Opinion: Tokens – A new approach to accessing paid news, magazine, audio, video, game services

Steve Percy

President, Diolkos Commerce Solutions

June 2022

Subscriptions. The AR collections stabilization tool of previous decades. Don’t get me wrong, it will survive in many service scenarios as it is convenient for consumers. However, the Internet and digital devices have changed access and the way we consume news and information content. We have a lot more choice but the payment models restrict and limit access to the detriment of competition.

Content Aggregators work to fill up their basket with sufficient materials to justify their subscription payment models. A simple example is the various sections of a newspaper. However, 80% of people are generally interested in only 20% of their content. The remaining content has merit but the amount of valuable time individuals are willing to give to it is limited.

We have a multitude of choice but multiple subscriptions are expensive. Our personal budgets cannot manage. In response, Aggregators have introduced “shared” or “family” subscriptions. These maintain the revenue stream and expand access to content/viewership for individuals… to a point. Everything reaches a limit and more content that does not interest us is not valuable.

We are willing to pay for something we are interested in if we deem the quality acceptable. The negotiation of the amount is the arbiter. Subscriptions are not meeting our needs in this new world.

And what about cross-border content ? Payment and collections have always been a barrier to entry. Add to that the protective jurisdictional regulatory environments and you have what we see on the Internet every day. We need an alternative integrated payment solution that can serve everyone.

The solution is born in the roots of fiat currency.

Currency is constructed in units and sub-units. Physical currencies have fractional units (cents, centavo, pennies, paisa, sen…) and digital currencies can break into innumerable fractional components. We used to buy penny candy for 1 or 2 or 5 cents based on the value associated. Why not the same approach for news and other multi-media content ?

If I feel I can budget $30 a month on news content and $30 a month on streaming content, then in a perfect world it would be great if I could access everything and independently draw down on those budgets. This would provide me with the ability to pay anyone and everyone who produces that with which I am interested. So an article could be priced independently at 5 cents or 20 cents and the funds would go directly to the writer or split between the writer and the publisher.

But why operate in a specific currency ?

What about Tokens ?

Tokens are pre-purchased in a specific currency and exchanged back into those currencies by the business partners that exchange them for products. So an article/audio/video can be priced in tokens and those tokens used by the creators to convert back into fiat currency – at the time they are consumed. Tokens are fungible and hold value. Like fiat currency based prepaid card programs, this creates a scenario for businesses to build deposits that are 100% committed to future sales.

What is optimal is to create Token Programs that can add multiple partners ? One token program used by multiple vendors. “Service supported by PerfectTokens – your electronic wallet for high quality publications”.

Note, the last 30 years have proven that private infrastructures for Prepaid Programs have made multi-vendor issuance and redemption extremely difficult so the only viable solution is to actually integrate the solution into the core payment infrastructure. If a business wants to offer the option of payment via tokens then that must be presented through the core payment system at the time of payment. And of course, all the benefits of a common infrastructure apply including Sanction Screening (for cross-border) and AML/ATF oversight as applicable to jurisdictional requirements.

Tokens allow a business and potential partners to “pre-sell” products/services and have funds committed to their business. So large businesses can take on smaller partners (ex. HBC Canada) or groups of smaller businesses can create a partnership and share sales and marketing resources while simplifying collections and significantly reducing the cost of first sale. It will allow these business partners to focus on the quality of their service and not be challenged by the complexities of the payment process.

What business scenarios would benefit from tokens ? Here’s a short list:

· Publishing (Newspapers and Magazines)

· Books and Manuals

· Streaming Video

· Streaming Audio

· Education and Training

· Home Services (lawn, garden, windows, cleaning, …)

· Research Reports

· Video Gaming

· Movie and Event Tickets

· …

What other business scenarios are possible ?

Making new payment tools such as Tokens available to businesses of all sizes will give birth to many creative businesses opportunities. New businesses will come forth and existing businesses will morph and compete in different ways.

The future can be better.