Did Substack Add Bitcoin Payments To Get Ahead Of Censorship?
OpenNode announced that it’s facilitating Bitcoin payments for Substack. Is this a sign the platform is concerned about payment onramps?
Covered
- Substack adds Bitcoin payments option
- Ties to crypto
- Shared principles with Bitcoin
Substack Adds Bitcoin Payments Option
“…we look forward to doing more in crypto to meet writers’ needs.” Nick Inzucchi, Substack.
Substack has partnered with OpenNode to process payments for the online newsletter platform. OpenNode, which bills itself as an industry-leading Bitcoin payment processor, will use both on-chain and the Lightning Network to put through payments for Substack’s independent writers.
“We’re excited to be working with OpenNode to enable independent publishers on Substack to accept crypto payments,” said Nick Inzucchi, Substack’s product designer. “Having this option will give writers more flexibility and freedom, and we look forward to doing more in crypto to meet writers’ needs.”
According to the release, the new payments function will begin with a limited rollout, beginning with crypto-focused publications. “Readers will be able to use Bitcoin to pay for subscriptions to these select publications, and the publications will retain earnings in Bitcoins,” OpenNode said via their press release.
Ties To Crypto
Credit: zed.run
Substack is a platform geared towards independent writers. It’s similar to Patreon. Like Patreon, users subscribe with monthly payments to their favourite content creators. The big difference is Substack is completely dedicated to independent journalists.
Founded in 2017, Substack already has over 500,000 paying subscribers. One of Substack’s biggest backers is VenAndreessen Horowitz (A16z). A16z is also a prominent investor in crypto. Its portfolio includes Uniswap, NBA Topshot, and Zed Run.
Substack And Bitcoin’s Shared Principles
Credit: Albrecht speaks…Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
The online platform’s impressive subscriber numbers are likely due to the influx of independent journalists shutout out from mainstream media. Famous writers like Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald turned to the platform after their outlets shunned them for their controversial views.
Whether or not their views were shunned for nefarious reasons or simply just because they weren’t ad- friendly, Substack solves a problem for journalists who would prefer to be beholden to no one.
However, as we’ve seen recently with OnlyFans, even subscription based platforms are not immune to censorship.
The online newsletter platform already has its fair share of attacks from tradmedia and calls for censorship. Is the payments option a way to get ahead of any potential strongarmming from VISA and Mastercard? It’s unclear if that’s the case.
Regardless, Substack has put its writers in a position to get comfortable with receiving Bitcoin as payment.
The post Did Substack Add Bitcoin Payments To Get Ahead Of Censorship? appeared first on CryptosRus.
Read more: https://cryptosrus.com/did-substack-add-bitcoin-payments-to-get-ahead-of-censorship/
Text source: CryptosRus
