Blockchain technologies are based on a paradox. These digital systems – which make it possible to record information in a secure, transparent and unalterable way – are designed to operate in the absence of trust, because they are based on shared consensus mechanisms. In practice, however, the very structure of these systems generates new forms of trust distributed among actors, platforms and communities.
Scholars involved in the TruMaN (Trust Machines for TrustlessNess) project, funded under Italy’s PRIN national research funding programme, examined the role of trust in blockchain-based ecosystems and presented their findings at a workshop hosted by the Department of Management of the University of Bologna.
Led by a research group from the University of Bologna, the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and the University of Molise, the project highlighted how in blockchain systems trust is not eliminated but reconfigured through technological protocols, governance mechanisms and relationships between the actors in digital ecosystems.
“The results of our analysis offer a significant contribution not only at a theoretical level, but also for the design and regulation of contemporary digital ecosystems”, explains Elisa Villani, a professor at the Department of Management, who led the University of Bologna’s research group. “Technological infrastructures thus become a means of building coordination in complex, decentralised contexts, while hybrid forms of trust emerge that integrate technological, institutional and relational dimensions.”
Blockchain ecosystems are often characterised by tensions between openness, transparency and control. This is why the blockchain is transforming the mechanisms for building and managing trust in complex organisational and economic contexts.
The TRUMAN project contributed to the international debate on technology and trust, offering new interpretative keys for understanding how digital ecosystems work and supporting the development of more reliable, inclusive and responsible digital systems.
The research was carried out as part of the PRIN 2022 project “Trust Machines for TrustlessNess (TruMaN): The Impact of Distributed Trust on the Configuration of Blockchain Ecosystems” (Project Code: 2022F5CLN2_002, CUP J53D23004490006), funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) - Mission 4 – Component 2 – Investment 1.1 “Fund for the National Research Programme and Projects of Significant National Interest (PRIN)” (Call launched with Directorial Decree No. 104 of the Italian Ministry of University and Research of 02/02/2022).
