An Equilibrium Model of the Market for Bitcoin Mining

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 2021
Volume: 129
Issue: 8
Pages: 2415 - 2452

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We propose a model that uses the exchange rate of Bitcoin against the US dollar to predict the computing power of Bitcoin’s network. We show that free entry places an upper bound on mining revenues and explain how it can be identified. Calibrating the model’s parameters allows us to accurately forecast the evolution of the network computing power over time. We find that a significant share of mining rewards was invested in mining equipment and that the seigniorage income of miners was limited.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/714445
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29