Cryptoeconomics Researcher

Edge & Node is at the forefront of web3 innovation. Our mission is to establish The Graph as the unbreakable foundation of open data. Our pioneering subgraphs set the industry standard and solidify The Graph as the premier solution for organizing and accessing blockchain data.

At Edge & Node, we champion a decentralized future based on shared values. Dedicated to decentralizing power and resisting censorship, we aim for a robust, permissionless information era free from central control, thus eliminating the traditional vulnerabilities associated with misplaced trust.

The Research & Protocol team at Edge & Node plays a pivotal role in advancing The Graph protocol through innovative design and research. We merge expertise from economics, system architecture, cryptography, and smart contracts engineering. Collaborating closely with developers and product teams, we transform pioneering ideas into practical protocol-based solutions.

We're excited to expand our team with a Cryptoeconomics Researcher who will help design and refine cryptoeconomic mechanisms alongside our cross-organizational teams within The Graph ecosystem. Join us in redefining the landscape of decentralized applications.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Constructing game theoretical models of existing and proposed mechanisms
• Improving tokenomics by identifying incentive gaps and potential improvements in The Graph’s token and protocol economic design
• Developing a deep understanding of The Graph Network and ensuring it is sustainable for all network participants
• Maintaining and publishing papers, forum posts and blog posts describing The Graph’s protocol economics
• Applying deep knowledge of other protocols as well as academic research to identify solutions for The Graph
• Designing incentives for key features on The Graph's roadmap
• Collaborating with a cross-functional team to produce original work that meets the needs of a diverse set of stakeholders, with the company and protocol principles at the core.
• Working with System Architects and Protocol Engineers to turn proposals into concrete protocol improvements
• Championing proposed mechanisms in the community and through the governance process: participating in forum discussions, community calls and other ecosystem discussion venues to gather consensus

What We Expect

• Expertise in Mechanism Design, Algorithmic Game Theory, and related fields, either through an advanced degree or self-taught.
• A deep understanding of crypto token economics. Strong curiosity and passion for crypto and web3-specific topics.
• Experience working in industry or in another applied setting, with experience working within multidisciplinary teams, taking research ideas to production.
• A passion for teaching others and exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience working on cross-discipline projects, across economics, computer science, and mathematics.
• Adept at writing LaTeX and computational notebooks (preferably in Python).
• A strong understanding of web3 principles like decentralization, trustlessness, censorship resistance and economic security, as well as the tradeoffs in decentralized governance and progressive decentralization.
• Familiarity with tokenomics and token-powered networks like blockchains and DePIN protocols.
• Ability to apply an adversarial mindset to keep the protocol secure.
• Broad knowledge of economic topics, including contract theory, negotiation protocols, microeconomics, macroeconomics, institutional economics, monetary theory, and market design.
• Self-directed, proactive, self-starter who is comfortable with the autonomy of working in a remote setting.
• Proven track record of producing solutions for complex problems in a dynamic environment, against requirements and under time constraints.
• Knowledge of Distributed Systems is preferred

About The Graph

The Graph is the indexing and query layer of web3. The Graph Network’s self service experience for developers launched in July 2021. Developers build and publish open APIs, called subgraphs, that applications can query using GraphQL. The Graph supports indexing data from multiple different networks including Ethereum, NEAR, Arbitrium, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, Celo, Fantom, Moonbeam, IPFS, and PoA with more networks coming soon. To date, tens-of-thousands of subgraphs have been deployed on the hosted service, and now subgraphs can be deployed directly on the network. Over 28,000 developers have built subgraphs for applications such as Uniswap, Synthetix, KnownOrigin, Art Blocks, Balancer, Livepeer, DAOstack, Audius, Decentraland, and many others.

If you are a developer building an application or web3 application, you can use subgraphs for indexing and querying data from blockchains. The Graph allows applications to efficiently and performantly present data in a UI and allows other developers to use your subgraph too! You can deploy a subgraph to the network using the newly launched Subgraph Studio or query existing subgraphs that are in the Graph Explorer. The Graph would love to welcome you to be Indexers, Curators and/or Delegators on The Graph’s mainnet. Join The Graph community by introducing yourself in The Graph Discord for technical discussions, join The Graph’s Telegram chat, and follow The Graph on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Medium! The Graph’s developers and members of the community are always eager to chat with you, and The Graph ecosystem has a growing community of developers who support each other.

The Graph Foundation oversees The Graph Network. The Graph Foundation is overseen by the Technical Council. Edge & Node, StreamingFast, Messari, Semiotic and The Guild are five of the many organizations within The Graph ecosystem.