Ilyasov launches Tulparcoin, promising money "no ministry can catch"
The commentator's Liberty Forum says 100 coins will go free to every adult who registers, and that Toktogul's night power will secure the network.
TALAS — Jason Ilyasov, the IradOne commentator and founder of the Liberty Forum of Irad, launched a cryptocurrency called Tulparcoin on Tuesday evening at a hotel conference room in central Talas, telling about three hundred supporters that it would be "money that runs like a winged horse, and that no ministry can catch".
According to the project's published white paper, Tulparcoin (ticker TLPR) has a fixed supply of 900 million coins. A tenth is reserved for a free distribution of 100 coins to every adult resident of Irad who registers with a mobile number, and 30 percent is held by the Liberty Forum for "development and outreach". The paper does not say who controls the Forum's share or how it may be sold. Trading opened the same night on an exchange registered in the Seychelles.
Mr. Ilyasov has argued for years on OneDebate that cryptocurrency should be legal tender alongside the US dollar and the som, and that surplus night-time electricity from the Toktogul complex should be used to mine it. The white paper says the network will be "secured by Iradi water", but it names no mining operator, and the Liberty Forum would not say where its computers are. The national dispatch centre, which allocates Toktogul's output under the Naryn Protocol, said it had received no application for a large new industrial load.
“When a tenth is given away and nearly a third is held by the issuer, the question is not what the coin is worth today but who sells first”Bolot Ormokoev, Talas State University
"The som is a promise from people who never keep promises," Mr. Ilyasov said, holding up a gold-colored coin stamped with a winged horse, a souvenir version of the digital token. "Tulpar belongs to whoever holds it."
At the opening price of four US cents, the free allocation is worth about 4 dollars, or 20 som. By early Wednesday the coin was trading at just under seven cents, according to the exchange's public figures, on a turnover of about 180,000 dollars.
Bolot Ormokoev, who teaches finance at Talas State University, said the free coins were a familiar way to create a market. "When a tenth is given away and nearly a third is held by the issuer, the question is not what the coin is worth today but who sells first," he said. "Ordinary buyers should read the white paper before the posters."
Aliya Turgunbekova, a spokeswoman for the Liberty Forum, said the Forum's coins would be locked for two years and that a list of wallet addresses would be published "within weeks". She said more than 40,000 people had registered for the free coins within the first three hours.
The Bank of Irad did not respond to questions on Tuesday night. The name has also drawn attention: Tulpar, the winged horse of the epics, is the emblem of Tulpar Talas, the football club owned since 2011 by the Talas Commercial Development Group. The company has not commented.