tokenomics

English

Etymology

From (crypto) token +‎ -omics or (AI) token +‎ -omics.

Noun

tokenomics (uncountable)

1. The rules or science of a token economy.
   1. (cryptocurrencies) The economics of the NFT market or the cryptocoin market more generally.
      • 2019, John Hargrave, Blockchain for Everyone, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 270:

        It is for this reason that the rules of the economy—the “tokenomics”—are so important. Tokenomics is an uncharted discipline, and there are very few best practices. If your kids are going into college, tell them to dual-major in economics and computer science.

      • 2021 December 5, Ephrat Livni, “Welcome to ‘Web3.’ What’s That?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

        The biggest investors and industry players are also lobbying in Washington to influence rules that would favor their futuristic view of tokenomics, which can already be seen in some burgeoning communities where web3 is not some abstract concept but a feature of daily life.

        (Can we archive this URL?)

   2. (artificial intelligence) The economics of AI usage, which is typically priced using a token model.
      • 2026 January 20, Mohamad Salim, Jasmine Latendresse, SayedHassan Khatoonabadi, Emad Shihab, “Tokenomics: Quantifying Where Tokens Are Used in Agentic Software Engineering”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), →DOI:

        Understanding the token consumption patterns, or ”tokenomics,” of agentic SE systems is critical for their practical and sustainable adoption.

      • 2026 August 3, Lydia DePillis, “What Are Companies Getting for All That A.I. Spending?”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

        A new field of “tokenomics” has emerged to measure the return on all the money companies are pouring into artificial intelligence.

        (Can we archive this URL?)