Mafalda Maria Sequeira Roldão, a research fellow at the Centre, developed her Master’s dissertation within the framework of the Master’s in Law, specialising in Business and Technology Law, at NOVA School of Law. Her research focused on blockchain-based decentralisation and its treatment under European Union Competition Law.
WhatNext.Law is pleased to share the publication of the thesis entitled Blockchain-based Decentralisation Under EU Competition Law.
The dissertation explores the emerging phenomenon of blockchain-enabled entities, particularly public permissionless blockchains, and examines the challenges they pose to the application of EU Competition Law. The author analyses the concept of an “undertaking” within the European legal framework through the lens of the Theory of the Firm, assesses whether Competition Law is capable of encompassing these new forms of decentralised organisation, and proposes the use of a competition law approach as a tool for blockchain regulatory sandboxes.
Supervised by Professors Fabrizio Esposito and Lúcio Feteira, the dissertation concludes that, despite the complexity inherent in decentralisation, Competition Law offers the necessary flexibility to assess, on a case-by-case basis, the dynamics of power and governance within these networks.
WhatNext.Law congratulates the researcher on her achievement.
