Control for Cryptoeconomic Network Meetup

401B, 3401 Walnut Street

June 26, 2019

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Title: Engineering Token Economy with System Modeling

Abstract: Cryptocurrency and blockchain networks have attracted tremendous attention from its volatile price movement and the promise of a decentralized token economy. However, most blockchain protocols run on business narratives with no way to test and verify their assumptions and promises about the future. The complex nature of system dynamics within networked economies has rendered it rather difficult to reason about the growth and evolution of these networks. Our research drew concepts from algorithmic game theory, classical control engineering, and stochastic dynamical system to come up with a framework and example to model, simulate, and engineer networked token economies. A model on a generalized token economy is proposed where miners provide service to a platform in exchange for a cryptocurrency and users consume service from the platform. Simulations of this model allow us to observe outcomes of complex dynamics and reason about the evolution of the system. We then experimented with speculative price movements and engineered block rewards in a simulated environment to achieve system level objectives and properties.

Bio: Zixuan Zhang is a recent graduate from NETS and DATS. Dr. Michael Zargham is the founder of BlockScience, an automation & operations focused engineering design firm, and Penn PhD alumnus in Network Science.