This is an interesting piece from OpenCorporates on tech disruption in corporate infrastructure:

Companies are nothing more than legal constructs. They are artificial persons created by states or courts, and given the power to enter into contracts, own assets, take on debt. You can’t see or touch them — though you can see the things they make, or the offices they own or rent — they only exist in the legal world.

As the article points out, it is remarkable that this manual machinery can still underpin a process as important as company creation. It’s worrying how easy such systems can be twisted and defrauded in an era of so much data and automation everywhere else. This is one of the most interesting cases for blockchain & smart contract technology to upset a long-standing hierarchy of regulatory structures.