Tokenization and Blockchain Tokens Classification: a morphological framework

Abstract

The work here presented moves from the acknowledgment that, even if blockchain technology has been around for more than ten years, the knowledge about its economic and business implications is fragmented and heterogeneous. In the first place, it is analyzed the shift from economics to tokenomics and the central role of the token within blockchain-based ecosystems. Subsequently, a generalized definition of the token is proposed. Diving into the requirements for a comprehensive description of tokens, that takes into account their wide variety, a comparative assessment of token classification frameworks available in the literature is performed. This analysis is leveraged to propose a new and comprehensive token classification framework, based on a morphological analysis representation. The proposed framework will be further refined with an empirical and iterative approach in future works.

Crypto Tokens and Token Systems

“…Prior literature has used varying terms for classes of tokens, mainly driven by the industry or application area within which they occur. Prior studies present taxonomies and classifications of tokens (Freni et al, 2020) with a focus, for example, on tokens for ICOs and crowdfunding (Fridgen et al, 2018). Oliveira et al (2018) develop a taxonomy where they identify three main classes of tokens: cryptocurrencies/coins, tokenized securities, and utility tokens.…”

“…Like other tokens, crypto tokens can serve as means of value exchange, information storage or asset representation, authentication or verification, and access. In addition, they can be incentive mechanisms, currencies, or financial instruments (Crisà et al, 2019a;Freni et al, 2020). The instantiation of a token transfer within a system can be done either automatically via specific token contracts, or manually, without the involvement of third parties (T. Chen et al, 2019).…”

“…Finally, tokens provide their holders with certain rights. They are strongly associated with both property rights that can be owned and transferred with the token (Swan & De Filippi, 2017) as well as obligations which require that the holder of a token trusts its issuer (Freni et al, 2020). On the accountability level, the different system roles and their accountabilities are defined.…”

Tokenomics: Decentralized Incentivization in the Context of Data Spaces

“…According to Weingärtner, the categorization of tokens into fixed classes is more difficult because any variation or functional enhancements can be programmed using smart contracts [37]. Freni et al [38] have analyzed eight different token classification approaches from the literature to derive a morphological token classification framework. A useful distinction of tokens can be made by using the following five domains: The technical domain includes all technical properties of the token.…”

A design for tokenization in governmental investment

“…The disruptive potential lies in expanding the concept of value that can be partitioned and traded beyond purely economic terms to include, for example, reputation, work, copyright, utility and voting rights. In other words, tokenization represents a form of digitalization of value, and just like the internet enabled the free and fast circulation of digitized information, the blockchain is allowing the borderless flow of digitized value (Freni et al , 2020).…”