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Maritza, a professional yoga trainer, is one of almost 100,000 users of Bliive-a Brazil-based website that brands
itself as the world’s largest online time-exchange platform. Bliive looks and feels like a social media platform. Its
users trade services, including guitar lessons, air conditioner repairs and tarot card readings, without any cash or credit
card transactions. For each hour of service provided, the user receives Time Money, with which they can buy another
service. Maritza earned almost 40 hours’ worth of Bliive services. With that much Time Money, she was able to create
her own website about breathing techniques, including her own branding. Each person offers his help in one-hour
chunks, and people who have “exchanged” Time Money can rate and review the quality of the service provided.
Bliive was founded a year and a half ago by Lorrana Scarpioni, a 24-year-old public relations student. She now
employs a team of about a dozen people in Sao Paulo. She came up with the idea after watching documentaries about
the sharing economy and alternative currencies. “If people were willing to engage in couch surfing-letting complete
strangers into their houses-surely there was a potential for exchanging something as simple as one hour of a service,”
Lorrana says. “Bliive is a collaborative network of time exchange. We see this platform as a movement that shows
people the real value of exchanges and how they can develop themselves this way.”
Bliive takes the concept of the sharing economy-popularized by platforms including Uber and Airbnb-a step
further. It creates a new channel between the supply and demand of services, and does away with conventional cash
altogether. More than 90,000 services are on offer on the website, making it larger than other barter-based sites. “The
no-money-involved transferences can be a great alternative to keep people developing themselves. We see a lot of
people who have graduated with very nice degrees, but they don’t have jobs,” she says. While Bliive aims to become
more profitable, Lorrana is keen to retain its core values. “We use these talents and values to create a world that is
more collaborative and less competitive, more focused on the value of people, not just the value of money,” she says.
【題組】49 What does the figure “90,000” refer to in the last paragraph?
(A) The total number of users on Bliive.
(B) The total revenue generated by Bliive.
(C) The current amount of services available on Bliive.
(D) The current number of players competing on Bliive.