Blockchain and the Token Economy

Event Details

Part of the “Wirtschaft Wissenschaft Unplugged” series
wu.at/matters-blockchain

Could nations states lose their monopoly on printing money? Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are getting a lot of attention, with more and more investors flocking to cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICO’s). But what exactly are cryptocurrencies? Are they currencies, commodities, or a completely new asset class? What is a token and how does it relate to an ICO? What is the best way to evaluate a token, pre or post ICO? How could the highly liquid exchange of tokens affect the role of classic fiat currencies in our economy? This talk will give an introduction to the cryptoeconomics of blockchain technology and explain why it might become an operating system for a new type of economy. We will explain why blockchain is a new and distributed governance tool that can efficiently coordinate groups of people who do not know and trust each other, beyond the boundaries of nation states.

Keynote Speaker:
Shermin Voshmgir, Director, Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics, WU
Hermann Erlach, Member of the Management Board, Microsoft Austria
Guido Schäfer, Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics, WU

Moderation:
Nikolaus Jilch, Economist, die Presse