Simulating Web3 Tokenomics With Agent-Based Models

Tokenomics is the study of economic characteristics associated with cryptocurrency tokens and the underlying blockchain technologies. These are the building blocks of digital token markets with governance structures adopted by the community of participants. The aim of token markets is to democratize access to goods and services, with suppliers retaining ownership rights. This paper proposes a two-layer agent-based model with a governance layer populated by a platform agent and one or more partner agents. A market layer enables interactions between consumer and supplier agents through purchase transactions. The goal of this research is to showcase agent-based modeling as a design tool, capturing system-wide dynamics from the actions and interactions of autonomous agents. Simulation studies can investigate key market parameters before initial coin offerings and market trading begin. Some simple consumer and supplier behaviors allow for realistic simulations, including cross validation to assess the impacts of key market parameters.