Only1 has raised $5 million to build an OnlyFans clone on Solana, but will creators join?

The adult content platform OnlyFans, to crypto fans, seems like a Web2 company ripe for disruption. The platform charges a 20% fee on all creator earnings, generating billions in revenue for the company. A creator's content, followers, and earnings, though, are locked to the platform, meaning it's tough to leave once you've built a following. Plus, there was that time banks nearly forced OnlyFans to ban all adult content on the platform, according to its CEO. 

Enter Only1, which today announced a $1.3 million strategic raise led by Newman Group to create an OnlyFans-type adult content platform on Solana, bringing its total fundraising to $4.8 million. Only1 also teased a slate of creators who will soon be joining the platform with 10 million followers shared between them. 

But are professional OnlyFans creators ready to jump ship and move on-chain? Professional OnlyFans creator Lucas Moreno says Only1's platform presents some compelling features, especially its resistance to censorship decisions like those made by OnlyFans in the past. "[It would be a big draw] not only for me, but for everyone else, because this keeps happening...every bunch of months they will come up with a new article to say what they're banning." 

However, as a gay creator surveying Only1, which appears to be a platform dominated by feminine creators so far, Moreno has some concerns about Only1's decentralized content moderation strategy, where token stakers participate in voting on flagged content.

"On the one side, it sounds like something that's fair, having the community decide, it seems more democratic," said Moreno. But joining a site with predominantly straight creators would leave room for discrimination, Moreno says. "Not necessarily [discrimination] would happen, but there would be room for it to happen." 

While Moreno, who considers himself crypto-skeptical, was particularly drawn in by Only1's promised 0% fee on tips and subscriptions, he also foresaw challenges in getting his following to adopt a new platform.

"Even if it's a great idea, there's a lot of education needed and a lot of demystifying and unlearning about things that might have gone wrong in other areas in crypto that might give a bad reputation to crypto," said Moreno.