Cryptocurrency-Platform tries to compete with Patreon

[Pal_]

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There are different solutions to pay. Cryptocurrencies are another, maybe a good, decentralized way for content creators. From my belief, they will be the future. Maybe this platform can be a good competitor in the future, when Bitcoin/etc. is going to get used more often

 

[HiEv]

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The site's not functional yet and there's no real information there, just vague promises. It's not even clear what kind of service it is. Are they hosting any information? Is it a purchasing engine you'll have to incorporate into your own site? What are its Terms of Service?

The only thing you can do there currently is sign up for early access, but early access to what? (Also, if you click that button then there's no way to close the dialog that pops up, which is poor web design.)

There are different solutions to pay. Cryptocurrencies are another, maybe a good, decentralized way for content creators. From my belief, they will be the future. Maybe this platform can be a good competitor in the future, when Bitcoin/etc. is going to get used more often

As of January of last year, only around 5% of people in the US owned some form of cryptocurrency, and things haven't changed much since then (

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). Another poll of US investors active in the stock market (over $10,000 in stocks and the like) showed that most of them don't trust it (75% said it was "very risky"), and only around 2% of them actually owned any cryptocurrencies (

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).

The problem with bitcoin is that it's too volatile (e.g. the current price is about 1/3rd of what it was last year -

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) and it lacks the regulations that you'd find in the stock market, such as those which prevent price manipulation, which contributes to that volatility. Until they figure out a way to regulate themselves, or allow themselves to be regulated, the people who use it will likely only be a small portion of the population.

Depending on a small portion of the population to support you with a volatile and unregulated currency sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

 

[User_920791]

(...)
As of January of last year, only around 5% of people in the US owned some form of cryptocurrency, and things haven't changed much since then (

You must be registered to see the links

). Another poll of US investors active in the stock market (over $10,000 in stocks and the like) showed that most of them don't trust it (75% said it was "very risky"), and only around 2% of them actually owned any cryptocurrencies (

You must be registered to see the links

).

The problem with bitcoin is that it's too volatile (e.g. the current price is about 1/3rd of what it was last year -

You must be registered to see the links

) and it lacks the regulations that you'd find in the stock market, such as those which prevent price manipulation, which contributes to that volatility. Until they figure out a way to regulate themselves, or allow themselves to be regulated, the people who use it will likely only be a small portion of the population.

Depending on a small portion of the population to support you with a volatile and unregulated currency sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

The truth is that most people have never even heard about cryptocurrencies. It will take some more years for this kind of technology to become really popular.

The volatility of bitcoin is the result of its self-regulation. Even if a group of people try to manipulate the price or a specific event causes it to rise too much, it will always stabilize at some point.

If a creator wants absolute creative freedom, cryptocurrencies are the only viable options right now.

 

[anne O'nymous]

The problem with bitcoin is that it's too volatile [...]

It's the main reason why a cryptocurrencies based patreon-like can't works.

Imagine (you, reader) being a game's author working full time in your creations. With a Patreon-like based on "real" money, you'll know that you'll earn by example $1000 each month. It will vary depending of current exchange rate, but the variation is almost never more than 1%/month, so the impact is small. Same for the number of patrons, that will stay relatively stable if you do your job correctly.
But with cryptocurrency, it's a whole different thing. You can have a prevision earning of $1000 one day, and two hours later when you effectively earn your monthly pledge, the value have dropped by 30% and you're fucked, you'll have to choose between paying the bill this month, or eating.
To this must be added the fact that this money is also used to effectively pay the bills. I'm not sure that your landlord will accept cryptocurrency for the rent. Same, by example, for the state when you'll have to pay your taxes. So you'll always have some "administrative tasks" to perform, selling your cryptocurrencies to have the real money you'll need to live.

 

[Pal_]

It's the main reason why a cryptocurrencies based patreon-like can't works.

Imagine (you, reader) being a game's author working full time in your creations. With a Patreon-like based on "real" money, you'll know that you'll earn by example $1000 each month. It will vary depending of current exchange rate, but the variation is almost never more than 1%/month, so the impact is small. Same for the number of patrons, that will stay relatively stable if you do your job correctly.
But with cryptocurrency, it's a whole different thing. You can have a prevision earning of $1000 one day, and two hours later when you effectively earn your monthly pledge, the value have dropped by 30% and you're fucked, you'll have to choose between paying the bill this month, or eating.
To this must be added the fact that this money is also used to effectively pay the bills. I'm not sure that your landlord will accept cryptocurrency for the rent. Same, by example, for the state when you'll have to pay your taxes. So you'll always have some "administrative tasks" to perform, selling your cryptocurrencies to have the real money you'll need to live.

you can always exchange your crypto immediately against centralized or decentralized "stable coins", that are pegged 1:1 with the USD-Dollar, therefore no volatility will arise.
Another option to prevent being a victim of volatility, would be an immediate exchange of Bitcoin to the USD-Dollar or your native fiat currency. So that shouldn´t be a real problem
Such volatility of -30% didn´t happen for a longer time period. 5-8% was the most + or - the last months. Before, it happend due to the hyperbolic increase in value of the Bitcoin, so a strong correction was inevitable.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Such volatility of -30% didn´t happen for a longer time period. 5-8% was the most + or - the last months.

The problem isn't if it happen or not, but that it can happen. The only fact that it can happen mean that you can end being fucked really deeply. Anyone having a family, and most of game authors are in this case, don't take this risk. Who's ready to explain their kids that they are now sleeping in the car because daddy didn't cared enough to secure his income ?

 

[Sam]

It's not going to work.

• Bitcoin is a PITA for the average person to obtain, and won't change anytime soon due to the very nature of crypto
• Bitcoin value is unstable
• Monthly payments aren't possible, unless you keep topping up a wallet operated by BitPatreon

I can see creators accepting crypto for tips, but then why on earth would you sign up for a platform which charges 4% fees?

 

[W65]

Unless the process for supporting folks on this system is as simple as the Internet-standard "enter credit card number(s) and push button," you're going to lose a huge fraction of casual supporters. You'll lose a bunch who are lazy, some who don't understand what to do, and some who are too suspicious to do what you ask. The important thing, though, is that you'll lose them, and when you only have 100 supporters you really don't like the idea of 40-80 of them thinking your new system is strange and complicated.

Adult game creators are already pulling from what is currently a very small pool of potential buyers, and they're pulling relatively small amounts of money from each of them. Adding layers of complexity on top of that is not something the tiny, fragile market could really support right now. There could, I suppose, be this huge market untapped and waiting for the ability to throw money at the loli horse incest games that would show up on the new service, but I really doubt that would offset the support lost by the complexity of the new platform.

Or maybe it is as easy as putting in a number. I dunno. Don't know a thing about cryptocurrency purchases despite being sorta-competent in tech, and I'm comfortable betting I'm not alone.