Creativity is our unique human skill. As technology eats traditional jobs, people search for meaning and stability. The answer is creativity - it is innate, infinitely renewable, and the path to fulfillment, freedom, and life's work.

Motivated by both expression and opportunity, Gen Z's dream job isn't doctor or lawyer - it's creator. Every CEO is a creator now. Every company runs like a media company.

The creator economy isn't coming. It's here. It is the economy.

But there's a massive problem.

It’s never been a better time to be a creator, but few succeed at scale. AI democratizes content creation - anyone can now produce studio-quality work with just an iPhone and wifi. Social media democratizes distribution - anyone can go viral and build an audience.

Gen Z is flocking to content creation because they see the winners from Kim Kardashian to Kai Cenat. The opportunity is real and visible.

But the math tells a different story:

• Only 4% of creators earn over $100K/year

• 66% rely solely on brand deals for revenue, which are inconsistent

• Geography kills opportunity: in low-CPM countries, creators earn pennies - if they’re paid at all

Meanwhile, trillion-dollar platforms like Meta, TikTok, and YouTube take the lion’s share of revenue. The value is there, it's just flowing to the wrong places.

But creators are waking up.

Creators now understand they need to take matters into their own hands and build brands and businesses that exist beyond major social platforms. They see the value they drive for other peoples' businesses through brand deals and sponsorships, and are asking the logical question "why don't I do this myself?". They recognize their most loyal community members are their most valuable potential customers.

The “ownership era” of the creator economy is upon us. An entire generation of people who grew up with the internet are now building the next generation of brands and businesses, with distribution baked in.

But as creators transition from content makers to business owners, they face three unique challenges that traditional businesses don't:

1. Creators can't directly capture the value of their core product - their posts and profiles

2. Creators don't know who their audiences and communities are due to data fragmentation and restrictions by platforms

3. Creators don't have access to capital because banks don't understand creator economics

Imagine running any other business like this: you make pennies on the dollar from your main product, you have zero visibility into your customer base, and no one will give you a loan. Simply put, the traditional economy wasn't built for creators.

But the onchain economy is: built on blockchains, powered by cryptocurrencies, and designed with ownership baked in, blockchain turns creativity itself into a path to real economic independence for millions. That’s why the creator economy and the onchain economy are converging.

Here's how blockchain directly addresses the three biggest problems creators face in the ownership era:

How much is MrBeast's YouTube account worth? What about Lionel Messi's iconic World Cup Instagram post? Creators build social capital - the attention, influence, and community they've earned - through their profiles and posts. That social capital clearly valuable, driving billions of views and platform ad revenue. But its precise value is unknown. And without a way to price it, creators can’t capture it.

A creator can’t walk into the NYSE and say “list me!” But they can tokenize (“coin”) their social capital by turning profiles and posts into tradable assets. Markets then discover the price through buying and selling. Platforms like Zora and Base ensure creators capture this value directly: they own a significant share of their tokens and earn fees every time someone trades. On Zora alone, $353M in creator and content coin trading volume has put over $27M directly into creators' pockets.

Followers, likes, and views signal attention. Onchain, creator coin market caps price that attention.

Which of Kim Kardashian's Instagram followers actually buy her products? How many of Taylor Swift's biggest fans follow her across every platform? Creators build communities across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Spotify, live shows, etc. - but they’re flying blind on who their most valuable supporters are.

The data exists but it's fragmented and locked away. Each platform hoards its own slice of user behavior data, and what little they share can vanish anytime. Without a unified view, creators can’t see which fans drive the most value - and without that, they can’t build the customer relationships every business needs.

Onchain solves this through zkTLS proofs (“web proofs”) - technology that lets fans prove their actions across platforms without permission. A Taylor Swift fan can prove they've attended multiple Eras tour shows, streamed her music, and bought merch. For the first time, creators can bypass platforms and truly understand, analyze, and manage relationships with their communities, directly.

Combined with creator coins, creators can build loyalty programs with real stakes: they can reward superfans with ownership, turning followers into shareholders. Fandom shifts from consumption to investment as fans gain upside when their favorite creator succeeds.

Creators build followers across platforms. Onchain, they build shareholder value.

Does it make sense that a YouTuber with 500K subscribers earning $50K/month can't get a bank loan, while a failing restaurant can? The financial system wasn’t built for creators. Banks don’t recognize digital audiences as assets..

But the pieces for real creator finance are coming together. With market caps from tokenization, customer data from Web Proofs, and loyalty programs through creator coins, creators now have the fundamentals capital markets understand: value, customers, and growth.

Onchain connects these pieces. Companies like Insomnia Labs offer instant loans to YouTubers in stablecoins on Base. Slow Ventures raised a $60M Creator Fund. And when you combine creator loans with proven market caps, verified fan spend, and engaged coin-holding communities, creators unlock the full spectrum of finance - from quick loans to serious investment rounds.

Businesses need capital to grow. Onchain finally gives creators that access.

If the industrial economy was defined by the 9-to-5, the 21st century will be defined by the creative economy. As technology replaces traditional jobs, authentic human creativity becomes our most valuable resource - and being a creator becomes a common path to meaning, security, and independence.

But for that promise to be real, creators need to capture the value they create - not just generate it for platforms. Onchain helps them do exactly that: capture the value of their social capital, build direct relationships with audiences, and access the capital to grow. Solving these challenges makes creativity a viable path for millions of creators. Solving these problems is the focus of my work on the Base team.

Creativity is the next great asset class. The only question is how fast we build the future creators deserve.

-Bradley

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