The Block Announces Participation in Web3 Paywall Experiment

NEW YORK, Aug. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Block, an information services company dedicated to digital assets, today announced its participation in Access Protocol, a web3 alternative paywall developed by the Access Foundation. The Block will be the first to integrate the protocol for a portion of its news at www.theblock.co.

The launch of Access Protocol addresses mounting web2 friction points in media for both content creators and consumers. Creators are plagued by increased reliance on individual subscriptions, limited distribution, and reduced content quality while consumers struggle with frustrating sign-up and cancellation processes. Access Protocol aims to improve monetization and distribution for creators and enhance consumers' content accessibility and user experience.

"At The Block, we've long thought the size of media, info services, and creator businesses do not reflect their societal impact or value. Some creators generate tens of millions of monthly readers, yet fail to achieve the financial metrics or valuations proportionate to their influence," said Mike McCaffrey, CEO of The Block.

The Block has provided crypto news, research, and data for more than four years and as a result, has a unique perspective on the plight of content creators. "We're excited to leverage our own experience and experiment with the Access Protocol. Web2 frictions - familiar to many - could be seamlessly alleviated by a web3 enabled solution," said McCaffrey. "It's an opportunity to be on the frontier of innovating with evolving technology in support of a healthier, more vibrant media and creator ecosystem."

Access Protocol is expected to go live on www.theblock.co in Q4 of 2022. Interested participants will be able to access content through The Block's website by connecting their crypto wallet and staking Access's ACS tokens.

For further information, contact press@theblock.co.

The Block is an information services company empowering smart decisions for those who invest in, work with, make decisions about or seek to understand digital assets. For industry news visit us at www.theblock.co or for research and analysis on events shaping the ecosystem, visit www.theblockresearch.com

SOURCE The Block