Why Crypto Payments

Why is it better to use crypto instead of a credit card to support your favorite channels?

There are two types of crypto wallet: the kind where you control your own private key (on your computer or phone), and the kind managed by a third party like an exchange. If you don't yet have either one of these, paying for your subscription to independent media in crypto will indeed require a few more steps than paying directly via a credit card. And it's true that most crypto currencies like Bitcoin do go up and down in value, which could make them seem a bit risky.

However, if you pay with Litecoin or Bitcoin via our partner Bitpatron, you only need to "hold" the crypto for as long as it takes to buy it on a platform and send it out from your on-platform wallet. This is typically a pretty short period of time.

Depending on where you are located, we suggest using a reputable platform like Binance, Huobi (Asia) or Bitpanda (Europe only) to do this. They are easy to sign up to and have very reasonable fees. Usually you can pay by credit card, or, for a better deal, move funds directly from your bank account.

Once the payment arrives on the Bitpatron platform (usually within a few minutes of it being sent out), unless you specify otherwise, we will immediately convert it back into your base currency, i.e. US dollars or euros. You can opt to keep your balances in Bitcoin or Litecoin instead, but that's up to you.

Why use crypto as a payment method?

There are three very good reasons to do this:

Using crypto fights censorship.
Using crypto protects your privacy.
Payments are easy, quick and low-cost.

1 Crypto fights censorship

Because it protects the channels you want to support. These days, censorship is a fact of life almost everywhere in the world. But it comes in two flavors: open censorship and self-censorship. Self-censorship is when content creators censor themselves for fear that some misspoken word might get their income flow cut off.

By using crypto you protect your favorite channels from this pressure. Moreover, not only does their income sometimes get cut off, but in some cases even their bank accounts get frozen. Any income they receive in crypto is free of all of these risks. If they want, they can also hold their income from Quantum Intel in the equivalent of dollars or euros, so it's up to them whether or not they want to actually hold crypto.

2 Crypto protects your privacy

Why need anyone else know that you read and support independent media? Payments with credit cards can always be traced back to you. When you pay to a Quantum Intel address, it's a unique address assigned only to you, and we don't send out these addresses via email. This means it's private and not publicly connected to you.

3 Payments are easy, quick and low-cost

Once you have a crypto wallet, it's extremely cheap and fast to transfer funds. Set it up once and use it in all sorts of places for online payments.

Ready to support independent media with crypto?