Rokfin: Crypto Challenges
Even when things are working fine, there were big challenges for creators cashing out.
UPDATE (Sept 17, 2pm ET): I’ve heard from multiple creators that they received RAE into their wallet beginning last night, with no further explanation from Rokfin beyond the one we received below. My channel has not been paid out yet.
Intro
This is a companion piece to Rokfin, Video Publishing Platform: Financial Trouble? describing some of the challenges experienced getting paid out via the Rokfin video streaming platform. There is a second companion piece detailing the technical issues with the platform, which you can find here.
The past several years, we’ve seen YouTube, the dominant video platform, censor and demonetize creators who are critical of the US Government’s policies on COVID, January 6, Election Integrity, Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine and a host of other topics. That sent those censored & demonetized creators looking for alternative places to livestream and build an audience.
One of the safe havens that’s served as an ad-free home for the censored and controversial has been Rokfin, a crypto-based video platform built to cater specifically to a couple of niches (amateur wrestling and the censored, “free thinkers”).
Red Flags: No Payments to Creators for August, 2024
Crypto-based video platform Rokfin has not paid out its creators since the end of August, an alarming sign, to say the least. I have spoken with over a dozen creators, and none have indicated that they’ve been paid since August 23.
Rokfin advised late on Sept. 12 that “the Mints & Tips haven’t been sent out yet, but they will be processed in the next few days. We’re currently in the process of streamlining this responsibility to ensure more efficient handling going forward.” As of 2pm ET on September 16, no payments have been received.
Why hasn't any communication been sent to Rokfin creators about the delay in payout since the 1st of September? With an explanation?
I just noticed their monthly emails, notifying how much the channel earned in tips and viewing time, stopped coming in January 2024.
Rokfin has provided no explanation about the holdup in distributing the value of money that was contributed by viewers and for livestream viewing, earned in FIAT currency and available to Rokfin immediately, as far back as AUGUST 1ST.
I was always unsure of the crypto element (tokenizing videos? ok), but I wasn’t looking too closely at that early on. I thought the idea could possibly have merit, believed in what the company was doing with the platform as an ad-free alternative to YouTube. I saw the RAE (Receive Access Ecosystem) token as a VERY SMALL investment potentially (if the token was truly limited), to put profits back into growing the channel. At one point in early 2022, I actually bought out all the RAE from one creator who didn’t want to deal with it.
Red Flags: Headcount Reduced?
Another reason to be concerned is that the company appears to now be down to just 2 senior executives, CEO Martin Floreani and Creator Acquisition & Stream Manager Matt Williams.
Former VP of Product Jaime Brugueras, I am unsure if VP of Operations Scott Augustine & marketing guru Nickolas Veliquette still work there. A recent auto-reply to my email advised that there are only 2 people to contact beyond a generic “support” address.
Challenges Technologically - Streaming, Chat and Apps
Rokfin has always been challenging from a technological standpoint. To learn more about the technical challenges of the platform, CLICK HERE.
Creator Challenges Getting Paid Out
Creators get paid in Rokfin’s proprietary RAE crypto tokens for:
“Tips” contributed directly by viewers,
The time people viewed their content, and
All the time that premium subscribers subscribed to that channel viewed anything on the platform.
Premium Subscriptions / Paywalling Content
Rokfin’s business model is different. A monthly premium user subscription of $14.99/mo (previously $9.99/mo) unlocks ALL the premium content on the platform - for ALL creators.
Premium content can only be viewed by premium subscribers of any channel on the platform. Each creator decides which, if any, content of theirs is paywalled as “premium.”
By default, each livestream and video uploaded is set as “premium” and the creator must manually change it to “free” when creating their title/description and uploading their thumbnail if they want to bypass the premium paywall.
While non-paywalled content can be viewed by anyone, Rokfin has done a subpar job of communicating that publicly. For a long time, the platform required anyone who wanted to even view a video to register on the platform first! Thankfully, they changed that, but a lot of people got a bad first impression and vowed never to use it again.
In order to participate in chat or leave a comment, viewers must first register free with an email address and set up a profile.
Tips: FIAT Currency Goes In, RAE Goes to the Creator
Viewers can and fans leave a “Tip” in FIAT currency using a credit card during or after a livestream, which Rokfin then pays the creator in their proprietary crypto RAE token, after taking a 28% fee off the top, at the equivalent market value of RAE (currently the price is around USD$1.10/token).
Rokfin Never REALLY Embraced Widespread Adoption of the RAE Token
If they did, I would not be able to ask these pertinent questions:
Why couldn’t the creators with RAE in our wallets couldn’t use that to Tip other creators in RAE on the platform?
How come Rokfin never made it easy for the general public to buy RAE tokens in advance and tip their creators directly in RAE?
Why didn’t Rokfin spend any time educating their creators about the token, how it could be more widely used/ easily converted, ensuring that creators could transact more with it, gaining more support for it?
Converting RAE into Usable Cash
In order to get paid out into currency that can be transacted, one must first
receive their RAE tokens from Rokfin in a 3rd party crypto wallet (Coinbase Wallet or MetaMask)
convert the RAE tokens into USDT (or other crypto which can be transacted) using UniSwap within your MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet
THEN convert the USDT back into FIAT currency
which could finally feasibly transferred to a business or personal bank account
Each step carries a fee each time you transact, to say nothing about the time required. It’s overly complicated and incredibly costly, from a percentage standpoint, to get OUR MONEY. More than half a dozen creators (at least) abandoned the platform over frustration with the crypto process.
Changes To Transaction Methods & Tools Over Time
Prior to 2022, creators could ONLY use Coinbase Wallet for receiving RAE tokens, as transacting Rokfin was only available through a DeFi Exchange (only through KyberSwap for a bit, now it’s UniSwap) using the Ethereum network, which became increasingly costly as the price of Ethereum rose. “Gas” fees, in addition to a Transaction Fee, were applied to every exchange and quickly ate away at your ETH, which you had to have a little of in order to even cover the gas fees to receive RAE and do something with it.
Initially, creators had to be ULTRA careful to properly write and store the 12-word recovery code that was literally dictated over the phone from Rokfin to them (I was not one of them) - if that recovery code was lost or incorrect, it would be impossible to access the RAE in a wallet if the password also got lost.
In 2022, Rokfin made a deal with MetaMask for creators to use as an alternate DeFi wallet - so there was at least a choice in where to store your tokens. MetaMask has a Chrome extension that helps you see what you have in your wallet right within your browser. The problem is that MetaMask doesn’t connect to any FIAT wallets and can’t convert any tokens into USD, so it needs to then go to Coinbase as USDT, converted to USD for a fee and then transferred to a physical bank account.
It used to be that creators got paid for EVERY video on the platform if someone watched it whether it was free or premium, however in 2023 the company made a change to only pay if someone watches a PREMIUM video, forcing the creators who don’t paywall their content to rely EXCLUSIVELY on “Tips” for revenue. This definitely hurt creators financially who don’t make their videos premium.
Bottom line, getting RAE converted to US Dollars or a usable cash that we can buy groceries and pay our bills with is too many steps, too expensive and too time consuming, and Rokfin has not done enough to make the process easier.
Could Rokfin Be Setting Up to Shut Down or Sell?
The reduction of headcount, the lack of development on the tech side and their lack of communication & engagement with their creators in 2024 all indicate that there could be financial difficulties at Rokfin. The platform has been stable and working ok (for the most part) but no new development or fixes have been deployed in ages. I also noticed Rokfin has been buying Facebook & Instagram ads featuring their creators in vertical, TikTok-style videos (called Bites) to generate more traffic to the platform.
It would be interesting to learn the total in Tips + Monthly Subscription revenue for 2024 vs their expenses. Typically, when we see behavior like this, it is not the indication of a healthy, growing platform pushing to grow revenue & viewers.
In spite of these (and many more) challenges, a handful of creators have been loyal, saw the ad-free, censor-free vision - and stuck around. They appear to now be getting the short end of the stick from Rokfin.
Indie Media Today operates on a “Value for Value system.” Everything we do is free to all. We don’t paywall our content, but we do need - and deeply appreciate - your support in order to keep running, and one way to do that is with a monthly subscription here, if you feel you get value out of the shows & articles and can spare a few bucks a month.
Active & Former Rokfin Creators on Substack:
That's insane.
Never used Rockfin but this is quite sad to hear.
Not having a monetized channel this is a bit in the reeds for me. However, I have made a recent appeal, of which perhaps you are aware ~ ohhhh frickafracka! NO friggin images option ~
OK it’s an open, empty wallet begging for
ALT. MEDIA CO-OPS I’ll copy n paste the text:
❗️ALT MEDIA CO-OPS PLEASE❗️
This, "Only the News you can afford"
ALT MEDIA Support plan is wholly untenable and undemocratic.
When we paid for Newspaper Delivery
we got the ENTIRE NEWSPAPER -
ALL the Staff, EVery Section, EVery Writer,
EVery Journalist and Guest Contributor
not just ONE SINGLE WRITER's WORK
National Cooperative Business Association / CLUSA International
https://nebaclusa.coop/resources/what-is-a-co-op/
FINANCING COOPS:
https://open.substack.com/pub/ralphnader/p/financing-co-ops?r=6iv9f&utm_medium=ios
https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/p/financing-co-ops?utm_source=publication-search