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 "author": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Wulf A. Kaal",
  "identifier": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0757-275X"
 },
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  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-011",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2922176-011",
   "text": "Corporate governance intermediaries such as lawyers, accountants, auditors and consultants respond to governance requirements with minimum compliance, applying minimal effort for maximum compliance.",
   "abstract": "Corporate governance intermediaries often satisfy corporate governance requirements through minimum compliance with the rules and regulations.",
   "citation": "Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, The ‘Unmediated’ and ‘Tech-Driven’ Corporate Governance of Today's Winning Companies (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2922176",
   "datePublished": "2017",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
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   "scope_conditions": [
    "intermediaries advising listed companies"
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   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2939127-017",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2939127-017",
   "text": "Blockchain's distributed consensus model permits node verification of transactions without compromising the privacy of the parties, which makes it arguably safer than a traditional model requiring third party intermediary validation.",
   "abstract": "That model also allows node verification of transactions without compromising the privacy of the parties and is therefore arguably safer than a traditional model that requires third-party intermediary validation of transactions.",
   "citation": "Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, Legal Education in the Blockchain Revolution (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2939127",
   "datePublished": "2017",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
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   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2959730-019",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2959730-019",
   "text": "Blockchain's distributed consensus model, in which network nodes verify and validate chain transactions before execution, makes it extremely rare for a fraudulent transaction to be recorded in the blockchain.",
   "abstract": "Blockchain's distributed consensus model, e.g., the network \"nodes\" verify and validate chain transactions before execution of the transactions, makes it extremely rare for a fraudulent transaction to be recorded in the blockchain.",
   "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",
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   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3405660-019",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3405660-019",
   "text": "Indirect regulation is defined as a regulatory approach that regulates the counterparties and intermediaries of hedge funds rather than the hedge funds themselves, addressing the critical regulatory issues without acting on the funds directly.",
   "abstract": "Indirect regulation of hedge funds is a regulatory approach that emphasizes the regulation of counterparties to hedge funds and intermediaries rather than hedge funds themselves.",
   "citation": "Kaal, Indirect Regulation of Hedge Funds (2019). SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3405660",
   "datePublished": "2019",
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   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3406323-030",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3406323-030",
   "text": "Smart contracts enable anonymous parties to engage in decentralized commerce because automated contracting self-executes and self-regulates according to mathematical strictures, removing the need for agency and intermediaries almost entirely.",
   "abstract": "Smart contracts allow anonymous parties to engage in decentralized commerce by providing automated contracting that self-executes and self-regulates according to mathematical strictures.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization - A Primer on the New Economy (2019). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3406323",
   "datePublished": "2019",
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   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3411897-019",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3411897-019",
   "text": "Intermediary fees in centralized fiat payment systems make those systems economically viable only at higher transaction volumes, which creates barriers to entry that decentralized payment systems do not impose.",
   "abstract": "The fees make it only economically viable for higher volumes of transactions, creating barriers to entry in the process. Decentralized payment systems are not subject to these limitations.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization - Past, Present, and Future (2019). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3411897",
   "datePublished": "2019",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "centralized payment systems requiring bank or processor intermediaries"
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   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3606663-026",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3606663-026",
   "text": "Centralized financial technology does not complete the disintermediation it promises, because users still deal with a technology company as intermediary instead of a financial institution, which leaves room for the decentralized solutions DeFi attempts to provide.",
   "abstract": "In existing centralized forms of financial technology disintermediation users are still dealing with a technology company as intermediary instead of a financial institution.286 Accordingly, centralized financial technology disintermediation is incomplete and allows for further improvements.",
   "citation": "Kaal, Digital Asset Market Evolution (2020). SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3606663",
   "datePublished": "2020",
   "claim_type": "failure",
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   "scope_conditions": [
    "centralized FinTech platforms",
    "peer to peer transaction settings"
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   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782201-016",
   "text": "Middlemen such as police, lawyers, and insurance salesmen are the catalysts that exist to overcome the friction of economic corruption, and engineers who eliminate them mistake the catalyst for the friction.",
   "abstract": "Middlemen are the catalysts that exist to overcome the friction of economic cor- ruption. Police, lawyers, and insurance salesmen eliminate threats to business activity from different angles.",
   "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Future of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782201",
   "datePublished": "2021",
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   "text": "Human middlemen have an incentive not to entirely eliminate the corruption they are paid to overcome, which is one reason they become falsely identified with the friction itself.",
   "abstract": "These middlemen are paid to overcome these corruptions and frictions. Unfortunately, they have an incentive to not entirely eliminate the corrup- tion.",
   "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Future of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782201",
   "datePublished": "2021",
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   "text": "Removing the middlemen who serve as business catalysts would kill the economy: liquidity would dry up because after a few people unfairly lose on business deals, no one will take the risk of initiating one.",
   "abstract": "Remove the middlemen business catalysts and the economy will soon die. Liquid- ity will dry up. A few people will unfairly lose on business deals, then no one will take the risk to initiate a business deal.",
   "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Future of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782201",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "failure",
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   "is_failure_mode": true,
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    "where no automated substitute performs the catalyst function"
   ],
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   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782201-019",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782201-019",
   "text": "The correct goal is not to eliminate the middlemen but to automate them, because unlike human middlemen automated middlemen can be designed so that they do not contribute to the corruption they were built to fight.",
   "abstract": "Automating these middlemen functions makes them more efficient, like the chemical catalysts in a cell. Unlike human middlemen, automated middlemen can be designed so that they don't contribute to the corruption they were designed to fight.",
   "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Future of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782201",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "design",
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   "text": "The hope of most Web3 engineers that overhead institutions can be automated away until they vanish is largely misplaced, because business contracts are not getting simpler as technology becomes more sophisticated.",
   "abstract": "Decentralized oracles will eliminate the need for any original investigation from independent media. Automated systems will eliminate the middleman. These hopes are largely misplaced.",
   "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Future of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782201",
   "datePublished": "2021",
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   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782201-036",
   "text": "Middlemen persist rather than being automated away because there are certain junctures in business where novel problems regularly arise whenever circumstances change, requiring creative solutions that people step in to supply, and these persistent junctures become business institutions.",
   "abstract": "There are certain junctures in business where novel problems regularly arise when- ever circumstances change. These problems require creative solutions, and people step in to capitalize. These persistent junctures become business institutions.",
   "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Future of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782201",
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   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3808867-009",
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   "text": "Decentralism holds that trust in a system should not be controlled by corruptible human constructs and institutions run by a limited number of fallible humans; instead trust rests on technology enhanced individualism and technology facilitated collective human action.",
   "abstract": "decentralism posits that trust in the system should not be controlled by corruptible human constructs and institutions that are controlled by a limited number of fallible and corruptible humans. Rather, trust in decentralism is based on technology-enhanced individualism.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, How Decentralized Systems Can Upgrade AI (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3808867",
   "datePublished": "2021",
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   "scope_conditions": [
    "contrast with capitalist trusted intermediaries and socialist belief in government infallibility"
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   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3808867-036",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3808867-036",
   "text": "Decentralized payment systems hold a comparative advantage over centralized legacy fiat systems because holding and storing cryptocurrencies requires no banking relationship, whereas centralized fiat payment platforms typically require an existing banking relationship.",
   "abstract": "Centralized legacy fiat payment systems and platforms typically require some form of an existing banking relationship in order for consumers to utilize their services. Holding and storing cryptocurrencies does not require a banking relationship.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, How Decentralized Systems Can Upgrade AI (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3808867",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "condition",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "consumers without existing banking relationships"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "eeccf6d0587bd278a96ce6ac8ec5003e26d161c245f6c94b4144d84f374802eb",
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  },
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   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3936876-007",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3936876-007",
   "text": "The paper certificate system failed at scale: trust companies and intermediaries were overwhelmed by changing ownership records, and from 1967 to 1970 a reported $400 million in securities was lost or stolen.",
   "abstract": "The trust companies and intermediaries quickly became overwhelmed with changing ownership records, and from 1967 to 1970, a reported $400 million was lost or stolen in securities.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Hayley Howe, Custody of Digital Assets (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3936876",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "evidenced",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "United States securities markets, 1967 to 1970"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "9bc0903d01910460298e754c451f027df4324367359800a98ee8e638d94aff55",
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   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3936876-038",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3936876-038",
   "text": "Applying current legacy custody rules developed for traditional assets to digital assets is inconsistent with the foundations of decentralization, because the very nature of a decentralized system mandates the avoidance and eradication of intermediaries for business transactions.",
   "abstract": "From the perspective of decentralization, the application of current legacy rules around custody of traditional assets is inconsistent with decentralization foundations.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Hayley Howe, Custody of Digital Assets (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3936876",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "normative",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "viewed from the perspective of decentralization"
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  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/4021599-005",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:4021599-005",
   "text": "Disintermediation is a key feature of blockchain technology because the technology incentivizes direct transactions between creators and consumers.",
   "abstract": "Disintermediation is another key feature of the technology as the technology incentivizes direct transactions between creators and consumers.5 Other key features that are enabled by the technology",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Securities Versus Utility Tokens (2022). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4021599",
   "datePublished": "2022",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
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   "source_pdf_sha256": "bb03790af46b3710e306121cfae25f850e3e7477e0f95313af42b9feeb6bc0c4",
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  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/4685567-031",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:4685567-031",
   "text": "Community based impact verification lets impact systems scale because verification can be stood up instantaneously without paying centralized organizational intermediaries, unlike Impact 2.0 verification through competitions.",
   "abstract": "community-based impact verification in Impact 3.0 allows impact systems to scale because the verification can be set up instantaneously without the need to pay centralized organization intermediaries.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Impact Investing Innovation - From Impact 1.0 to 3.0 (2024). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4685567",
   "datePublished": "2024",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "WEB3 community toolsets are available"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "87fb1be89d2661967ed2b0b673fe26448ded3bc3119b122177a4fc13ae5c085c",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/4734750-005",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:4734750-005",
   "text": "Bug bounty programs are structurally compromised by their reliance on a trusted intermediary that extracts high commission fees and may hold interests that conflict with the software vendor.",
   "abstract": "they use a trusted intermediary that charges hefty commission fees and may have a conflict of interest with the software vendor",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Code Review DAO (2024). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4734750",
   "datePublished": "2024",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "intermediated bug bounty platforms"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "60eadf91c0913468505afc664c8d8d1e1673d6c5326d031ca7060addb8ab2eda",
   "status": "current"
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  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/4734750-039",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:4734750-039",
   "text": "Intermediary payment fees on centralized micro task platforms are economically viable only for high volume workers who can eventually avoid them, so those fees function as a barrier to entry for new micro task workers.",
   "abstract": "The fees in centralized mechanical turk platforms are only economically viable for higher volume workers who can at some point avoid the Paypal fees but create barriers to entry for new micro task workers.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Code Review DAO (2024). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4734750",
   "datePublished": "2024",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "60eadf91c0913468505afc664c8d8d1e1673d6c5326d031ca7060addb8ab2eda",
   "status": "current"
  }
 ],
 "description": "21 claims in the published works of Wulf A. Kaal carry the concept tag 'intermediaries'. Derived node: a roster, not an adjudicated definition."
}