology useful and effective (Minimum Viable Ecosystem). The process governance levels for the development and maintenance of a blockchain traceability project are then illustrated, focusing on the role and responsibility of each player in the supply chain.Finally, the structure of a blockchain solution is described, focusing on a number of structural and technological solutions by outlining the concepts ...
Public keys and hashes are the two fundamental cryptographic solutions commonly used to develop b... more Public keys and hashes are the two fundamental cryptographic solutions commonly used to develop blockchain networks. They are considered almost unanimously pseudonymous data, that is personal data concealed behind an alphanumeric string that, in combination with additional information, can be nevertheless linked to a specific individual. If this were true, the development of blockchain technology would be hurdled by the necessity to comply with GDPR. In this paper, I held that the definition of personal data, albeit in the form of pseudonymous data, set forth in Directive 95/46/EC and today in the GDPR (taking into account the CJEU interpretation and Article 29 Working Party opinion) does not apply to either the public keys or the hashes as they are used in a blockchain. Indeed, they are not used for concealing identities but rather to solve a technical problem (the so-called double spending problem) creating trust in a peer-to-peer network. Hence, although they could be (and someti...
A spectre is haunting World: the idea that money is nothing but an illusion, a thing no more real... more A spectre is haunting World: the idea that money is nothing but an illusion, a thing no more real than a fiction we tell each other and we have decided to believe in. But behind the scenes, someone is quetioning this story and something is happening. Every day a new cryptocurrency is born. Among those that have been recently created, the most important is undoubtedly Libra, sponsored by Facebook, which puts itself forward as a real international currency and has aroused both curiosity and concern in the banking, political and institutional world. The change seems unstoppable and is destined to significantly affect the daily life of each of us. The real question is: are cryptocurrencies money? Can they aspire to replace in all respects traditional national currencies? Is there a single evolutionary line that begins with bartering, in the mists of time, and ends with Libra, in the glittering digital age? Or are cryptocurrencies a different and temporary phenomenon, perhaps destined to carve out a small niche in the global digital ecosystem, but nothing more? In this paper, I will try to answer these questions by adopting a new perspective compared to the traditional technical and regulatory approach, observing the phenomenon from a historical, social and macroeconomic perspective. I will conclude by pointing out that money is nothing more than a register of public debt (coins and banknotes are a means of updating the register), which was at first centralised, then decentralised, and is now distributed thanks to blockchain technology. Cryptocurrencies are therefore money for all intents and purposes.
Ciberspazio e diritto, vol. 19, n. 61 (3 - 2018), pp. 457-20, 2019
Public keys and hashes are the two fundamental cryptographic solutions commonly used to develop b... more Public keys and hashes are the two fundamental cryptographic solutions commonly used to develop blockchain networks. They are considered almost unanimously pseudonymous data, that is personal data concealed behind an alphanumeric string that, in combination with additional information, can be nevertheless linked to a specific individual. If this were true, the development of blockchain technology would be hurdled by the necessity to comply with GDPR. In this paper, I held that the definition of personal data, albeit in the form of pseudonymous data, set forth in Directive 95/46/EC and today in the GDPR (taking into account the CJEU interpretation and Article 29 Working Party opinion) does not apply to either the public keys or the hashes as they are used in a blockchain. Indeed, they are not used for concealing identities but rather to solve a technical problem (the so-called double spending problem) creating trust in a peer-to-peer network. Hence, although they could be (and sometimes are) used to carry out advanced digital forensic searches to track down the identity of the private key holders, they are not actually designed to conduct or allow for such searches and, consequently, they should be considered neither personal nor pseudonymous data.
Smart contracts, in spite of the name, are not contracts, but computer programs, already regulate... more Smart contracts, in spite of the name, are not contracts, but computer programs, already regulated by the Directive 2009/24/EC and by Italian copyright law. Under a different perspective, a smart contract is a document, or a thing that bears signs on it that we consider as evidence of a fact or a human act. Besides, being written in computer code, smart contracts are mostly not intelligible by the parties and therefore the content cannot be intended as an expression of their will. On the other hand, although it must be ruled out that smart contracts are contracts, it must be said that their execution, being the users identified by means of some digital signature, can allow the constitution, transfer, change, and termination of a legal relationship. In fact, they pose as the digital equivalent of common vending machines, traditionally traced back to the legal institute of the offer to the public, or among those means that allow conclusion of contracts without agreement.
Il famoso motto di Lessig «The Code is Law» è erroneamente interpretato come un presunto primato ... more Il famoso motto di Lessig «The Code is Law» è erroneamente interpretato come un presunto primato del linguaggio formalizzato (codice informatico) sulla legge, ovvero sulla sua incertezza interpretativa. Da qui discende un’altra idea, altrettanto fuorviante, secondo cui non vi sarebbe alcun bisogno di giudici e avvocati se leggi e contratti fossero scritti in linguaggio informatico.
Token e NFT sono fenomeni recenti che tuttavia affondano le loro radici in soluzioni antiche, omo... more Token e NFT sono fenomeni recenti che tuttavia affondano le loro radici in soluzioni antiche, omologhi non digitali, che risalgono addirittura al neolitico e che consistevano in forme primitive di “annotazione sicura” su supporti durevoli di rapporti patrimoniali. Il presente lavoro vuole quindi dimostrare l’inadeguatezza della distinzione tradizionale tra security e utility token e porre invece l’accento sulla natura profonda di tali fenomeni criptografici riconducendoli alla generale nozione di titolo informatico, ovvero di documento informatico avente un particolare formato tale da renderlo durevole, rivale e storicizzato, idoneo cioè ad incorporare posizioni giuridiche soggettive ed essere quindi veicolo per la loro circolazione. Su tale conclusione, il lavoro prosegue qualificando le criptovalute e gli NFT come supporti digitali, ovvero documenti non aventi contenuto dichiarativo ma reale (contabile o creativo), scambiabili cioè sul mercato come collezionabili, beni digitali scarsi, e che si distinguono gli uni dagli altri per il fatto di essere o meno frazionabili.
This paper aims to demystify a lot of misconceptions still widely circulating today about the all... more This paper aims to demystify a lot of misconceptions still widely circulating today about the alleged properties of blockchain and then illustrate the real opportunities that this technology offers for "food system" and how it must be correctly implemented for it to be truly useful, for producers and consumers, particularly in the agrifood sector. The concepts of blockchain opportunities and incompleteness of agri-food chain projects based on blockchain technology are then explained, setting out the minimum and necessary characteristics required to make the use of this technology useful and effective (Minimum Viable Ecosystem). The process governance levels for the development and maintenance of a blockchain traceability project are then illustrated, focusing on the role and responsibility of each player in the supply chain. Finally, the structure of a blockchain solution is described, focusing on a number of structural and technological solutions by outlining the concepts of consistency checking for the validation of input data with appropriate smart contracts, and of information frameworks for the subsequent scrutiny of data in audit operations and the assignment of levels of reliability. These are essential prerequisites for a collaborative blockchain data management to pursue the objective of actual reliability and transparency of information.
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Papers by Francesco Rampone
Da qui discende un’altra idea, altrettanto fuorviante, secondo
cui non vi sarebbe alcun bisogno di giudici e avvocati se leggi e contratti fossero scritti in linguaggio informatico.
Da qui discende un’altra idea, altrettanto fuorviante, secondo
cui non vi sarebbe alcun bisogno di giudici e avvocati se leggi e contratti fossero scritti in linguaggio informatico.