Dec 15, 2017 - This research looks at smart contracts and distributed ledger technology applied to farming and food sustainability. Its use cases include food provenance and food safety from farm to fork, local agricultural cooperatives creating local prosperity, and financial innovations in funding and insurance tailored to underserved communities of farmers.

Jun 27, 2018 - Decentralization, hashing functions, public key cryptography, and smart contracts are advantageous design features of blockchain systems. These require the coordination of multiple and diverse actors with differing incentives—cryptoeconomics—to solve any problems that arise. This research examines the impact of governance on these systems. Specifically, it explores governance needs at three levels of the blockchain stack: the Internet layer, the blockchain layer, and the application layer, including the deployment of decentralized applications (Dapps). De Filippi and McMullen explain the difference between governance by the infrastructure...

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.

Jul 31, 2020 - This research takes a fresh look at the Bitcoin network and its native currency, bitcoin. Its authors argue that, while the Bitcoin protocols have proven successful for financial applications, they have hindered scalability, privacy, and programmability. Because of these implementation challenges, some enterprise leaders have looked to Ethereum and other blockchain solutions. But other development teams have found innovative ways to evolve the Bitcoin network and its enterprise capabilities. By building directly on top of existing Bitcoin infrastructure, businesses can profit from its security and network effects without incurring the costs a...

Jan 29, 2018 - This research examines the basics of US patent law and its application to blockchain technologies, including the impact of Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International decision. The author compares the benefits and the drawbacks of different patent strategies, such as voluntary communal coordination, and provides recommendations for future innovation and regulation so that the community can access foundational blockchain patents while the inventors and those who invested in the essential patents receive fair compensation.

Oct 31, 2019 - This is the second half of Trust(less): How Blockchain Will Help Us Navigate the Post-Trust World. It explores the broken promises of prominent players in the first ten years of blockchain technology and examines their behavior in terms of their benevolence, competence, and integrity. It also addresses the negative associations that orbit blockchain in the mind of the average, semi-informed observer and outlines a four-step process for rebuilding trust in the blockchain ecosystem.