Substack to Permit Bitcoin Payments for Special Content Access

Substack – a content platform backed by Andreessen Horowitz – will allow users to access VIP content in the future granted they pay with cryptocurrency. The content can be accessed utilizing the company’s new payment processor known as Open Node.

Substack Is Pushing the Bitcoin Agenda Further

This is a big deal in the sense that the firm is now pushing the initial goals of bitcoin and cryptocurrency closer to reality. The fact is that bitcoin and many of its altcoin cousins were initially built as a means of replacing credit cards, checks and fiat currencies down the line. They were meant to serve as payment tools, though this has been a rough journey for these assets given that the currencies are extremely volatile and subject to rapid price changes.

Thus, many stores and retailers have given the old heave-ho to bitcoin and its crypto family when it comes to deciding whether they would make good payment solutions, and to a certain extent, we cannot really blame them.

Consider this scenario: you walk into a store armed to the teeth with bitcoin. You wind up purchasing approximately $50 worth of merchandise with your cryptocurrency and then you walk away happily. However, for one reason or another, the store you bought the items from does not convert the bitcoin into fiat right away. In fact, a whole 24 hours go by and by that time, the price of bitcoin winds up taking a bit of a dive.

The $50 you used to pay for the merchandise has turned into $40. You still get to keep everything you bought, but the store has ultimately lost profit. Sadly, this is an unfair scenario that many of these companies are trying so desperately to avoid, and granted bitcoin and other altcoins remain so volatile, we may not ever see these assets do the job they were built for.

Substack is working to bring the scenario of bitcoin and crypto serving as valid payment tools closer to reality by allowing digital currency holders to pay for content with their digital funds. Readers can purchase subscriptions with BTC, while writers and those contributing to the site can also opt to receive bitcoin and crypto payments for their work.

Limited Access, but the Right Move

In an interview, a Substack representative explained:

We are philosophically aligned with the use of Bitcoin payments because…Bitcoin is inherently cross-border, peer-to-peer, and censorship-resistant, empowering publishers to achieve greater degrees of freedom and independence. We are excited to introduce this option, even at a small scale to start.

Right now, content will be somewhat limited, as bitcoin buyers can only gain access to the Willy Woo newsletter and “The Held Report” by Dan Held. However, Substack has made it clear it will accept BTC payments via both the Lightning Network and on-chain.

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