# Christian Catalini

> Founder and economist. Co-creator of Libra at Meta, co-founder of Lightspark,
> founder of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab. Research and writing on the economics
> of AGI, verification, stablecoins, and digital markets.

All pages have markdown twins: append `.md` to any URL.
Full corpus in one file: https://catalini.com/llms-full.txt

## Ideas
- [The Economics of AI: Verification as the New Scarcity](https://catalini.com/ideas/economics-of-ai.md)
- [The Economics of Stablecoins](https://catalini.com/ideas/economics-of-stablecoins.md)
- [The GENIUS Act: A Federal Framework for Stablecoins](https://catalini.com/ideas/genius-act.md)

## Writing
- [Why An Open Standard Will Win The Stablecoin Race](https://catalini.com/writing/open-standard-stablecoin-race.md): Forbes, Jun 2026 — Stablecoins aren’t a profit center. So the future belongs not to a…
- [Intelligence Wants to Be Free](https://catalini.com/writing/intelligence-wants-to-be-free.md): Substack, Jun 2026 — Decentralized intelligence will not win in the same format as the one…
- [Nadella’s Test: What’s Left When The AI Model Is Pulled?](https://catalini.com/writing/nadellas-test.md): Forbes, Jun 2026 — Nadella defined what decides whether your company and job stay…
- [The Moral Of Fable](https://catalini.com/writing/the-moral-of-fable.md): Forbes, Jun 2026 — Anthropic quietly rationed the one domain where AI compounds fastest.…
- [Where Self-Improving AI is the Beginning of Infinity (And Where It Hits a Wall)](https://catalini.com/writing/self-improving-ai-beginning-of-infinity.md): Substack, Jun 2026 — The moral of the Fable: verification sets the speed, and the labs…
- [Bot Chargebacks, Voyages, and AI Liability](https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10760547): The Korea Herald, Jun 2026
- [The Banks Would Like To Dye Your Stablecoins Pink](https://catalini.com/writing/banks-dye-stablecoins-pink.md): Forbes, Apr 2026
- [Agents Are Starting to Operate Real Systems — Who’s Actually in Control?](https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/p/agents-are-starting-to-operate-real): a16z crypto, Apr 2026
- [Software Eats the Brokerage](https://catalini.substack.com/p/software-eats-the-brokerage): Substack, Mar 2026
- [Babysitting The Slop](https://catalini.com/writing/babysitting-the-slop.md): Forbes, Mar 2026
- [Software Eats The Brokerage—AI Lowers Cost, Crypto Makes It Verifiable](https://catalini.com/writing/software-eats-the-brokerage.md): Forbes, Mar 2026
- [What Stablecoin Regulation Means for Business](https://sloanreview.mit.edu/issue/2026-winter/): MIT Sloan Management Review, Winter 2026
- [How Banks Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Stablecoins](https://catalini.com/writing/banks-love-stablecoins.md): Forbes, Dec 2025
- [Crypto Is Ready To Be Boring Now](https://catalini.com/writing/crypto-ready-to-be-boring.md): Forbes, Dec 2025
- [The Trillion-Dollar Battle for Money’s Operating System](https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10617819): The Korea Herald, Nov 2025
- [The Unwitting Kingmaker: Why Washington’s GENIUS Act Could Accidentally Crown a Stablecoin Superpower](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/532383d3e4b00a718e33e1da/t/68d6b40d427beb04125c26e5/1758901261405/1-The-Unwitting-Kingmaker-Why-Washingtons-GENIUS-Act-Could-Accidentally-Crown-a-Stablecoin-Superpower-and-How-to-Stop-It-Christian-Catalini.pdf): CPI, Sep 2025
- [Stripe's Tempo And The Ghost Of Facebook’s Libra’s Past](https://catalini.com/writing/stripes-tempo-libras-ghost.md): Forbes, Sep 2025
- [Does Bitcoin Belong on Your Balance Sheet?](https://hbr.org/2025/09/does-bitcoin-belong-on-your-balance-sheet): HBR, Sep 2025
- [Economists Are Still Puzzled By Bitcoin—Should Anyone Be?](https://catalini.com/writing/economists-puzzled-by-bitcoin.md): Forbes, Aug 2025
- [Stripe Is Building A Blockchain: Can Openness Survive Branded Rails?](https://catalini.com/writing/stripe-blockchain-branded-rails.md): Forbes, Aug 2025
- [Washington’s New Stablecoin Law Has a 19th-Century Flaw](https://www.lightspark.com/news/insights/washingtons-new-stablecoin-law): Lightspark, 2025
- [Can Crypto Go Mainstream Without Losing Its Soul?](https://www.lightspark.com/news/insights/can-crypto-go-mainstream-without-losing-its-soul): Lightspark, 2025
- [What Gets Measured, AI Will Automate](https://hbr.org/2025/06/what-gets-measured-ai-will-automate): HBR, Jun 2025
- [What Everyone Gets Wrong About Crypto Adoption](https://catalini.com/writing/crypto-adoption.md): Forbes, May 2025
- [The Stablecoin Wars](https://catalini.com/writing/the-stablecoin-wars.md): Forbes, Apr 2025
- [With Dollar Hegemony At Risk, Could This Be Crypto’s Moment?](https://catalini.com/writing/dollar-hegemony-cryptos-moment.md): Forbes, Apr 2025
- [Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: Balancing Crypto And Dollar Dominance](https://catalini.com/writing/trumps-strategic-bitcoin-reserve.md): Forbes, Mar 2025
- [Bitcoin Reserves Won’t Secure America’s Future—Only A Platform Play Will](https://catalini.com/writing/bitcoin-reserves-platform-play.md): Forbes, Feb 2025
- [The Internet Of Money Wants To Be Free](https://catalini.com/writing/internet-of-money-wants-to-be-free.md): Forbes, Jan 2025
- [Should the United States Implement a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve?](https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/bitcoin-strategic-reserve/): a16z crypto, 2025
- [Can Crypto’s Scarcity Tame AI’s Infinite Abundance?](https://catalini.com/writing/crypto-scarcity-ai-abundance.md): Forbes, Dec 2024
- [Decentralizing AI—Big Dreams, Bigger Hype?](https://catalini.com/writing/decentralizing-ai.md): Forbes, Nov 2024
- [Why Everyone Is Wrong About Stablecoins](https://catalini.com/writing/everyone-wrong-about-stablecoins.md): Forbes, Nov 2024
- [Crypto Policy Needs to Empower Builders, Not Speculators](https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/crypto-regulation-us-election-trump-bitcoin-boosterism-gives-harris-an-opening-by-christian-catalini-1-et-al-2024-09): Project Syndicate, Sep 2024
- [How The SEC’s Attack On NFTs Harms Creators](https://catalini.com/writing/sec-attack-nfts.md): Forbes, Aug 2024
- [Why Big Tech Can’t Solve The Content Moderation Problem](https://catalini.com/writing/big-tech-content-moderation.md): Forbes, Aug 2024
- [The Race to Dominate Stablecoins](https://hbr.org/2024/08/the-race-to-dominate-stablecoins): HBR, Aug 2024
- [Are Stablecoins Winner-Take-All?](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/532383d3e4b00a718e33e1da/t/669569734a11ca28fb2da635/1721067892253/2-ARE+STABLECOINS-WINNER-TAKE-ALL-Christian-Catalini-Jai-Massari.pdf): CPI, Jul 2024
- [Forget Antitrust, Regulate To Let Tech Disrupt Itself](https://catalini.com/writing/forget-antitrust.md): Forbes, Apr 2024
- [Is Crypto's Killer App Finally Here?](https://catalini.com/writing/cryptos-killer-app.md): Forbes, Feb 2024
- [The Hidden Breakthrough Behind Bitcoin](https://www.lightspark.com/news/insights/the-hidden-breakthrough-behind-bitcoin): Lightspark, 2023
- [Do Crypto Prices Actually Mean Anything?](https://hbr.org/2023/01/do-crypto-prices-actually-mean-anything): HBR, Jan 2023
- [How Digital Currencies Can Help Small Businesses](https://hbr.org/2022/05/how-digital-currencies-can-help-small-businesses): HBR, May 2022
- [Can Web3 Bring Back Competition to Digital Platforms?](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/532383d3e4b00a718e33e1da/t/62267f131e1e910dd9ef1552/1646690071283/Can+Web3+Bring+Back+Competition+to+Digital+Platforms.pdf): CPI, Mar 2022
- [Stablecoins and the Future of Money](https://hbr.org/2021/08/stablecoins-and-the-future-of-money): HBR, Aug 2021
- [It’s Time to Knock Down the Walled Gardens of the Payments System](https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/its-time-to-knock-down-the-walled-gardens-of-the-payments-system): American Banker, 2021
- [DeFi, Disintermediation, and the Regulatory Path Ahead](https://www.theregreview.org/2021/05/10/massari-catalini-defi-disintermediation-regulatory-path-ahead/): The Regulatory Review, May 2021
- [Bitcoin and Beyond](https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/bitcoin-and-new-digital-ledger-applications-by-christian-catalini-et-al-2021-04): Project Syndicate, Apr 2021
- [Facebook Will Be Unable to Control Libra](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-facebook-will-be-unable-to-control-libra-1001303874): Globes, 2019
- [Why Blockchain Can Be Good For Competition](https://catalini.com/writing/blockchain-good-for-competition.md): Forbes, Oct 2017
- [Seeing Beyond the Blockchain Hype](https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/seeing-beyond-the-blockchain-hype/): MIT Sloan Management Review, Mar 2017

## Research
- [The Digital Privacy Paradox and Choice Architecture: Evidence from an Experiment in Fintech](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2916489): MIS Quarterly, 2026
- [Some Simple Economics of AGI](https://catalini.com/research/some-simple-economics-of-agi.md): Working Paper, 2026
- [Syndication in Equity Crowdfunding: Performance and the Evaluation of Experts](https://catalini.com/research/): Research Policy, 2025
- [Proximate (Co-)Working: Knowledge Spillovers and Social Interactions](https://catalini.com/research/): Management Science, 2024
- [Some Simple Economics of Stablecoins](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3985699): Annual Review of Financial Economics, 2021
- [Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain](https://catalini.com/research/): Communications of the ACM, 2020
- [When Early Adopters Don’t Adopt](https://catalini.com/research/): Science, 2017

## Media
- [From Libra to Open Standard’s OUSD: What Facebook's Failed Stablecoin Teaches Us](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3TNVy6Wxz2u1lbnAzlWSu5): CoinDesk Podcast Network, Jul 2026 — What Libra’s arc teaches about Open Standard’s OUSD and collectively governed stablecoin rails.
- [Anything AI can measure can be automated](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcPIzPSG02c): Beyond the Prompt, Jun 2026 — Anything AI can measure, it will automate — the dividing line for every job and firm.
- [The Unexpected Economics of AGI - with Christian Catalini, Tech Founder and Co-Creator of Libra](https://open.spotify.com/episode/25R8So9alj6pOW9h7Rh2X4): Beyond The Prompt - How to use AI in your company, Jun 2026 — The unexpected economics of AGI: why measurability decides what gets automated, and trust decides what gets deployed.
- [Verification Is the Bottleneck of the AI Economy - Christian Catalini | PostAGI Ep. 02](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5gTlGmgwm8yr89AKfcHR4x): PostAGI Podcast, Jun 2026 — Verification — not intelligence — is the bottleneck of the AI economy.
- [Some Simple Economics of AGI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J1nZonrDFs&t=504s): Luohan Academy, Jun 2026 — A talk on Some Simple Economics of AGI: the measurability gap and the verification bottleneck.
- [Verification Is the Bottleneck of the AI Economy - Christian Catalini | PostAGI Podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96R-4bY5198): Eigen Labs, Jun 2026 — Verification is the bottleneck of the AI economy.
- [The Unexpected Economics of AGI - with Christian Catalini, Tech Founder and Co-Creator of Libra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZtWM9HhIgE): Beyond the Prompt, Jun 2026 — The unexpected economics of AGI, for operators deploying AI inside companies.
- [From Libra to AGI: Christian Catalini on the Future of Money](https://open.spotify.com/episode/63EzYpREJ8jWrt05QUIN0H): Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock'n'Roll, Jun 2026 — From Libra to the economics of AGI: how digital money and machine intelligence converge.
- [Agentic Payments Are the Wild West](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM3Qc5zJk0o): Stablecon, May 2026 — Agentic payments are the Wild West: what it takes to make machine commerce trustworthy.
- [The Economics of AGI: Why Verification Is the New Scarcity w/ Christian Catalini](https://open.spotify.com/episode/36dRh1CpIoPFwRky6mR9ie): Bankless, Mar 2026 — The measurability gap, and why verification becomes the new scarcity as execution gets cheap.
- [Your Job Will Be Automated. Here's the Only Skill That Survives](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5qhFnv0UhA): Bankless, Mar 2026 — Your job will be automated — verification is the skill that survives.
- [AI Just Gave You Superpowers — Now What?](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3IWkfcwD8S5wRw4rm92Sar): The a16z Show, Mar 2026 — What individuals should do as AI collapses the cost of execution — rebuild expertise faster than the market rate.
- [AI just gave you superpowers. Now what?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv3IqA4cLEk): a16z crypto, Mar 2026 — AI just gave you superpowers: how individuals compound them before the market catches up.
- [Some Simple Economics of AGI — a conversation](https://www.arewecookedhq.com/p/are-we-cooked-q-and-a-with-christian): Are We Cooked?, Mar 2026 — A Q&A on the economics of AGI: why verification, not intelligence, becomes the binding constraint as the cost of execution collapses.
- [Nobody's Gonna Trust Your Corp Chain](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ydlRejDJXTf7tUh5gwQuF): a16z crypto show, Jan 2026 — Why closed corporate blockchains lose to open networks: cooperate on the platform, compete on products.
- [Lightspark Sync 2025: Open Networks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5sILotF4Jc): Lightspark, Oct 2025 — Open networks keynote at Lightspark Sync 2025.
- [[FBC Summit 2025] Christian Catalini (Lightspark)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x__eVMD0auE): Fftech Lab @ UCSB, Jun 2025 — On payments, stablecoins, and open rails at the FBC Summit 2025.
- [Forget Bitcoin: Stablecoins Are the Real Revolution | Christian Catalini, Clay Robbins, and Sam L](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ao3QF22QGo): Slow Ventures, May 2025 — Forget Bitcoin — stablecoins are the real revolution in payments.
- [Libra crypotocurrency and blockchain | Christian Catalini](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex8JVqmLJpw): HBS Digital Initiative, Nov 2019 — Libra, cryptocurrency, and blockchain — the design and the regulatory reckoning.
- [MIT Sloan Experts Series – Christian Catalini: Breaking Down the Libra Cryptocurrency](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlBHOdraRzg): MIT Sloan School of Management, Nov 2019 — Breaking down Libra: the economics behind the design.
- [Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjWlXl-vGUc): MIT Sloan Alumni, Jun 2018 — Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain: verification costs and networking costs.
- [The MIT Digital Currency Experiment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1VDahmcIBg&t=1108s): MIT Sloan Alumni, Sep 2016 — The MIT Digital Currency Experiment: giving every MIT undergraduate access to Bitcoin in 2014.

## Optional
- [Ventures & Advisory](https://catalini.com/ventures/) · [About](https://catalini.com/about/) · [Writing index](https://catalini.com/writing/)
- [CV (markdown)](https://catalini.com/cv.md) · [CV (PDF)](https://catalini.com/cv.pdf)