Is a new crypto narrative needed for the new US administration and global crypto adopters? I think so, and I’m calling it Real World Revenue (RWR) - something everyone in business can get behind.

(November 7th, 2024, London) With Donald Trump’s return to the White House, a new administration is ushering in what many anticipate as a pro-crypto era in the United States, with a likely global ripple effect. The Senate now has 18 pro-crypto Senators, and the House of Reps has 263- comfortably larger numbers than the self-declared anti-crypto.  Why any legislator would be anti-crypto befuddles me; it’s as preposterous as being anti-equities; you need to take the time to understand the good from the bad and weigh the risk versus reward returns.  The cryptocurrency market has surged, breaking a $2.5 trillion market cap on the back of the election news, with 24-hour volumes at $180bn+.  

The crypto market thrives not only on sentiment but also on narratives that can mobilise enthusiasm, build credibility and drive mass adoption. But how many of them are really cutting through? As institutional money flows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs), retail has been largely absent from the recent bull market. Now, with a record number of pro-crypto representatives elected in the US, there’s an opportunity for a new crypto movement that legislators, investors and other beneficiaries can get behind. For the first time, the mood has shifted towards people looking for reasons to support the crypto sector - rather than looking for reasons not to.  The question is, what will the narrative be?

For me, the answer is clear: Real World Revenue (RWR). The acronym is new, but the concept is as old as money itself. It’s about generating revenue from real-world economic activities. The revolution comes from the ability to distribute profits, returns and capital into a token economy by utilising blockchain’s scalable reliability, reach and impact.  

If Real World Assets as a sector (RWA) focuses on the ownership and tokenisation of physical assets, RWR focuses on revenue streams, offering token holders a share of that income in a way that cannot be achieved without blockchain technology. Both aim to bridge traditional finance with DeFi - RWA ties to assets and now RWR ties value to (net) revenue.

Why the time is now for RWR

Over the past year, there’s been a growing interest in real-world applications of blockchain technology with associated token economies. Most recently, we’ve had the DePIN Summer (decentralised physical infrastructure network) and the RWA Season before it, following Blackstone CEO Larry Fink’s statement in January this year that all financial assets should be tokenised.

The recent a16z State of Crypto Report painted an encouraging picture for the industry. Crypto activity and usage have hit an all-time high, adoption is growing globally, infrastructure improvements have increased, DeFi (decentralised finance) is growing, and stablecoins have found product-market fit.

As the crypto industry evolves and new classifications emerge, I propose RWR sits alongside RWA as a distinct integration of operational economics with tokenomics in a unified model. It links physical world value generation to the crypto economy through blockchain. Additional utilities can be layered onto the tokens, but at its heart, an RWR project derives, amplifies and distributes profits and scales capital access opportunities from real-world businesses through a global community of token holders, which is what we’re doing at Kaldi Company.

Kaldi is building a new economic model, founded on (a very) old economic model: making money by providing commodity export financing and gold refining and trading and growing our retained gold reserves to underpin value. In the Kaldi ecosystem, as well as fiat payment for their goods, smallholder producers receive tokens as rewards for their participation. Once accumulated, these tokens can be used to unlock microloans, purchase goods and services at discounted rates, or be exchanged for USD at certain points of the trade cycle.

By purchasing and staking Kaldicoin, our native currency, retail buyers and institutional investors can access tiered NFTs with scaling returns guaranteed by physical gold. Everyone benefits from the success of the Kaldi ecosystem. Our roots are in traditional finance and commodities, but it’s our token economy that delivers on our mission to establish a new economic model that benefits the millions of smallholder producers who power their commodity economies alongside our community of Kaldicoin holders. 

The crypto community already understands the transformative potential of blockchain. In my three decades in business, I’ve witnessed how revolutionary technologies take hold - first slowly, then all at once (to flip the famous Hemingway quote on bankruptcy). We’re at the tipping point for crypto, but only if we can clearly articulate its value in real-world business language to everyone, not just the early adopters. Kaldi is a pioneering example of RWR, and I look forward to many more.

As we head into another bull cycle, does crypto need another narrative? Yes, it does, and it needs to be one that retail investors can embrace and talk about with confidence, one that institutional investors recognise as having generational staying power, and one that clearly demonstrates the real-world benefits that crypto can deliver.

RWR can help unlock the real potential of the crypto industry in a way that everyone can understand, and from which millions can benefit.

END.

Professor Stefan Allesch-Taylor CBE FKC is a Fellow and Professor of the Practice of Entrepreneurship at King’s College London and is globally recognised for advocating entrepreneurship as a tool for social progress. Appointed as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2014 for philanthropic and charitable services in the UK and Africa, he has co-founded and chairs several multi-award-winning social ventures and NGOs that provide relief for over 2 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa.

With three decades of experience building international businesses with billions in assets and extensive expertise in the humanitarian and commercial challenges facing millions of smallholder coffee producers and small artisanal gold producers. Professor Allesch-Taylor has identified the optimal intervention to effect sustainable change. Kaldi represents his vision for a new economic model to disrupt the status quo and lift millions of producers out of poverty and into prosperity.

He is the President of the Kaldi Foundation.

Kaldi is Launching Q1 2025. For more info, contact zara@kaldicompany.com

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