Since the platform’s launch, the Bitcoin Cash-centric blogging site read.cash has gathered a lot of traction. The website’s user base publishes interesting content and new material on a daily basis with the most popular authors gathering tips in bitcoin cash for their work.
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Read.cash Blogging Platform Leverages Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash
About a month ago, news.Bitcoin.com reported on two blogging websites that reward users in crypto for producing content. One of the platforms featured was read.cash and ever since that initial report, the application’s user base has grown significantly. The creator of read.cash explains in the About section that the site allows users to publish content (text, images, videos) with the ability to earn BCH if people enjoy the work produced. “If a reader likes your content – he or she can upvote your post by sending some amount of bitcoin cash (BCH) to your online wallet,” the website’s creator notes.
The website’s posts are stored in a traditional database, but the system uses onchain transactions for peer-to-peer upvote payments. “These are done on-chain and censorship-resistant,” the read.cash website details. While perusing the read.cash front page or main news feed, there is a number of blog posts from unique authors covering a variety of subjects. There’s also a bunch of well known BCH proponents who utilize the read.cash blogging site.
How to Use Read.cash
Signing up for read.cash is fairly intuitive and takes only a few minutes to get started. The first thing the website does after you press the ‘register’ tab on the top right side of the screen is give you a simple rules disclosure notice. Essentially the owners of read.cash will not tolerate pornography, or “anything hate-filled, name-calling, trash-talking, personal attacks or insults.” If you accept this agreement, then you are brought to the registration window which asks you to enter a valid email address and give yourself a read.cash username. You can also quickly register with a Cash ID and Badger wallet in order to skip giving the website an email address.
After signing up, the platform gives you a welcome message and the next screen gives you a 12-word seed phrase for the read.cash native BCH wallet. Read.cash highly recommends that you write down the seed phrase as you would with any other noncustodial wallet. The website also stresses that it doesn’t recommend storing more than $10-20 on the platform. From here, read.cash gives you the BCH address tethered to your account and you can begin using the site.
If you want to write a post using read.cash, in the top middle section of the website there is a ‘write’ tab, which brings you to a page that allows you to format a post. You are asked to add a title and there’s a section for you to draft the body of an editorial. Read.cash allows you to also add a header image and there’s a help page that teaches users how to format subheadings, italics, bold text, clipboard support, embedding images, creating lists, embedding videos (Youtube and Vimeo), code markups and blocks, blockquotes, and more. The step-by-step guide explains how to save the work and publish the post to the main read.cash feed when the draft is finalized.
If you hover your mouse over the username on the top right, it will show you a dropdown menu which shows your articles, saved drafts, affiliates, sponsorships, and full access to the native wallet. With the read.cash native wallet you can send funds to another wallet, deposit BCH, and back up your seed phrase again if you lost it. Read.cash also allows you to tether a unique image to your profile picture, write a bio, and tie a few website links to your profile.
Future Enhancements and One-Time QR Codes
The read.cash platform has published a roadmap, which displays a list of objectives the website’s developer plans to add in the future. In no particular order, the read.cash blogging site hopes to add a section for communities, email notifications, user mentions, and more. A large portion of the roadmap’s goals have been completed and the list shows all the tasks that have been checked off. So far, using the website is easy to get used to, especially if you are already familiar with other social media applications and forums.
There’s a great number of posts published on the read.cash platform and if you like a particular author’s content you can give them some BCH at the bottom of each post. In order to upvote the content and give the author BCH, simply press the button that says “encourage the author to write more.” You need to have BCH in your native read.cash wallet to tip the writer, but if you haven’t deposited funds you can opt to use a one-time QR code invoice. Read.cash users can also share content with sites like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Pinterest. If you want to continue following an author’s work, you can subscribe to an individual writer’s feed.
A Giant Obstacle: Amplifying the Network Effect of Decentralized Social Media
Read.cash is promising, but like the slew of other blogging sites that leverage cryptocurrencies, it will need to continue attracting users. There have been many platforms that have attempted to create blogging and social media sites that integrate the benefits of censorship-resistant onchain transactions. However, they have all faced an enormous obstacle which is amplifying the network effect enough to outpace centralized incumbents.
Still, the use cases and platforms that leverage cryptocurrencies are still young and there’s a chance that any one of them could potentially gain ground on a social media giant. Especially when the platform is powered by the overall user base and it rewards users for providing good content. Such platforms look nothing like the centralized blogging sites today that censor people while reaping 100% of the benefits produced by popular content creators. The hope is that someday, applications like memo.cash, read.cash, and other crypto powered solutions will break the mold.
What do you think about the read.cash blogging platform? Have you tried a platform that leverages cryptocurrencies and content sharing? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any ideas, concepts, content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
Image credits: Shutterstock, read.cash, and Jamie Redman.
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