The FTX cryptocurrency scandal illuminates the critical caveats to the world of blockchains. Since December 2022 and the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried, this affair has rocked the world of cryptocurrencies and the on-chain features that underpins its entire existence. It also reveals the impact of off-chain factors involved in blockchain operations.

 

Recent research by professors Dane Pflueger (HEC Paris), Martin Kornberger (Vienna University) and Jan Mouritsen (Copenhagen Business School) sheds light on the FTX and other scandals that are unfolding. Their December 2022 publication in the European Accounting Review, explores the issues of governance, organizing, and trust that buttress blockchain accounting. Speaking from the HEC campus near Paris, Pflueger challenges the notion some have that blockchain technology does not need intermediaries like accountants to function.

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