令牌组学和区块链碎片化

Tokenomics and blockchainfragmentation by Hyun Song Shin Monetary and Economic Department March 2026 JEL classification: D82, E42, G23, L14, O33 Keywords:blockchain,tokenomics,network effects,stablecoins,decentralised consensus,global games,monetary system, fragmentation BISWorking Papers are written by members of the Monetary and EconomicDepartment of the Bank for International Settlements, and from time to time by othereconomists, and are published by the Bank. The papers are on subjects of topicalinterest and are technical in character. The views expressed in this publication arethose of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BIS or its membercentral banks. This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org). Tokenomics and blockchain fragmentation Hyun Song ShinBank for International Settlements March 5, 2026 Abstract Money is a coordination device underpinned by strong network e§ects: the moreothers accept a form of money, the more I wish to adopt it too. The decentralisationagenda of public permissionless blockchains undercuts these network e§ects and leads tofragmentation of the monetary landscape. Validators who maintain the blockchain needto be rewarded to play their role with the necessary reward increasing in the degree ofdependence on other validatorsíactions to sustain consensus. Since these rewards mustultimately be borne by users through congestion rents, capacity constraints are a fea-ture, not a bug, especially for blockchains with more stringent standards for consensus.New blockchains with less stringent thresholds for consensus enter the market to serveusers priced out of incumbent chains. The resulting fragmentation undercuts the verynetwork e§ects that give money its social value. Stablecoins inherit this fragmentationfrom the blockchains on which they reside. The analysis has broader implications forthe future of the monetary system. JEL classiÖcation: D82, E42, G23, L14, O33Keywords:blockchain, tokenomics, network e§ects, stablecoins, decentralised consen-sus, global games, monetary system, fragmentation 1Introduction Networke§ectsunderpinthecoordinationroleofmoney.Thekeytoitsroleisthefeedbackloopbetweengreateracceptanceandgreateruse.Themoremerchantsacceptaparticularcurrency,themoreconsumerswishtoholdit;themoreconsumersholdit,themoremerchantswishtoacceptit.Thisvirtuouscircleisthehallmarkofawell-functioningmonetarysystem. Centralbankshavehistoricallyservedastheinstitutionalanchorforthiscoordination.Byissuingauniformcurrencyandstandingbehinditsvalue,thecentralbankprovidesthefocalpointthatenableseconomicagentstocoordinateonacommonmediumofexchange.Thecommonknowledgeofthecentralbankíscommitmentiswhatunderpinstheself-reinforcingnatureofmonetaryexchange.Justasacommonlanguagefacilitatescommunication,acommoncurrencyfacilitateseconomicexchange(BIS(2023)). Thepromiseofblockchaintechnologywasthatthiscoordinationfunctioncouldberepli-catedwithoutacentralauthorityñ thatthedistributedconsensusofvalidatorscouldsub-stituteforthetrustplacedinacentralbank.Inanequilibriumwithmonetaryexchange,holdingmoneyisarecordofgoodssoldorservicesrenderedinthepast.Inthissense,moneyservesasarecord-keepingdevice.Themottoisthatìmoneyismemoryî(Kocher-lakota(1998)).Inacentralisedsystem,trustedintermediaries(suchasacentralbankoracommercial bank)maintain the ledger and have the power to update it.In adecentralisedsystem,this authority is dispersed among validatorsñparticipants whocheckandrecordtransactionsñandthesevalidatorsmustreachagreementonthetruestateof the ledger.Truthiswhateverisdeemedtobesobytheconsensusofnetworkmembers. Ablockchainis,atitscore,asharedledgerñalistoftransactionsthatismaintainednotbyasingleinstitutionbutbyadistributednetworkofvalidators.Transactionsaregroupedintoìblocksîthatarechainedtogetherinsequence,hencethename.Apublicpermissionlessblockchainisonethatanyonecanjoin:thereisnogatekeeperdecidingwhomayparticipateasavalidatororasauser. Thede ningfeatureofapublicpermissionlessblockchainisitsconsensusmechanismñthesetofrulesbywhichvalidatorsagreeonwhichtransactionsarelegitimateandinwhatordertheyarerecorded.Withoutsuchamechanism,validatorscoulddisagreeaboutthestate of the ledger, and the system could not function as a record-keeping device.The originalconsensus mechanism introduced by Bitcoin wasproof of work(PoW), where validators(called ìminersîin this context) compete to solve a computationally intensive cryptographicpuzzle.The winner earns the right to add the next block of transactions and receives areward ñ newly minted tokens plus fees paid by users.The more recent and now morewidely adopted mechanism isproof of stake(PoS), where validators pledge a quantity of theblockchainís native token as collateral (their ìstakeî). Validators are selected to propose andverify blocks in proportion to their stake, and misbehaviour is punished by ìslashingîñtheconÖscation of staked tokens. Ethereumís transition from PoW to PoS in September 2022 (the ìMergeî) mark