Online Essay OF BITCOINS, INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY SOFTWARE, AND THE ZERO-MEMBER LLC†

An innovative software technology known as Bitcoin makes it easier for software to operate with some degree of financial autonomy. In a meaningful sense, it is now possible for software to conduct business on its own account, without using the traditional financial system as an intermediary and without a financial existence tied to an existing natural or legal person. This Essay explores this possibility and suggests that legally autonomous entities, such as a limited liability company (LLC) with no members, are a useful legal structure for factually autonomous systems. AUTHOR—Larry & Joyce Beltz Professor, Florida State University College of Law; B.S., Yale University, Computer Science; J.D., University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Thanks to Rob Atkinson, David Landau, David Russcol, Don Weidner, and Sam Wiseman for helpful discussions. † This Essay was originally published in the Northwestern University Law Review Online on April 10, 2014, 108 NW. U. L. REV. ONLINE 257 (2014), http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/ legalpub/lawreview/online/2014/6/Bayern.pdf. N O R T H W E S T E R N U N I V E R S I T Y L A W R E V I E W 1486 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1486 I. BITCOIN: THE IMPORTANT DETAILS .................................................................... 1487 II. INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY SOFTWARE .............................................................. 1492 III. THE LAW OF AUTONOMOUS ORGANIZATIONS ...................................................... 1495 A. Autonomous Legal Entities ....................................................................... 1495 B. Common Law and Regulatory Challenges ................................................ 1498