Blockchain and digital currency research, teaching, and interactive demos from MIT.https://blockchain.mit.edu/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2026/06/30/why-an-open-standard-will-win-the-stablecoin-race/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2026/06/30/why-an-open-standard-will-win-the-stablecoin-race/More than 140 companies — many of them fierce competitors — agreed to back the same neutral stablecoin. Why stablecoin issuance was never meant to be a profit center, and why open standards beat branded rails.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://catalini.substack.com/p/intelligence-wants-to-be-freehttps://catalini.substack.com/p/intelligence-wants-to-be-freeA fork in the road for AI policy: bureaucratized, permissioned intelligence — or distributed, market-driven access to it.Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://catalini.substack.com/p/where-self-improving-ai-is-the-beginninghttps://catalini.substack.com/p/where-self-improving-ai-is-the-beginningAI that improves AI is here, and it is already being rationed. Where recursive self-improvement compounds — and where it hits the wall of verification.Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.koreaherald.com/article/10760547https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10760547What 17th-century maritime commerce teaches about liability when AI agents transact on our behalf.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2026/04/20/the-banks-would-like-to-dye-your-stablecoins-pink/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2026/04/20/the-banks-would-like-to-dye-your-stablecoins-pink/Banks earn their spread by paying nothing on deposits, so their instinct is to make stablecoins behave like deposits. On the fight over what digital dollars will be allowed to do.Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blockchain.mit.edu/research/some-simple-economics-of-agi/https://blockchain.mit.edu/research/some-simple-economics-of-agi/A unified economic theory of the AGI transition. As the cost to automate falls faster than the cost to verify, a widening Measurability Gap separates what agents can execute from what humans can afford to verify — making verification, not intelligence, the binding constraint on growth. The framework partitions work into four regimes, formalizes measurability-biased technical change, and shows how unverified deployment drifts toward a Hollow Economy of counterfeit utility unless observability, acSun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blockchain.mit.edu/research/digital-privacy-paradox/https://blockchain.mit.edu/research/digital-privacy-paradox/A field experiment built into the rollout of a digital wallet to thousands of MIT students — the MIT digital currency experiment — sheds light on consumer behavior regarding commercial, public and government surveillance. Whereas consumers say they care about privacy, they are willing to relinquish private data quite easily in exchange for convenience, small incentives, or reassuring but irrelevant information. Small costs introduced during the selection of digital wallets by the random orderingThu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://sloanreview.mit.edu/issue/2026-winter/https://sloanreview.mit.edu/issue/2026-winter/What the new U.S. stablecoin rulebook means for operators and corporate strategy.Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/12/17/how-banks-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-stablecoins/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/12/17/how-banks-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-stablecoins/When Libra was announced in 2019, the financial establishment feared stablecoins would break banks' hold on deposits. Why the existential fear faded — and how banks now stand to use the technology.Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/12/12/crypto-is-ready-to-be-boring-now/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/12/12/crypto-is-ready-to-be-boring-now/With regulation in place and the infrastructure maturing, crypto's building blocks are finally ready to disappear into the background — and boring is what winning looks like.Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.koreaherald.com/article/10617819https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10617819Proprietary 'CorpChains' versus open networks: the platform war over the rails of the global economy.Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://catalini.com/s/1-The-Unwitting-Kingmaker-Why-Washingtons-GENIUS-Act-Could-Accidentally-Crown-a-Stablecoin-Superpowe.pdfhttps://catalini.com/s/1-The-Unwitting-Kingmaker-Why-Washingtons-GENIUS-Act-Could-Accidentally-Crown-a-Stablecoin-Superpowe.pdfHow the GENIUS Act's design could accidentally concentrate the stablecoin market — and how to stop it.Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/09/05/stripes-tempo-and-the-ghost-of-facebooks-libras-past/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/09/05/stripes-tempo-and-the-ghost-of-facebooks-libras-past/Stripe's corporate blockchain revives the questions Libra raised: who should control the rails of global payments, and what a 'grand bargain' with a fintech giant would cost.Fri, 05 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hbr.org/2025/09/does-bitcoin-belong-on-your-balance-sheethttps://hbr.org/2025/09/does-bitcoin-belong-on-your-balance-sheetA framework for deciding whether — and when — a corporate treasury should hold bitcoin.Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/08/20/economists-are-still-puzzled-by-bitcoin-should-anyone-be/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/08/20/economists-are-still-puzzled-by-bitcoin-should-anyone-be/When Kenneth Rogoff publicly apologized for underestimating Bitcoin, it was worth paying attention — but even after the mea culpa, much of what Bitcoin represents is still misunderstood.Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/08/11/stripe-is-building-a-blockchain-can-openness-survive-branded-rails/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/08/11/stripe-is-building-a-blockchain-can-openness-survive-branded-rails/Stripe is quietly building a high-performance blockchain. The paradox: the more usable stablecoins become, the more they risk re-centralizing crypto around branded rails.Mon, 11 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hbr.org/2025/06/what-gets-measured-ai-will-automatehttps://hbr.org/2025/06/what-gets-measured-ai-will-automateMeasurability decides which work AI automates first — and where humans stay in the loop.Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/05/01/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-crypto-adoption/https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/05/01/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-crypto-adoption/Worldcoin's reboot shows what everyone gets wrong about crypto adoption: real utility first, tokens later. Bitcoin's formula cannot simply be copy-pasted.Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/04/29/the-stablecoin-wars/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/04/29/the-stablecoin-wars/PayPal, Coinbase, Circle, and the banks are racing for the stablecoin market. Why the fight over money movement is more likely to end in competition and fragmentation than winner-take-all.Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/04/11/with-dollar-hegemony-at-risk-could-this-be-cryptos-moment/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/04/11/with-dollar-hegemony-at-risk-could-this-be-cryptos-moment/With tariffs shaking confidence in the dollar, could crypto benefit? Why neither Bitcoin, the euro, nor the RMB is ready to replace dollar rails — and what a basket approach would take.Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/02/06/bitcoin-reserves-wont-secure-americas-future-only-a-platform-play-will/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/02/06/bitcoin-reserves-wont-secure-americas-future-only-a-platform-play-will/Stockpiling Bitcoin won't secure America's financial future; extending the dollar's platform with open, interoperable rails will.Thu, 06 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/01/16/the-internet-of-money-wants-to-be-free/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2025/01/16/the-internet-of-money-wants-to-be-free/Coinbase's white paper and Satoshi's original breakthrough point the same way: money, like information, wants to move freely — and permissionless networks are how it gets there.Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/bitcoin-strategic-reserve/https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/bitcoin-strategic-reserve/Weighing the case for a U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve.Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2024/12/19/can-cryptos-scarcity-tame-ais-infinite-abundance/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2024/12/19/can-cryptos-scarcity-tame-ais-infinite-abundance/Can crypto's engineered scarcity counter AI's infinite abundance? The second installment of a four-part series on where the two technologies actually intersect.Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2024/11/26/ai-and-crypto-part-i-decentralizing-ai-big-dreams-bigger-hype/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2024/11/26/ai-and-crypto-part-i-decentralizing-ai-big-dreams-bigger-hype/Can crypto decentralize AI's compute, its data, or its business models? A first-principles look that finds the hype running ahead of the reality.Tue, 26 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2024/11/01/why-everyone-is-wrong-about-stablecoins/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2024/11/01/why-everyone-is-wrong-about-stablecoins/Stripe's billion-dollar Bridge acquisition says less about issuance and more about distribution: stablecoins need a complementary business model, dollarization is not a product, and there will not be a single winner.Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/08/29/how-the-secs-attack-on-nfts-harms-creators/https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/08/29/how-the-secs-attack-on-nfts-harms-creators/The SEC's Wells Notice to OpenSea treats digital art and collectibles like securities. Why that reading harms creators rather than protecting them.Thu, 29 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hbr.org/2024/08/the-race-to-dominate-stablecoinshttps://hbr.org/2024/08/the-race-to-dominate-stablecoinsThe competitive dynamics deciding who wins the stablecoin market.Thu, 01 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://catalini.com/s/2-ARE-STABLECOINS-WINNER-TAKE-ALL-Christian-Catalini-Jai-Massari.pdfhttps://catalini.com/s/2-ARE-STABLECOINS-WINNER-TAKE-ALL-Christian-Catalini-Jai-Massari.pdfDo network effects make stablecoins tip toward a single winner? Why the peg — a stablecoin's most important feature — is also its commoditizing weakness.Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2024/02/19/is-cryptos-killer-app-finally-here/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2024/02/19/is-cryptos-killer-app-finally-here/Crypto is a general-purpose technology, and like the internet it needs decades — and a killer app — to go mainstream. Stablecoins look like the first one.Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hbr.org/2023/01/do-crypto-prices-actually-mean-anythinghttps://hbr.org/2023/01/do-crypto-prices-actually-mean-anythingWhat crypto asset prices do — and don't — tell us about underlying value.Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://hbr.org/2022/05/how-digital-currencies-can-help-small-businesseshttps://hbr.org/2022/05/how-digital-currencies-can-help-small-businessesCheaper, faster payment rails as a lifeline for small-business margins.Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://catalini.com/s/Can-Web3-Bring-Back-Competition-to-Digital-Platforms.pdfhttps://catalini.com/s/Can-Web3-Bring-Back-Competition-to-Digital-Platforms.pdfCan portable, user-owned digital assets restore contestability to platform markets dominated by a few gatekeepers?Mon, 07 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://hbr.org/2021/08/stablecoins-and-the-future-of-moneyhttps://hbr.org/2021/08/stablecoins-and-the-future-of-moneyWhy stablecoins matter, how they should be regulated, and what they mean for the future of money.Tue, 10 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/its-time-to-knock-down-the-walled-gardens-of-the-payments-systemhttps://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/its-time-to-knock-down-the-walled-gardens-of-the-payments-systemThe case for open, interoperable payment rails over the closed networks that dominate today's payments system.Tue, 01 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.theregreview.org/2021/05/10/massari-catalini-defi-disintermediation-regulatory-path-ahead/https://www.theregreview.org/2021/05/10/massari-catalini-defi-disintermediation-regulatory-path-ahead/How regulators should approach decentralized finance and disintermediation.Mon, 10 May 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/bitcoin-and-new-digital-ledger-applications-by-christian-catalini-et-al-2021-04https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/bitcoin-and-new-digital-ledger-applications-by-christian-catalini-et-al-2021-04Digital ledgers beyond bitcoin: what the technology is actually good for.Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://blockchain.mit.edu/research/initial-coin-offerings-and-the-value-of-crypto-tokens/https://blockchain.mit.edu/research/initial-coin-offerings-and-the-value-of-crypto-tokens/This paper explores how entrepreneurs can use initial coin offerings — whereby they issue crypto tokens and commit to accept only those tokens as payment for future use of a digital platform — to fund venture start-up costs. We show that the ICO mechanism allows entrepreneurs to generate buyer competition for the token, which, in turn, reveals consumer value without the entrepreneurs having to know, ex ante, consumer willingness to pay. We find that venture returns are independent of any committFri, 09 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2017/10/30/why-blockchain-can-be-good-for-competition/https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiancatalini/2017/10/30/why-blockchain-can-be-good-for-competition/In the permissioned-versus-permissionless debate it is easy to miss the point: open blockchains keep markets contestable in ways closed corporate ledgers cannot.Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://blockchain.mit.edu/research/some-simple-economics-of-the-blockchain/https://blockchain.mit.edu/research/some-simple-economics-of-the-blockchain/We rely on economic theory to discuss how blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies will influence the rate and direction of innovation. We identify two key costs that are affected by distributed ledger technology: 1) the cost of verification; and 2) the cost of networking. Markets facilitate the voluntary exchange of goods and services between buyers and sellers. For an exchange to be executed, key attributes of a transaction need to be verified by the parties involved at multiple points in tiThu, 21 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://blockchain.mit.edu/research/when-early-adopters-dont-adopt/https://blockchain.mit.edu/research/when-early-adopters-dont-adopt/Early adopters are believed to be central to the diffusion of new technologies, as they provide the initial word of mouth and momentum a technology needs to reach a critical mass of users. This Science piece draws on the MIT digital currency experiment — in which all 4,494 MIT undergraduates were offered access to Bitcoin in the fall of 2014 — to show what happens when natural early adopters are delayed relative to their peers: they are more likely to abandon the technology, and their rejection Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/seeing-beyond-the-blockchain-hype/https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/seeing-beyond-the-blockchain-hype/Christian Catalini interviewed by Paul Michelman. After eluding close inspection by most business leaders outside of the tech and financial sectors, blockchain technology has recently taken center stage in the conversation about management's digital makeover. Indeed, many believe the impact of blockchain on the ways organizations function and produce value may be greater than the technologies that have grabbed most of our recent attention — data and analytics, the cloud, even artificial intelligTue, 09 May 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2017/04/how-blockchain-technology-will-impact-digital-economyhttps://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2017/04/how-blockchain-technology-will-impact-digital-economyThe survival of any organization depends on its ability to outperform competitors and marketplaces in attracting and rewarding talent, ideas and capital. As communication and transaction costs have drastically declined because of the internet, new platforms have emerged, delivering goods and services at a speed and efficiency previously unimaginable.Thu, 20 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.yalejreg.com/nc/the-firm-as-a-nexus-of-smart-contracts-how-blockchain-and-cryptocurrencies-can-transform-the-digital-economy-by-christian-catalini/https://www.yalejreg.com/nc/the-firm-as-a-nexus-of-smart-contracts-how-blockchain-and-cryptocurrencies-can-transform-the-digital-economy-by-christian-catalini/Through his seminal work on transaction costs, Nobel laureate Ronald Coase highlighted key frictions that prevent organizations from relying exclusively on market transaction to achieve their goals. Uncertainty, asymmetric information and the risk of moral hazard, by undermining the ability to write complete and effective contracts, force organizations to internalize operations and depend on more complex forms of governance in order to effectively create and capture value. At one extreme, JensenTue, 18 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://hbr.org/2017/03/how-blockchain-applications-will-move-beyond-financehttps://hbr.org/2017/03/how-blockchain-applications-will-move-beyond-financeTo understand the transformation that's being brought about by blockchain technology, it's useful to start with its largest implementation to date: bitcoin. In the fall of 2014 my colleague Catherine Tucker and I conducted a large-scale experiment at MIT, in which 4,494 undergraduate students were offered access to bitcoin. The vast majority of students ended up hoarding the cryptocurrency, in the expectation that it would increase in value.Thu, 02 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://blockchain.mit.edu/research/seeding-the-s-curve/https://blockchain.mit.edu/research/seeding-the-s-curve/In October 2014, all 4,494 undergraduates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were given access to Bitcoin, a decentralized digital currency. As a unique feature of the experiment, students who would generally adopt first were placed in a situation where many of their peers received access to the technology before them, and they then had to decide whether to continue to invest in this digital currency or exit. Our results suggest that when natural early adopters are delayed relative to Thu, 11 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT