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DESCRIPTION:\n\nJack Sadek\, a doctoral student at McGill University in the
  Strategy & Organization area will be presenting his thesis defense entitl
 ed:\n\nOUT OF THE SHADOWS: CRYPTOCURRENCY AND CATEGORY EMERGENCE  IN THE I
 NFORMAL ECONOMY\n\nWednesday\, August 6\, 2025\, at 1:00 p.m. \n	(The defen
 se will be conducted in hybrid mode)\n\nStudent Committee Co-chairs: Profe
 ssor Robert Nason\n\nPlease note that the Defence will be conducted in hyb
 rid mode. If you wish to participate\, please contact the PhD office and w
 e will provide you with the defence details.\n\n\nAbstract\n\nA growing bo
 dy of literature examining how new market categories emerge has focused pr
 imarily on the formal economy\, where legality and legitimacy tend to alig
 n. In this dissertation\, I examine category emergence from the informal e
 conomy\, where economic activity is illegal under formal rules but conside
 red legitimate by informal institutions. Much new market activity originat
 es outside of formal rules\, and the informal economy provides a generativ
 e context to challenge latent assumptions in the literature and build new 
 theory on category emergence. I seek to do so through two in-depth empiric
 al studies on the cryptocurrency market category.\n\nCryptocurrency\, a ne
 w form of digital money\, originated from the cypherpunk movement\, with a
 n original use case tied to drug trade and money laundering. Despite stigm
 atization and origins in the informal economy\, cryptocurrency has grown i
 nto a market of over $2 trillion with widespread adoption by financial ins
 titutions and governments. My empirical analysis traces and deconstructs t
 his unique category development trajectory\, using it to extend the phenom
 enological scope of category emergence research\, scrutinize underlying as
 sumptions in the literature\, and build theory. Practically\, the disserta
 tion is structured into three main chapters – one conceptual chapter and t
 wo distinct in-depth empirical investigations.\n\nThe first chapter provid
 es an overview of the theoretical and empirical setting of my dissertation
 . I expand on what we know regarding category formation\, and I propose th
 at examining categories in the context of the informal economy can be a fr
 uitful avenue to expand theory. Combining literature on stigma and the inf
 ormal economy\, I seek to provide a more nuanced distinction between the f
 ormal and informal economy. This approach motivates generative avenues for
  exploring category formation in the context of the informal economy\, som
 e of which I pursue in the second and third chapters.\n\nIn Chapter 2\, I 
 focus on internal dynamics and challenge a dominant assumption in the lite
 rature category that early entrants cooperate to form a collective identit
 y. In contrast\, cryptocurrencies have been characterized by intense infig
 hting from their inception. Therefore\, my research asks: How do members o
 f an antagonistic emergent category use discourse to shape the category’s 
 identity? To examine this\, I use discourse analysis to analyze over one m
 illion Tweets from three of the most notable category members: Bitcoin\, E
 thereum\, and XRP. I find that while the category beacon\, Bitcoin\, uses 
 a Discourse of Protection to fashion a prototypical category identity\, ch
 allengers from the Ethereum and XRP communities use a Discourse of Inclusi
 on that seeks to shape a goal-directed category identity.\n\nIn Chapter 3\
 , I focus on external dynamics\, examining the role of regulators who have
  been largely taken-for-granted actors in the process of category emergenc
 e. In the cryptocurrency category\, not only are the rules unclear\, but i
 t’s also uncertain who has the authority to enforce them. Therefore\, my r
 esearch asks: How do regulators claim jurisdictional authority over an amb
 iguous category? To answer this\, I examine the discursive strategies used
  by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futur
 es Trading Commission (CFTC)\, to gain regulatory authority. Using topic m
 odeling and discourse analysis\, I analyzed 1084 documents collected from 
 each agency's websites. I find that the SEC acts as an expansionary regula
 tor\, using a Discourse of Jurisdictional Spanning to extend its authority
  to the nascent category. In contrast\, the CFTC represents an umbrella re
 gulator\, using a Discourse of Jurisdictional Lobbying\, defining the cate
 gory as part of its jurisdiction but hesitant to claim overall authority. 
 As a whole\, my dissertation seeks to extend the literature on category em
 ergence by using its evolution from the informal economy as an insightful 
 novel context.\n
DTSTART:20250806T170000Z
DTEND:20250806T190000Z
SUMMARY:PhD Thesis Defense Presentation: Jack Sadek
URL:https://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/channels/event/phd-thesis-defense-prese
 ntation-jack-sadek-366242
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