Hello, Polkadot community!
I’m German, and I’ve been involved in various blockchain projects since around 2016-2017. Recently, I’ve set up my consultancy focusing on blockchain technology, audits, and tokenising assets. Over the years, I’ve collaborated with different teams like SubSquid and more recently, SubSocial (we haven’t proceeded further than just talking, unfortunately). Although my latest project didn’t secure a W3 grant (link to the application), I remain engaged and interested in the network’s developments.
Now, onto the main topic. Recently, I came across an Italian company called Cellini Art Fund, which operates in the realms of movies, media, and art. They’re keen on establishing a marketplace initially, followed by a launchpad and eventually an exchange, specifically tailored for the movie industry, utilising security tokens. This interest aligns with the new crypto regulations in Italy, which were passed in March 2023, governing the circulation of security tokens.
It is just my personal guess, but looks like Cellini Art Fund is the first company in Italy to obtain a license to operate as a marketplace for raising funds for movie production through tokens, and is currently in the process of obtaining another license, comparable to that of the Milan stock exchange.
Notably, Cellini Art Fund holds a significant position, making it the first company in Italy to obtain a license to operate as a marketplace for raising funds for movie production through tokens, and currently in the process of obtaining another license, comparable to that of the Milan stock exchange.
You can find more information about the company on the official website here.
The Tales of Tarots.
The first movie called Tarocchi e Racconti (Tales of Tarots), filmed by Leonardo Rovani is currently in the end phase of the production stage. The series project has already received support from the UNESCO Club Committee in Florence.
Here is the link to the Tarocchi e Racconti teaser on YouTube. The filming process of Tarocchi e Racconti started two months ahead of schedule thanks to tokenisation.
The total budget for 12 episodes, 26 minutes each, is €500 000. In the summer of 2023, a total of 5,000 CAFTR tokens were issued on the BNB chain and sold for €100 each. Everything was sold out by September, which makes Tarocchi e Racconti the most successful security token project in the industry to be known. Here is a link to the token distribution website. Despite the technical simplicity of the smart contract, the team decided to undergo an audit and here is a link to the .pdf file in my Googe Drive. Why BNB and what does it have to do with Polkadot - a few paragraphs below.
Leonardo Wanted.
To maintain momentum and due to the swift completion of the preparation phase for Tarocchi e Racconti, the team opted to commence work on the second project - Leonardo Wanted. Here is the YouTube link to the latest teaser directed by Aureliano Amadei. More information about Leonardo Wanted - here.
Leonardo Wanted is a three-season series containing six episodes each. It falls under the genre of role- or gaming documentary, similar to Tarocchi e Racconti, where the gaming aspect supports the interviews and plot.
To secure investments essential for producing the “Leonardo Wanted” series, Cellini Art Fund SPA conducted a one-time issuance of Security Tokens CAFLW1 (Cellini Art Fund Leonardo Wanted 1 season), totalling €927,000. Each Security Token holds a nominal value of €100, with a total issuance of 9,270 CAFLW1 tokens.
Leonardo Wanted requires the movement of the film crew to various locations, and the filming will be dynamic (unlike Tarocchi e Racconti, which is shot in a single studio). Consequently, the series is somewhat more expensive.
At the moment, approximately 2,500 CAFLW1 tokens have been reserved and paid for.
In both cases, the government will refund 40% of the movie production cost as subsidies. More information regarding the tokenomics, dividends and everything else regarding CAFLW1, can be found here.
The point.
As mentioned above, while I’m not formally part of the team, I’m enthusiastic about joining. Presently, I’m aiding the company with some paperwork, presentations, and the technical part of the upcoming system - marketplace and a launchpad (and hopefully, an exchange later). I strongly believe in the potential of tokenisation and find it remarkable that someone in Europe can legally issue and sell securities.
It is my personal idea to start this case here and to introduce the project to the Polkadot community for reasons described at the beginning of this topic. I want to do only the best for the project and I believe, that moving forward with Polkadot is the best option.
From what I remember, there’s always been a significant discussion around use cases, tokenisation, and especially adoption. The blockchain community, on the other hand, hasn’t advanced much further, than the ATH currency price discussion on Twitter. It’s not so bad - more and more people from the finance world are joining the game, but is that what all that amazing blockchain tooling and infrastructure kits are developed here for? Is that the adoption we have been talking about?
So, what is it all about?
Presently, the system operates as follows: the team sets a budget for the project, say €100,000, determines the token price, issues these tokens, and subsequently sells them directly through the distribution channels already established. All that - manually, with actual paper bookkeeping involved (remember, we are dealing with the real thing here - security tokens), and with a third-party KYC. Somebody from the team knew about the BNB existence (and compared to BTC and ETH, it is cheaper and faster indeed), and that is why they have issued tokens on that network. In order to defend the team, I would add, that, as we are dealing with security tokens, with the paper bookkeeping and a bunch of auditors, if CZ decided to start playing with his joystick, despite the reputational losses, buyers would just get other tokens instead. It would be a trouble in the future though…
Now, back in 2017 or something, my team and I were working on an ICO-like funding platform, where a user could buy forked-IOTA-project coins for IOTA, ETH and BTC. KYC was a thing by then, and that was the worst part to deal with (due to usually the poor technical implementation of such services and you simply never know what will come back and so on), so I can say, that there is a certain experience presented on my side.
So, the idea is, to automate the existing process, to make DOT a by-default currency for the platform (and who knows - maybe for the whole movie industry), and to deliver an actual use case of an adoption by introducing Polkadot, tokenisation and security tokens to the new industry and millions of people.
I would like to use already existing tools, if there are any, for authentification, KYC and others, and that is another reason for starting this conversation. At least at the beginning, a big part of the system will be centralised (jep - securities, auditors and all that), but being a total crypto-addict myself, I wouldn’t say the project wouldn’t shift towards DEX in the future.
I would also like to apply for the granting program - once again, initiated by me, but I’m sure that the team would be happy for the support and appreciation. Last, but not least, I would like to speak about the project at the Polkadot conferences this summer (as an example - sub0 in Lisbon last September), and maybe we could choose it together with the community on this topic as well 
Aight.
A recap.
- Cellini Art Fund S.p.A. is an Italian joint-stock company that operates across film, art, media, and lately - blockchain.
- The company aims to diversify the promotion and sharing of art knowledge and started film production and the creation of an art-focused documentary series in 2023.
- The company holds all the essential licenses and is actively working on releasing security tokens to enhance investment opportunities.
- The company needs to create a marketplace (visually similar to NFT marketplaces), a launchpad for security tokens, and then later an exchange - in a year or so.
- The current release and distribution of tokens is made manually and on BNB chin. Our choice is automation and das DOT.
- The first project called The Tales of Tarots is in the last stages of post-production and will be available in April or so. The second project - Leonardo Wanted has started the token sale.
- The company already has the distribution channels ready, which makes a simple “Powered by Polkadot blockchain” at the beginning and the end of every episode real something for the whole community and adoption of the network, although there are many more points of mutual interest.
- I am currently not a member of the team. Therefore, if Cellini Art Fund decides to proceed without my involvement, I remain confident that the project would offer significant benefits to the Polkadot ecosystem.
- I have started this topic to introduce and promote the real-world company (the adoption!!!) to the Polkadot community, to apply for the grant, to speak at the sub0 conference and to find other crypto-friendly folks (as I am) to work with in the future.
My name is German Korjagin, I live and work in Tallinn, Estonia, and have been in software business development for +|- 20 years. I’m doing my Python-R-SQL-JS data-analyst stuff and consulting companies regarding blockchain usage. Here is the link to my LinkedIn account.
