Fred Steinmetz
Co-founder
Fred Steinmetz is a co-founder of the Blockchain Research Lab and currently focuses on researching “Crypto Adoption”. The relevance of the phenomenon of cryptocurrencies, token-based services and blockchain technology is increasing, not only in our economy but also in society as a whole. With a focus on consumer adoption, the questions worth investigating comprise users’ ideological motivations, their socio-economic characteristics and usage intentions beyond speculation.
Following his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from RWTH Aachen and University of Cologne, he graduated from Universität Hamburg (M.Sc.) where he currently prepares his dissertation on the convergence of gaming and gambling as well as the intersections of gambling and blockchain technology. At Universität Hamburg, Fred is currently working on the BMWi-funded research project ETIBLOGG, for which he investigates the potentials of blockchain technology for efficiently transforming energy markets towards the integration of renewables. With a focus on token-based funding for ventures, Fred co-founded badgeport.io, a platform for evaluating and comparing third-party marketing and technical services for startups.
Beyond cryptocurrencies, Fred’s research interests are to find in non-token applications of the technology across industries and domains, i.e. digital identity, and the innovative use of blockchains, i.e. for data anchoring and submission.
Research topics:
- Crypto Adoption
- Market economics and efficiency
- Gaming and Gambling
- Literature and Bibliometrics
- Energy Markets
BRL Publications:
Blockchain and the Digital Economy
In this book the key concepts of blockchain technology and an overview of the machinations of different blockchain ecosystems are presented. The socio-economic impact of this new technology is discussed including its impact on sectors such as energy, data, capital markets, logistics, and gambling.

Perceptions towards the Digital Currency Project Libra: Germany Q4 2019
Based on a representative survey among 3,059 German adult Internet, this report captures users’ perceptions and anticipations towards Libra. Libra is a blockchain-based payment token that is backed by a basket of financial assets, such as the Dollar and the Euro. It is developed by...

Dominating OP Returns: The Impact of Omni and Veriblock on Bitcoin
This paper provides an in-depth analysis of all OP Return transactions published on Bitcoin between September 14, 2018, and December 31, 2019. The 32.4 million OP Return transactions (22% of all Bitcoin transactions) published during...