Thread by @dergigi

Most people are sleeping on Podcasting 2.0 and how the frictionless, direct payments of Bitcoin's lightning network are revolutionizing the Internet's monetization model.

A thread. 🧵👇

Yes, it's still early. Yes, it's still a bit cumbersome to set up. Yes, there are still plenty of improvements to be made. However, streaming payments DO work TODAY.

Anyone can receive sats in return for bits and bytes - without an intermediary.

podnews.net/article/how-to…

Thanks to the tireless work of @adamcurry and the people behind @podcastindex, we now have an open specification that can be implemented by everyone. We also have a frictionless model that truly works: The value4value.io model.

We know that this model works because it has worked for thousands of years. It is akin to busking: everyone can listen, but if you like it and you want the music to continue, you toss a couple of coins into the hat. It's like that, but with fully automated micropayments.

So: what's the big deal? The big deal is the fattening of the long tail. Currently, most monetization happens via advertising. This is especially problematic if said advertisements are tailored and targeted, as these practices imply surveillance.

If this model is successful - and I believe it will be - it will usher in a new era of monetizing bits and bytes.

Censorship-resistant payments and content will get easier to use and set up, and as people get comfortable with it, more people will be able to monetize directly.

Yes, "direct" payment models like Patreon and Substack exist, but for technical and other reasons, these platforms and the payment services that power them are biting off a huge chunk from every revenue stream. Censorship is a problem too.

#Bitcoin fixes this. It is cheaper, faster, and more importantly: resistant to censorship and de-platforming.

It is a most important tool in our day and age.

But this isn't the only reason I'm so excited. It is so obvious to me where this is heading: better tools, better interfaces, more direct interaction. To get a glimpse, look at what we already know from the legacy world, and extrapolate from there.

Imagine interfaces that show boosts & comments contained in invoices directly on the clip timeline, just like SoundCloud does it.

Imagine a similar visualization that will show creators when boosts happen in real-time. You will know what was most valuable for your audience because they will let you know directly.

Imagine twitch- or youtube-like superchats, but without the platform. Native, maybe even defined at a protocol level, implemented by multiple apps and services for all kinds of operating systems and platforms.

We are close to that already. Some of the newpodcastapps.com make boosting and streaming apps seamless.

Dave Jones recently released Helipad, an app that runs on your full node and will parse boostagrams.

github.com/Podcastindex-o…

It is often said that #Bitcoin is eating the world, and gold is on the menu. But that doesn't capture the gravity of the situation. Bitcoin is eating the world, and *everything* is on the menu.

bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/bitcoi…

We are just scratching the tip of the iceberg. These new forms of direct interaction and censorship-resistant payments & communications will transform society in ways we can't imagine yet.

I don't know what the future will bring, but I know one thing for sure: sound money and free speech will be paramount when it comes to navigating it all.

#Bitcoin enables the former via the latter. It also ensures that free speech platforms can exist on higher layers.

I'm excited. I hope you are too. I can't wait to see what all of you will be building in this new world we are living in, a world of directness, truth, autonomy, and liberty.

We're gonna build it all, and we're gonna build it on sound foundations.

Onwards! ⚡🧡🚀