主讲人简介：

Hubert Pun博士是Ivey Business School at Western University的J.Allyn Taylor/Arthur H.Mingay讲席教授，并担任博士项目主任。他的研究兴趣包括竞合（co-opetition）、仿冒产品，以及区块链如何作为企业解决方案加以应用。他曾在《Manufacturing & Service Operations Management》（M&SOM）、《Production and Operations Management》（POM）、《Journal of Operations Management》（JOM）等顶级期刊上发表论文。目前，他担任《Production and Operations Management》（POM）的高级编辑。

内容摘要:

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) link the primary and secondary markets through blockchain’s traceability, enabling creators to earn resale royalties and benefit from a community of consumers who hold their NFTs long-term. As a key tokenomics mechanism, airdrops are widely used to influence consumers’ post-purchase decisions between holding and reselling. Yet the existing literature does not examine how creators should choose among the various airdrop tools available to balance long-term holding, royalty generation, and consumer base growth. We develop a two-period model in which a creator earns revenue not only from the primary market but also from the secondary market through resale royalties. The model captures consumers’ holding-versus-reselling decisions and the community effect arising from the holder base.  We examine the case in which the creator has the option of using the following airdrop tools: a bounty airdrop that rewards promotional effort and expands the pool of potential consumers; or a holder airdrop that rewards NFT ownership at a specific snapshot date. We find that a bounty airdrop is the optimal airdrop tool when long-term NFT ownership is not very attractive. Otherwise, a holder airdrop is the better airdrop tool, particularly when the community effect is strong. We further show that, counterintuitively, consumers can be worse off as the community effect strengthens, as the bounty reward increases, or as promotional activities become more effective. We also find that consumers are always better off with holder airdrops but can be worse off with bounty airdrops. The managerial implications of our paper are twofold. First, creators should choose the airdrop tool based on the NFT’s retention value and the stage of community development. Second, regulators should balance the objective of expanding participation in digital economies with the need to protect consumer surplus. Specifically, while bounty airdrops can attract new participants and stimulate market activity, they would also raise secondary-market prices, indicating that stronger promotional incentives may reduce consumer surplus.