Scott Duke Kominers is an American economist, mathematician, and professor who holds the Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration chair in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School (HBS). ^[1] He is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Harvard Department of Economics and the Harvard Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications. ^[2] Concurrently, Kominers is a Research Partner at the venture capital firm a16z crypto (Andreessen Horowitz's crypto division), where he focuses on market design, tokenomics, and platform strategy for the web3 ecosystem. ^[3] His research applies economic theory and computational analysis to solve practical design problems in marketplaces, with a significant recent focus on blockchain-based systems and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). ^[1]​

Education

Kominers is a three-time alumnus of Harvard University. He graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 2009, earning an A.B. in Mathematics with a minor in Ethnomusicology. ^{[2] [1]} He continued his studies in the university's Business Economics program, receiving an A.M. in 2010 and completing his Ph.D. in 2011. ^[3] His doctoral dissertation was titled "Matching Models of Markets." ^[2] During his graduate studies, he was supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship and served as a non-resident tutor at Kirkland House, an undergraduate house at Harvard. ^{[4] [2]}​

Career

Kominers's career spans academia, venture capital research, and corporate advising, with a consistent focus on applying market design principles.

Academic Career

Following his Ph.D., Kominers was an Inaugural Saieh Family Fellow in Economics at the Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics at the University of Chicago from 2011 to 2013. ^[2] He returned to Harvard University in 2013 as a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows, a position he held until 2017. ^[4]​

In July 2017, Kominers joined the faculty of Harvard Business School as an Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit. He was later appointed as the MBA Class of 1960 Associate Professor of Business Administration, a title he held until June 2023. ^[4] In July 2023, he was promoted to the endowed Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration chair. ^[1]​

Throughout his time at HBS, he has maintained affiliations with the broader university, serving as a Faculty Affiliate of the Department of Economics and the Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications. ^[2] He is also a Co-Principal Investigator of the Harvard Crypto, Fintech and Web3 Lab. ^[1] At HBS, Kominers co-created and teaches the MBA elective courses "Making Markets" and "Building Web 3 Businesses," as well as a doctoral course on market design. ^[1]​

Venture Capital and Private Sector

Kominers has been deeply involved with the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, specifically its crypto-focused fund. He was a Visiting Scholar at a16z crypto from January 2020 to December 2021 before transitioning to the role of Research Partner in January 2022. ^[4] In this capacity, he advises portfolio companies and the broader web3 community on tokenomics, decentralized governance, platform strategy, and market structure. ^[3]​

From September 2019 to January 2022, Kominers served as an advisor to Novi Financial, the digital wallet project developed by Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) as part of the Diem (formerly Libra) stablecoin ecosystem. ^[4] His work there involved providing expertise on market design for the digital payments platform before the project was discontinued.

Advisory Roles

Kominers advises a number of companies and projects on marketplace development, incentive design, and crypto-economics. His corporate advisory roles include work with Quora, Lunchclub, NCX (formerly SilviaTerra), and OneChronos. ^[2]​

In the web3 space, he serves as an advisor to a diverse set of crypto and NFT projects, including: ^{[1] [2]}​

• Applied Primate Engineering
• FINE Digital
• Hungry Wolves
• koodos
• 1337 Skulls
• Thingdoms

Research and Expertise

Kominers's research is centered on market design, with an increasing focus on its application to digital economies and web3. His work has received support from institutions such as the National Science Foundation, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, and the Oxford Martin School. ^[3]​

Market Design

Kominers's primary field is market design, an area of economics that involves engineering marketplaces and allocation mechanisms to achieve specific goals like efficiency, fairness, and revenue. ^[4] His approach spans the entire economic design process, from developing foundational theory and technology to identifying new applications and collaborating with practitioners to implement market-based solutions. His work has addressed topics such as managing platform thickness and congestion, designing systems for allocating scarce resources like kidneys, and creating efficient property rights systems. ^[1]​

Web3 and Crypto-economics

Since 2021, Kominers has directed a significant portion of his research toward blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and web3. ^[1] His work in this domain applies market design principles to challenges unique to decentralized systems. Key areas of focus include:

• Tokenomics: Designing token incentive structures that align the interests of users, developers, and investors in a sustainable way. ^[3]
• Decentralized Governance: Creating systems for on-chain voting and community-led decision-making. ^[4]
• NFT Marketplaces: Analyzing and advising on the structure of NFT markets, including royalty mechanics, bidding systems, and value creation. ^[1]

He frequently writes and speaks on web3 topics for both practitioner and academic audiences, translating complex economic concepts for a broader audience through outlets like Harvard Business Review and the a16z crypto blog. ^{[3] [1]}​

Publications and Public Commentary

Kominers is a prolific author of academic papers, articles for general audiences, and books. He is also a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, where he writes about markets, technology, and web3, and authors a puzzle series called "Kominers's Conundrums." ^{[4] [2]}​

Books

• Kaczynski, Steve, and Scott Duke Kominers. The Everything Token: How NFTs and Web3 Will Transform the Way We Buy, Sell, and Create. Published in 2024 by Portfolio/Penguin, this book provides a framework for understanding NFTs and their potential impact on business, creativity, and commerce. ^{[1] [5]}
• Kominers has also co-authored Success with Science: The Winners' Guide to High School Research (2011), published by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. ^[1]

Selected Papers and Articles

Kominers has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals such as the American Economic Review, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Management Science. ^[4] His public writings on web3 include:

• "Defining tokens" (co-authored with Miles Jennings and Eddy Lazzarin, March 5, 2025) ^[3]
• "When to flip the fee switch" (July 31, 2025) ^[3]
• "Why NFT creators are going cc0" ^[2]
• "Why Build in web3?" (co-authored with Jad Esber) ^[3]
• "What Makes Metaverse Digital Real Estate Valuable" (June 2, 2022) ^[5]
• "Can WEB3 Bring Back Competition to Digital Platforms?" (co-authored with Christian Catalini) ^[3]
• "A Simple Theory of Vampire Attacks" (co-authored with John William Hatfield) ^[3]
• "Redistributive Allocation Mechanisms" (co-authored with Mohammad Akbarpour and Piotr Dworczak) ^[3]

Editorial Roles

Kominers serves in editorial capacities for several leading economics journals. He is an Editor at The Review of Economics and Statistics and serves on the Board of Editors for the Journal of Economic Literature. ^{[2] [1]}​

Awards and Recognition

Kominers has received numerous awards for his research, teaching, and advising throughout his career.

• 2010: AMS-MAA-SIAM Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student. ^[1]
• 2013: Honored as an Outstanding Alumnus in STEM and Business by the Center for Excellence in Education. ^[1]
• 2015: Named a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences. ^[3]
• 2016: Star Family Prize for Excellence in Advising from Harvard University. ^[3]
• 2018: Webby Award for Best Use of Machine Learning for the Streetchange project. ^[1]
• 2018: Western Economic Association International Best Economic Inquiry Article Award for “Big Data and Big Cities.” ^[1]
• 2019: Washington Center for Equitable Growth Grant. ^[1]
• 2022: Best Paper Award on Finance in Management Science for "Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms." ^[1]
• He has also received multiple Certificates of Distinction in Teaching from Harvard University and was awarded a Shapley Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Game Theory Society. ^[4]

Professional Affiliations and Service

Kominers is active in several professional and academic organizations. From 2019 to 2023, he served as Vice-Chair of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Economics and Computation (ACM SIGecom). ^[2] He is a member of the National Leadership Council for the Society for Science and co-leads a global working group on inequality for the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity (HCEO) Global Working Groups. ^[1]

He is a member of the American Economic Association, the Econometric Society, and the Mathematical Association of America. At Harvard, he serves as the Faculty Advisor to the Harvard Ballroom Team. Kominers is also an alumnus of the Center for Excellence in Education's Research Science Institute (RSI). ^[2]