Actor Terry Crews, known for his prominent character on the Brooklyn 99 TV series, is launching his own social currency, $ POWER, through the social encryption platform Roll.
I launched a social currency on Ethereum Blockchain called $ POWER! Check out this exclusive @TechCrunch: https://t.co/JpcdIGFbEA pic.twitter.com/1YFSALQhYb
– terry crews (@terrycrews) March 10, 2021
In a conversation with TechCrunch, Crews said that currency is a means of empowering artists. His vision for currency is for people to earn $ POWER by selling their art, NFTs, physical goods and experiences.
Although details on the token are still vague, according to the project’s website, there will be a limit of 10 million coins (3.34 million are currently in circulation). The founders, being Crews, Michael Peña (known for Shooter, Tower Heist, Battle: Los Angeles and many other films) and Dakota Xentaras, “will gather the currency in some conventional exchanges (Uniswap) to determine their initial market offer and reward the first $ POWER members and adopters. “
The platform that Crews is using to launch his social money, Roll, raised $ 2.7 million in funding at the end of 2020 and, with about 300 creators, has already exceeded the market value of $ 1.5 billion.
Developed by Ethereum, Roll allows individuals to create their own ERC-20 tokens to help the creator approach fans and consumers. There are currently 44 social currencies on the platform, with the most expensive costing $ 77.62 – an increase of 87% in the last 24 hours. Called “Friends with benefits”, it has no description and it is not clear what it is for.
To own $ POWER is to own a part of Crews, he said: “There is no other way to put it. And I want to be very careful with who is holding me, no pun intended. “
Crews has yet to reveal the true extent of what “owning a piece of it” really means, although it is noted that the first token holders will have “access” to their team.
“As one of the first members of $ POWER, you will have access to our team and help shape the world of $ POWER and how it serves artists (read: you) in the digital and physical market.”
To date, $ POWER tokens have been distributed to approximately 100 people and Crews is engaging with the currency community through Discord.
The actor eventually hopes to add interest-free microcredits to artists as another feature of the $ POWER token.
“This is our long-term plan, to become what this community can live and exist. You can use it anywhere – at Target, the supermarket. ”
The search for this new ecosystem supposedly comes from an experience that the actor had about four years ago in Milan, Italy. He was unable to access part of his money through a local bank to buy a piece of designer furniture from an artist.
“And I’m watching all these white men and women pass by me in line, and they’re looking at me strangely,” said Crews. “I stood there for 15 minutes and slowly realized that, because I was black, I would not receive my money. It was at that moment that I knew that everything had to change for me. “
“Bringing it up still makes me angry,” he said. “What I love about this new world of finance is that cryptocurrency doesn’t know what race you are, how old you are.”
Crews expects $ POWER to put power back into the hands of artists and creators, he explained.
Famous rapper Akon, who is creating a currency for a tech city in Kenya, partnered with Roll last year in an effort to provide support to African influencers to create their own currencies and, in return, can choose to support the various celebrity business ventures.