Instagram has two main atomic value swaps with its users, one to creators and one to consumers. Creators of content expend time and energy in the form of work in exchange for distribution and building an asset that can be monetized (audience). Consumers are willing to view ads in their consumption experience in exchange for entertainment. A third a... See more

No user-generated content platform that offers distribution (and not monetization) to the marginal content creator can succeed with a paywall.Examples:  Netflix and Spotify are great examples of paywalled content that primarily offer monetization to their suppliers. Medium is a good example of a failed paywall because its original value propos... See more

Crypto gaming and play-to-earn is a misnomer. “True” gameplay is expenditure of time by the player for sacred entertainment value, not secular economic value. That sacred value can later be monetized, but by being financially motivated first, the atomic value swap of the “game” is polluted and becomes more akin to Mechanical Turk than gameplay. To ... See more