FANZ in the Wild | Ep. III - "Staking FANZ Replaces Sneaky, Out-Dated Fiat-based Subscription Models"
FANZ in the Wild
In the FanChain ecosystem, the people are represented by two separate
yet equally important groups: the Mints, who stamp and distribute the tokens,
and the fanz, who put them to use. These are their stories.
IN THIS EPISODE
Staking FANZ Replaces Sneaky, Out-Dated Fiat-based Subscription Models
This is a true story. My wife
recently got accepted to graduate school. Included in her education are
discounts to platforms like Amazon, Hulu, Spotify and, auspiciously for us, a
cacophony of other content providers and streaming services. This prompted me
to cancel all of my subscriptions so that we could save cash by utilizing her
discounts. What seemed simple enough turned into an anxiety storm. Admitting to
my wife that I was, essentially, throwing over $200 a month away was not
exactly the sort of picture of myself I wanted to paint. I consider life to be
a series of transitions from stupidity to clarity, but at my age such a
confession could only serve to characterize me as a man behind the curve.
I was partially comforted to
learn that I had found myself in a not-too-uncommon place. 44% of Gen-Xers and
37% of Millennials have recurring subscriptions they don’t know about[1].
So long as such subscriptions are limited to being paid for in fiat currency
there is only one way to skin this cat. And it is a disappointing system, which
falls short of user expectations.
Utilizing blockchain technology
presents new possibilities for correcting an insufficient marketplace. Though I
am a native New Yorker (NYC) I am a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan. I am active on
a variety of Bills blogs. When I am able to be rewarded for my contributions to
the Bills community with Bills-stamped FANZ tokens, I will be able to stake my
tokens in exchange for access to the Bills’ OTT platform. The benefit for me is
rather evident: no more tangle of latent subscriptions. The benefits (plural)
for the Bills extend beyond the obvious, the obvious being that it is easier
for them to sell subscriptions, which makes advertising on the network more
lucrative. But blockchain can provide a far deeper relationship between the
consumer and provider than can a typical, bank-authorized fiat exchange. The
Bills, and any mint that distributes Bills tokens, now know me. And they like
me. And they can reach me, not in an irritating pop-up window kind way, but in
a sincere way. Say I’m mid-stream during the off-season on SportsCastr talking
with my people about the Bills’ potential draft picks, and a clever member of
the Bills’ marketing team has implemented a cross-promotional program with
their official beer sponsor where stakers of 50,000+ Bills tokens will be
rewarded with bonus Bud Lite tokens that can be instantly re-distributed to all
of the users who are currently in a live SportsCastr stream with me. Since Bud
Lite also has a clever marketing team behind them they throw a county-wide
Bills-themed draft day party at bars equipped with FanPay POS. Next thing I
know I’m at a restaurant several weeks later and order myself a Bud Lite rather
than my usual dinner-date-with-wifey brew.
[1] Hu, Crystal “One Third of Americans are Paying for Subscriptions Without Knowing it,” Yahoo! Finance, August 22, 2017 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-third-americans-paying-subscriptions-without-knowing-165413533.html
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