Gilbert + Tobin has partnered with global Blockchain expert George Samman to produce a white paper addressing the governance and operational frameworks required for successful shared ledger consortiums.

Shared ledger technologies promise a new age of the consortium, with significant potential to reduce transaction and record-keeping costs, streamline operations and enable new business models. 

However Gilbert + Tobin Partner, Bernadette Jew, said developing a successful business consortium was more than simply selecting the right technology platform.

“It requires a careful design of the consortium’s governance framework and operational rules, some of which can be embedded in the technology - and others which must be dealt with in ‘real world’ agreements.

“The consortium participants must also carefully address the regulatory requirements, including industry regulations and those relating to competition law.”

Ms Jew said a number of private shared ledger platforms were emerging, many of which provide open source software to enable further developments around niche requirements.

The white paper discusses the differences between private shared ledgers and public blockchain – and the new opportunities for collaboration. It then identifies the critical choices to be taken in forming a consortium on a private shared ledger, including the necessary components of a governance and operational framework. Click here to read the full white paper.