The Future of Digital Currency Payments as Seen from the Li Ziqi Phenomenon

In recent times, a highly topical figure has emerged in the Chinese region - Li Ziqi. According to official introductions, she is a girl from Sichuan, China, and a well-known Chinese food video blogger. In fact, as early as 2017, she gained significant attention in mainland China. More recently, she has garnered even wider attention in some globally renowned media outlets, sparking a huge debate on Chinese social media about whether "Li Ziqi is a cultural export of China."

Li Ziqi mainly posts videos about her life in rural China, showcasing beautiful countryside scenery and demonstrating various activities such as farming, crafting handmade items, and cooking traditional dishes. Her videos have gained immense popularity among audiences who may not be familiar with China or those interested in traditional Chinese culture. Whether on TikTok or YouTube, she has amassed a staggering number of followers. On YouTube alone, she has 8.27 million subscribers, surpassing even BBC's 5.94 million followers.

While there are many aspects to discuss whether Li Ziqi's content qualifies as cultural export, that is not the focus of this article. Instead, we are more interested in her income from overseas media. Posting videos on YouTube allows for ad revenue, with creators earning around $0.6 - 1.4 per thousand views. With an estimated monthly income ranging from 388,300 to 737,900 RMB, taking a middle ground of 550,000 RMB, her annual ad revenue would be around 6.6 million RMB. This is a substantial figure, not to mention potential revenue from product endorsements and other forms of income due to her significant personal influence.

Over the past few years, with the advancement of 4G technology, the online video industry has been growing at a remarkable pace. In mainland China, video platforms such as Youku and iQIYI dominate the industry, surpassing local television stations in terms of viewership. Short video apps like Douyin and Miaopai have become essential on people's phones. Douyin's international version, TikTok, has rapidly expanded globally, even posing a threat to major platforms like Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a leaked audio that ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, is China's first tech firm to become a significant global competitor.

Although TikTok is a formidable competitor, YouTube remains the biggest player in the field of self-media video content. The United States had over 180.7 million active YouTube users in 2018, making it the country with the highest YouTube viewership. Founded in February 2005 in the US, YouTube was later acquired by Google in 2006. By 2018, YouTube had 1.58 billion users globally, with US users accounting for 11.4% of the total.

Online data reveals that from January 1st to December 17th in 2019, Li Ziqi's YouTube channel accumulated 790,853,255 views, with the top ten geographical regions being Vietnam (19.2%), India (15.3%), Indonesia (8.1%), the US (7.0%), Thailand (6.8%), Taiwan (3.3%), the Philippines (2.8%), Cambodia (2.5%), Malaysia (2.3%), and Bangladesh (2.0%). Apart from the US, Canada (ranked 19th, 1.1%) is another Western country in the top 20. Clearly, besides the US, Li Ziqi's primary audience comes from Asia, particularly from countries with a better understanding of Chinese culture and a larger Chinese population. However, the fact that Vietnam and India have different mainstream languages and cultures from China indicates that Li Ziqi's phenomenon represents Chinese culture influencing non-Chinese-speaking regions through online platforms.

For a long time, most people believed that online videos were confined by national or language boundaries, leading to different versions of video platforms tailored to each country's language and circumstances. However, with instant translation technology and diversified content, many videos are no longer limited to a specific language or region and can quickly spread globally via platforms and self-media.

Li Ziqi's success demonstrates this point. Despite showcasing very traditional Chinese culture, she has garnered widespread praise and attention overseas, indicating that cross-cultural communication is no longer isolated but gradually becoming mainstream. This suggests that there is a growing demand for cross-border tipping and payments.

While global politics may seem to be moving away from globalization, the spread of cross-border marketing and influence through the internet and mobile phones has exceeded any other period in human history. Even traditional luxury brands are no longer solely relying on large advertising agencies to establish their brand influence.

Currently, YouTube only supports ad revenue sharing. According to the latest revenue sharing rules on YouTube, top video creators receive higher earnings, making it challenging for smaller creators to generate income. This policy aligns with YouTube's interests, as they aim to support more prominent video creators by recommending their content on the homepage. However, this has resulted in a widespread "Matthew Effect," where creators with a massive following like Li Ziqi earn more, while smaller creators struggle to make substantial income.

These smaller creators have no influence on YouTube's current policies. Notably, a low number of subscriber counts does not mean these followers lack the ability to pay. Since YouTube mainly relies on ad revenue sharing, creators with fewer subscribers receive minimal revenue. As a result, these creators often share their PayPal accounts during their shows to encourage fans to support them by paying a fee.

Watching ads is the simplest and most basic model, but in mainland China, live stream tipping has become the norm. Due to unique policy reasons, internet development in mainland China seems to be independent of the rest of the world, with platforms like WeChat and TikTok competing with global internet giants and growing rapidly in mobile internet. What may be less known in the West is that unique live streaming culture in Asia has also seen significant success, with many users on streaming platforms spending large amounts to tip their favorite streamers, leading to various social issues.

On these streaming platforms, anyone can easily purchase platform tokens through third-party payments for tipping. However, cross-border and cross-cultural tipping methods are still emerging. It is challenging to achieve small cross-border payments on existing payment platforms, with the cost of cross-border remittances consistently exceeding 7% in 2018, according to the World Bank. This process is not only time-consuming but also costly, whereas digital currencies can easily facilitate these transactions.

Whether for platforms like YouTube and Douyin, or for real-time interactive live stream tipping, digital currencies can easily achieve cross-border micro-payments. Platforms can utilize cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum or even stablecoins like USDT for low-cost rapid micro-payments. Platforms can issue their digital currencies, and even individual video creators can issue their digital currencies for supporters to tip.

What's particularly interesting is that digital currency payments are just the beginning. Since all payment records are traceable on the blockchain, long-term payment data can clearly show a video creator's income. This transparent payment data itself holds significant value, particularly for advertisers. Advertisers can easily identify which video creators are gaining more attention and the payment capabilities of their followers through blockchain data.

Furthermore, video creators can use their income records to raise funds for creating better video content. Investors can invest in these creators, and through smart contracts, once income is generated, a predetermined portion can be directly distributed to these investors.

On December 31st, 2019, the well-known Chinese video site Bilibili hosted an excellent New Year's Eve gala, garnering significant attention and praise online in China. The show featured a plethora of Japanese anime songs, new anime characters inspired by traditional Chinese culture, and even a symphony performance of the theme song from the globally popular series "Game of Thrones," which had just ended in 2019. In the past, such programs would not have appeared on mainstream Chinese platforms and received widespread acclaim.

Since its inception, Bilibili has attracted young users and Japanese anime enthusiasts by producing non-mainstream video content, with a significant portion of its audience composed of students. Through ten years of careful operation, former students have become the backbone of society, transforming the platform from a non-mainstream media outlet to a near-mainstream media giant. Even China Central Television (CCTV), the national broadcaster, announced a series of cooperation plans with Bilibili.

This transition from a subculture group that was previously overlooked on the internet to the mainstream, advocating various subcultures across traditional national and language boundaries, is not just an Asian phenomenon but a global cultural development trend. As cultural exchanges become more frequent and intertwined, it will undoubtedly lead to a variety of complex cross-border business models, all of which will result in more cross-border payment transactions, with digital currencies potentially becoming the catalyst for this shift.

This article is from our partner LONGHASH

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