I don't know if you have noticed or not, but there are plenty of, lets say "social media influencers", especially in the crypto twitter world that have created for themselves, and you, what they call "paid groups". Generally these are telegram groups and for the door of such a group to be opened for you, payments are required. Usually, in these cases, the payments are made through cryptocurrencies, since the crypto gurus are crypto enthusiast, and they kind of start from one ETH a month.

However, they're not the only ones "selling info for cash", and they are clearly not the inventors of such a practice, the giant media outlets have started all this, and some seem to live pretty well on that. Two examples of pretty big media outlets that I followed on twitter for a while, and allowed me to read their content for free on a specific time frame, are wired.com and The Financial Times.

I pretty much started following them at the same time and for my surprise, I got the curtain pulled between my thirsty eyes and their articles, at almost the same time. Lucky me... The message was clear, if I valued their articles and felt the need to continue reading them, I should pay some cash... I don't know exactly how much money they charge per month, to continue having access to their articles but didn't payed anything because I don't feel like paying for info on the internet.

The way I see it, the concept of internet, was created to offer free access to almost any info available on the web. Well, that "almost...", is the key to some cash locked doors. Doors that I refuse to open, and that I see having their days numbered. If I don't get it in here, I'll find it elsewhere, so there's no rush in paying such services.

You know, sometimes when I observe Steem and other cryptocurrencies that are used as rewarding tokens, one such example being BAT(Basic Attention Token), I am simply amazed of the potential of this internet of the future that we are currently experiencing. Think at the above mentioned paid monthly subscriptions as "the classic newspapers" that our old ones used to read every day, in the morning, and have had monthly installments for receiving them every day. How many people do you know still doing this? Paying for daily newspapers...

Not too many I guess. Well, that's what's going to happen with these media outlets that still have monthly paying subscriptions, in about a decade or so. Platforms like Steem, where one can share his/her content and get rewarded for that, are not a novelty anymore, but they're somehow retail oriented. I don't know any well established news outlet posting in here...

But, what about Brave's registered publishers that can receive rewarding tokens for their work via tips in the browser? How cool, easy to use, and futuristic is that? To pay for your newspaper with internet money, at the click of a tinny mouse, and why not, even use tokens that you have earned by yourself through your private attention, and self approval for such payments. If you didn't know, on Brave, in some countries you can earn BAT, which is Brave's native token, by watching adds.

Advertisers pay for their in-browser adds, you get your share of that BAT being paid by advertisers, by watching them, and then you can redirect a small portion of it towards your favorite publishers, that have previously being approved and verified by Brave, and tip them to have access to their content, instead of paying monthly subscriptions. You don't even have to pay out of your own pocket. It's free internet money that will make the world spin, and pay you your online news outlets.

Now, one could say: pay that damn monthly subscription and stop dreaming! I am not dreaming though, I am instead, and that happens quite rarely, looking into the future. A future that becomes real as we speak. I have mentioned only two tokens through which content creators can earn, instead of relying on monthly subscriptions, but probably there are more, of which I am not currently aware, and many more will come on the way.

The internet, as we know it, is highly advanced of what it was fifteen years ago, but imagine where it will be fifteen years from now. Yes, the truth is, that Steem for example is a 16 cents token and BAT is valued at a cent over twenty, but history has proven that crypto prices, despite ups and downs, are on an upward trend ever since Bitcoin came out of Craig wright's laptop :). For the moment, even if wired.com or The Financial Times, would become verified publishers, the tips they would earn will not cover their expenses for sure. Profits? No need of even thinking of that.

That's just temporary though, same as Bitcoin was at $3. Now look at it, where it is at, and what waits for it ahead. Sooner than later, payments and earning a living will change drastically, through the use of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and hopefully for the better. Such media outlets won't even need headquarters anymore or employees. It will all be online, with content creators all around the world providing for them, and getting their share from the tips, eliminating the need for offices, employees and monthly clients. Even accountants might need to rebrand...

As I mentioned above, at the current prices, such a scenario is almost impossible, but definitely valid for becoming reality in a decade or so. Once such cryptos will appreciate more and more in price, will be used at a large scale, and won't depreciate massively anymore, after boom and bust cycles, everything will be possible. Wired could live without needing a monthly paid subscription from tens of thousands of users, you and me can become content providers, both of the parties make a living, and everybody's happy.

The way I see it, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, will not only disrupt financial systems, banking sectors, possibly governments as well, or the classic centralized social media. They will penetrate through many more seemingly impenetrable walls. First you have to dig those walls in your mind, to be able to comprehend what crypto can change in the world, and why smart money are stacking. Vision is a must in this industry. So, yeah, paid subscriptions might be "the next victim" of crypto. Watch out for crypto!

Thanks for attention,

Adrian