On the concept of digital institutions: how blockchain technology can upgrade institutions

This article is devoted to the possibility of applying a technological approach to the modernization of political and state institutions, in particular the use of blockchain technology as a technological platform for the modernization of political and state institutions. Based on the technological features of the blockchain technology, the author models projects of five stages of the modernization of institutions. All these stages consider blockchain technologies as the technological basis for the functioning of political and state institutions. The author highlights features and hypothetical positive effects of the implementation of each of the modeled stages. Moreover, the models of stages 1-4 are applied solutions, while stage 5 is a theoretical attempt to simulate probabilistic scenarios of the transformation of institutions and the state as a result of the implementation of the previous stages, which leads to the emergence of the concept of digital institutions. The article provides a definition of digital institutions and some features of this concept.