The creator economy is undergoing a seismic shift. For years, platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok dominated the space — offering creators distribution and tools while taking the lion’s share of the value. Creators built audiences, fueled platform growth, and drove culture forward, but the rewards rarely matched the impact.

Now, a new paradigm is emerging — one where creators don’t just rent space on platforms but actually own their content, their communities, and their economics. It’s called the onchain creator economy, and it’s the focus of our new weekly show: Creator Fi.

Hosted every Tuesday on the Build on Base account, Creator Fi is designed to be a resource for both creators and traders. It’s where the creator economy meets finance — a place to explore the tools, trends, and alpha shaping this new frontier.

At Good News Studio, we’ve been building on Base and creating content around this ecosystem for the past few years. Before we went onchain, our team produced events, festivals, and courses for over 8,000 creators across the U.S. We’ve seen firsthand how broken the old system was, and we couldn’t be more bullish about what’s happening now. Creator Fi is our way of helping others navigate this opportunity before the rest of the world catches up.

The definition of “creator” has changed dramatically over the past decade. Once reserved for artists and makers, the word has expanded to include influencers, YouTubers, TikTok stars, educators, meme-makers — anyone shaping culture online. If you create content in any medium and share it with the world, you’re a creator.

And the influence of creators today rivals that of traditional celebrities. MrBeast has more reach than major Hollywood studios. Charli D’Amelio built a global brand from TikTok dances. Logan Paul and KSI turned internet clout into a billion-dollar beverage empire. Emma Chamberlain went from vlogs to the Met Gala. The world has woken up to the fact that creators are cultural powerhouses.

TIME underscored this shift by launching its first-ever TIME100 Creators List, putting influencers and streamers alongside the most influential cultural figures alive.

But even with the recognition, the old model remains flawed. Platforms take the profits, while creators fight for scraps. Data is harvested, algorithms dictate reach, and the value creators generate rarely flows back to them.

That’s where SocialFi and decentralized tools change the game. Built on blockchain rails, they let creators:

• Take their audiences with them if they leave a platform.

• Earn directly from their content through coins, royalties, and rewards.

• Experiment with new forms of community-driven monetization.

We’ve lived this shift ourselves. In 2020, we produced a Top 100 podcast that reached #1 in Apple’s Art category, generating hundreds of thousands of listeners — but zero direct revenue. This year, we launched a podcast exclusively onchain with Pods.media. In three months, it earned over 4 ETH. That’s the new paradigm — and we’re only getting started.

Creator Fi’s first episode kicked off during what may have been the busiest day in creator news yet:

• Coinbase & Cobie’s $25M NFT: In a wild turn, Coinbase bought an NFT that contractually obligates Cobie and Ledger to revive their UpOnly podcast for eight episodes. A joke mint became a multimillion-dollar onchain content deal — proof of how smart contracts can reshape media.

• ThreadGuy & Polymarket: ThreadGuy, one of the most influential onchain creators, announced Polymarket as his final partner for CounterpartyTV. He called prediction markets “the new news” and positioned himself as a top-of-funnel for entertainment finance. It was less about sponsorship, more about ecosystem-building.

• Creator Coins on Base: With Zora integration and new tools inside Base App, creators can now launch tokens with fair models that split value between creators and communities. As Jesse Pollak explained, it’s not just about mechanics — it’s a philosophy: this time, the creator economy belongs to creators, not platforms.

The show also featured a guest spotlight on Nikki from Miami, the very first creator to launch a coin on Base App. Nikki shared her honest journey — from unexpected international support to imposter syndrome — and inspired a wave of creators to follow.

The message from Creator Fi’s debut was clear: the creator economy isn’t just evolving, it’s being rebuilt onchain.

From multimillion-dollar smart contract podcasts to meme-fueled micro-economies, from equitable creator coins to pioneering builders like Nikki, the landscape is expanding quickly. And for creators and traders alike, the opportunities are just beginning.

As we closed out episode one: “The creator economy isn’t just evolving — it’s being rebuilt onchain, right here on Base. And yes, you are still early.”

Creator Fi streams live every Tuesday. If you’re ready to cut through the noise, discover the tools, and cook in the new economy, this is where to start.

Check out Episode 1 here: