The Essence of Tokens is Not 'Issuance' but 'Cultivating Narratives' (Episode 12 of 'So That's How Blockchain Is')

Episode 12 of 'So That's How Blockchain Is'

In this podcast, Yoshihiko Uchida, who has a background in bank supervision at the Bank of Japan and the Financial Services Agency, and currently teaches blockchain at Shunan University’s Faculty of Information Science, Yuya Sakai, founder of a gourmet app who has built a Web3 business by combining blockchain with Web2 services, and Shinya Otsuka, deputy editor of the crypto-focused media 'New Economy', introduce essential knowledge about blockchain.

In this 12th episode, continuing from the previous one, we discussed the theme of 'What is a Token?' as an impromptu extension, concluding the first part of our discussion.

In contrast to the T-C-T' (Token → Commodity → Increased Tokens) derived last time, we started from the discomfort of 'not feeling satisfied if the destination remains money' and juxtaposed two perspectives: the producer's view of 'T-C-T' (buying in order to sell) and the consumer's view of 'C-T-C' (selling in order to buy). We confirmed the perspective that in an era of survival, the focus shifts to production, while in an era of better living, it shifts to 'what to consume'.

We also organized the idea that before small communities sharing values that cannot be measured by money (U) grow, connecting them to a large trading market (M) leads to the loss of U components, using examples like regionally dependent currencies that stall due to reliance on subsidies and Japan's IEO. The essence of tokens is not the issuance itself but 'post-issuance activities', that is, how to cultivate and share narratives. We concluded the first part with the example of the UME token, which is linked to the narrative of the gourmet app 'SARAH' that aims to 'increase deliciousness'.

From episodes 13 to 18, we will delve into the second part, 'Existing Finance × Blockchain', examining the current state of token utilization in existing finance from the perspectives we have built around 'What is a Token?'.

Next time, as a special episode, we plan to broadcast the recording of the public session held on June 19 on August 11, 2026.