Digital Money Adoption and Redemption Convenience
Prof. Yang YOU
Assistant Professor in Finance,
HKU Business School, HKU
Date: 18 October 2023 (Wednesday)
Time: 16:00 to 17:30 pm
Venue: E22 – G015
Moderator: Prof. Rachel Xiaorong MA, Assistant Professor of Finance
Abstract
We analyze how proximity to token redemption opportunities affected digital money adoption and usage in the Toronto-based Bunz barter economy. Using comprehensive user-level transactions data, we find that in areas with more token-redeeming merchants, platform users (i) were one-third more likely to accept the token; (ii) sold more goods to other users for tokens, but did not buy more goods with tokens; and (iii) held similar quantities of tokens. Cross-sectional differences disappeared after token redemption was halted. Our findings are consistent with a heterogeneous-agent search-theoretic model of money wherein agents have different exposure to redemption opportunities.
JEL Classification: E41, E42, G23
Keywords: Redemption, Token Adoption, Digital Currency
Speaker
Dr. Yang You joined the University of Hong Kong as an assistant professor in finance in July 2021. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Economics from Harvard University and holds Bachelor in Mathematics and Economics from Tsinghua University. Prior to joining HKU, he worked for Tower Research Capital as a quantitative trader and part-time researcher at Facebook Novi. His research has been published in leading economic and finance journals, such as, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, and NBER Macro Annual.
All are welcome!
