Final week was Consensus Toronto 2025. Should you couldn’t attend, CoinDesk has you coated! Take heed to wonderful international thought leaders, sharing their insights on pertinent matters surrounding the digital asset house on day 1, day 2 and day 3. You can even learn the in depth editorial protection.
In as we speak’s Crypto for Advisors, Shivani Phull from Pixelynx explains how Black Mirror is leveraging blockchain as a part of evolving fan content material and engagement.
Then, Eric Tomaszewski from Verde Capital Administration solutions questions concerning the attraction of those merchandise to next-gen buyers in Ask an Skilled.
Thanks to our sponsor of this week’s publication, Grayscale. For monetary advisors close to Boston, Grayscale is internet hosting an unique occasion, Crypto Join, on Thursday, June 5. Study extra.
– Sarah Morton
Storytelling 3.0: When AI, Blockchain and IP Collide
How Black Mirror’s on-chain experiment is paving the way in which for the way forward for leisure monetization.
Conventional storytelling is hitting its ceiling. The passive, one-way consumption mannequin that has outlined leisure for many years is more and more out of sync with the expectations of digital-native audiences. And now, with the rise of latest applied sciences, the leisure mental property (IP) is leisure mental property, or IP, is being essentially reimagined.
From Bandersnatch to Blockchain
Black Mirror has by no means been afraid to problem the established order. In 2018, the sequence broke new floor with Bandersnatch, an interactive episode. It hinted at a deeper shift: from tales we watch to tales we form.
That shift is accelerating. Members of Gen Z and Gen Alpha have been raised in worlds like Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite, the place user-generated content material varieties the inspiration of the expertise. These audiences don’t need to passively eat; they need to take part, form and personal the narrative.
Conventional IP Income Is Evolving
Historically, IP holders made cash via licensing, syndication, product placement and field workplace gross sales. However generative AI is disrupting this mannequin. With instruments like OpenAI’s Sora or Runway, anybody can spin up by-product content material, posing each a menace and a possibility. For IP house owners, the problem is obvious: both lose management of the narrative or lean into new fashions that shield and develop it.
Enter blockchain.
Blockchain because the Rails for Interactive IP
Blockchain brings the lacking layer of construction. It permits for:
- On-chain IP verification — utilizing blockchain to show who owns inventive content material, making it safe and clear.
- Composable rights — content material could be damaged down into smaller elements that others can construct on, remix or mix with new creations, permitting for microlicensing.
- Neighborhood possession and participation rewards — followers can maintain tokens that give them entry to unique experiences and advantages because the mission grows.
- Tokenized incentives for creators and followers — digital tokens are used to reward folks for contributing, collaborating or being energetic locally.
This format unlocks new paths for storytelling, the place followers are stakeholders shaping narratives with their favourite IPs, not simply spectators.
Case Research: Black Mirror Enters Web3
Banijay Rights, the worldwide gross sales arm of content material powerhouse Banijay Leisure, which handles distribution for Black Mirror, has partnered with Pixelynx Inc. and KOR Protocol, a blockchain-based IP infrastructure and leisure firm based mostly in Los Angeles, co-founded by iconic DJs Deadmau5 and Richie Hawtin. Led by visionary CEO Inder Phull, Pixelynx helped deliver the Black Mirror universe on-chain in a approach that’s interactive, compliant and community-driven.
Their newest initiative is a token impressed by the Nosedive episode, the place followers hyperlink their socials and wallets to earn a fame rating. With greater than 300,000 sign-ups, high individuals unlock unique experiences and rewards, providing IP holders a brand new technique to have interaction and reward their most passionate followers.
The IP Business’s Fork within the Street
The way forward for leisure lies in embracing this shift via new frameworks that present clear guardrails for IP utilization, that protect integrity, shield rights and allow worth to accrue to followers and creators in a good and clear approach. This marks the start of a brand new period for IP: one outlined by safety, participation and sustainable monetization.
By making IPs interactive, tokenized and on-chain, rights holders aren’t simply experimenting—they’re sketching the blueprint for Storytelling 3.0.
– Shivani Phull, CFO, Pixelynx Inc.
Ask an Skilled
Q. What does “ownership” imply within the age of Web3, and the way is it totally different from conventional investing?
A. Possession in Web3 isn’t just about holding an asset. Extra so, it is about collaborating in a system. With the Black Mirror token, proudly owning the token means having a say in governance, getting access to unique ecosystems, and constructing a digital type of id that has the flexibility to develop in worth over time. Not like passive inventory possession, that is participatory. You’re a stakeholder, not only a shareholder.
Q. Can reputation-based tokens create financial worth from habits and is it sustainable?
A. Sure, nevertheless it’s nuanced. Black Mirror token gamifies belief as a result of your on-chain actions and social interactions can earn tangible rewards. As a monetary advisor, I would warning that whereas that is thrilling, it introduces performance-based danger. That being stated, it displays the path of the place younger digitally native buyers are heading.
Q. May these tokens act as a brand new type of “digital yield” for youthful buyers?
A. Completely. As a substitute of mounted revenue yield, that is engagement yield. The extra energetic and credible you might be, the extra awards you would doubtlessly earn. It may very well be whitelisting entry, platform reductions, or presumably token-based revenue. It is a new incentive mannequin in some respects.
When talking to a consumer, I body it as a type of behavioral finance in movement. With the correct stage of danger and time allocation, it turns into an asset that pays in affect and entry. It is also a technique to acknowledge that success and worth look totally different to every individual. Not each return is monetary.
– Eric Tomaszewski, monetary advisor, Verde Capital Administration
