The Tokenomics of Staking

Lin Cong, Zhiheng He and Ke Tang

No 33640, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Tokens offer convenience in digital networks and earn rewards when staked for consensus generation or economic activities. In our continuous-time model, agents dynamically allocate wealth over on-platform transactions and staking. Aggregate staking ratio crucially shapes platform productivity, grows userbase, and links staking to endogenous reward rates and price dynamics. Transaction fees, token issuance, and user heterogeneity all affect platform lifecycle. Empirical findings support the theoretical predictions: (i) correlation between staking ratio and reward rate is cross-sectionally positive, but time-series-wise negative; (ii) staking ratios positively predict excess returns; (iii) the convenience wedge generates UIP violations and significant crypto carry premia.

JEL-codes: C73 E42 F43 L86 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04
Note: AP IFM
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w33640.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html. Free access is also available to older working papers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33640

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w33640
The price is Paper copy available by mail.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().