ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the crypto-market – a blockchain-based trading system – can also contribute to sustainable development through the Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading Platform (P2P ETP). First, it discusses the potential benefits of the P2P ETP and whether its rationale coincides with the objectives of blockchain-based financial markets: a disintermediation and decentralisation of the network. Second, it maps out the components required by this model (the blockchain, smart meters, smart grids, smart contracts and the trading platform) to show how they can assist local, communal energy trading systems. Third, the legal risks of this model is presented and some recommendations made. Finally, it assesses the potential transformative effects of the model.
Keywords: peer-to-peer, energy trading, sustainability, tokenisation, smart technologies, blockchain
