Dec 04, 2017 - The definitive work on smart contracts for entrepreneurs, business executives, leaders of large global organizations, and the legal profession that serves them.

Jun 24, 2022 - This research brief summarizes the findings of a substantial research project funded by Input Output (IO) and focused on discovering new approaches to the governance of resources in blockchain ecosystems. The team was substantial, with two dozen researchers from IO, the Boston Consulting Group, and the Blockchain Research Institute. The process was iterative, with write-ups, peer reviews, and discussions of research results and feedback. Based on its findings, the research team proposed a new form of stewardship, called the decentralized resource governance (DRG) model. It is a means of governing initiatives to deploy resources, shap...

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...

Dec 18, 2018 - This case details one of the United Nations Develop Programme’s projects applying technological solutions to some of the humanitarian agency’s most pressing challenges. As a test case, the UNDP sponsored Blockscale Solutions to build a reliable land registry proof of concept in the state of Haryana, India, as a means of reducing bureaucratic corruption and expediting humanitarian aid in the aftermath of natural disasters. The case compares Haryana’s current system of land administration with the long-term benefits and obstacles to implementation of a blockchain-based system.

May 10, 2018 - In this research project, Joel Telpner gives us a guided tour of regulatory risk. Pulling lessons from regulating innovation in telecommunications and the financial markets, he focuses on the extent to which the blockchain represents unprecedented regulatory challenges. He advocates a level-headed approach to determining when regulation is necessary and, in such cases, the form that regulation should take, so as to minimize the unintended consequences. Using illustrations by the legendary political cartoonist John Tenniel and passages from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass: and What Alice Found There, Telpner gives executiv...

Jan 13, 2020 - This project is an executive’s guide to the emerging field of cryptoeconomics, the study of individual and collective choices in blockchain-based environments. These environments are more difficult to change than other software ecosystems, and so their creators must design them very thoughtfully. The authors provide a framework for economic design and walk through the phases of the design process. Through the case studies of Nestlé OpenSC, AXA fizzy, and the Synaptic Health Alliance, they analyze the challenges that stakeholders face in governing blockchain projects, and they explain why many projects fail to achieve their goals. It is a m...