Why Creator Tokens Will Precede Community Tokens - a16z crypto

Paradigm 1: Tokenizing Digital Creators vs. Digital Communities The future of tokenization is infinitely complex when considering who and what can be tokenized. But this seemingly complex topic can be simplified if you break tokenization down into two main groups, digital creators, and digital communities.A digital creator is typically one leader w... See more

But for most creators, it will likely be a challenge to build an individual community around their singular presence... most fans would probably prefer to join a community around multiple artists, rather than to have separate Discord channels and low-liquidity tokens for each of the 500 creators they love.

The communities could distribute governance tokens to the holders of character NFTs, which in turn can be used to vote on key creative decisions. Such collaborative relationships between creator and community are already happening and will only increase as participants explore the possibilities, both creative (including governance) and financial.

When constructing a creator token, I think the first big question is determining what assets back a creator token. I imagine it’s actually somewhat of a tricky process, so let me illustrate it with an example:

If the goal of web3 is to overturn the Internet status quo, then the structure of social tokens today is fundamentally flawed from the ground up. Tokenized communities are centered around what you have — often social or financial capital — while they should instead be centered around what you do.

Today, top creators are rewarded with inefficient virtual currencies (e.g., likes/follows) and cash from a centralized platform. In the future, creators will build a new form of status through these community-driven NFTs which they own through their private key and can directly redeem for money.