The Kraken Case Study Competition – University Teams Predict Two-to-One that a Bitcoin-Weighted Portfolio will Outperform an Ethereum-Weighted One

MBA Blog / 8th November 2016

The Kraken Case Study Competition, hosted on The Economist’s Which MBA? site, has launched. Teams from universities across the world will vie for a grand prize of $10,000.

The competition invited students to weigh in on which blockchain technology is the better long-term buy: Bitcoin or Ethereum. The participating teams of business-school students predicted two-to-one that a Bitcoin-weighted portfolio is a better long-term investment than Ethereum.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are both versions of blockchain technology, but there are significant differences in their purpose, adoption and application. To win the prize, teams had to submit the most compelling written and video proposals to declare which was the better long-term investment. The submissions are hosted on The Economist’s Which MBA? Site.

Jesse Powell, founder and CEO of Kraken, a global digital-asset exchange, said “October 31, 2016 marked the 8-year anniversary of the Bitcoin whitepaper. Today, governments, banks, Fortune 500 technology companies and investors alike have recognised blockchain technology’s huge, positive and disruptive potential.”

Powell continued, “The question: is Bitcoin merely a prototype for superior technology yet to come, or, does its strong first-mover advantage, entrenchment and value insulate it from competitors? Ethereum is often referred to as ‘Bitcoin 2.0’, but it’s relatively new and untested by comparison. Does Ethereum offer a unique value proposition over Bitcoin? Can both assets coexist or is it a winner-take-all game? How should an investor evaluate each opportunity in terms of portfolio diversification, maximising upside and minimising downside risk? The teams must look at strengths and weaknesses of each technology and their use cases, adoption, project governance, developer and investor sentiment, historical performance and global regulatory issues. The complexity of this evaluation coupled with the tremendous upside potential for a correct bet is why we felt this was the perfect question for this challenge.”

The competition awards a total of $21,000 in prize money to the winning teams. The first-place team will be awarded a $10,000 grand prize. Second place will take home $5,000, and third place will receive $3,000 in prize money. Those top three teams will be selected by Kraken. There will also be a People’s Choice award of $3,000, given to the team whose proposal receives the most votes from the public. Winners will be announced in December 2016.

The teams hail from:

FIA Business School
Tulane University
Ryerson University, Ted Rogers School of Management
Porto Business School
Ivey Business School at Western University
Rutgers Business School
Middlebury Institute of International Studies
BYU Marriott School of Management
Johns Hopkins Carey Business School
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth
Creighton University, Heider College of Business
University of North Texas

To cast your vote in the case study competition, visit economist.com/cybercurrency.