Coil, a San Francisco-based fintech firm founded by Stefan Thomas, the former Chief Technical Officer at Ripple Labs, has revealed that it has now launched the public beta release of its blogging website.
Coil’s blogging platform allows users to earn XRP as compensation for writing and publishing content. The closed beta version of Coil’s blogging platform was introduced in August 2018, and around 1,000 users had been testing the content publishing software. The testers have reportedly been paying a flat, in-browser subscription fee of $5.
Content Creators May Receive Payouts In XRP And Fiat
In a manner somewhat similar to how Spotify rewards artists, Coil allows content creators to automatically earn XRP based on usage. Meanwhile, the consumers are able to access content for a monthly fee.
According to Thomas, the latest release of Coil.com may also includes options to receive payouts in USD as the blogging platform’s developers are working with Stronghold, the creators of a digital wallet service that allows for crypto-to-fiat conversions.
In the initial stages of the blogging website’s launch, the platform’s designers will be allowing free access (registration) to all users. However, Coil’s team noted that accessing bonus content will require users to pay.
Commenting on the initiative and how the blogging platform works, Thomas told CoinDesk:
Every participant can decide what currency they want to use. Part of the next phase is really to experiment with what works, both from a creator’s side – where the constraints are, ‘How do I get some good quality bonus content without investing a huge amount of effort?’ – and from the users’ perspective of, ‘What will people actually sign up for?’
“XRP Is Liquid Enough That If Someone Needs Fiat They Can Get It”
Meanwhile, Avi Kabani, who has authored many different nonfiction books on topics related to relationships and love, said that he has so far managed to earn 21 XRP (appr. $6.4) through Coil. Kabani added that he also spent around $20 in XRP as he paid to watch various Twitch streamers.
Explaining how he has been using Coil, Kabani said that he “typically likes to save” XRP in his Coil account balance, in order “to support other” content creators. He also noted that he intends to use the Coil blogging platform on a regular basis, along with other mainstream social media outlets.
Kabani also mentioned: “It’s … good to know that XRP is liquid enough so that if someone does need fiat they can get it.”
Coil Is “Built On Open Standards”
Other content creators and bloggers like Thomas Silkjær, who is a Forbes contributor and early Coil adopter, told CoinDesk that he would like to see Coil’s monetization schemes replace some of the traditional publishing methods. He stated:
You pay per second you are visiting a website. But the underlying technology is much more capable. Imagine paying per kilobyte streamed of video, or paying for time spent reading articles otherwise walled by paywalls and subscription.
According to Silkjær, Coil’s full potential as an effective XRP-based content monetization platform will be realized when Ripple’s Interledger protocol enables micropayments in major world currencies. He remarked:
Using Interledger, content creators can define what currency they wish to receive. And no matter if Coil is spending XRP, it will be bridged on the network to match the content creators’ needs: currency-agnostic micropayments.
He added the Coil platform is designed primarily for “publishing and it’s built on open standards so it is more interoperable than past publishing platforms.”
