I recently attended the Social Media Marketing World conference and was blown away by the focus on Crypto, Web3.0, and NFTs. “Yay!” I thought, “I’ll finally learn something more substantial about the subject.”

As an attendee, I was gifted several Creator Coins and an NFT which made for a perfect way to figure things out for myself. The very next week, on March 20, The New York Times came out with a whole section titled “The Latecomer’s Guide to Crypto.” Man, if I’m a latecomer, what does that say about the 90%+ of the US population* who doesn’t own any form of digital currency yet?

First, some definitions

Digital Currency: Bitcoin, Ethereum and others are the most common forms of Digitalorcryptocurrency.Digitalcurrency started in 2009 as a virtual currency that is not associated with any bank or official organization. Most countries allow their citizens to use Bitcoin. However, only El Salvador uses bitcoin as legal tender. In order to buy, sell, or use your digital currency, you’ll need a digital wallet like Coinbase, Ledger Nano, or Mycelium.** Web 3.0: You can think of Web1.0 as the static webpages we could access for information back in the 1990s. It was centralized and not interactive. Web2.0 is more interactive, but still centralized. You interact with other people and communities on platforms which are owned by only a few. (“You are the product.”) Web 3.0 is decentralized. Content shared is not owned by someone else. It’s yours.

Creator Coins: These are a form of digital currency. A creator (an author, influencer, musician, podcaster, etc.) will create a coin so that members of the public can purchase their product or service. Just by holding their coins you’ll be entitled to different benefits. For example, one offers discounts for their trainings, another offers access to their music library, and a third lets you purchase (with their Creator Coins) a discounted copy of their published audio book. You can find Creator coins on Rally.io and Bitclout.com. (I’m sure there are more – I’m still exploring!)

Token Communities: As far as I can tell, a Community Token is the same as (or very similar to) a Creator Coin. You purchase a Token to be a member of a certain community. Once you’re a member of that community, you have access to their music, or podcasts, or books.

Non-Fungible Tokens: First, “fungible” means anything which can be swapped for another thing exactly like it. A dollar bill is exactly like another dollar bill. When you go to the store, they don’t care if you pull one or another dollar out of your wallet. Non-fungible means “unique.” A “Non-Fungible Token” has a unique identifier which provides you with different benefits. For example, it could be a unique piece or art that has a special code embedded inside. The code than gives you entrance to a soldout show, or a one-on-one meeting with the creator. Each NFT is different. (And, sure, you could take a screenshot of the NFT, but the real value is the embedded code.)

Real Life Examples

To get the Creator coins, I needed to create a new account on Rally.io. Then I provided my ID to the conference presenters. They popped some coins into my account. Now, every week, Rally adds to my account based on my total portfolio. I’m able to trade those $RLY coins for other Creator coins. (Let’s be honest – I only had a fraction of a Rally coin to trade for a fraction of a different Creator coin!) What I like about Rally gifting me additional tokens is that I’m able to experiment with the platform in a risk-free way. I can see how easy it is to trade one Creator coin for another. (The image shows my current Rally portfolio.)

To get the NFT, I need to download several apps on my phone and create accounts in each. I’m still going through the privacy policies to see if it’s worth it for me to do. (You look at the privacy disclosures before you download a new app too, right?)

How can digital coins be used by normal people?

Living in Nederland, birthplace of more great bands than you would think possible, it was natural that my mind went to the music community. Right now, for bands to have their music heard, they need to be on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, or another digital music platform. They get pennies each time some plays one of their songs. Pennies! So far, I’ve only been able to find one band on the Rally platform. ($PTM Portugal The Man) If you buy one of their Creator coins, you’ve got access to their whole library, and you’re contributing directly to the Creator economy, not funding big corporations. I encourage all my musician friends to investigate how Creator Coins could benefit them.

Conclusion. I think it will take a while to catch on, but I’m looking forward to the day when artists, musicians, and other creators can earn a living from their craft and not have to supplement it with barista-ing, roofing, landscaping, or house painting side gigs that pay the bills.

For more information, check out https://triple-a.io/crypto-ownershipusa/ or https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/crypto/the-best-bitcoin-and-crypto-wallets/.

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