Editorial: Understanding Cryptocurrencies

TL;DR

This paper explores the mechanics and potential research avenues of cryptocurrencies, emphasizing their unique transaction data and the emerging empirical research opportunities in financial economics.

Contribution

It provides an overview of cryptocurrency mechanics, summarizes key statistics, and highlights future research directions in financial economics.

Findings

Cryptocurrency transaction data is freely available and detailed.

Empirical research on cryptocurrencies is just beginning.

Potential for significant research advancements in financial economics.

Abstract

Cryptocurrency refers to a type of digital asset that uses distributed ledger, or blockchain, technology to enable a secure transaction. Although the technology is widely misunderstood, many central banks are considering launching their own national cryptocurrency. In contrast to most data in financial economics, detailed data on the history of every transaction in the cryptocurrency complex are freely available. Furthermore, empirically-oriented research is only now beginning, presenting an extraordinary research opportunity for academia. We provide some insights into the mechanics of cryptocurrencies, describing summary statistics and focusing on potential future research avenues in financial economics.