A decentralized system is a distributed system for which there is no central administrative authority to dictate how the distributed subsystems must be developed, operated, or maintained. In decentralized systems service providers and service clients can each operate under different authority and evolve independently. Designing and implementing these systems is a substantial challenge. ISR Director Richard Taylor’s research group addresses these questions from a fresh perspective, COmputationAl State Transfer (COAST), an architectural style for secure and adaptive decentralized systems. COAST constructions permit and encourage continuous accounting and systemic auditing to verify the correct operation and integrity of critical elements of a decentralized system.