Creative Payment

What I’ll describe are minor problems, but problems nonetheless:

There are lots of articles that I want to read online, but the requirement to pay a subscription monthly deters me. And, like others online, sometimes I struggle to stay focused on whatever I was originally attempting to accomplish.

Enter: crypto

The other day, my friend mentioned that “banks will turn into stablecoin balances” … and how I think about his statement includes the following:

• We should compare our current internet to a private highway system, and our future internet to a public highway system;

• In this future system, we will put money to work on blockchain-based applications that can more easily amplify each other and deliver better experiences (e.g., cheaper cross-border transfers, lower transaction fees on purchases, and better access to lending and borrowing solutions);

• Eventually, I’ll deposit cash into my checking account … and in return, my bank will give me an equivalent number of tokens (i.e., stablecoins) whose value matches the US dollar; and

• Stablecoins will be what I use to navigate these applications.

Back to my examples above.

One day, I could deploy an AI agent to scour the web for a niche group of authors (e.g., the 10 finance writers based in Europe with the most twitter followers) … and then program future payments to those authors to be no more than 4 cents per post.

Still digging. Interesting stuff.

s/o: Marc Rubinstein; NY Times; a16z; Stripe’s 2024 Annual Letter