The next big thing in crypto is a little piece of you

Social tokens are revolutionising wealth creation. Rather than borrow money to fulfil their ambitions, artists and entrepreneurs are making themselves the investment.

Alex Masmej raised enough money selling $ALEX coins to fly to San Francisco and launch his start-up. Twitter

Rex Woodbury

Dec 8, 2021 – 8.00am

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Alex Masmej revered Steve Jobs – his favourite shirt was emblazoned with Apples that changed the world: Adam’s, Isaac’s, Steve’s. Masmej dreamt of moving to Silicon Valley to start his own company, but he just didn’t have the money. In April 2020, as the world reeled from the coronavirus pandemic, he found himself stuck in his home city of Paris.

So Masmej did something few 23-year-olds would think to do: he tokenised himself. That is, he created a financial instrument known as a social token, a form of cryptocurrency whose value revolves around a person, to sell shares in himself.

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