Crypto funds (CFs) are a growing intermediary in cryptocurrency markets. We evaluate CF performance using metrics based on alphas, value at risk, lower partial moments, and maximum drawdown. The performance of actively managed CFs is heterogenous: While the average fund in our sample does not outperform the overall cryptocurrency market, there seem to be some …
The Metaverse refers to a shared vision among technology entrepreneurs of a three dimensional virtual world, an embodied internet with humans and the physical world in it. As such, the Metaverse is thought to expand the domain of human activity by overcoming spatial, temporal, and resource-related constraints imposed by nature. The technological infrastructure of the …
Some Very Simple Economics of Web3 and the Metaverse Read More »
Blockchain technology and smart contracts are catalysts for decentralization and disintermediation. These new technologies reduce transaction costs, agency costs, and offer a basis for trustless social and economic interactions. They are fueling new business models for decentralized platforms and have revolutionized crowdfunding. A recent trend, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), stands to fundamentally transform organizing and …
The Rise of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs): a first empirical glimpse Read More »
Sustainable Entrepreneurship (SE) seeks to attain profitability and sustainability goals. A major research gap concerns the economic attractiveness of SE for entrepreneurs and investors. The question is ambiguous because sustainability orientation creates costly constraints, while startups cannot fully appropriate their positive externalities. We relate startups’ Environment, Society and Governance (ESG) properties obtained from a machine-learning …
This paper examines the performance of cryptocurrencies issued in initial coin offerings (ICOs) over a three-year period after the initial exchange listing. Average (median) ICO underpricing amounts to 15% (3%), even though 4 out of 10 ICOs destroy value on the first trading day. Liquidity, market capitalization, and high-low price ratios predict returns. Long-run buy-and-hold …
This paper provides the first evidence of a moral hazard in signaling in an entrepreneurial finance context, by examining token offerings or Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Entrepreneurs ability to signal quality is crucial to succeeding in the competition for growth capital. However, the absence of institutions that verify endogenous signals may induce a moral hazard …
Entrepreneurial Finance and Moral Hazard: Evidence from Token Offerings Read More »
We examine the role of institutional investors in initial coin offerings (ICOs). Taking a financial investor’s perspective, we assess the determinants of post-ICO performance via buy-and hold abnormal returns in a sample of 565 ICO ventures. Conceptually, we argue that institutional investors’ superior screening (selection effect) and coaching abilities (treatment effect) enable them to partly …
This paper examines the market for initial coin offerings (ICOs). ICOs are smart contracts based on blockchain technology that are designed for entrepreneurs to raise external finance by issuing tokens without an intermediary. Unlike existing mechanisms for early stage finance, tokens potentially provide investors with rapid opportunities thanks to liquid trading platforms. The marketability of …