Publisher-Exchanges: Consumer Applications and the Attention Theory of Value

The article argues that in crypto, asset prices are driven mainly by the attention a community devotes to an asset rather than by traditional risk or cashflow models, and it proposes "Publisher-Exchanges," consumer apps that combine publishing with native issuance and trading of assets. It cites the 2021 GameStop episode, in which Reddit posts drove retail buy orders on Robinhood and pushed the price up 15x over thirty days. Examples of this model include Telegram trading bots, Unlonely's streaming platform, and Farcaster Frames, and the article proposes Direct Value Issuance as an alternative to display advertising.