Organization Infrastructure for Tokenized Asset Records

The Tokenized Asset Record (TAR) represents a way to connect existing technology related to tokenized assets and asset schemas to real-world documents that validate the existence of an object. Exactly who should manage TARs and the properties of the related organization schemes remains an open question. Answering this question is crucial to furthering the existing digital economy. While existing solutions have sought to expand digital commerce through pioneering digital clearing houses, little work has explored support for other classes of real-world digitized assets with proof of ownership and existence. The research proposed here seeks to answer this question by suggesting possible solutions and developing a framework for uniformly analyzing the proposals. The research proposes and evaluates three models for the management of TARs. The first is a scheme that involves each industry setting up its own TAR database and managing the system independently from other industries. The second proposes hosting all TARs on a single blockchain. The third argues for an off-chain decentralized platform to host all, akin to the Data Spaces proposed by the European Union. The research finds, based on the proposed criteria, that a decentralized off-chain approach best meets the goals of a TAR management framework.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Whartenby, Patrick E.

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Hardjono, Thomas
• Pentland, Alex

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright retained by author(s)

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/162921

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/162921