{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "DefinedTerm", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/competition", "identifier": "kaal:entity:competition", "name": "Competition", "termCode": "competition", "inDefinedTermSet": { "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/index.json" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wulf A. Kaal", "identifier": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0757-275X" }, "dateModified": "2026-07-29", "canonicalForm": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/competition.md", "sha256": "a2df9cab63e6b5245f002dc2c5bbd269bd547e86373c4cbe735c3ff9cc90ff6e", "additionalProperty": [ { "@type": "PropertyValue", "name": "status", "value": "derived" }, { "@type": "PropertyValue", "name": "claim_count", "value": 25 }, { "@type": "PropertyValue", "name": "work_count", "value": 20 }, { "@type": "PropertyValue", "name": "year_span", "value": [ "2010", "2026" ] }, { "@type": "PropertyValue", "name": "non_current_claims", "value": 0 } ], "subjectOf": [ { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/1558614-037", "identifier": "kaal:claim:1558614-037", "text": "The Dodd-Frank Act is notable for what it omits: it does not break up the largest banks, does little to help smaller and regional banks compete, and because compliance is burdensome and expensive may actually have raised the barrier to entry into financial services.", "abstract": "It does little to help smaller and regional banks compete with the big banks. Because complying with regulation is burdensome and expensive, the Act may have raised the barrier for entry into the financial services industry.", "citation": "Painter and Kaal, Initial Reflections on an Evolving Standard Constraints on Risk Taking by Directors and Officers in (2010). SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1558614", "datePublished": "2010", "claim_type": "failure", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [], "source_pdf_sha256": "e898211630f4116879329d6de8397523dca5b066864147421aa5cbc7429dc83b", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/1664809-030", "identifier": "kaal:claim:1664809-030", "text": "If section 7216 is enacted, European plaintiffs and defendants will likely turn to the expertise of American law firms, which would further exacerbate the already difficult competitive situation of European law firms.", "abstract": "will likely turn to the expertise of American law firms.", "citation": "Richard W. Painter, Wulf A. Kaal, Extraterritorial Application of US Securities Law – Will the US Become the Default Jurisdiction for (2010). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1664809", "datePublished": "2010", "claim_type": "predictive", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "enactment of section 7216" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "2d5c8c30f969f8eb613bfa1fe6888a7cfa1a452e1027bcda0489618ceac62c20", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2959730-010", "identifier": "kaal:claim:2959730-010", "text": "Market oversaturation increases pressure on private investment fund managers' performance and produces compromise fee arrangements such as charging fees on invested capital only.", "abstract": "According to some observers the market is oversaturated which increases pressure on private investment fund managers' performance26 and results in compromise fee arrangements, such as paying fees on invested capital only.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Blockchain Applications and Fee Structure Developments in Private Investment Funds (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2959730", "datePublished": "2017", "claim_type": "mechanism", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "oversaturated and highly competitive fundraising market" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "ebd86972d8817b0c1c80326ae5564476983cedba3f258ff3b2610f156b93fb50", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2959730-028", "identifier": "kaal:claim:2959730-028", "text": "Larger managers will be incentivized to begin the innovation process if and when they realize that smaller competitors using these technologies gain substantial operational efficiencies and cost savings.", "abstract": "This, however, may change in the foreseeable future if and when larger managers realize that their smaller competitors who utilize these technologies gain substantial operational efficiencies and cost savings", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Blockchain Applications and Fee Structure Developments in Private Investment Funds (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2959730", "datePublished": "2017", "claim_type": "predictive", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "competitive pressure from smaller technology adopting managers" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "ebd86972d8817b0c1c80326ae5564476983cedba3f258ff3b2610f156b93fb50", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2959730-038", "identifier": "kaal:claim:2959730-038", "text": "Lower operating costs enabled by blockchain platform models will especially enable new and future managers to enter the market because start up and compliance costs can be significantly reduced.", "abstract": "the lower operating costs enabled by the platform models will especially enable new and future managers to enter the market because the start-up costs and compliance costs can be significantly reduced.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Blockchain Applications and Fee Structure Developments in Private Investment Funds (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2959730", "datePublished": "2017", "claim_type": "predictive", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "new and prospective fund managers", "platform models with low set up requirements and low running costs" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "ebd86972d8817b0c1c80326ae5564476983cedba3f258ff3b2610f156b93fb50", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2959730-039", "identifier": "kaal:claim:2959730-039", "text": "By enabling low set up requirements and low costs of running a portfolio, blockchain platform models may create an unprecedented competitive environment for asset management strategies.", "abstract": "By enabling low set-up requirements and low costs of running a portfolio, platform models may be able to create an unprecedented competitive environment for asset management strategies.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Blockchain Applications and Fee Structure Developments in Private Investment Funds (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2959730", "datePublished": "2017", "claim_type": "predictive", "confidence": "speculative", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "platform based fund formation and portfolio operation" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "ebd86972d8817b0c1c80326ae5564476983cedba3f258ff3b2610f156b93fb50", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3002908-020", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3002908-020", "text": "By optimizing internal processes through blockchain technology, smaller investment fund managers gain unprecedented opportunities to compete with more established managers in markets previously dominated by larger players.", "abstract": "By optimizing their internal processes via blockchain technology, smaller investment fund managers gain unprecedented opportunities to compete with more established fund managers in markets that were previously dominated by larger players.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Marco Dell'Erba, Blockchain Innovation in Private Investment Funds - A Comparative Analysis of the United States and (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3002908", "datePublished": "2017", "claim_type": "mechanism", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "requires the smaller manager to actually implement blockchain based process optimization" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "06a7b61e75f905ee07e422e875d83a65c5033a248a6e05a213523b034e5db534", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3067615-026", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3067615-026", "text": "Because token offerings are built on open source code, the utility of an issued token can at any time be recreated in another token with essentially identical features at marginal cost, so investors cannot rely on the implicit promise that promoters and developers will increase the value of the acquired token rather than launch a duplicate.", "abstract": "Investors cannot rely on the implicit promise that the token promoters and their developers will increase the value of the acquired token and not create another token with identical features.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Marco Dell'Erba, Initial Coin Offerings Emerging Practices, Risk Factors, and Red Flags (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3067615", "datePublished": "2017", "claim_type": "failure", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [ "token offerings based on open source software" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "164ce15b9eb1e8847ebcb073f5b23a96b4974ad0308d77469a9455d4a1ebeb38", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3227933-034", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3227933-034", "text": "DAOs will replace many organizations that lack their incentive structures and efficiencies, and because DAOs are cheap and straightforward to clone, their proliferation will increase competition while their distributed and anonymous nature prevents natural and political monopolies.", "abstract": "When we look at the strengths and advantages, we can conclude that DAOs will replace many organizations that lack these incentives and efficiencies. Moreover, DAOs are cheap and straightforward to \"clone,\" which will potentially lead to more competition.", "citation": "Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P.M. Vermeulen, Why 'Blockchain' Will Disrupt Corporate Organizations (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3227933", "datePublished": "2018", "claim_type": "predictive", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [], "source_pdf_sha256": "a9e9660c4dc25a2202f1da4e762f5885256e05f68c53ca51942f5833a7a4c108", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3227967-031", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3227967-031", "text": "DAOs will eventually overtake any organization that lacks their incentives and efficiencies, and because DAOs are cheap and straightforward to clone this will potentially lead to more competition.", "abstract": "we also concluded (as we did in class) that DAOs will eventually overtake any organization which lacks these incentives and efficiencies. Moreover, DAOs are cheap and straightforward to \"clone,\" which will potentially lead to more competition.", "citation": "Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P.M. Vermeulen, Legal Education in a Digital Age Why 'Coding for Lawyers' Matters (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3227967", "datePublished": "2018", "claim_type": "predictive", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "comparison with organizations lacking DAO incentives and efficiencies" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "f6e13b956f864ab32ec3305d095a35a127770327d75b3688f785cefc437d369f", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3266953-040", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3266953-040", "text": "The combined efficiencies of the DAO model suggest that DAO businesses could overcome collective action problems and outcompete existing internet based businesses such as Uber.", "abstract": "The combined efficiencies of DAOs over existing businesses suggest that DAO businesses could effectively overcome collective action problems and outcompete internet-based businesses such as Uber.", "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Gopinath Sivalingam, Reputation Protocol for the Internet of Trust - Conceptual Whitepaper (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3266953", "datePublished": "2018", "claim_type": "predictive", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "DAO infrastructure hosting decentralized companies" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "781758dea356e55d79c73ad7f1debe7c83de398bd1cd9e0a9a6c2802f276b4c0", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3396522-030", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3396522-030", "text": "The lack of interoperability is a very serious threat to the survivability of cryptocurrency projects, as the crypto winter of 2018 and 2019 demonstrated when thousands of competing, non interoperable projects failed.", "abstract": "The lack of interoperability is a very serious threat of survivability of cryptocurrency projects.", "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Vadhindran K. Rao, Stable Cryptocurrencies (2019). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3396522", "datePublished": "2019", "claim_type": "failure", "confidence": "evidenced", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [], "source_pdf_sha256": "ef5031b16aa53476ed618f0bdf92601cd4affb893692c701134bd9cba3ea8acf", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3405660-003", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3405660-003", "text": "Hedge fund secrecy is not incidental but competitively necessary: the less the market knows about a fund's activities, the easier it is for the fund to compete and generate the returns clients demand.", "abstract": "Their penchant for secrecy originates in hedge funds' need to stay competitive to generate the returns demanded by their clients. The less information the market has about hedge funds' activities, the easier it is for them to compete with other funds.", "citation": "Kaal, Indirect Regulation of Hedge Funds (2019). SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3405660", "datePublished": "2019", "claim_type": "mechanism", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [], "source_pdf_sha256": "cf507b1833071765bc13a5605f38c2591582eca85f40869e38b6ff075c04d29d", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3409548-001", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3409548-001", "text": "Hedge fund managers adopt emerging technology because it converts into a fee premium: technology driven outperformance makes them more competitive than other funds and financial institutions, which in turn lets them charge higher fees.", "abstract": "Being more competitive through technology and creating higher returns for their clients, in turn, allows them to charge higher fees than traditional financial institutions.", "citation": "Kaal, Financial Technology and Hedge Funds (2019). SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3409548", "datePublished": "2019", "claim_type": "mechanism", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "private investment fund managers competing on performance" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "74227ab2656b06bfe4a29c942fc2ba26df9f476917e0a9f85ec038b8c3402c40", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782192-003", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782192-003", "text": "Centralization is an optimal and natural evolutionary solution to most specific organizational problems, but only under static conditions, and competition is the most common driving force that produces a centralized structure.", "abstract": "Centralization is an optimal and natural evolutionary solution to most specific organizational problems, under static conditions. Competition is the most common driving force that leads to a centralized structure.", "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Introduction to Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782192", "datePublished": "2021", "claim_type": "condition", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "static environmental conditions", "a specific, well defined organizational problem" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "e7eafd56cb8a8bd15b64cf58216bb655f939bdcc296387e362fd9191976d67ae", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782192-025", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782192-025", "text": "Advances in technology have given decentralized systems the efficiency they lacked in previous eras, the very deficiency that allowed them to be outcompeted by centralized systems; this is the book's central thesis.", "abstract": "The goal of this book is to show that advances in technology have given decentral- ized systems the efficiency they have lacked in previous eras and that allowed them to be outcompeted by centralized systems.", "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Introduction to Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782192", "datePublished": "2021", "claim_type": "mechanism", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "the current era of information technology" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "e7eafd56cb8a8bd15b64cf58216bb655f939bdcc296387e362fd9191976d67ae", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782192-027", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782192-027", "text": "Centralization is a natural state that evolves out of decentralization under competition unless it is consciously prevented by guarding members' power, while a centralized organization can always be conquered through its single point of failure at the top.", "abstract": "Centralization is a natural state that evolves from decentralization under competition if it is not consciously pre- vented by guarding members' power. It is clear how a centralized organization can be conquered—the single point of failure at the top.", "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Introduction to Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782192", "datePublished": "2021", "claim_type": "mechanism", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": false, "scope_conditions": [ "decentralized organizations exposed to competition" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "e7eafd56cb8a8bd15b64cf58216bb655f939bdcc296387e362fd9191976d67ae", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782193-012", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782193-012", "text": "When a law is written down rigorously, specifying precisely what is acceptable and unacceptable, competition obliges people to find the most efficient behavior available inside those rules, which is typically behavior located right at the boundary of what is permissible.", "abstract": "When a law is written down rigorously, specifying precisely what is acceptable and not acceptable, people are obligated by competition to find the most efficient behavior possible within those rules.", "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782193", "datePublished": "2021", "claim_type": "mechanism", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [ "competitive environments", "rigorously codified rules" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "74df9cc9a19a098bdacd0424a4174795f6e184f7a31c8ee7541195186701ebd2", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782201-037", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782201-037", "text": "Without decentralized versions of the services that overhead institutions provide, including justice, media, banking, underwriting, and insurance, DAOs will not be able to compete with centralized companies.", "abstract": "The imagined future decentralized economy is missing almost all of the functions these institutions provide. Without decentralized versions of these services, DAOs will not be able to compete with centralized companies.", "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Future of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782201", "datePublished": "2021", "claim_type": "condition", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [], "source_pdf_sha256": "bedf7bcfbb7a9b0112b5848cb0d941b1d41f330dafeee0143a30ff5e8aa53700", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782205-017", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782205-017", "text": "No profit-seeking decentralized organization can succeed against centralized competitors in the contemporary marketplace until all eight institutional problems are solved at once.", "abstract": "Finally, no decentralized organization devoted to profit can be successful in the contemporary marketplace against centralized organizations until eight big problems are solved, all at once.", "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Eight Institutions for the Evolution of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782205", "datePublished": "2021", "claim_type": "failure", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [ "profit-oriented decentralized organizations in the contemporary marketplace" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "5ba52c63e81019b6867fb29c4a50821ff574e510d79b31b8ce9f4c726a0ebc71", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3808873-003", "identifier": "kaal:claim:3808873-003", "text": "Legacy businesses actively neutralize decentralized competition by acquiring little known companies that hold highly competitive decentralized technologies, as Microsoft's acquisition of Skype illustrates.", "abstract": "In their attempts to neutralize their decentralized competitor businesses, legacy businesses are acquiring little-known companies with highly competitive decentralized technologies.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization Neutralizers (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3808873", "datePublished": "2021", "claim_type": "mechanism", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [ "incumbent firms facing decentralized technology competitors" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "f11493915e6b8c266d421510b5546816e33defb5650aac9d09b20d78549da727", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/4796714-008", "identifier": "kaal:claim:4796714-008", "text": "Strict privacy and transparency regulation produces a perverse result: because only large technology companies hold the data resources and infrastructure needed to comply and still build effective AI, such regulation consolidates rather than disperses their power.", "abstract": "Furthermore, while the move towards more explainable, private, and transparent AI is commendable, these regulations can paradoxically consolidate power within large tech companies.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, AI Governance (2024). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4796714", "datePublished": "2024", "claim_type": "failure", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [ "applies to stringent data privacy regimes such as GDPR", "holds where compliance cost scales with organizational resources" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "59fa63bae179e8f9b6b8efbdf90cee28400276512a1b04f9f579a48641305c93", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/4941807-011", "identifier": "kaal:claim:4941807-011", "text": "Although the move toward more explainable, private, and transparent AI is desirable, Kaal argues these regulations paradoxically consolidate power within large technology companies, because only they hold the data resources and infrastructure needed to comply and still ship effective AI.", "abstract": "Furthermore, while the move towards more explainable, private, and transparent AI is commendable, these regulations can paradoxically consolidate power within large tech companies.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, AI Governance Via Web3 Reputation System (2024). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4941807", "datePublished": "2024", "claim_type": "failure", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [ "where compliance requires vast data resources and sophisticated infrastructure", "where smaller developers cannot absorb compliance cost" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "ab66c1e99a88da1fa36b0c6b536df5184231fe6aa427f3dd53287a4e0ac79853", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/5095633-030", "identifier": "kaal:claim:5095633-030", "text": "Well-capitalized centralized incumbents can outpace decentralized entrants in user acquisition by leveraging existing customer bases and brand recognition, so decentralized startups must show clear advantages in compensation, transparency, or data protection to win adoption.", "abstract": "Well-capitalized incumbents may leverage established customer bases and brand recognition, enabling them to outpace nascent decentralized platforms in user acquisition and marketing.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Artificial Intelligence The Final Frontier (2025). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5095633", "datePublished": "2025", "claim_type": "condition", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [ "competitive market with entrenched centralized providers" ], "source_pdf_sha256": "cbb484711f89bcefc9fc6a5730a1ed0a3f764d7999ad9b6f7d8ea05634c26c63", "status": "current" }, { "@type": "Claim", "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/6607458-018", "identifier": "kaal:claim:6607458-018", "text": "The agent with superior compute generates a superior possibility space, and this computational advantage is not eroded by the competitive dynamics that dissipate informational advantages in classical markets.", "abstract": "The agent with superior compute generates a superior possibility space, and this computational advantage is not subject to the competitive dynamics that erode informational advantages in classical markets.", "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Computative Economics A Framework for Economic Analysis under Computational Abundance (2026). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6607458", "datePublished": "2026", "claim_type": "mechanism", "confidence": "argued", "is_failure_mode": true, "scope_conditions": [], "source_pdf_sha256": "75cca35350378eb8904866d068b5d2f3e1504629e6031457ce6c12152a88e3e8", "status": "current" } ], "description": "25 claims in the published works of Wulf A. Kaal carry the concept tag 'competition'. Derived node: a roster, not an adjudicated definition." }