distributed-ledger-technology

The chapter presents the Digital Trade Coin (DTC), an asset-backed digital currency developed at MIT designed to combine the benefits of physical cash and digital currencies while maintaining stability through backing by real assets. It contrasts DTC with existing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ripple, highlighting DTC's scalability, environmental friendliness, and low volatility, and details its architecture involving sponsors, a narrow bank, and a consortium governance model. The chapter also explores the technical and political challenges of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), the design principles of DTC including creation and annihilation mechanisms, ledger independence, and price stabilization, positioning DTC as a potential stable supranational digital currency and international reserve currency.

The chapter explores how data cooperatives can empower artists and musicians in the gig economy by collectively managing their creation metadata and rights within a decentralized digital music ecosystem. It proposes a layered architecture featuring an open-access music metadata layer with authoritative, digitally signed metadata files notarized via distributed ledger technology, enabling transparent licensing and royalty management through smart contracts. The chapter emphasizes the role of data cooperatives in providing fiduciary management of personal data and digital assets, fostering trust, interoperability, and equitable participation in the evolving music industry.

The chapter presents a novel integration of narrow banks (NBs) with fiat-backed digital coins (FBDCs) on distributed ledger technology (DLT) to create a secure, scalable, and regulatory-compliant digital financial ecosystem. It details the operational mechanics of NBs issuing FBDCs fully backed one-to-one by fiat currency, emphasizing their risk-averse asset structure, governance via vetted validators, and compliance with KYC/AML regulations. The chapter contrasts narrow banking with fractional reserve banking, discusses the structural separation of NBs and lending affiliates, and highlights the advantages of FBDCs over central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), while addressing privacy concerns and the delivery versus payment problem inherent in digital transactions.

This chapter profiles the contributors to the book, highlighting their academic and professional backgrounds in fields such as data science, fintech, blockchain, AI, and cybersecurity. It emphasizes their leadership roles in academia, industry, and research institutions, illustrating a multidisciplinary and globally connected team driving innovations in data as capital and digital finance. The contributors' expertise spans computational social science, distributed ledger technology, digital currencies, and data privacy, reflecting the book's foundation in cutting-edge technology and economic theory.