Between Merkel and Mephistopheles: Crypto with ❤️ from Berlin
Berlin is nothing if not a bundle of contradictions: The seat of the world’s most powerful export economy, it’s also an unabashed hub for outré hedonists. In recent years, however, these two extremes–of Merkel and Mephistopheles–have bookended Berlin’s emergence as a vital tech capital, with a new startup opening its doors every 20 minutes, and Silicon Valley companies choosing it as a second home. Welcome Google, welcome Facebook, welcome all. Welcome to Blockchain Berlin.
That’s right. Besides welcoming the arrival of established big names, the paradoxical culture of Berlin has made it particularly suited to the principles underlying blockchain, ICO’s and crypto in general. Crypto has a rebelliousness that sits as well with the punters at Berghain as the hard-money fanatics in the Reichstag.
Since the 1900s, when Kaiser Wilhelm II railed against US tourists looking for a “good time”, the social scene in Berlin has been a hit among younger generations and that’s not changed — today it is rated the best city for Millennials and GenZ. They come for its high culture and low prices, for the simple truth that, here in Berlin, anything (still) goes. It’s this magical combination of youth, tech and governance that makes Berlin the perfect city for crypto.
The disruption wrought by Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero and other cryptocurrencies has forced authorities to reassess how these technologies will shape the movement of money, in the future of commerce and finance. It is now clearer than ever to businesses and governments alike, that the future is blockchain. Solving issues of trust, transparency and accountability, blockchain promises to provide the solution needed for a fairer, more equitable global economy.
Introducing the WOM Token
This is where an exciting new product comes in: the WOM Token, an Ethereum-based ERC20 token designed to reward the 2.1 billion word-of-mouth recommendations occuring daily across the internet.
All advertisements, reviews, influencer marketing fundamentally originate from the oldest and probably the most influential method out there, ‘word-of-mouth’. Simply, there’s nothing more effective than having someone you trust recommend something. Currently, the top influencers are making fortunes from abusing this sense of familiarity and trust, by becoming yet another layer between the brand and the fan; yet another “touch-point” for marketers to trade on. The WOM Token seeks to redress this, by making word-of-mouth mean word-of-mouth. To do this, WOM Tokens will initially be available for use on the YEAY platform.
Founded two years ago, YEAY is the leading social commerce platform for GenZ where teens go to shop and share their passions for streetwear. It works like this: Teens make videos about products they love, YEAY puts the affiliate links behind the content so that friends can shop directly from the videos. In this way influencer and affiliate marketing is opened to everyone. Easy and fair.
Uniquely, YEAY has a Teen Advisory board, and we spoke to them to get unfiltered answers straight from GenZ. They told us that GenZ has no interest in being in a social media silo, they wanted the points earned in YEAY not just to mean points, they wanted the value of those points to extend beyond YEAY, across the web. And so we created WOM Token. Users who create fun, creative and captivating content for their friends and followers can gain attention from brands and get rewarded for their efforts. All verified and recorded on the blockchain. Made with ❤️ in Berlin.
Learn more about WOM on our website.
