Capitalism has and continues to deliver safer, healthier, more prosperous lives for millions. It is based on the idea of investing and free trade. But with capitalism investment opportunities are limited to assets that can be traded and thus have a price tag.
“… there is a new asset class emerging.”
The Rise of the Chain
However, in the age of social media and streaming platforms, intangible goods like attention, reputation or appreciation have become measurable and transparent variables for what people value (through the number of followers, likes, views, etc.). With the capability of blockchain technology, the next level of measurability can be triggered through tokenization. It is now possible to operationalize idealistic or symbolic assets, so they become economic goods that have a measurable monetary value and can be traded. And so there is a new asset class emerging — that of human values and attention tokens which can be traded.
The One Thing Missing
There is only one thing missing to make this happen today: a marketplace on which tokens can be listed and traded. Once the instrument is established, the door to unlimited investment opportunities is open and the market will expand into new, previously unimaginable areas. Investing will no longer primarily be a matter of profit but of value. Fyooz is building this marketplace.
Let’s make an analogy to the stock market. The beauty of it is undoubtedly that access is more or less open to everyone. But the problem is that investing in profit-maximizing companies is no longer keeping with the spirit of the times. Younger generations are less interested in reading the business section of a newspaper and high-pitched stock market jargon. The interesting topics today are shared and discussed on social media. It is here that the scarce resource of attention is invested, opinions are formed and appreciation is expressed in the form of interaction. It is, therefore, necessary to apply the logic of the stock market to contemporary topics. In the known world of the stock market, dividends are issued in cash, shares or other forms of ownership. In a market where assets are defined by their symbolic value, the dividend must also acquire an emotional or functional character (while the speculative element of investment remains the same with a token as with a stock).
Attention as a Resource
Greta Thunberg, for example, could issue a token for climate justice. As soon as “climate justice” is operationalized as a token with a scarce supply of units it gets an economic good that people can invest in. Of course, it will help if Greta attaches utilities to this token that people think are worth supporting. Greta could announce that she will use the collected funds for ecological means of transport for her travels or she could promise the investors a weekly report on her activities. In any case — and this is the decisive difference between a marketplace and a crowdfunding or donation platform: the investor can sell the tokens again as soon as he is no longer convinced of his investment. To counter any suspicion that this is not primarily about investing in ethical or political topics, let us make an example of the money-driven entertainment industry, where the ones on the top are considered to be walking banks. Stars are brands whose market value is derived from the fact that they attract the attention of the public. With 182 million, for example, Ariana Grande has more followers on Instagram than Russia has inhabitants (April 2020). If her supporters were to make up a country, it would be listed among the top 10 most populous countries in the world.
Despite her obvious and tremendous market value, the brand Ariana Grande lacks a price tag. But Ariana Grande’s market value will easily be operationalized as soon as she issues a token that is traded on the marketplace. This now allows her followers to participate in her success (or failure) — just like a stock. Passive likers become involved co-owners, from which both sides benefit.
From the investors’ point of view, however, the investment in Ariana Grande is not predominantly profit-driven. Emotional dividends such as connectivity or closeness are equally important. The same applies to functional utilities such as the right to purchase a ticket in advance of the concert. And for short-term and speculatively motivated investors, key figures on brand value are permanently produced via social media. By analyzing parameters such as streaming rates or social media interactions that are transparent and up-to-date (as opposed to many financial figures) information can constantly be obtained. If we imagine the example of an aspiring artist, the case becomes even more interesting, especially from a speculative point of view. Those who recognize talent at an early stage and support it with investment will receive the greatest return in the future. The list of symbolic values that can be operationalized by tokenization and thus traded is endless.
“… we believe that investing should not predominantly be profit-driven.”
Fyooz is based on the vision, that people should be free to share and trade anything with anyone at anytime. We are convinced of the capitalist idea of investing — history has proven a lot of positive impacts. However, we strongly believe that investing should not predominantly be profit-driven. In order to achieve this we must free investment from rigidity and look to a future where it is no longer the privilege of a few. The decision on what capitalism produces must be made on the basis of a market that is open and accessible to everybody.
Written by Fyooz Co-Founder Remo Prinz.
