The token economy in a developing country

Abstract

The token economy is a decentralized digital economy enabled by blockchain technology based on the premise of controlling asset ownership with digital tokens (Zhao et al., 2019). The increase in digital asset ownership among Thai residents over the past year (Kemp, 2022) is indicative of the expansion of the token economy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the factors influencing the token economy in Thailand. Multiple regression analysis has been used to analyze the data acquired from Thai investors who are at least 20 years old, hold financial instruments, and frequently access the Internet. The findings show that an individual’s education level and monthly income, as well as their obtaining of investment news through mass, online, or print media or through meetings, have a statistically significant positive relationship to the token economy, while the savings rate has a negative one. The research proposes that these factors should be considered when a company prepares promotional activities, and that consumers with low savings rates should receive more attention because they are more inclined to embrace digital tokens.