Thibault Schrepel on Smart Contracts in the EU

BeInCrypto – ICLE Academic Affiliate Thibault Schrepel was quoted by BeInCrypto in a story about passage of the EU’s Data Act. You can read full piece here.

The EU “kill switch” presents a challenge to this fundamental immutability, which many experts have found concerning. Thibault Schrepel, Associate Professor of Law and Technology at VU Amsterdam University, believes this has the potential to undermine the technology itself. “Article 30, as currently drafted, goes a step too far in addressing the issues raised by immutability,” he said in a March 14 tweet.

“Instead of enacting ‘practical immutability’ (where immutability remains the principle and alterability the exception), it makes alterability the principle. In doing so, it endangers smart contracts to an extent that no one can predict,” Schrepel continued. He also shared concerns that the definition (“smart contracts for data sharing”) used in the Article was not specific enough.