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The Digital Markets Act: two years after, where do we stand? Some reflections on DMA achievements and future challenges
In a couple of weeks, the European Commission is expected to publish a long-awaited report on the Digital Markets Act (DMA).1 In accordance with Article 53 DMA, the Commission has to report to the...
As of February 2026, the cryptocurrency market capitalization has reached approximately $2.5 tril lion. Blockchain technology underlying cryptocurrencies promises a decentralized financial system as an alternative to the traditional centralized banking system, which failed systemically in 2008. Several studies demonstrate that blockchain systems are subject to collusion related to issues of centralization and security. If enough participants in the blockchain network collude the entire system and cryptocurrency application is compromised. Collusion is the most serious antitrust conduct as it can lead to price fixing in a way that harms consumers. However, only a few antitrust cases have been brought in the context of cryptocurrencies to address collusion and with little success. Is antitrust the wrong legal tool to address collusion in blockchain or does collusion have a different meaning in antitrust law and cryptocurrencies?
To address this question this paper provides a roadmap of collusion across legal, economic, and computer science perspectives, laying out a framework of algorithmic collusion. It applies this framework in past antitrust cases regarding collusion in cryptocurrencies to guide courts and antitrust regulators in prosecuting collusion in a blockchain framework. It shows how conceiving collusion as a problem of centralization and security diverges from the traditional antitrust framework, which defines and prosecutes collusion in terms of agreements in restraint of trade.
This article makes three important contributions to the contemporary literature. First, it examines the collusion problem and elements from an antitrust and cryptocurrency perspective. Second, it identifies similarities and differences between the legal, economic and computer science definition of collusion by providing a comprehensive framework of algorithmic collusion in cryptocurrencies. Third, it applies this framework to some antitrust cases in the context of cryptocurrencies reflecting on how collusion could be prosecuted more effectively in a blockchain context. Collusion has a different meaning in cryptocurrencies and antitrust. However, in both contexts, collusion constrains economic freedom, suggesting that the protection of economic freedom should inform cryptocurrency antitrust enforcement.