Money Is Not The Only Currency
Why is the creator economy set to shuffle the deck?
A young serial entrepreneur, while road tripping from San Francisco down the Pacific Coast Highway to Los Angeles, was listening to a Joe Rogan podcast with Kanye West. After an hour or so, something from Kanye really caught his attention: “money is not the only currency.” Those few words literally stroke a chord within him and not so long after, a new company was born. His new baby is now leading the way by shaping a new creative society where artists, musicians, and celebrities can engage at a deeper level with their fans.
Back to the Industrial Revolution
In the late 18th century, empires were built by entrepreneurs who accumulated substantial capital. The rapid development of steam and water-powered machines were two of the core driving forces which led to major advances, notably:
- Iron production
- Textile production
- Chemical manufacturing
Through economies of scale, businesses streamlined their processes and created more products while downsizing their operating cost structure.
Financing and Banking Entrepreneurs
The advent of the Industrial Revolution propelled banks to industrial financing making them key partners in the long-term growth of the industry. Although technology costs were decreasing, the overall demand for infrastructure funding was on the rise.
In fact, high operating leverage demanded a greater source of capital allocation from merchants, wealthy families, and aristocrats – most of them turned into banking and started their own ventures to support entrepreneurs in need of more capital.
Ok, at this point, you may wonder why I brought you back to the Industrial revolution. Here’s why. At that time, capital was scarce so amassing it would bestow you a great deal of power, access, and status in society.
The value derived from their businesses was captured by their equity stake. Industry titans were born with considerable wealth: Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt changed the game, forever.
Unlike the Industrial Revolution, capital is no longer scarce, nowadays.
Limited? Surely.
Difficult to access? It can be.
All the more in developing countries where they lack basic banking infrastructure – let alone, the least developed countries (LDC). And it’s not hard to find some evidence.
80% of all US dollars in existence have been printed in just the last two years. The recent meltdown in stock indices, record-high unicorn valuations in the VC space, and the number of PE deals slowing down, all point in this direction.
Attention is today’s Oil… but who’s mining it?
What is fundamentally scarce in today’s hyperconnected world? Well, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. The answer is in the header: attention. Today, we’re up to our necks in content to consume.
Whether it’s some movie or series to watch on one of the streaming platforms out there, tweets to digest, Instagram posts, TikTok videos, or tunes to listen to on Spotify… it’s relentless. And the competition is fierce to grab your attention.
Creators are the new Rockefellers
Anyone from anywhere in the world can enjoy their 15-minute digital fame and then left in oblivion, someone else fills their spot.
Hollywood minted the modern star. Social media minted influencers. The former was reserved for the elite while the latter is, in a sense, more accessible.
Those who enjoy a more established community have been monetizing and refining our attention. Ultimately, converting it into money, often to extremely lucrative ends.
However, there are a few drawbacks to our current Web2 model:
“You know something is profoundly wrong with our economy when Big Tech has a higher take rate than the mafia.” — Ritchie Torres, U.S. Congressman representing the South Bronx).
Web3 platforms have drastically lower take rates than the internet giants today
Did you say Web3 platforms?
Take Opensea: It’s highly centralized… in fact, just like the others!
There’s probably a decentralized Opensea out there. No smart contracts. It just interacts on a stack with smart contracts because you can connect your wallet to send tokens around. Basically, it’s a web2 app governed by a company called Opensea, funded by VCs.
Slight digression: they would have very little need for governance primitives…
NFTs offer creators a whole new way to monetize directly with their fans
Numbers speak for themselves.
What is clear is that blockchains will take over the industry. It seems very unlikely that Web2 platforms, somehow, keep operating the way they do without adjusting their monetization strategies in favor of the creators. Given how early we are and taking into account the number of users in Web2 vs. Web3, the “per capita” disparity is even more striking.
Builders, you better keep building! Here’s your chance to win the lottery.
Social tokens will power creative equity
Just like in the traditional finance world where a shareholder would hold X% of the company’s equity, the analog in the creator economy powered by ecosystem currencies would be a social token that represents a form of creative equity, i.e., the creator’s digital value – derived from basic economics: supply and demand. Web3 allows for such a token economy to unfold and create value for both creators and fans alike in a way previously unseen before – inclusive and equitable.
Regardless of the size of their audience, creators can directly and authentically turn the attention they earn into capital through the issuance and distribution of their social tokens.
In essence, social tokens are the bridge between creators and their fanbase. Creator tokens have many applications:
o Access your favorite creators’ private Discord servers
o Sign-up for exclusive newsletters
o Receive discounts on merch
o Get backstage access at shows
o Attend exclusive events
… and much more!
Enter P00ls: your gateway to Web3, from NFTs to the metaverse and beyond!
The leading social token platform, community-first, designing ecosystem currencies for the world’s largest creators. As an active member of their community, I took part in several creator airdrops. I’ve been closely following what their stellar team has been building and I have no doubt they will be the go-to-marketplace for creator tokens. Hugo Renaudin and the whole team behind, congrats! You’re rockstars!
Back in 2020, I was fortunate to work with some of the P00ls core team on their previous venture, LGO Markets, which got acquired by Voyager – a digital asset brokerage firm, listed on the Canadian stock exchange. RIP Voyager… recently filed for bankruptcy protection.
A Truly Beautiful Game
A few months back, P00ls partnered with the football legend, Ronaldinho to create, and issue his own token: $RON! Quite an achievement. 9 lucky tokenholders were able to watch the game for free and meet the man himself, thanks to P00ls! By entering into Web3, Ronaldinho brought those who adore the sport and its athletes, more than anything, closer together. More here.
Pioneering Creative Equity
A new paradigm shift is in motion: capturing value through experiences and meaning, made possible by the advent of Web3 – tokenizing creative equity, something fundamentally intangible is now possible! Social tokens are the gateway through which the creative revolution will emerge.
Are you a creator looking for deeper engagement with your community? Are you interested in building a world and an ecosystem people want to be a part of? Then look no further, P00ls is the right place for you! Hope to see you there!
Stay tuned, P00ls’ zerozero DEX is yet to come!
