People are waking up to the fact that the same cryptographic game theory and technology involved in creating and securing cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens can also be used to mint and trade coins – or ‘shares’ in your future self. Selling a stake in yourself, or at least your future earning capacity, to willing investors hungry for yield, to fund your own present.

These alternative equity instruments to personal debt obligations turn people (and their future earning potential) into tradable financial commodities. These personal shares can include human capital contracts and income-sharing agreements, such as those offered by the likes of Lambda School, which allow college graduates to study for free in exchange for agreeing to give the college a share of their future earnings after graduation; or individual entrepreneurs selling stakes in their personal future earnings by issuing personal cryptocurrency tokens in much the same way as a startup would sell shares in the equity of a business venture. In this way, individual, natural persons are able to gain access to the same sorts of financial instruments formerly reserved for business entities and other non-natural legal persons.