It usually takes the law several years to catch up to any new technology (if it catches up at all). The same will happen for blockchain technology, which is designed to challenge many of the normal business and legal paradigms. The folks at Above the Law have identified three key legal issues created by blockchain technology — data privacy, jurisdiction and dispute resolution and regulatory risk.
Cross border issues are at the heart of the data privacy and jurisdictional issues. Whose laws apply when a transaction crosses boundaries (which is one of the points of blockchain)? Will U.S. laws reign supreme or will EU laws dictate privacy rules. Whose laws will apply over a smart contract? Who gets jurisdiction?
And of course, nobody know what regulations surrounding cryptocurrencies and other blockchain issues will look like.
Smart take: Anytime you deal with technology that crosses borders easily and efficiently, legal challenges are sure to follow. Ideally, governments would get together to create policy and agreements addressing these issues. But given the current state of politics in the U.S. and the complete breakdown of multilateral negotiations between the U.S. and other nations, that meeting of the minds is quite unlikely.