Mary C. Lacity is Walton Professor of Information Systems and Director of the Blockchain Center of Excellence in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at The University of Arkansas, USA. She was previously Curators' Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri. She has held visiting positions at MIT, the London School of Economics, Washington University, and Oxford University. She is a Certified Outsourcing Professional and Senior Editor for MIS Quarterly Executive. The author of 30 books, her recent research focuses on improving business services using robotic process automation, cognitive automation and blockchain technologies.

Horst Treiblmaier is a Professor in International Management at Modul University Vienna, Austria. He has more than twenty years of experience as a researcher and consultant and has worked on numerous industry projects. He is currently a Research Associate at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies of the University College London. In his research he investigates the implications of blockchain technology and the token economy. He has authored and edited several books and published more than 150 articles in academic journals and conference proceedings.

1: Implications of the token economy: A taxonomy and research agenda.- 2:  Recovering from blockchain missteps and myths with coopetition.- 3: Finding the right balance-political and technical decentralization in the token economy.- 4: Cryptoeconomics: Designing effective incentives and governance models for blockchain networks using insights from economics.- 5: Verifiable Credentials in the Token Economy.- 6: NFTs and the metaverse revolution: Research perspectives and open challenges.- 7: Asset tokenization of real estate in Europe.- 8: Tokenization and regulatory compliance for art and collectibles markets: From regulators' demands for transparency to investors' demands for privacy.- 9: Token-based insurance solutions on blockchain.- 10: Revisiting blockchain token sales: How crypto companies raised money.- 11: Ensuring safety and security in blockchains: A private capital markets example.- 12: Utilizing Non-Fungible Tokens for an event ticketing system.- 13: Saving the oceans with NFTs.

In this book, leading practitioners and academics provide comprehensive coverage and novel insights into blockchains and the token economy. Real world case studies from a wide range of industries provide practical examples of blockchain-based tokens for real estate, logistics, insurance, recruitment, collectibles, reservations, metaverses, and more.  The cases show how tokens provide an  innovative way to create and transfer value without relying on traditional intermediaries.  Readers will better understand the business and social benefits of tokenization, but also its challenges.

Chapter 3 and Chapter 8 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.