Note from the Managing Editor

Dear Cryptoeconomic Systems readers,

First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude to you—our readers, supporters, and contributors—for your patience and encouragement as we get this exciting new project off the ground. I hope that Cryptoeconomic Systems (CES) will evolve into everything we imagine it can be, serving both as a hub for shared knowledge and as a scholarly publication that adds rigor, structure, and motivation to blockchain research. There is an opportunity for CES to gather and harness the collective wisdom in cryptoeconomics, blockchain, and digital currencies, and help drive blockchain toward its fullest potential. If CES is at all a catalyst for this vision, we will have done our job.

Blockchain is inherently multidisciplinary and, thus far, has been viewed as more of a niche specialty than as a primary field in its own right. This de facto fragmentation is problematic: where, for example, should a blockchain researcher publish their research? As it stands, important scholarship is spread out across venues such as economics journals, CS conferences, personal blogs, and law reviews. Not only does this reduce the likelihood of cross-pollination, it also creates a mismatch between author and audience. Unnecessary friction is being introduced for someone attempting to learn specifically about blockchain. This is a highly inefficient setup, and it’s clear to us that the flow of information needs to be reworked. The solution is a scholarly publication that focuses primarily on blockchain, and serves as a nexus for ideas and debate.

A publication like ours is especially critical now, with decentralized technologies actively carving out space in the mainstream consciousness. Blockchain tends to attract and foster a special type of researcher. These thinkers are often experts in established disciplines, but instead of using their field to approach blockchain (as might be expected), they use blockchain to approach their field. Instead of being the primary focal point, their background is a lens through which to contextualize the decentralized world. These individuals deserve a dedicated platform that both allows direct communication with like-minded scholars and highlights this kind of blockchain-first thinking. As future generations of researchers specialize in this way, our space will benefit tremendously from a community-oriented research commons that features the highest-quality scholarship and most cutting-edge thinking in one place. I hope that Cryptoeconomic Systems will be that home.

If we succeed, Cryptoeconomic Systems will be a crucial component of the distributed world. It will be a place where new ideas are spread, tested, and improved. It will be a node at the intersection of other disciplines, where blockchain can thrive. We welcome experts, explorers, novices, and learners, regardless of what the degree on their wall (or lack thereof) suggests they ought to be focusing on. By providing a space for this work, we can de-silo blockchain, and help concretize it as a standalone field. CES will be a forum in which diverse disciplines and perspectives can interact, learn, and combine in new—and hopefully unexpected—ways.

I’m so excited to be embarking on this journey with you all.

Thank you,

Reuben Youngblom

Managing Editor, Cryptoeconomic Systems

[email protected]