The complete tokenomics course syllabus
Tokenomics, or token economics, are the core innovation of web3. They are the bed rock of “adding ‘money’ to the internet”. Which is what makes them so important. They are not only a breakthrough innovation. They are also a completely new element to add into a product or protocol. In many ways Tokenomics is a double edged sword. Executed well, they can super charge what you’re building. But poorly designed tokenomics will surely kill it.
So what do you need to know to design tokenomics properly? Here’s the complete syllabus for my tokenomics course.
The Core tokenomics course syllabus
Tokenomics incorporates many, many, different domains. It’s a domain that tries to bridge technological systems, economic systems, human psychology and politics. Here are the domains you’ll need to know to design tokenomics well:
- Political science: governance structures, voting designs, coalition signalling and more.
- Game theory: Incentive compatible mechanisms, strategy analysis and finding player equilibria.
- Economics: Supply and demand modeling, incentive compatible systems, econometric modeling.
- Finance: Corporate governance, cost of capital, opportunity cost, interest rates, currency swapping, bonds and equity structures.
- Mechanism design: Algorithmic game design and economic structures that scale with computer science
- Blockchain: Cryptography basics, smart contracts and consensus mechanisms
- Financial history: The history of stocks, bonds and capital allocation as well as eras of financial speculation.
- Game design: manage player incentives, flow and lenses.
Here’s the comprehensive curriculum for the tokenomics course:
Why & when to use a token
Tokens are the superpower of web3, but they’re a double edged sword. They shouldn’t be used for every project. Knowing how to evaluate whether to use a token in a project or not is the first step to understanding tokenomics.
Understanding the overall picture of tokenomics fundamentals is where this tokenomics course starts.
Demand & business analysis fundamentals
What drives demand for a token? We’ll learn how to analyze the utility a token brings and value it drives for the web3 economy. Analyzing demand is a mix of understanding the token economy, business fundamentals, financial prospects for the token and the narrative in the market.
Supply & Token issuance
Supply is as important as demand. It’s made up of the Public and private distribution of tokens, how liquidity is setup. Most importantly it’s a factor of knowing how to look at the token issuance and vesting schedule.
How to setup a liquidity pool for your token. Determining how much TVL to lock up and incentives to give to liquidity providers. What to take into account and implications to consider.
Regulation
Regulation is becoming ever more present in the web3 sector. Structuring a token so as to avoid violating securities’ laws in different jurisdictions is part of what every tokenomics designer should consider.
Many tokens serve for protocol governance as well as protocol utility. This gives them a dual purpose that needs to be considered lest they contradict. There are many forms of token governance, such as ‘one token — one vote’, quadratic voting, one person — one vote, governance limiting. This is an area most tokenomics courses neglect to the detriment of their protocols.
Tokens serve as a coordination mechanism amongst different stake holders. The agency problem is a classic problem amongst different stakeholders. It plays its part in designing crypto economics systems as well.
The full tokenomics course syllabus
The Designing Tokenomics course covers lots of topics, because to design protocol tokenomics requires lots of different domain expertise. That’s what makes tokenomics such a fascinating design space to explore! You can start the 14 day free email course below or start learning by video here.
I design tokenomics for crypto protocols and am putting everything I’m learning into a super in depth Tokenomics course.
If you’re interested in my free email tokenomics course sign up!
Designing Tokenomics by Yosh Zlotogorski
Web3 Research
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