On May 22, 2020, the World Economic Forum’s Global Blockchain Council released the Presidio Principles. The WEF makes clear that the principles are intended to serve as a steering document for the community; they are not legally binding and are intended to be aspirational. The document calls on “all actors, including developers, governments, executives, international organisations, corporate boards, and others, to uphold these tenets as they build blockchain applications – and to self-direct their ecosystems in using these principles as a foundational vision for how users can and should be protected.”
The Presidio Principles are grouped into four broad pillars:
- Transparency & Accessibility – The right to information about the system
- Agency & Interoperability – The right for individuals to own and manage their data
- Privacy & Security – The right to data protection
- Accountability & Governance – The right for participants to understand available recourse
The suggestion is that applications built on top of blockchain-based systems should preserve the 16 rights identified under these four pillars.
