ICDE Report by Mark Esposito

Esposito, Mark. “Blockchain Governance for Digital Commons and Platform Cooperatives.” New York: Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy, 2026.

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Esposito’s ICDE report examines the intersection of digital commons, platform cooperatives, and blockchain governance as pathways toward more democratic digital systems. The report argues that while blockchain technologies, particularly smart contracts and DAOs, offer tools for transparency and coordination, they do not inherently produce equitable outcomes. By bringing these technologies into dialogue with the values and practices of digital commons and platform cooperatives, the paper explores how governance can be designed to support participation, prevent power concentration, and embed social and cooperative principles into digital infrastructure.