Russian celebrity, organic food fan, cryptocurrency enthusiast, and co-creator of BioCoin, Boris Akimov, has decided to “tokenize” himself. Akimov, founder of Russian online organic food exchange LavkaLavka, will launch his own cryptocurrency, Akimov coin, on the Waves Platform, a blockchain system developed in Moscow. As of today, Waves has not issued any further details about the coin or its pre-sale date.
“It’s a simple idea in principle,” he says. “I have certain skills, knowledge, and experience, as well as my time — and that is what will be tokenized.”
Akimov coin owners are basically getting discount services for his agribusiness and e-commerce expertise. If demand for his time goes up, so does the value of his coin; If less people requires his time and services, then his coin gets priced accordingly.
“Let’s say I tokenize two days a week of my time, or 16 hours per week, for 832 hours per year. And let’s say that the token expires after four years. That’s 3,328 hours or 12 million seconds. So the plan is to create 12 million tokens, each of which can be redeemed for a second of my time and skills!” he says.
BioCoin
Akimov is one of the creators of Russia’s BioCoin, a so-called utility token that gives users discounts on organic foods and locally farmed products. As per the company, “BioCoin is a token that can help anyone build green future for the whole planet.”
According to its website, BioCoin can be exchanged for products and services in all stores and cafes that are members of the loyalty program. All customers of these companies receive BioCoins as rewards for the purchases of the companies’ products — as coins go up in value, customers benefit. Further, the company asserts that BioCoin can be integrated with many international loyalty systems and “turn” rewards given to clients into BIO token.
“Tokenizing”
Alexey Ivanov, CEO of crypto-investors Polynom Crypto Capital in Moscow described Akimov’s undertaking as follows:
“It’s like buying the time of a popular consultant,” he says. “It’s the old basic principle of economy — time is money. He is tokenizing his time and selling it in advance.”
Akimov’s idea is certainly novel, but he’s not the first to “tokenize.” Moscow-based TokenStars (ACE), launched last year, uses a similar concept to tokenize celebrities and athletes. ACE token holders are investing in the time or the knowledge of athletes like tennis player Tommy Haas or footballer Giancarlo Zambrotta.
“We help promising talents raise funds by tokenizing their income, talent support and time,” says Pavel Stukolov, CEO of TokenStars. “A celebrity’s time is a precious and limited resource, which is a fundamental growth factor. They can do their own personal coin offering and get upfront payment for various exclusive interactions with fans,” he says. After obtaining a person’s token, fans can redeem them for things like meet and greets, lectures, or one-on-one training.