The objective of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab is to push the research frontier in the emerging field of cryptoeconomics.
Cryptoeconomics brings together the fields of economics and computer science to study the decentralized marketplaces and applications that can be built by combining cryptography with economic incentives.
It focuses on individual decision-making and strategic interaction between different participants in a digital ecosystem (e.g. users, providers of key resources, application developers etc.), and uses methodologies from the field of economics - such as game theory, mechanism design and causal inference - to understand how to fund, design, develop, facilitate the operations and encourage the adoption of decentralized marketplaces and related services and digital assets.
The resulting "digital economies" often require the definition of a monetary, fiscal, privacy and innovation policy. Moreover, they need effective governance to ensure that the platform maintainers can upgrade the underlying software protocols over time in response to changes in the environment, technology or market needs.
LATEST RESEARCH BY THE LAB
Catalini, Christian, and Catherine Tucker. Antitrust Law Journal Vol. 82, No. 3 (2019): 1-10. SSRN.
Catalini, Christian, and Joshua S. Gans. Communications of the ACM, July 2020.
Catalini, Christian, and Joshua Gans, MIT Sloan Working Paper 5347-18. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, March 2019.
Gordon, William, and Christian Catalini. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal Vol. 16, (2018): 224-230.
Catalini, Christian, and Catherine Tucker. Science Vol. 357, No. 6347 (2017): 135-136.
Athey, Susan, Christian Catalini, and Catherine Tucker, MIT Sloan Working Paper 5196-17. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, June 2017.
MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab
Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early adopters
Delaying access for the tech-savvy can stifle spread of new products, experiment with MIT students shows.
Learn MoreMore Information on Digital Currency
The Lab in the Press
Bitcoin's 'one percent' controls lion's share of the cryptocurrency's we...
"Despite having been around for 14 years and the hype it has ratcheted up, it's still the case that it's a very concentrated ecosystem."
Bitcoin drop risks extending slide to a fifth consecutive week
Christian Catalini and Antoinette Schoar ... who have done extensive studies of the sector say the "digital gold" argument is overblown.
'In situ' data rights
"If we are to hold platforms accountable for our digital welfare, what data rights should individuals and firms exercise?"
ECB conference on money markets: Keynote address – central bank digital ...
Prof. Haoxiang Zhu gave the keynote address for the ECB Conference on money markets. (1:22)
Bitcoin is still concentrated in a few hands, study finds
“This ... most likely is an understatement since we cannot rule out that some of the largest addresses are controlled by the same entity."
Professor calls for access to Facebook algorithms and data
"We need legislation that brings crowbars to the front door and gives us access to what is going on with the algorithms and the data ... "
The Bitcoin fountainhead
"With the price of Bitcoin reaching new highs … cryptocurrencies are here to stay. What implications will this have for money and politics?”
With right crypto regulations, India could be the next financial hub on ...
"The crypto industry feels very much like the early internet days of the mid '90s. So much to build and so early, and so much opportunity … "