Events
Past Event
WED@NICO SEMINAR: Lynette Shaw, University of Michigan "What's a Bitcoin Worth? Valuation and Categorization in the Rise of Digital Currency"
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
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Lower Level, Chambers Hall
Details
Speaker:
Lynette Shaw - Assistant Professor, Department of Complex Systems and
Postdoctoral Scholar, Michigan Society of Fellows, University of Michigan
Title:
What's a Bitcoin Worth? Valuation and Categorization in the Rise of Digital Currency
Abstract:
The first posted exchange rate for Bitcoin in 2009 was around $0.001 (USD) = 1 BTC. Just over eight years later, in mid-December 2017, it reached an inconceivable high of over $19,000 (USD) = 1 BTC, only to lose near 40% of its value the following month. Along with this dramatic ride in its price came a new wave of attention from mainstream audiences who brought with them a lot of questions - the two biggest being ‘What is Bitcoin?’ and ‘Why is it worth anything?’
This talk will offer some answers to these questions from a sociological perspective. The first part will use a computational modeling approach to help clarify how it is that this “something out of nothing” quality can arise out of social valuation processes. The second part will apply existing theories of categorization and market valuation to empirical evidence from the documented history of Bitcoin’s development, venture capital funding trends, and text scraped from thousands of news articles to explore the role different groups’ definitions of Bitcoin have played in constituting its current level of value and what this might entail for cryptocurrency’s future.
Speaker Bio:
Lynette Shaw is a Postdoctoral Scholar with the Michigan Society of Fellows and an Assistant Professor in Complex Systems. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Washington in 2016. Her research interests include cognition and culture, economic sociology, social theory, computational social science, complex systems, automated text analysis, and statistical methodologies.
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between.
Live Stream:
Time
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
Lower Level, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
Winter classes begin
University Academic Calendar
All Day
Details
Winter classes begin
Time
Monday, January 5, 2026
Contact
Calendar
University Academic Calendar
WED@NICO Winter Seminar Series returns on January 28th!
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
//
Lower Level, Chambers Hall
Details
The Wednesdsays@NICO speaker series will return for the winter quarter on January 28th, 2026, running through March 4th. Speakers will be announced in January!
Location:
In person: Chambers Hall, 600 Foster Street, Lower Level
Remote option: Zoom links will be provided
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems, data science and network science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
Lower Level, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)