Governance of Social Tokens and the Role of Regulation in the Development of Decentralized Technologies

Since its emergence in ۲۰۲۰, social tokens have introduced a novel paradigm within the Web۳ ecosystem, yet a comprehensive academic framework around their definition, applications, and policy implications remains underdeveloped. This policy report systematically defines social tokens, differentiates them from analogous concepts, and explores their potential use cases, underlying motivations, economic dynamics, and social impacts through both successful and unsuccessful operational experiences. Social tokens serve as incentive-based digital assets granting access rights within decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), typically characterized by fungibility, transferability, and price volatility. Categorized into personal, community, and platform tokens, they represent quantifiable social value ranging from individual reputations to collective network-generated wealth. By decentralizing financial systems on social networks, social tokens reduce reliance on advertising revenues, facilitate crowdfunding, and enable direct creator-audience economic interaction, ultimately redistributing power and wealth generated by digital content production. The report concludes with an in-depth discussion on governance and regulatory challenges, emphasizing the necessity of adaptive policy frameworks that balance innovation with consumer protection, legal clarity, and risk mitigation. Recommendations include the development of clear legal definitions, regulatory sandboxes for controlled experimentation, transparency requirements, taxation guidelines, and oversight mechanisms for platforms issuing social tokens, ensuring sustainable growth and societal benefits.

کلیدواژه ها:

Social Tokens ، Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) ، Blockchain Governance ، Regulation ، Web۳