DP14972 The Microeconomics of Cryptocurrencies

Author(s):	Neil Gandal, Joshua Gans, Guillaume Haeringer, Hanna Halaburda
Publication Date:	June 2020
Date Revised:	January 2021
Keyword(s):	Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin Blockchain
JEL(s):
Programme Areas:	Financial Economics, Industrial Organization
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=14972

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.