YouTube launched in 2005 when the creators realized there was no video footage available online of a particular 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. In May of 2005, YouTube brought in around 30,000 viewers a day. In May 2019, 500 hours of content was loaded on the platform every minute.
XCAD founder Oliver Bell saw the number of people watching equally large amounts of content, and he decided creators should be able to reward their viewers. This led to the development of the XCAD Network. This tokenization platform lets YouTubers have their own cryptocurrency. Creators can award these tokens to viewers simply for engaging directly with YouTube content.
The XCAD plugin, an extension for Chrome, lets fans earn these tokens directly through YouTube. It also facilitates the staking and trading of the currency. An influencer market cap tracks and analyzes the tokens, which can be swapped, sold, or traded through the XCAD DEX. The next phase of this project will be a marketplace where creator NFTs can be purchased, and this feature is coming soon.
Bell calls this concept watch to earn or #Watch2Earn. All viewers have to do is install the XCAD extension and then watch 80% or more of the YouTube videos on their favorite channels. This project was designed to empower audiences by rewarding them to consume content and impact creators’ decisions. A significant benefit to creators is increasing engagement, thus increasing monetization.
Some of the platform’s biggest creators support the XCAD Project, including the famous Mr. Beast, who boasts 66.8 million subscribers. The timing for XCAD is impeccable as the crypto curve is sitting at the approach or launch of functional platforms and tokens are becoming utilities rather than commodities. Oliver Bell has created a brilliant concept that should be a big hit with viewers. It will also offer an even more immersive experience as we move further into the metaverse.