DIALOGUE

对话

INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATION DRIVEN BY BLOCKCHAIN’S ALGORITHMIC ENFORCEMENT CAPABILITY: A COMMENTARY ON GREGORY ET AL.‘S “COOPERATION AMONG STRANGERS”

区块链算法执行能力驱动的制度创新：对格雷戈里等人《陌生人之间的合作》的评论

We welcome the dialogue that our article “Cooperation among Strangers: Algorithmic Enforcement of Reciprocal Exchange with Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts” (Gregory, Beck, Henfridsson & Yaraghi, 2025) has triggered. Some brief clarifications are warranted. First, Coffman, Diaz, and Sadek (2025) claim that the most significant benefit of utilizing smart contracts is the reduction of transaction costs. We argue that this is a claim that needs to be unpacked in terms of the nature and circumstances in which transaction costs are reduced when exchange parties rely on the algorithmic enforcement capability of blockchain-based smart contracts to program reciprocal exchange. We agree that policing and enforcement costs—expenses related to ensuring that all parties adhere to the agreed-upon terms of the exchange agreement—may be reduced under favorable circumstances, including low costs of technology implementation, high adoption following blockchain confidence, and straightforward codification of the rules of an exchange agreement as a result of low contract complexity. However, we argue that the availability of standardized smart contracts for the types of transactions involved in the exchange agreement is essential for reducing bargaining and decision costs—the time and money spent in the process of negotiating and finalizing the terms of transactions involved in the exchange agreement (e.g., software development costs, legal fees for drafting and reviewing contracts prior to software implementation, time spent in negotiations). The degree to which such standardization is possible will depend on many factors, including industry characteristics, the evolution and maturity of blockchain technology, and characteristics of the specific use case. In sum, we welcome the discussion about transaction costs as an extension to our original framework, but suggest a further reflection and theory development will be needed to fully unpack when and why transaction costs are reduced. 我们欢迎我们的文章《陌生人之间的合作：基于区块链智能合约的算法执行互惠交换》（Gregory, Beck, Henfridsson & Yaraghi, 2025）所引发的讨论。有必要进行一些简要澄清。首先，Coffman, Diaz, and Sadek (2025) 声称，利用智能合约的最大好处是降低交易成本。我们认为，这一说法需要根据交换方依赖基于区块链智能合约的算法执行能力来编程互惠交换时，交易成本降低的本质和具体情况进行剖析。我们同意，在有利情况下，包括技术实施成本低、区块链信任度高带来的高采用率，以及由于合同复杂性低而使交换协议规则易于编码，监督和执行成本——确保所有方遵守交换协议约定条款的相关费用——可能会降低。然而，我们认为，对于交换协议中涉及的交易类型，标准化智能合约的可用性对于降低议价和决策成本至关重要——即谈判和确定交换协议中涉及的交易条款过程中所花费的时间和金钱（例如，软件开发成本、软件实施前起草和审查合同的法律费用、谈判所花费的时间）。这种标准化的可能性程度将取决于许多因素，包括行业特点、区块链技术的发展和成熟度，以及特定用例的特点。总之，我们欢迎将交易成本讨论作为对我们原始框架的延伸，但建议需要进一步反思和理论发展，以充分剖析交易成本在何时以及为何会降低。

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