Dealing With Tensions Between the Blockchain and the GDPR

Tensions between the blockchain and the GDPR persist because the two use different philosophies to achieve similar aims: empowering data subjects with control of their data and creating secure methods of data transfer. The GDPR primarily seeks to achieve these aims by relying on increases in the number and supervision of intermediaries, i.e. data controllers, processors and subprocessors. In contrast, relative disintermediation and decentralization are cornerstones of blockchain.This chapter discusses the costs and benefits of using technological and legal methods for dealing with tensions between the permissionless and permissioned blockchain and smart contracts and the GDPR. It focuses on the points of tension that are most immediate in everyday practice, such as problems of identifying data controllers and processors on a blockchain, meaningful exercise of the right to erasure, liability of joint controllers, scope of the data protection impact assessment, data transfers, smart contracts and automated decision-making