We develop a dynamic model of a platform economy where tokens serve as a means of payment among platform users and are issued to finance investment in platform productivity. Tokens are optimally rewarded to platform owners when token supply (normalized by productivity) is low and burnt to boost franchise value when the normalized supply is high. Although token price is determined in a liquid market, the platform’s financial constraint generates an endogenous token issuance cost that causes underinvestment through the conflict of interest between insiders (owners) and outsiders (users). Blockchain technology mitigates underinvestment by addressing the owners’ time inconsistency problem.

我们开发了一个平台经济的动态模型，其中代币作为平台用户之间的一种支付手段，并用于为平台生产力的投资提供资金。当代币供应量（按生产力标准化）低时，代币会以最佳方式奖励给平台所有者，并在标准化供应量高时燃烧以提高特许经营价值。虽然代币价格是在流动性市场中确定的，但平台的财务约束会产生内生代币发行成本，通过内部人（所有者）和外部人（用户）之间的利益冲突导致投资不足。区块链技术通过解决所有者的时间不一致问题来缓解投资不足。