Blockchains and the logic of accountability

This keynote address poses some blockchain-related challenges to the formal methods community. Although blockchains in some form have been around for a long time, they have only recently risen to prominence. Blockchain technology has recently been embraced by start-ups, financial institutions, and technology companies. The current state of flux in this area provides the computer science research community an opportunity to influence developments in a way that would be difficult in a more mature area. Rather than propose solutions to these difficult problems, this talk undertakes the much easier task of reviewing a few informally described (but, we think, realistic) scenarios to test any such logic. Many of these demands are unreasonable, if not provocative, and perhaps impossible, and so we hope you enjoy the discussion