Thread by @YellowLabLife, We need to talk about cancel/de-platforming culture & how this is super [...]

We need to talk about cancel/de-platforming culture & how this is super bullish for cryptocurrency

Let's talk about PornHub...which has had a very interesting last couple weeks

To be clear, this is not to express a view on the serious issues presented by the NYT article

1/n

First the timeline:
So in light of the NYT article and public pressure, the credit card companies severed their relationship with PornHub

PornHub response, remove ~80% of their library, which is a massive hit to their network effects/product

So let's review where we are now 2/n

Well...let's do some fun due diligence...turns out PornHub is still unable to accept credit cards, but they are accepting cryptocurrencies (14 to be exact). Which is the logical alternative if you are canceled/de-platformed as a business...it's the 21st century cash 3/n

And that 80% of the library that was removed? It's still removed.

So first a comment on cancel culture: if you tell a business to change or be canceled & they change, then you should not cancel them right?

4/n

Second: setting aside the adjusted value proposition (80% less content), the koala would be so curious to see how revenue / subscriptions trend if this crypto only payment option persists

5/n

If its flat/only marginally down, crypto just became validated as a way to circumnavigate cancel culture, de-platforming & the US dollar financial system

A real time case study on crypto in a mainstream vice industry, which is very different from an outright illegal industry 6/n

This would open up interesting ripple effects

1st the ability to repudiate cancel culture pressure not directly from your consumers while retaining a business
2nd alternative source of financing if de-platformed from banks
3rd disruption of credit cards & payments systems

7/n

This means PornHub could theoretically restore a significant majority of its "forgone" content without material business risk. Which would restore network effects/value proposition, likely improving the business trends (bet PH brand awareness is up month on month)

8/n

So if koala ran a company like Visa or Mastercard, I would be restoring PornHub ASAP in order to prevent this case study actually happening.

B/c if it proved out, my valuation multiple could come under question by investors. Not such an unregulated monopoly anymore? 9/n

This would add to further crypto adoption (strengthening cypto prices), eviscerate the payments pseudo-monopoly & neuters the cancel culture movement from having real bottom line impacts on its targets.

Crypto is a solution to "a problem" well now we have a real case study 10/n

Now unsurprisingly, PornHub is owned by a private company. But if we start to see PH content quantity recover robustly, or ever get to see the subscription metric trends, we will have seen a clear validation of the crypto use case.

11/n

That has the koala wondering if there is going to be a moment in the next 6-12 months where the payments industry like Visa/Mastercard etc. could be a short as empirical data shows the crypto ecosystem is a real growing viable alternative even for mainstream payments 12/n

Now having address ripple effect 1 & 3, let's consider ripple effect 2. Alternative finance for someone or a business de-platformed from the financial system. 13/n

If the koala can't borrow money from a bank (apparently the whole being a koala thing is a credit issue), why couldn't the koala borrow in bitcoin from other bitcoin users or issue a bitcoin bond? How is that any different from an EM nation issuing a US dollar bond? 14/n

What do you know, the koala now can finance his many exciting permitted coal projects around the world. Despite cancel culture making the koala unbankable.

So why does the koala bring this all up? 15/n

Because we are finally observing a real test case, with one of the most visited websites on the internet, in an industry that is definitely a vice, but undeniably mainstream...to see if crypto has indisputably made it after ~10 years.
16/n

If crypto passes the test, and PH survives or even thrives (wait, no weird line on the credit card statement anymore...) in a crypto only payment world, that empirical data will only accelerate crypto adoption & then the investor need to allocate to the asset class (FOMO) 17/n

Again, if the koala was on the board of Mastercard or Visa, I'd get PH re-platformed ASAP before we find out whether or not those companies are actually necessary to do business on the internet. Valuation multiples once de-rated are really hard to get back 18/n

To be clear, the ability to rebuff cancel culture pressures would not apply even with crypto if your actual customers boycotted. But it does apply to what the koala will call "indirect/societal" pressure 19/n

If there is a pushback to the logic or thought process laid out here, would love to hear it.

Again, what koala is focused on is the situation as it stands post-NYT article, not about the content of the NYT article itself. So stay on the focused topic with your thoughts

20/20

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