Mikhail Shlyapnikov


Mikhail Shlyapnikov is a Russian farmer, direct counter-economic activist and entrepreneur known for creating the kolion local currency scrip, and its post-ban cryptocurrency form.

Career

Shlyapnikov worked in the business and finance sector since the 1990s. In 2007 he was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer. Following a car accident, he relocated to Kolionovo to become a farmer.

Grassroots activism

Shlyapnikov first gained notoriety for fighting the Russian wildfires">Russia">Russian wildfires without government approval.
Shlyapnikov organized harassment of government officials entering Kolionovo, such as requiring a doctor's note proving their mental health and a recent fluorography lab test to prove that they do not have tuberculosis.

Kolion scrip

In 2014, during the Russian financial crisis, Shlyapnikov minted a scrip, the kolion, as an alternative to the ruble. The name is a truncation of Kolionovo. The scrip is a local currency usable only in Kolionovo, pegged to both 10kg of potatoes or 1/50 of a goose. Shlyapnikov sought to introduce kolions to promote a circular economy to improve Kolionovo's living conditions.
Kolion notes are one-sided and were printed by Shlyapnikov in multicolored denominations of one, three, five, ten, twenty-five and fifty Kolion. Every note had the following inscription:
On 1 July 2015, the kolion scrip was declared illegal tender by a Moscow regional court, and Shlyapnikov ordered to cease and desist printing.

Cryptocurrency

In 2016, Shlyapnikov sold shares of his farm for, allowing public speculation on his farm's production. He collected -equivalent in capital, and paid dividends via cryptocurrency.
Shlyapnikov went further to mint his own cryptocurrency token, reviving the kolion as . The initial coin offering in April 2017 on raised 401 ₿.
One year on, Shlyapnikov claimed over 100 people in the Kolionovo area were using for transactions. He introduced a loan program for other farmers to receive chicks and split the egg production 50/50, on the condition that transactions are made in .
Category:Local currencies
Category:Currencies of Russia