MIT Press, the scholarly journal publication house operated in association with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has released the most recent issue of its lauded Innovations Journal, a quarterly focused on the latest developments in technology and globalization. The journal is an open-source initiative, and issues are available to access on their website.

The title and subject matter of this edition of Innovations is Blockchain for Global Development, and ConsenSys Founder Joe Lubin — alongside Mally Anderson and Bobbi Thomason —penned the eponymously titled lead essay, which you can read here.

Lubin’s essay looks at the myriad ways in which blockchain technology and decentralization are being applied right now around the world. It focuses on some of the main functions provided by Ethereum that create the most foundational change: peer-to-peer smart contracts, self-sovereign identity, consumer utility tokens, and token curated registries.

“Whether we will succeed in building a decentralized future together depends on early efforts to make Ethereum-supported technologies accessible, inclusive, and tailored to local social contexts,” the essay reads. “Observers and participants alike should hold one another accountable to these goals in a spirit of productive coordination and shared responsibility.”

Elsewhere in the Blockchain for Global Development edition of Innovations, Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund looks at the ways digital currencies, disintermediation, and AI are making waves at central banks around the world, and Christopher Fabian, founder of UNICEF’s Innovations Unit, lays out an inspiring case study of the ways blockchain is being used throughout the world of non-profits in developing nations.

“We are preparing for a change that may rival the shift brought on by the exponential increase in mobile phone ownership and access during the 2000s,” says Fabian. “The possibility of immutable, accessible, decentralized global networks of information and data. This potential change is often described as the era of blockchain for development.”

Blockchain for Global Development features essays, analyses, and case studies from many remarkable thinkers from across the globe, and every one is worth a read, as is the entirety of the open source collection available at the MIT Press. Keep an eye out for a second edition to be released in October.