Working Paper: NBER ID: w27477
Authors: Hanna Halaburda; Guillaume Haeringer; Joshua S. Gans; Neil Gandal
Abstract: Since its launch in 2009 much has been written about Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchains. While the discussions initially took place mostly on blogs and other popular media, we now are witnessing the emergence of a growing body of rigorous academic research on these topics. By the nature of the phenomenon analyzed, this research spans many academic disciplines including macroeconomics, law and economics and computer science. This survey focuses on the microeconomics of cryptocurrencies themselves. What drives their supply, demand, trading price and competition amongst them. This literature has been emerging over the past decade and the purpose of this paper is to summarize its main findings so as to establish a base upon which future research can be conducted.
Keywords: Cryptocurrencies; Bitcoin; Blockchain; Microeconomics
JEL Codes: D01; D4
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| miners' incentives (L72) | security of the blockchain (E42) |
| double spending attacks (G50) | efficacy of Bitcoin as a currency (E42) |
| absence of a central authority (H77) | increased user autonomy (D16) |
| incentives for miners to act honestly (E42) | integrity of the blockchain (E42) |
| speculation (D84) | volatility of Bitcoin prices (G13) |
| market manipulation (G18) | price volatility (G13) |
| market structure (D49) | miner behavior (L72) |