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
Marthews, Alexander and Catherine Tucker. International Journal of Research in Marketing. Forthcoming.
Cui, Tony Haitao Anindya Ghose, Hanna Halaburda, Raghuram Iyengar, Koen Pauwels, S. Sriram, Catherine Tucker, and Sriraman Venkataraman. Journal of Marketing Vol. 85, No. 1 (2021): 103-120.
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
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MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab DeFi, Disintermediation, and the Regulatory Path Ahead
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MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab Hidden Costs of Verification
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MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab The Blockchain Effect: Network Effects without Market Power Costs
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MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab MIT Sloan Experts Series – Christian Catalini: Breaking Down the Libra
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MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab MIT Bitcoin Experiment Nets 13,000% Windfall for Students Who Held On
Cryptoeconomics in the press
Blockchain for marketing? Maybe, but privacy issues abound
"The risk is that companies will use blockchain methods to record transactions without even caring whether the information ... is true."
MIT Professor believes DeFi can reduce banking power: Interview
“Banking tends to be unusually concentrated ... Decentralised finance as a movement promises to change this pattern of concentration.”
What blockchain can’t do
Blockchain can’t ensure that perhaps the most important step of verification is happening correctly.
A slice of pizza for your most intimate secrets? How much (or little) we...
Christian Catalini says: "...although we do care about privacy, we make rushed or impulsive decisions when placed in the wrong context."
How blockchain applications will move beyond finance
Christian Catalini writes: "As cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and distributed ledgers continue to mature, where might they be applied next?"