Andreessen Horowitz-backed digital publishing platform Substack has announced its partnership with OpenNode, a leading Bitcoin payments processor, to integrate the latter’s Bitcoin API and start offering Bitcoin payments for its online publishing platform.
According to a press release disseminated by Substack, the partnership aims to provide instant, low cost payments available “to select groups of crypto-focused publications.” According to OpenNode, they will be providing both on-chain BTC and Lightning Network BTC payments and transactions. Substack says that, for the select number of publications that will be enabled with BTC payments, the same publications may opt to retain their earnings in Bitcoin.
“Our partnership will allow content creators across the Substack ecosystem to accept Bitcoin payments, and retain earnings in Bitcoin or convert to preferred currency. Writers and podcasters have flocked to Substack to regain creative and financial freedom, and Bitcoin is a natural fit,” shared OpenNode co-founder and CTO João Almeida.
Substack has evolved as a niche platform to grow to over 500,000 paying subscribers. The platform has become popular because of the incentives it provides to writers and thought leaders publishing on its user-friendly space. Founded in 2017, Substack is backed by aforementioned venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Y Combinator, and Fifty Years, among other leading investors.
“We’re excited to be working with OpenNode to enable independent publishers on Substack to accept crypto payments,” shared Substack product designer Nick Inzucchi. “Having this option will give writers more flexibility and freedom, and we look forward to doing more in crypto to meet writers’ needs”, he adds.
OpenNode’s secure and reliable payment processing and payout services aimed at enterprise clientele provides a robust set of solutions: from on-site payment buttons to integrated checkout flows, as well as plug-ins for e-commerce sites to optimize API integrations. OpenNode believes that Bitcoin is “the world’s best decentralized payment network” and that the Lightning Network is proof that it is a scalable one.
