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The token’s secret: the two-faced financial incentive of the token economy

Author

Listed:
  • Benedict J. Drasch

    (Project Group Business & Information Systems Engineering of Fraunhofer FIT
    University of Bayreuth)

  • Gilbert Fridgen

    (SnT – Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust, University of Luxembourg)

  • Tobias Manner-Romberg

    (University of Augsburg)

  • Fenja M. Nolting

    (University of Augsburg)

  • Sven Radszuwill

    (Project Group Business & Information Systems Engineering of Fraunhofer FIT
    University of Bayreuth)

Abstract

Multi-sided platforms are omnipresent in today’s digital world. However, establishing a platform includes challenges: The platform utility usually increases with the number of participants. At an early stage, potential participants expect the platform utility to be low and lack an incentive to join (i.e., “chicken and egg” problem). Blockchain-enabled utility tokens hold the promise to overcome this problem. They supposedly provide a suitable financial incentive for their owners to join the platform as soon as possible. In the first half of 2018, investors seemed to believe in the presumption and spent more than US$ 17.6 billion in token sales. To date, we know little about this financial incentive in the context of the token economy. For this purpose, we model the token value development and the associated incentives in a multi-sided blockchain-enabled platform. The resulting findings suggest that blockchain-enabled utility tokens can help to overcome the “chicken and egg” problem. However, these tokens lead to contradictory incentives for platform participants, and can even inhibit platform usage. The contribution of our work is twofold: First, we develop one of the first models for token value development. Second, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of the utility token’s financial incentive.

Suggested Citation

  • Benedict J. Drasch & Gilbert Fridgen & Tobias Manner-Romberg & Fenja M. Nolting & Sven Radszuwill, 2020. "The token’s secret: the two-faced financial incentive of the token economy," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(3), pages 557-567, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:elmark:v:30:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s12525-020-00412-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s12525-020-00412-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Rainer Alt, 2020. "Electronic Markets on business model development," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(3), pages 405-411, September.
    2. Ali Sunyaev & Niclas Kannengießer & Roman Beck & Horst Treiblmaier & Mary Lacity & Johann Kranz & Gilbert Fridgen & Ulli Spankowski & André Luckow, 2021. "Token Economy," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 63(4), pages 457-478, August.
    3. Kim Peiter Jørgensen & Roman Beck, 2022. "Universal Wallets," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 64(1), pages 115-125, February.
    4. Anabele-Linda Pardi & Mario Paolucci, 2021. "A Chemical Analysis of Hybrid Economic Systems—Tokens and Money," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(20), pages 1-22, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Multi-sided platform; Platform adoption; Blockchain; Tokenization; Token valuation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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