Trkla, Daugherty Comment on Risks of Blockchain

Partners Katie Trkla and Patrick Daugherty were quoted in an article in Risk & Compliance magazine, “Blockchain Risk Management,” about how blockchain technology will revolutionize the way we interact with companies and transform peer-to-peer transactions.

Trkla said there seems to be more of a focus on how the technology can be used strategically, to create efficiencies or competitive advantages, and less on the risks that the technology itself could introduce. “A company considering the use of blockchain technology should carefully assess the intended use case, system security, including user access, system scalability and reliability, the roles and responsibilities of individuals responsible for designing, operating, maintaining and improving the system and interoperability, both to internal and external systems, to identify vulnerabilities that use of the technology could introduce,” she said.

Daugherty said if the technology use implicates compliance functions, then compliance management should also be involved. “The enterprise’s governing board also has a critical oversight role,” he said. “Employee-level risk management alone is not legally sufficient.”