Quinn DuPont is an interdisciplinary scholar and innovation consultant. His research focuses on the history, meaning, use, and socio-technical development of cryptography. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the UBC School of Information and was previously an Assistant Professor in the School of Business at University College Dublin. He has a PhD in Information Science from University of Toronto and was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Washington.

Since 2014, he has actively researched cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and Web3, help set US national public policy, advised startups and next-gen organizations (DAOs), and through his consultancy work helped traditional organizations understand the new economy. He is the author of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains (Polity) (and other academic publications), Associate Editor Frontiers in Blockchains, Education Chair IEEE Blockchain Initiative and IEEE TEMS, Research Fellow at University College London’s Center for Blockchain Technologies, and Affiliate of The Future of Money Research Collaborative. Previously, he held visiting research positions at Leuphana University and the University of Victoria and was a Senior Information Specialist at IBM.

Research areas: decentralized governance, cryptoeconomics, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, computer security and risk management, technology ethics​​, history of technology, philosophy of computing

Publications | Research & CV | Contact

Recent Publications

DuPont, Quinn (2022). “Bitcoin.” In T. Bosch. (Ed.), “You Are Not Expected to Understand This”: How 26 Lines of Code Changed the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Shilton, Katie, Finn, Megan, and Quinn DuPont (2021). “Computing Ethics: Shaping Ethical Computer Cultures” Communications of the ACM. 64(11).

Wessel Reijers and Quinn DuPont (2021). “Prolegomenon to contemporary ethics of Machine Translation.” In H. Moniz and C. Escartin. (Eds.), Ethical and Legal considerations in Machine Translation. New York: Springer Nature, Machine Translation: Technologies and Applications Series [In press].

DuPont, Quinn. 2021 “Guiding Principles for Ethical Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and DLT Research.” Cryptoeconomic Systems Journal, 1(1). https://cryptoeconomicsystems.pubpub.org

Finn, Megan and Quinn DuPont. 2020 “From Closed World Discourse to Digital Utopianism: The Changing Face of Responsible Computing at Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (1981-1992).” Internet Histories, 4(1). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24701475.2020.1725851

Recent & Upcoming Public Lectures

  • “Guiding Principles for Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and DLT Research,” Invited presentation to University College London’s Research Ethics Board (REB) committee. June 2022.
  • “Demand and Supply of Blockchain Skills,” Economic and Social Research Institute and Digital Futures at Work Research Centre, August 9, 2021, Sussex, UK.
  • “Expert Meeting on Blockchain,” US Government Accountability Office (GAO) workshop, July 14-15, 2021, Washington, DC.
  • Digital Identity and the Financial Services Sector (Blockchain Ireland Week 2021, May 26, 2021)
  • IEEE Healthcare: Blockchain & AI (April 1, 2021)

Full list available.