Crowdfunding has become a successful and fairly widely known and used subscription service model, allowing content creators to connect with their consumers – more or less directly, up until this point.
This is true as some of the best known and established platforms, like Patreon, have consistently faced criticism precisely over their intermediary role, and the associated company policies. There has been dissatisfaction about the service in the past over anything from the policy behind the company’s own fees to accusations of content censorship and political and ideological bias.
This obviously leaves room for another concept to enter the same model in the hope of improving it. Fundabit is one such platform, whose goal is to allow creators to monetize their content via recurring cryptocurrency payments.
As Fundabit founder Tobi Schoder explains, the new platform aims to restore “full control” to both creators, and their backers.
The platform is geared towards taking advantage of the venerable decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) model – this time, to bring together those creating content with those willing to pay for it – while also making full use of cryptocurrencies as the guarantee that the service itself cannot interfere in this interaction – and transactions – to either party’s disadvantage.
“Fundabit utilizes smart contracts and meta transactions to allow subscribers to be in full control of their recurring payments. Once they confirm the subscription, the funds are automatically deducted from their personal wallet every month. All without giving away their private key or paying more than necessary. The wallet only needs enough credit for the first transaction, and the subscription simply stops if there is not enough for the next one. It works just like a bank account,” Schoder writes.
And while any crowdfunding platform’s claim to fame is to bring content creators and consumers and supporters closer together – the very technology behind Fundabit is likely to ensure this might, in fact, be the case – and it also touts providing creators with recurring revenues thanks to P2P payments and automatic and predictable monthly subscriptions, in cryptocurrency.
Furthermore, Fundabit promises that its users will not have to deal with payment providers or bundled payouts – and will face “near zero transaction costs” – with the service taking only a five percent cut.
More features include instant settlements, no chargebacks, no freezing of accounts – and no judgment, i.e. censorship. The service also requires no personal info, while allowing subscriptions to be canceled at any time.
Meanwhile, creators will be able to engage with their backers by offering membership and perks such as early access and behind-the-scenes content – all the while building a community of equals.
