Shaan explains the BitClout creator coin model using Sam as an example: early believers can invest in a creator’s rise, profiting as the creator grows while giving fans real skin in the game. Sam and Shaan discuss how the financial incentive creates positive, supportive discourse — alignment through ownership rather than just following.
Speakers: Shaan Puri (host), Sam Parr (host)
Creator Coins and Betting on People Early [00:00:00]
Shaan: Someone like Sam — I see his videos and I think, “These are great videos. He’s only getting a couple thousand views right now.” What this world would let me do is be an early believer. I can bet on Sam. I can say, “I like this guy’s content, I think he’s going to blow up,” and I can vote for his success.
I can buy his coin, which gives him money to make better content. It gives him a boost of morale to keep going. But it also lets me go on the ride with him.
We’ve all been there — you discover a band early, or a brand early, or an influencer early, and you believe in them. And then you’re so right. They actually do take off. They never knew you, they never had a real relationship with you, and you didn’t benefit from it.
If you knew Kim Kardashian back when she was just Paris Hilton’s closet organizer and you thought she was great — you missed out on the ride. This lets your true fans go on the ride with you. It turns your fans into shareholders.
Sam: Oh bro, I study this stuff. Kim Kardashian — where did this come from? I have to know, I must know.
Shaan: And sure enough, there’s a story. So, Sam gets that cash. Sam uses it to make a cooler video. When Sam makes that video and gets more followers, new people have to buy in at a higher price point than I did — because now Sam’s more established. So my stake is going up.
I’m earning instead of just following. I own instead of just following, which is the way the world works today with Twitter and Instagram. You just follow, you don’t earn.
Furthermore, Sam could say, “How do I make my coin really valuable to hold? What if I only-fans it — I’m going to do some exclusive stuff with only my coin holders who hold over 100 of my coins.” It’s up to him to decide if he wants to make his coin more enticing to hold, which will make my stake go up even more.
If I know Sam’s the kind of guy who connects with his fans, who puts in the effort — that’s going to make those coins more valuable.
So it takes this idea that’s been around for a long time — the Thousand True Fans — the thing every artist knows, that they need those real believers. And it turns them into people who actually benefit from your rise.
That’s what I think will come of this. Aside from destroying Facebook and all that good stuff — it’ll make being a taste-maker and a curator basically a job. You can actually get paid for having good taste, for believing in somebody early on. Which is the way things should be, I think.
Sam Responds and Adds a Layer [00:04:00]
Sam: Yeah, Shaan — how are you better at explaining this than me?
Shaan: I’m not offended, but — that’s awesome. Well, dude, when I first shouted out BitClout, I got a lot of pushback. So I had to come up with a reason that I liked it besides “I think this is going to make a lot of money for me.” So I started thinking about what the actual appeal is.
Sam: I hate to defend myself for doing something — but yeah, that’s true.
Shaan: I remember.
Sam: But yeah, Shaan, to add to what you said — what’s really interesting is there’s actually never been a way to invest in someone when they’re small and make money on their rise this easily, this efficiently.
And there’s actually another interesting layer on it. Once you invest in someone, your bias is to be supportive. Your bias is, “I want this guy to succeed, I want this person to be something.” You can align in a way that you can’t really do without that mechanism. Being able to buy into someone creates an incentive that doesn’t otherwise exist.
What’s crazy is that even on BitClout — BitCloud, Diamond, all these apps — there’s actually very positive discourse. A lot of it. Even though there’s less moderation than traditional social media. And I think the reason is basically: you’re investing in people. You’re going long.
When you give people the ability to move money around, people naturally go long. And when they go long, they get aligned and want to support you.
Weirdly enough, people say money is the root of all evil. Money is bad. And I think that’s part of why people reacted weirdly to BitClout — “oh, money, prices, whatever.” But if you look past that for two seconds, you’ll see it’s actually being used as an alignment tool that’s making a lot of positive things happen that haven’t happened anywhere else.