VRES: Blockchain as an archive fairy tale.

This project explores how blockchain is understood as a new kind of archive. Blockchain is often described as a system that creates trust through secure, unchangeable records. However, this claim is shaped by broader stories and expectations about technology. These stories form what we call the cultural imaginary—a mix of hope and fear that influences how people understand and regulate new technologies.

On one hand, blockchain promises transparency and certainty. On the other, it raises concerns about misuse, control, and misinformation. A key issue in this research is that blockchain preserves data exactly as it is entered, meaning inaccurate or misleading information can still become part of a permanent record (“garbage in, garbage out”).

At the same time, blockchain introduces something genuinely new. In systems like Bitcoin, the record is not separate from the object—it is the object. This challenges traditional ideas about archives, where records usually represent something external to them. This project asks: what happens to concepts like truth, trust, and memory when the record and the thing being recorded become the same?

This project links to the  European Fairy Tale project https://www.europeanfairytaleroute.eu/cms/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Call_Archives_2026.pdf and seeks to deepend research in this space that questions that hype, cultural imaginary and perception of this technology and asks what this then means for the creation of legal orders and structure in the face of emerging technologies.

As a Research Assistant, you will work closely with the supervisor on a project that examines how blockchain is represented in academic, technical, and popular writing—often described as “hype literature.”

Your main activities will include:

• Conducting desk-based research on articles, reports, and other materials that discuss blockchain, especially those that focus on its promises and risks.
• Identifying how these texts describe blockchain as a form of record-keeping or archival system.
• Building and organising a structured database of this material so it can be analysed.
• Assisting with a semiotic analysis. This is where you examine how language, images, and metaphors are used to construct meaning around blockchain (for example, how it is framed as “secure,” “trustless,” or “immutable”).
• Tracking how ideas about archives and records have changed over time, and how blockchain fits within (or challenges) those changes.

The project will result in:

• An academic journal article that develops a new way of understanding blockchain as both a cultural idea and a technical system.
• A presentation as part of the European Fairy Tale Route: The Living Archive conference project.