A Model of Cryptocurrencies
将加密货币建模为去中心化平台上的实用代币，分析网络效应和代币价格非中性如何导致市场崩溃，并探讨代币可交易性、弹性发行和矿工攻击对脆弱性的影响。
We model cryptocurrencies as utility tokens used by a decentralized digital platform to facilitate transactions between users of certain goods or services. The network effect governing user participation, in conjunction with the nonneutrality of the token price, can cause the token market to break down. We show that token retradeability mitigates this risk of breakdown on younger platforms by harnessing user optimism but worsens this fragility when sentiment trading by speculators crowds out users. Elastic token issuance mitigates this fragility, but strategic attacks by miners exacerbate it because users’ anticipation of future losses depresses the token’s resale value. This paper was accepted by Agostino Capponi, Special Section of Management Science: Blockchains and Crypto Economics.