Dec 11, 2019 - This case study covers the challenges facing the cobalt industry and explains how blockchain technology can help by tracking the chain of custody, exposing unethical practices, and improving governance across the cobalt supply chain. The blockchain start-up Circulor combines rigorous processes with smart technology to implement ethical sourcing solutions.

Nov 13, 2020 - For cryptocurrencies and other blockchain technologies to scale in adoption as the Internet did, people need more human-friendly ways to use them. We believe that the digital wallet is one such way. Digital wallets are pieces of software that hold digital things of value for us, such as money, ID cards, and documents such as receipts. They enable us to make payments, prove our identities, record and verify our actions and transactions, and aggregrate and manage our cryptoassets such bitcoin, ether, or derivatives of cryptocurrencies. Eventually, we expect them to capture and protect our Internet browsing, online shopping, and other streams of...

Oct 23, 2017 - Foxconn is among the first manufacturers to implement blockchain technology in its supply chain. This project looks at Chained Finance, which consists of a procurement market and the handling of logistics, accounting, inventory, finance, and sales functions. Participants’ visibility into orders and the movement of assets enables them to provide trade finance and short-term loans to tier 2 and tier 3 suppliers as needed and at better rates than the traditional financial system.

Sep 30, 2019 - This research explores the disruptive effects of blockchain technologies on central banking and the financial services industry. Its author discusses Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency Libra, and how the other FAANG companies—that is, Amazon.com, Apple, Netflix, and Google—might respond with their own digital tokens. He introduces five transformations—cryptoassets, the tokenization of everything, blockchains as state machines, a new model for identity, and the nine forms of decentralized finance. He examines the challenges that incumbents and innovators face during this transition; and he previews the world of financial services in th...

Feb 28, 2018 - This project looks at the three layers of the blockchain stack—protocol, consensus, and economic—from logical and technical points of view; and it distinguishes between two types of standardization, semantic and technological. It should help executives and investors to understand the implementation challenges—such as scalability, energy consumption, and governance of each layer—and the problems that the blockchain community is attempting to solve with each innovation.

Apr 22, 2019 - Updated in collaboration with the IBM Institute for Business Value, this project explores how blockchain is transforming education with an emphasis on lifelong learning and the reskilling of the workforce. It covers not just traditional educational institutions but also corporate training and development, where innovators are using blockchain to establish student identity, protect privacy, finance coursework, measure progress, and record badges of achievement and skills mastery. The implementation of microcredentialing capabilities, pay-as-you-learn funding models, and massively open online courses, plus the co-creation of open educational re...