Exploring cryptoeconomics: Research landscape, characteristics and components from multi-perspective, and decentralization in cryptoeconomic systems

Abstract

In the rapidly evolving landscape of the 21st century, technological advancements have ushered in transformative paradigms that challenge traditional institutions, reshape economic structures, and redefine societal governance. Cryptoeconomic systems provide new kinds of economic coordination and new forms of organizational design to share resources. Cryptoeconomics, a rare institutional innovation, can form the foundation of digital-era institutional infrastructures. Despite being paramount for our future, the subject's complex, interdisciplinary, and technical nature makes it challenging to comprehend. Moreover, decentralization, the raison d'être of cryptoeconomics and blockchain, is often approached from limited perspectives. This thesis aims to better understand the potential of cryptoeconomics and the decentralization in cryptoeconomic systems. In the first part of the thesis, we conducted a bibliometric analysis to shed light on the emerging and rapidly growing field of cryptoeconomics, which serves as a foundational resource, offering insights into the intellectual landscape, research productivity, and emerging trends. Furthermore, we investigated cryptoeconomic systems, presenting a contextual and taxonomical framework by adopting a complex systems perspective and a multiscale approach. In the second part of the thesis, an in-depth study of decentralization was undertaken from a multidimensional perspective. Also, factors related to the degree of decentralization in cryptoeconomic systems were identified. Subsequently, an investigation was conducted into the relationships between these factors and their interactions within the system. In summary, cryptoeconomics has been approached as both a new field and a system, and interdisciplinary research has been conducted to examine it from multiple perspectives. Additionally, the concept of decentralization within these systems is reviewed in technical, political, and economic dimensions, and the factors influencing decentralization in cryptoeconomic systems are discussed. Investigating this novel interdisciplinary field and considering it in the context of decentralization will empower researchers, policymakers, and industry sectors to make informed decisions, foster collaborations, and navigate the dynamic and evolving field of cryptoeconomics.