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Facebook rival in Latin America, Taringa!, announced that it would be offering bitcoin payments in exchange for content to be posted on the social media platform. The social network has roughly 75 million active users and is expanding its market reach in the region.
This project combines an ad revenue-sharing model similar to that of YouTube and its owners decided to give incentives to those who share content. The system was developed in partnership with Xapo, a Palo Alto, California-based bitcoin wallet and custodial service provider.
Bitcoin Payments for Posts
According to Taringa! co-founder Hernán Botbol, the company had planned on introducing a revenue-sharing model. This way, they can add to the existing, non-financial incentive system that encourages popular content and help his firm achieve rapid network growth.
However, the main challenge they encountered was Latin America’s horrendous financial system that made it difficult to build funding. In offering bitcoin payments to users, they can be able to boost online sharing while having more content available on their platform.
“We have had this on our mind, mainly because we think we can bring more people to create great content and also because we think that it’s fair, given that all this that we have is just because our users are creating the content,” Mr. Botbol explained. “But we never were able to do that because the infrastructure is horrendous – even if you send someone a check, they don’t know what to do with that.”
With their partnership with Xapo, Taringa! can allow users to share their bitcoin payments with the community. They can be able to send tips to one another, with Taringa! facilitating the transfers. As for Xapo, this deal is part of their plan to tap into the emerging markets. According to Xapo CEO Wences Casares, there are plenty of fresh opportunities in the developing world where people use bitcoin payments to spend online.
