May 24, 2018 - This case zeroes in on the work of the Belt and Road Blockchain Consortium, founded to support China’s One Belt One Road Initiative connecting more than 70 countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe. The consortium is applying blockchain technology to verify the identities of parties in a transaction, advance safety and security protocols, expedite customs settlement, manage intellectual property, and facilitate border controls. This initiative is a mammoth undertaking, one that will define standards for world trade for generations to come.

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...

Jul 31, 2019 - This project examines how blockchain supports user centric identity systems, through such technological primitives as public key cryptography, hashing functions, zero-knowledge proofs, and homomorphic encryption. Its authors set nine benchmarks—technical specifications, governance, security, privacy, recovery and revocation, user experience, data controls, and degrees of decentralization and self-sovereignty—by which prospective users and ecosystem partners might assess different identity services and compare them to each other and the status quo. The purpose is to help users map their goals to the technical features necessary for achievi...

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...

May 25, 2018 - This project explores how blockchain is transforming education with a focus on higher ed—vocational schools, community colleges, universities, and corporate training and development—from establishing student identity, protecting their privacy, financing their coursework, measuring their progress, and recording their credentials of achievement through open data exchange protocols. The development of microcredentialing capabilities, pay-as-you-learn funding models, and massively open online courses, plus the co-creation of open educational resources, are making the meta-university and lifelong learning affordable and accessible for more stu...

May 01, 2021 - Blockchain Research Institute Executive Chairman Don Tapscott moderated a panel discussion of digital identity—the self-sovereign identity, verifiable credentials, immunity passports, blockchain-based wallets, and more—featuring Brian Behlendorf, general manager for blockchain, healthcare, and identity at the Linux Foundation and executive director of Hyperledger; Stephen Curran, a principal of Cloud Compass Computing and a software developer and DevOps veteran; and Nathan George, senior director of engineering for the protocol team at Kiva Microfunds. This is an edited transcript of their candid conversation.