Anticipatory policy as a design challenge: Experiments with stakeholders engagement in blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (bdlts)

Abstract

We are proposing a combination of design and policy methods enabling anticipatory governance [4, 5, 7] of emerging blockchain and decentralized ledger technologies (BDLTs). Involving stakeholders in the early development and design of an emerging infrastructure is critical for the support of the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) agenda [8, 9, 14] and related calls for anticipatory governance. On the example of our Lithopia project [6] connecting satellite data with blockchain services, we will discuss the strategy of combining prototyping with future scenarios through a simulation game. We claim that this combination of policy deliberation and design supports anticipatory governance of blockchain and decentralized ledger technologies and engages the public in future-making.