As the digital asset market continues to interrupt new floor, seemingly with every passing day, there is no such thing as a denying the incontrovertible fact that crypto adoption has continued to extend at a reasonably fast tempo globally. On this regard, it now seems as if on-line content creator platform Patreon is actively seeking to devise its very own social token — or “creator coin” because it likes to name it — as a means of diving into the world of cryptocurrencies.
Patreon executives not too long ago teased the concept at the 2021 Creator Economic system Summit with CEO Jack Conte making an look alongside chief product officer Julian Gutman. Throughout the occasion, the two interacted with the viewers at size and when requested about their determination to enterprise into the digital asset area, Conte replied by saying:
“I actually love the concept of creators proudly owning their media and proudly owning their content. […] I really like the concept of shifting energy away from establishments and towards particular person artistic folks.”
Despite the fact that Patreon doesn’t have a full-time crypto-focused staff at the second, Gutman acknowledged that he’s actively wanting to make sure that his firm doesn’t get left behind and is, due to this fact, contemplating making a roster of high-quality blockchain expertise in the close to time period. “We’re persevering with to make sure we’re making a sustainable recurring future for creators, [which] is why we’re evaluating the crypto area extra broadly,” he added.
It’s value mentioning that Conte’s statements got here only a month after the agency had released a feedback kind asking shoppers whether or not they can be keen on the prospect of a creator coin and/or a social token.
The neighborhood chimes in
To get a greater overview of whether or not Patreon’s transfer will assist content creators broaden their financial horizons in any form of actual, tangible method, Cointelegraph reached out to Michael Gu, founding father of Boxmining — a cryptocurrency-focused YouTube channel with over 250,000 subscribers. He informed Cointelegraph:
“Completely — not solely does it present a further income nevertheless it additionally offers further methods for creators to have interaction their neighborhood. In truth, there’ll quickly be a state of affairs the place if a platform doesn’t undertake crypto content, they threat dropping their current creators to platforms that do present crypto adoption.”
Cryptocito, a distinguished crypto YouTuber, is like-minded. He believes that Patreon’s transfer is nice for the business, because it actually highlights the many real-world use circumstances that digital belongings have to supply. Moreover, he believes that strikes like these present that cryptocurrencies are slowly however absolutely gaining credibility inside the mainstream. “For content creators like me which can be native to crypto, it’s positively an attention-grabbing transfer that has me intrigued to be taught extra!” he informed Cointelegraph.
In Cryptocito’s opinion, it’s only a matter of time till information occasions like these develop into extra commonplace, one thing he attributes to the fundamental nature of the internet-based financial system that we’re at the moment residing in. He stated that just like how Uber disrupted the taxi market, cryptocurrencies stand to alter the international digital financial system — it’s only a matter of who implements them first.
The longer term for digital content creators
Nic Merten, the creator of DataDash — a crypto YouTube channel with 479,000 subscribers — informed Cointelegraph that Patreon’s curiosity in the digital asset market alerts a serious step ahead for the business and ought to be seen with positivity:
“For the previous couple of years, when folks requested if there was a recurring approach to assist the channel with crypto, sadly, I needed to give the identical response time and time once more that it simply wasn’t attainable at the second. I’d be mendacity if I didn’t admit I felt a bit hypocritical on the matter, being primarily a crypto channel.”
Moreover, he believes that the transfer couldn’t solely be an effective way for Patreon to broaden its consumer base but in addition for crypto adoption to extend on a mass scale, particularly from a funds standpoint. “I do imagine that though crypto remains to be establishing itself as a rising retailer of worth, the way forward for funds is digital and, extra particularly, digital belongings! With a big sum of Gen Z and Millennials’ internet value being in crypto, I feel it’s not a matter of if, however when,” Merten added.
Nonetheless, he did concede that there are nonetheless some unanswered questions in relation to mainstream platforms accepting crypto donations. For instance, the problem of excessive community charges is one that can’t be ignored, and it will likely be attention-grabbing to see these firms cope with the downside. “Hopefully, they’ll discover layer-two or side-chain options, like Lightning Community for Bitcoin, and Polygon for Ethereum,” Merten acknowledged.
Solely a matter of time?
In September, social media large Twitter rolled out a crypto donation feature as a part of its “Tipping Jar” module, permitting customers to ship Bitcoin (BTC) to their favourite content creators. The transfer appears to have caught the consideration of firms worldwide, and it seems as if the development might proceed to garner extra traction, as was made evident by Patreon’s determination to probably launch its personal social token.
On the topic, Cryptocito believes that as we transfer right into a extremely digitized future, we are going to proceed to see a rising listing of cryptocurrencies succeed due to their elevated adoption by platforms akin to Patreon and Twitter:
“We’re at the starting of getting into a brand new period on how we [form a] neighborhood, switch worth, entry data and maintain observe of issues. Due to this fact, I’m very excited for technological norms akin to IBC or different interoperability protocols that can allow seamless connectivity and compatibility between sovereign networks and DLTs.”
It ought to be famous that Patreon’s phrases of service nonetheless prohibit customers from using the platform to cope with cryptocurrencies in any form or kind — with the exception of customers doling out private funding recommendation. In truth, again in 2019, Patreon’s crypto censorship insurance policies compelled Dave Rubin to abandon the platform as a result of he needed to start out accepting donations in Bitcoin.
Thus, transferring ahead, it will likely be attention-grabbing to see how this area continues to evolve and whether or not or no more firms — particularly people who have beforehand taken an anti-crypto stance — will amend their current insurance policies to make it simpler for their customers to transact through digital currencies.
