For years I’ve been chasing what others have called my paywall dream. You might even say it’s my version of the white whale.

I remember it was back in late 2017 that I first experienced what they call magic Internet money. In a way, it changed my life, because it was only at that moment that I finally understood what crypto was all about. I’ve been on a mission to try and get others to experience the same feeling ever since.

The transaction in question was made on the Bitcoin Cash network, which happened to be the cheapest Bitcoin fork to use at the time. I sent a little BCH to unlock an article someone had posted on this blogging platform called Yours.org, and I remember being filled with delight as the paywall disappeared mere seconds after I clicked send.

Not only was it fast, and not only did it just work, but it did so without me having to provide my name, address, or credit card number. I knew right away that this was something totally new, and I’ve been obsessed with the idea of peer-to-peer electronic cash ever since.

Unfortunately, Yours.org as I experienced it then no longer exists. It became one of the many casualties of the BCH/BSV hash war that occurred in late 2018. Still, no matter how much time went by, I never forgot that magical feeling of what it was like using electronic cash in the real world.

Year after year I waited. Surely, someone would come along and build an even better version, I thought. It seemed like such an obvious crypto use case to give content creators the ability to charge digital cash for their digital content:

Yet more than 16 years after the Bitcoin genesis block was mined, a solution to this simple problem had yet to come forward…until now.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced it before. You click on a link to some article and halfway down you’re faced with a paywall that requires signing up for a subscription to read the rest. You think to yourself, why can’t I just pay for this one story? Why do I need to go through the painful process of subscribing to a random service just to read a few paragraphs?

For the last several years it’s been my dream to show people there’s a better way. And now with the new PayButton Plugin, I can.

So how does it work? If you are a WordPress user, all you need to do is install the plugin, add a bit of shortcode to any post, and it will hide whatever comes after it behind a paywall. Users can unlock the content by paying the required amount of eCash (XEC) using their eCash wallet of choice. Users can also “login” using their Cashtab.com wallet and the site will know which articles have already been paid for, all without giving up their privacy.

But enough explaining. To continue reading, use the PayButton below unlock the paywall. It works on both mobile and desktop, and remember to turn the volume up on your device for the best experience.

Did you hear the beautiful bell?

As amazing as it is to have my paywall dream finally come true, perhaps even more amazing is how this all came together.

When I first started ProofOfWriting.com, I had no idea what I was doing. I had zero knowledge or experience in building websites, and this site would not be what it is today if not for the contributions of various people throughout the eCash community, all of whom I’ve never met, and all of whom have never seen my face or know my name.

We hail from different parts of the world and from different backgrounds and walks of life, yet we’ve all been brought together by our shared love for the eCash project and what it stands for.

While the eCash project still flies under the radar, it would be a mistake to think the community isn’t full of talented and passionate people who are dedicated to fulfilling the mission that Satoshi Nakamoto himself started.

People like Alita Yin who was the first person to reach out after I started this blog and volunteered her time to help me improve it. (She also happens to be the creator of the eChan bot that you can access through the header menu.)

People like Tobias Ruck whose Chronik indexer powers all these applications to work seamlessly together in a fast and reliable way.

People like David Klakurka and the entire PayButton team without whom this wouldn’t have been possible.

People like Joey King and his Cashtab wallet that can be used seamlessly within the eCash ecosystem.

People like Ethan Quintera who built eCashChat from which we borrowed the login mechanism used here.

And people like eCashInformer, who not only created the PayButton Plugin, but also did a complete redesign of my entire blog so it can best showcase this awesome new tool.

And last but not least, the entire team at Bitcoin ABC, without whom neither the eCash project nor the eCash community would exist.

All of these pieces coming together to make this plugin possible highlights the compounding effect that the eCash project has achieved by “sticking with it” and constantly iterating and improving upon both the protocol and the infrastructure.

Perhaps most unbelievable of all is that all of this was accomplished without any VC backing but was paid for through the eCash protocol itself, using only the portion of the block reward earmarked for development and infrastructure.

It’s crazy to think that just a few months ago I was on the verge of abandoning this site altogether. After years of posting article after article like a miner constantly in search of the next block, I’d finally given up hope that my paywall dream would ever come true.

Fortunately, people in the community reached out and suggested I keep the site alive. I’m glad they did.

So I want to thank everyone who helped make this possible, including you dear reader, and I hope you come back to read many more articles in the future.

Below are screenshots of what the plugin looks like as a WordPress user and some additional features that are available. Remember, this is just the start, it’s only going to improve from here.

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