Chapter 55: The Coin Ecosystem
Chapter 55: The Coin Ecosystem
I believed Source Coin could be applied to various fields, not just cloud computing.
“A game company I like. Though one that's too big or expensive would be out of the question.”
“What's the maximum acquisition budget?”
To think the day would come when I'd consider acquiring a game company just to distribute more Source Coin.
Was I about to resolve my lingering regret of not being able to play all the mobile and PC games I wanted?
The time had come to cast off the shackles of being a free-to-play user.
“Make a list within a 500-million-dollar limit. It's okay to go a little over if they're consistently profitable or have a blockbuster game.”
“That should be more than enough.”
We decided to look for suitable game companies not just in Korea, but all over the world.
Two Source Coins for installing a game, more for reaching certain levels, and more on special anniversaries.
If the game is genuinely fun, we can use Source Coin for marketing.
Watching the same uninteresting ad over and over on YouTube just creates resentment.
Instead, we could give users Source Coin at certain stages.
It would be an advertising expense, but it could also be used to expand the Source Coin user base while promoting the game.
‘And among Korea's cultural content, gaming holds an overwhelmingly large share.’
With assets exceeding 17 billion dollars, there was so much I could do.
* * *
After booking a first-class flight for Lee Jong-yeop, I attended a meeting with the shopping mall division.
The B-team from the Korean broadcast crew was there, filming with their cameras.
“The shopping mall division's sales have reached about 70,000 Source Coin to date.”
“I see.”
This was the report from Allison, who was in charge of the shopping mall division.
The shopping team had been promoted to a division, and various products were now listed on the website.
Despite this, user purchases were painfully sluggish.
While 250,000 Source Coin were released into the market per hour through mining alone, only 70,000 had been recovered through the shopping mall so far.
And in the last few days, sales had dropped by more than 90%.
‘Even I wouldn't buy anything.’
Users who earned Source Coin through mining.
They could make several times the profit by selling to other buyers, so there was no reason to use the Earth Resource shopping mall, which pegged the coin at one dollar.
Moreover, the primary country for mining Source Coin was Korea.
Shipping items to Korea was an issue, and there was the fundamental problem of why someone would buy groceries or clothes with Source Coin instead of the familiar method of card payment.
In the US, there was Amazon, and in Korea, there were countless shopping malls competing with the lowest prices.
“We're thinking of stocking more hard-to-find items.”
“The only solution is to have the prices reflect the market rate of Source Coin to some extent.”
“If we acknowledge the market rate, the company will suffer a massive loss.”
During the meeting, the employees offered ideas one by one.
‘This is problematic.’
The employees' ideas were not particularly appealing.
If we operated the shopping mall based on the market rate instead of the one-dollar standard, the mining system could face a huge deficit.
As the meeting stalled, a few ideas came to mind.
“Let's completely overhaul the shopping mall.”
“What?”
“A complete overhaul? You're not considering shutting it down, are you?”
The employees reacted sensitively to my words.
Startups often try various things and quickly shut down divisions that show no promise. But I felt we could definitely save the shopping mall.
There's a clear limit to the ideas you can come up with if you only think about the shopping mall itself.
Honestly, I was only the CEO because I had the money and started the company myself.
I might not have much expertise, but as the CEO, there were ideas I could come up with.
“You're all familiar with gift and coupon systems. I'm thinking of actively applying that to the shopping mall.”
“You're thinking of using a bonus coupon system?”
The reactions from Allison and the shopping mall division staff were not very positive.
“Even if we give customers coupons, I'm not sure they'll actually buy anything.”
Fundamentally, the market price of Source Coin was six dollars.
The reality was that even distributing discount coupons wouldn't be enough to close this price gap.
The employees' suggestion to sell limited or rare editions was also little more than a futile effort to do *something*.
After all, if someone was willing to buy an item for six times its price, we might as well sell it at that price to begin with.
I believed a complete overhaul of the shopping mall division was the only answer.
“We're going to do the complete opposite of our current system. Let's enable card and cash payments, just like other shopping malls, instead of only accepting Source Coin.”
The typical margin for a shopping mall was around 20%.
Companies like Amazon, which buy and sell goods in bulk, made even more profit.
“And then, we'll give back 5% of the purchase amount in Source Coin. If you buy something for 100 dollars, you get five Source Coins. Of course, this ratio will need to be adjusted depending on the situation.”
Allison said, surprised.
“Ah. So you're using the price difference of Source Coin to our advantage.”
“Exactly. We're effectively paying out five Source Coin, or five dollars, but the customers see it as a 30-dollar gain.”
If the price difference of Source Coin was the problem, we just had to use it in reverse.
A coin reward system that would be difficult for other shopping malls to replicate.
Customers would love it because the price of Source Coin is continually rising.
Wouldn't the shopping mall's sales rise quickly?
“It won't be a huge burden on the company. We'll be covering the shopping mall's promotional and event costs with Source Coin. And there's another important effect to this.”
“What is it?”
“The fact that once the shopping mall becomes active, even people who don't mine can easily obtain Source Coin. This will make Source Coin much more mainstream.”
This was a thought I could have only as the CEO, not as an employee of the shopping mall division.
Doesn't a CEO need to see the bigger picture and establish the overall management policy for the company?
‘My conversations with Jim and Kwon Do-jin, which made me think deeply about the fundamentals of Source Coin, are really paying off.’
There was an easier way to make money.
Like them, I could use exchanges to sell Source Coin to other buyers and earn cash.
If selling directly was difficult, I could do it through a few paper companies.
It would be like gaining the power to print and circulate money, just like a bank.
‘I could gain an enormous fortune that way.’
Making money just by creating data—what could be easier?
There would be no need to go around committing fraud.
Because there would be people buying on exchanges all over the world.
I was sure the creators of other popular coins had faced similar temptations.
But I had resolved not to use such methods.
‘I won't cross that line.’
Source Coin was created based on the maintenance costs of running the mining system.
From the company's perspective, there was no benefit to the price rising more than necessary.
If it reached 100 or 200 dollars, the temptation to do wrong would only grow.
“We will use the shopping mall to release more Source Coin into the market. And we will stabilize the price and create an ecosystem built around Source Coin.”
Releasing Source Coin through various promotional means, distributing it through the shopping mall.
Beyond just making a reasonable profit for the company, it would be great if Source Coin became widespread, highly utilized, and formed its own ecosystem.
Stablecoins.
They're said to be pegged to one dollar to facilitate trades with other coins.
Source Coin could function somewhat like a stablecoin. I could even back it directly with real assets, like dollar deposits.
‘I want to create a stable, valuable coin.’
I had invested in Bitcoin and Ripple, but even now, those coins weren't particularly useful.
Perhaps most coins were in the same boat.
They were nothing more than a way to store money or an investment target for capital gains.
The issuing companies and investors were all consumed by greed, but I wanted to build a vast ecosystem with Source Coin.
‘This is a job for the CEO, not an employee.’
That's why I shared my thoughts with the employees.
“We need to continuously provide opportunities to acquire our coin, not just for miners, but for anyone who wants it. Source Coin does not want to be a speculative asset whose price must constantly rise. I don't want to make money that way. It will be the most widely used coin, a coin that boldly challenges new markets.”
After explaining the general concept in the meeting room for a while, a sudden sense of anxiety washed over me.
I looked around and saw the ten employees listening silently, without expressing any opposition.
For a moment, the meeting room at Arcor came to mind.
Whenever Director Jeong said something, the employees remained silent.
They didn't want to stick their necks out, so they never objected, even when they heard flawed or unreasonable opinions.
‘What am I even saying in front of people who are smarter than me?’
Many of the new hires were from Stanford, and most were graduates of prestigious American universities.
The experienced employees came from well-known companies in Korea.
People who were, in terms of education and career, leagues ahead of me.
And here I was, confidently sharing my thoughts in front of them, and it was even being filmed.
‘Ah... I'm so embarrassed I could curl up and die.’
As I was feeling incredibly awkward, the employees started to clap.
A few people started clapping, and then someone even whistled.
“That's amazing, CEO.”
“I had no idea Source Coin had such a grand vision behind it.”
Exclamations of admiration from the employees.
I was reminded of Na Sang-guk, who used to praise Director Jeong as brilliant no matter what he said.
‘They're not messing with me, are they?’
* * *
The raw footage from the meeting was uploaded to the company intranet.
I immediately got a call from Oh Myeong-woo, who had left for Seattle to research game companies.
“CEO! That speech you gave during the meeting was awesome!”
“Just kill me now.”
“But objectively, I don't think it was bad. The timing was perfect.”
“Perfect timing?”
“Yeah. You gave us a roadmap for what our company should be doing.”
Oh Myeong-woo said my speech would help establish the company's identity.
A computing company based on blockchain technology.
We were expanding into various businesses, including cloud computing, but the ultimate goal was to create an ecosystem based on Source Coin.
“Technology creates capitalism. Mwahahahaha.”
After finishing the call with Oh Myeong-woo, I sent a link to the video to Ellie.
- Ellie: You have such a wonderful dream.
A wonderful dream.
Honestly, I just stumbled into the Source Coin business without much thought.
- Kim Shin: It's just a thought that came to me by chance... while doing business.
- Ellie: You're so humble. After making that much money and building such a business, most people would become arrogant!
It seemed I had caused a serious misunderstanding.
- Ellie: Since coins function as currency, I think it's an inherently good direction.
- Kim Shin: You think so?
- Ellie: Because money drives production, consumption, and R&D. If Source Coin becomes the center, I think it could accelerate various business sectors. Try to come up with more business ideas.
- Ellie: Though, of course, I'm no expert in business.
Reading her texts, a thought occurred to me.
The Source Coin ecosystem.
I had only just begun to dream, but what would happen if this project really succeeded?
‘Just how far can I take this?’