The Windfall Profits and Risks of Gamified Finance: An Integrated Analysis Framework of Behavior, Market, and Regulation

Abstract

With the rapid advancement of fintech, gamified finance has profoundly transformed traditional financial service models through mechanisms such as points systems, leaderboards, and virtual rewards. This paper systematically reviews research progress across four dimensions—behavioral impacts, market risks, regulatory policies, and technological ethics—revealing shortcomings in existing studies: behavioral perspectives neglect longterm performance evaluation, regulatory research lacks quantitative standards, technical analyses omit micro-level pathway tracking, and market risk studies underestimate contagion effects. Based on these findings, this paper constructs a multidimensional analytical framework integrating “behavior-market-technology-regulation” and proposes that future research should employ methods such as randomized controlled trials, on-chain data analysis, and policy simulations to quantify the comprehensive impact of gamified designs on investors’ long-term decision-making and market stability, thereby providing empirical evidence for regulatory policies and product design. The study finds that while gamified designs enhance user engagement, they also pose significant challenges to investor protection, market stability, and ethical compliance, necessitating the establishment of a theoretical framework and regulatory system that balances innovation with risk prevention and control.