Igor Tomic spends all day with his clients (that is, his Telegram group). He is extremely enthusiastic about what he does, and patiently aswers his users’ questions.

But the questions usually come down to this, “Do I really get free crypto just by reading articles on Publish0x?”

In fact, Publish0x is a blogging platform similar to Medium.com where readers and authors both receive crypto. 

Readers have the option to give “tips” several times a day to the authors of any article they read. The tip is split between the tipper and the authors, and the tipper can even decide what percentage of the tip they receive. 

Tomic sat down with BeInCrypto to discuss how he keeps tipping free and what a blockchain-based blogging platform can achieve.

How free tipping works

BeInCrypto: What crypto blockchains or tokens do you support? Do you have your own token?

Igor Tomic (IT): Unlike many projects that are related to the cryptocurrency industry, we do not have our own token, and no plans of making one. Instead, we integrate with other popular tokens. Right now one can earn ETH, BAT, and AMPL; the tokens users earn do occasionally change (I believe we’ve had seven different tokens in the lifetime of the platform, since Q4 2018).

BeInCrypto: Tell us how you are able to support free tipping, and users tipping themselves?

IT: We are a self-funded project with big goals. The way we see it, we are sponsoring our own growth, and have planned to do so long term. (Editor’s note: Publish0x is funded by BigBird.VC, which invests in different blockchain tokens.)

That is not to say that there isn’t any revenue, as there is.

Publish0x is a unique opportunity for any blockchain project to gain exposure to our audience of now over 210,000 accounts, all of whom have wallets, and have at the very least a cursory understanding of crypto.

The beauty of blockchain is that we can prove how we pay. To date, if by current prices, we have given out more than $425,000 worth of crypto.

Attracting a new audience

BeInCrypto: How do you keep users coming to Publish0x?

IT: The most unique way a crypto and blockchain-based project can do this is by sponsoring the tipper. This way, your project is integrated as the tipping token on Publish0x, and is distributed to our entire user base. With this, users receive your token, and are incentivized to learn more about the project and the token.

We organize incentivized AMAs and incentivized writing contests where a new audience is incentivized to learn and write about the project, creating more awareness and buzz.

BeInCrypto: If users are only getting tips, how do you incentivize writers to publish on your platform?

IT: We incentivize authors in two main ways.

Writers can earn crypto for publishing or republishing their work on Publish0x.com.

Authors who publish articles on Publish0x get exposure to a new audience. For some authors, they enjoy the interaction via comments. For others, they are the happiest when their articles get thousands of views.

BeInCrypto: Do you think traditional magazines are going to move to a platform like this? What might that look like?

IT: We want to make it easy for magazines, publications, and individuals to do just that!

As for getting people outside of the blockchain to use a platform like this, I think this is a gradual process. We’ve started by favoring authors who publish articles about crypto, and are slowly branching out and also incentivizing authors to write about the economy and business.

Authors who write about crypto have the best chance for their post to make it to the homepage, a place where their posts get the most exposure and earnings.

BeInCrypto: Have you thought much about hosting creative work?

IT: Other than publishing written posts, which can be creative work on their own, we do have artists publishing their images, pictures, music, and videos. Though I have to admit that we can do a lot more to help them get their work seen more easily, I do think that this is an area that we need to work on in the future. 

BeInCrypto: Has Publish0x thought about doing something with NFTs for certain articles?

IT: I love NFTs, and think that this space will explode and go mainstream. We are definitely thinking of doing something with NFTs, but our discussion around this is still in early phase.

BeInCrypto: How are you keeping content free?

IT: We don’t have any plans to charge for content.

One idea we do have, is to allow authors to put a paywall before anyone can read their content. This is another idea that is still in its infancy, and if we do implement it, it won’t be soon. But we do not have any plans to charge for content ourselves.

Growth in 2020, and the future

BeInCrypto: What kind of growth have you seen in 2020?

IT: We’ve seen a lot of growth in 2020. The main highlights for me are that:

• Our user base has grown by over six times, in 2020, compared to 2019, and now numbers at over 210,000 registered accounts.
• Our traffic, according to Google Analytics, has grown by over five times, in 2020.
• Our users have tipped articles almost ten times more, in 2020, when compared to 2019. By December 2019, a total of one million tips were tipped to posts. Today, users give over one million tips to posts each month!

BeInCrypto: What are your predictions for crypto in general in 2021?

IT: I think it’s hard not to be super optimistic, given the way the year started for bitcoin, ethereum, and many other projects.

The things that I am most curious to see develop further are DeFi projects, NFTs, and blockchain-based video games. I think these will all be hot topics in 2021.

As for crypto market regulation, without a doubt, it’s I’m of two minds about.

Overall, I do think that 2021 will be a year of crypto and that the industry will get significantly more coverage and recognition by the mainstream than it ever did before.

BeInCrypto: Thank you, Igor.