Jun 02, 2020 - Countries with universal background checks and gun registries experience significantly fewer gun-related deaths. As a highly encrypted, tamper-resistant, and decentralized database, distributed ledger technology has the potential to serve as a distributed registry of guns. DLT could allow gun buyers to prove a lack of a criminal record (the equivalent of a background check) without giving up personal information. This survey of the blockchain landscape highlights several start-ups such as VeriTransfer and BitRail that are experimenting with DLT to do for firearms provenance what other blockchain innovators have done with food, cannabis, and p...

Feb 09, 2021 - This research project surveys what federal governments can do to exploit the next era of technology across their operations, within their economies and society, and with their allies and global partners. It focuses on the threats and opportunities facing the United States—including China’s increasing dominance in global supply chains and strategic innovation. It also speaks to challenges the new administration faces, and recommends five areas for immediate action: securing digital systems, citizen identities, and personal data; embracing cryptocurrencies and launching a digital dollar; transforming government services and culture; engagin...

Aug 17, 2022 - Central banks, rev up your digital currency engines! The race to global adoption is on, and this case study of China’s e-yuan captures the first mover in action. Co-led by PhDs—one a fintech advisor, strategy consultant, and researcher based in Hong Kong/Singapore, and the other a professor at the Schulich School of Business in Toronto—the case digs into the Chinese government’s approach to the research, development, and roll out of its digital yuan. The authors analyze China’s digital currency electronic payment in terms of the government’s joint venture with SWIFT, its Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the Belt an...

Apr 30, 2018 - This research surveys the global landscape of regulatory frameworks, statements, and decisions, on blockchain-based token sales in the jurisdictions of the United States, Canada, Singapore, China, France, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Switzerland, and Gibraltar, with commentary on Malaysia, South Korea, Israel, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates. Its expert authors look at initial coin offerings and compare how different regulators are categorizing token sales in their attempts to balance the protection of investors with the stimulus of innovat...

Jun 28, 2021 - This project reports on the state of the enterprise blockchain space. It begins with commentary on the state of the world writ large—from the pandemic’s effects on the economy and the global need for vaccinations to the K-shaped recovery and the consequences of helicopter money (e.g., inflation). It covers a series of developments relevant to enterprise users: the price volatility of cryptocurrencies, the shortcomings of consensus mechanisms for enterprise needs, the growth of stablecoins, the status of tokenless blockchains and blockchain-as-a-service offerings, and the latest on central bank digital currencies (e.g., China’s digital c...

Nov 30, 2017 - This project discusses how national customs agencies and international organizations can use blockchain to expedite people, money, and things securely across borders by land, sea, air, or Internet. It showcases US Customs and Border Protection’s efforts as part of the US Department of Homeland Security to drive the global development of blockchain-based governance that will enhance the safety and security of global trade and tourism.