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by Hannah Manton, Social Media Manager
What about Cryptocurrency?
The relevance and reliability of cryptocurrency in recent years has grown exponentially. A decentralised digital way to invest, save and spend money, that isn’t controlled by a government or one single person. The digital wallet only exists online, but if you want to convert to cash to buy physical products, you can use a broker to sell your currency. That being said, the most well-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, can be exchanged for services with Microsoft, Shopify and Twitch.
Shopify integrates with TikTok
Shopify is an eCommerce platform that helps businesses, small and big, to develop their own website with a user-friendly interface. When selling B2B, Shopify already allows brands to pay for their platform with cryptocurrency. TikTok, a trend-led video content platform rose to its biggest user base during the pandemic, and now has over a billion users. Initially not a social shopping app, TikTok has recently integrated with Shopify to enable users to shop within the app. This was only previously available through paid ads.
So what’s next?
Since 90.71% of global mobile internet users are active on social media, a digital-only space that is now a natural place to shop is it too much of a jump to assume those users will begin to want to shop with their digital-only wallet. Well no. But for that to work, we need a social media platform that is also decentralized.
What does this mean for creators?
In this model, creators are rewarded by the app with cryptocurrency based on the engagement they drive. This is clearly similar to the brand and influencer relationship but comes from the app itself. The more users and engagement the app has, the higher its value, and therefore the more they want to keep these high achievers on the app. But will we ever move to a model where brands are collaborating with influencers and paying them in tokens? Platform IndaHash are an influencer marketing platform that have created the IndaHash coin. Their website states that their “mission is to tokenize the entire influencer industry to solve major issues between brands, influencers, and their audiences.”
At the moment, it’s smaller apps and tech startups that are backing the use of cryptocurrency as influencer payments, but will social media giants like Instagram and Facebook ever accept cryptocurrency as payment? Our guess, probably not. But as it’s popularity grows, and big businesses get on board, it is a real possibility.