Empowering communities through tokenization: Buzzmint’s Charles Symons

Buzzmint burst onto the scene as one of the participants in the first cohort of the Block Dojo 12-week incubation program. Since then, the startup has expanded its offerings, and as Co-Founder Charles Symons tells CoinGeek Backstage, it’s empowering communities through tokenization.

Symons was one of the speakers at the London Blockchain Conference, where he discussed blockchain’s role in digital ownership and community engagement.

“We’re now adding a token-gated portal, which can be used by any particular type of community, whether it’s a business, a sporting organization, or an artistic or musical community. They can issue access tokens to their members so they have a wallet-to-wallet, peer-to-peer connection,” he told CoinGeek Backstage’s Claire Celdran on the sidelines of the event.

In its early stage, Buzzmint focused on digital twins for fine art, with famous French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir among the first to have his art and its accompanying NFT sold via the platform.

Since then, it has expanded its product suite to become a “Swiss army knife of tokenization.” In one of its latest projects, it has partnered with Visit Mid Wales.

“We’re producing Wales’ first community town token in a project called ‘Imi,’ which in Welsh means stands for me. It enables the driving of footfall back into town centers. Businesses and shops can create tokens which can be redeemed in-store. It’s bridging the gap between the digital and physical communities that we live in,” he confirmed.

The project caters to a growing migration of consumers from local physical stores to online shopping. This year, it’s estimated that global online sales will hit $7 trillion in revenue and surge to $59 trillion by 2028. While more convenient for consumers, online shopping has been detrimental to local stores, whose revenue has dipped for years. This effect is exacerbated in smaller towns as the dominant online stores are concentrated in major cities.

“We’re using the latest technology to drive people back into town centers,” Symons said.

Symons pledged to continue championing tokenization as the best way to return asset ownership to the community and empower these communities.

“As our physical and digital lives become increasingly intertwined, we forget that ownership plays a real part in how communities act, interact, and behave. If you don’t have true ownership within the digital world, how can you be a proper digital community?” he asked.

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