Institutional distributed ledger technology (DLT): architectures, incentives and the transformation of digital infrastructure

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) has evolved from its cryptocurrency roots into a promising foundation for enterprise-grade infrastructure. Its capacity for tamper-resistant recordkeeping, programmability, and transparency attracts regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and government services. Despite this potential, a crucial tension persists between the decentralised principles underpinning blockchain systems and the compliance, governance, and scalability demands of institutional environments. Recent research highlights progress in privacy-preserving computation, interoperability layers, and hybrid consensus models that combine decentralisation with operational oversight. Yet fundamental questions remain: how to embed trust minimisation within regulated systems, what economic incentives sustain institutional DLT networks, and how existing intermediaries adapt within new architectures of accountability and control. As governments, central banks, and technology providers pilot DLT-based infrastructures, the need to understand both technical and economic consequences has become increasingly urgent.This Research Topic aims to explore how distributed ledger systems can be engineered and governed to meet the rigour of institutional use while retaining the attributes that make them distinct: resilience, transparency, and reduced reliance on centralised intermediaries. It seeks to clarify the design trade-offs between decentralisation and compliance, and to identify models that allow programmable regulation, secure identity management, and privacy-preserving transaction flows. Contributors are encouraged to investigate hybrid systems that align enterprise imperatives with decentralised architectures, assess new forms of market intermediation and value distribution, and consider how blockchain platforms interface with legacy infrastructures. The overarching goal is to advance conceptual and empirical understanding of institutional DLT and its implications for economic organisation, system stability, and regulatory adaptation.The scope of this Research Topic encompasses both technical and economic aspects of institutional DLT deployments, focusing on theoretical frameworks, applied case studies, and system prototypes. It excludes purely speculative discussions unanchored in viable institutional contexts. To gather further insights into how distributed ledger infrastructures can be integrated into enterprise and regulatory environments, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- Technical architectures for institutional-grade DLT systems- Privacy, compliance and identity management within regulated blockchain environments- Economic and incentive models for hybrid decentralised–centralised systems- Programmable regulation and embedded compliance mechanisms- The evolving role of intermediaries in decentralised market structures- Tokenised assets, market microstructure and liquidity dynamics- Interoperability between traditional financial infrastructure and blockchain protocols- Cost transformation and risk distribution across the digital asset value chainWe invite original research articles, reviews, case studies and perspective pieces. Interdisciplinary contributions bridging computer science, economics, law and policy are especially welcome.-----Topic Editor Moritz Platt is employed by and holds shares in Google Germany GmbH. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject. Topic editors: Moritz Platt, Francesco Pierangeli, Karen Elliott Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80798/institutional-distributed-ledger-technology-dlt-architectures-incentives-and-the-transformation-of-digital-infrastructure