Mikhail Shlyapnikov

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Mikhail Shlyapnikov
Михаил Шляпников
CitizenshipRussia
Occupation(s)Farmer, crypto entrepreneur
Known forKolion scrip, [KLN] cryptocurrency

Mikhail Shlyapnikov (Russian: Михаил Шляпников) 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

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Shlyapnikov worked in the business and finance sector since the 1990s. In 2007 he was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer.[1] Following a car accident, he relocated to Kolionovo to become a farmer.[2]

Grassroots activism

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Shlyapnikov first gained notoriety for fighting the 2010 Russian wildfires without government approval.[3]

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.[3][4]

Kolion scrip

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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.[3][1][5]

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.[7]

Cryptocurrency

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In 2016, Shlyapnikov sold shares of his farm for Emercoin [ru], allowing public speculation on his farm's production. He collected 800,000 ₽-equivalent in capital, and paid dividends via cryptocurrency.[1][8]

Shlyapnikov went further to mint his own cryptocurrency token, reviving the kolion as [KLN]. The initial coin offering in April 2017 on Waves [de] raised 401 ₿.[2][1][8]

One year on, Shlyapnikov claimed over 100 people in the Kolionovo area were using [KLN] 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 [KLN].[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "He calls it a 'hustle,' but this Russian's cryptocurrency empowers a village". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
  2. ^ a b c Первый на деревне, или как Михаил Шляпников сидя на пеньке создал свою криптовалюту Kolion (in Russian), DeCenter, 2019-02-26
  3. ^ a b c Andrey Kozenko (June 12, 2015). "Russian Farmer on Trial for Printing His Own Monopoly Money". Meduza. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
  4. ^ Ivan Nechepurenko (June 2, 2015). "Anarchist Russian Farmer to Defend His Village Currency in Court". The Moscow Times. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
  5. ^ "Russian Prosecutors Seek to Ban "Surrogate Money" Known as Kolions". Russian Legal Information Agency. June 1, 2015. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  6. ^ "The absurd trial of a Russian farmer who invented his own inflation-proof currency". 17 June 2015.
  7. ^ Russian Court Bans Anarchist Farmer's Self-Made Currency, The Moscow Times, 2015-07-02, archived from the original on 2024-09-16
  8. ^ a b Heppel, Gregor (2019), "Pflügen statt schürfen" [Plowing instead of stoking], MIT Technology Review (in German), vol. 2019, no. 8, Germany: heise, p. 62, retrieved 2025-07-30{{citation}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ Grove, Thomas (2018-04-18), Russian Farmer Alters Rural Economy With Virtual Currency, as Moscow Watches Warily, The Wall Street Journal, archived from the original on 2018-04-22
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