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Articles

No. 1 (44) (2023)

Health Law Implications of the Use of Blockchain Technology

Submitted
12 October 2022
Published
20-04-2023

Abstract

Code is the human-made architecture of cyberspace, and thus technology can be used to control individual behavior. It imposes systematic limits on the individual's behavior in an artificial environment, thus we can apostrophize the code designer as the rule maker of the technological environment – such as the Internet or digital platforms. The nature of blockchain technology makes regulation through code extremely powerful and decisive: the tamper-proof nature of the distributed ledger and the possibility to automate transactions make the so-called lex cryptographia an effective regulatory code. At the same time, a significant circumstance from the point of view of our topic is that the lex cryptographia is also subject to external regulation – consisting of real legislation – which it must fully comply with during its operation. The relationship between the two regulatory levels can be determined not by substitution, but by supplementing each other. In this study, based on the international literature and various case studies, I examine the conditions under which blockchain technology can be used in the health care provider system and the legal implications of this in everyday life.

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