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...

Jan 30, 2018 - In the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the agenda for sustainable development, this project provides a taxonomy for analyzing what the blockchain community is doing to counter the adverse effects of human activity on the planet. It explores such approaches as developing less computationally demanding consensus algorithms, aligning stakeholder incentives, and combining distributed ledgers with other innovations such as artificial intelligence, sharing economy, Internet of Things, and big data analytics.

Jan 30, 2018 - This project surveys the landscape of blockchain start-ups, applications, and networks related to climate, sustainability, and governance of planetary resources. It speaks to leaders of green initiatives and heads of corporate social responsibility programs who want to explore distributed ledgers for their coordinating members of their ecosystems. It also introduces innovators to their peers’ work—not just Climatecoin, Grid+, and LO3 Energy but thirty other endeavors including think tanks, trading platforms, and environment-related cryptocurrencies.

Feb 19, 2020 - This project underscores the importance of standards and governance of token innovation in managing digital assets. It takes an in-depth look at the Token Taxonomy Initiative, a new open standards effort championed by a who’s who of enterprise blockchain, from Accenture and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance to Microsoft and Web3 Labs. Its members have taken a first-principles blockchain-agnostic approach to developing a Token Taxonomy Framework, which is expected to help unify our understanding of the token economy without sacrificing the decentralization that makes it so powerful. It starts with token types and progresses to token properties, w...

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.

Oct 22, 2019 - This case study looks at how blockchain technology could help us clean up our vital ocean ecosystems, from shorelines and coral reefs to Arctic sea ice platforms. It spotlights the work of Ocean Marine Blockchain Solutions, in collaboration with the Girguis Lab at Harvard University and the Jamaican agency Alligator Head Foundation. Together they’re creating a digital and economic data framework that is reframing the situation from an environmental problem to an economic opportunity, which may succeed in driving a much-needed sea change.