In this video I talk about recourse, a topic that is rarely discussed in blockchain circles because it conflicts with the original idea of irreversible transactions introduced in the Bitcoin whitepaper. While blockchains were designed to behave like digital cash, where payments cannot easily be reversed, traditional financial systems rely heavily on recourse mechanisms that allow transactions to be disputed and sometimes reversed.
I also introduce ideas from my upcoming book Smart Contract Innovation, where I explore how smart contracts could enable more practical recourse systems on blockchains, avoiding the blunt approaches currently used by some stablecoins and allowing recourse to be handled at scale.
