Jul 30, 2021 - This project explores one of the most critical implementation challenges of blockchain technologies: interoperability. Enterprise uses are reluctant to tokenize their assets or invest seriously in decentralized finance and digital asset management capabilities without assurances that they will be able to move these assets across blockchain platforms. What if chosen platforms fail? What if better platforms emerge? Some of the best minds in the space are addressing these issues head on with a range of innovative solutions. This project features two of them: Cosmos and Polkadot. It looks at their origins and ethos, architecture and core technolo...

Nov 22, 2017 - This project explores the intersection of Internet of Things and blockchain as a means of securing transactions among objects, realizing efficiencies, establishing appropriate boundaries between public and private, and developing strategies for business leaders across industry. It maps out the typical architecture of an IoT deployment in terms of connectivity, identity, sensing, and actuation. The author walks through the challenges of centralized and decentralized IoT designs, from scalability, latency, and transaction costs to privacy, durability, and interoperability of systems.

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...

Dec 27, 2017 - This research explores breadth of blockchain’s impact on the telecommunications industry. It presents a framework for evaluating use cases, actionable ideas for blockchain implementation, the risks and limitations of blockchain technology, and a path forward for telecom managers.

Oct 26, 2017 - This work helps CEOs to develop strategy around implementing and commercializing this new disruptive technology. CEOs must pick the right change agents to identify the problems to be solved with the technology so that the company picks the right pilot project. CEOs also need a strategy for communicating about that pilot with multiple stakeholders, learning from it whether it succeeds or not, and socializing lessons so that the company continues to experiment with the new technology.

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...