“Their audiences are also changing to a much more geographically diversified market. “What we've seen is that many service providers discover they have to modify their offerings so that they are more accustomed to the online medium,” said LaVi. With businesses and consumers forced to turn to digital-only commerce amidst societal shutdowns, the global availability of cryptocurrency has proven attractive. Ben-Kiki's example is just one of many ways the uncertainty posed by the pandemic has translated into greater opportunity for cryptocurrency providers, particularly as traditional currencies have dropped in value. "Webinars are only available as a premium service for advanced and pricey Zoom subscriptions, and as a product they’re not suitable for the direct, mutual interactions you need for sessions provided by tutors, instructors, and therapists,” LaVi said. PayPal can be used for webinars hosted on paid Zoom accounts, but that model wouldn't work for yoga instruction, said 2Key co-founder eiTan LaVi.
YOGA UNDRESSED ADVANCED FOR FREE
So far it remains the only paywall approved by Zoom for free accounts. At the end of April, 2Key launched SmartSessions, a plugin that any service provider can add to their Zoom call, forcing consumers to transfer funds in the cryptocurrency Ethereum before they can access their yoga class, pub quiz session or tutor group.
Ben-Kiki, the CEO and co-founder of 2Key Network, spotted a gap in the market. As they tried to move her business online - conducting classes via Zoom - they discovered that the process of monetizing such classes was surprisingly awkward. EDT Share Register now As the coronavirus pandemic began spreading around the globe with increasing speed in February and early March, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Erez Ben-Kiki and his wife, a professional yoga instructor, found themselves with a dilemma. Coronavirus created mixed opportunities for crypto payments By David Cox May 29, 2020, 12:01 a.m.