HubSpot published an article in June 2022 featuring insights from my WordCamp Europe talk about Web3 and WordPress. This was just days after I’d given the presentation in Porto, and weeks after joining Automattic as Web3 Lead.
The timing was interesting – WCEU is a major WordPress event, HubSpot is a massive inbound marketing platform, and Web3 was still controversial in the WordPress community. Having a mainstream marketing publication cover these ideas gave them broader reach than just the WordPress echo chamber.
So yeh. Let me walk you through what HubSpot highlighted and why it matters.
The Core Argument
The article led with my definition: "Web3 is decentralized digital technologies that give people new ways to organize and collaborate."
But more importantly, it emphasized the philosophical alignment: Web3 provides "freedom to transact…and tools for borderless coordination" in the same way WordPress provides freedom to publish.
That alignment isn’t superficial. WordPress democratized publishing by removing gatekeepers between creators and audiences. Web3 aims to democratize finance, ownership, and coordination by removing intermediaries between participants.
Whether you think Web3 succeeds at that mission is debatable. But the intent aligns with WordPress values. That was my argument, and HubSpot led with it.
Three Big Use Cases
The article focused on three practical applications for WordPress users:
1. NFTs for Content Creators
HubSpot quoted me: NFTs represent "one of the most fundamental things about web3: it supports creators to create in a way that they can’t now."
What that means practically:
Instant copyright assertion: Mint an article as an NFT, and the blockchain timestamps when you published it. Proof of creation is immutable and public. No copyright registration fees, no bureaucracy.
Direct monetization: Sell your articles as NFTs. Collectors who value your work can buy limited editions. No platform taking 30% cuts.
Programmed royalties: Set smart contracts to give you a percentage of every future transaction. If your article gets resold, you earn from the secondary market. Forever (or for a specified period).
The article mentioned Mirror – a Web3 blogging platform that enables exactly this. Write a post, mint it as an NFT, earn from both primary sales and secondary trades.
WordPress could integrate similar functionality. Not forcing everyone to use it, but making it available for creators who want these options.
2. Token-Gating for Commerce
The article explained token-gating as "wallet-aware or wallet-first experiences" – unlocking features based on what tokens a user’s wallet contains.
For WooCommerce merchants, this creates interesting possibilities:
Loyalty programs without databases: Issue NFTs to loyal customers. Those NFTs unlock discounts, early access, exclusive products. The NFT is the loyalty card, but it’s tradeable and actually owned by the customer.
Bot-resistant drops: Limited product releases get botted instantly. But if you require a specific token to purchase, and that token was distributed to real community members, bots can’t easily get access.
Tiered access: Different tokens unlock different product tiers. VIP token holders see premium products. Regular customers see standard inventory. All enforced by wallet-based authentication.
Pre-sales for community: Reward your community with early access to new products. They prove membership by connecting wallets, not by remembering login credentials.
This isn’t theoretical. NFT projects were already doing this in 2022. The question was whether mainstream ecommerce would adopt similar patterns.
3. Content Timestamping
Less sexy than NFTs, but perhaps more immediately useful: blockchain timestamps for content.
Why it matters:
Copyright protection: Prove when you published something. If someone plagiarizes your work, you have immutable evidence of primacy.
Transparency for readers: Show your audience when content was created and if/when it was modified. Build trust.
Regulatory compliance: Some industries (finance, healthcare) need auditable records of what content existed when. Blockchain timestamps provide that.
The article mentioned WordProof – a plugin that automatically timestamps your WordPress content on the blockchain. No NFTs, no cryptocurrency required. Just verifiable timestamps.
This is "boring" Web3. No speculation, no hype. Just practical utility using blockchain’s core feature: immutable record-keeping.
Real-World WordPress Web3 Examples
HubSpot highlighted actual projects in the WordPress ecosystem:
Wapuu NFT Collection
Web3 WP created 2,222 unique NFT versions of Wapuu (WordPress’s mascot). Collectible art, but with purpose: half of all trading royalties go to the WordPress Foundation.
This demonstrates NFTs as fundraising mechanism. The foundation doesn’t sell the NFTs (the project did). But they earn from every future trade through programmed royalties.
It’s like merchandise that keeps generating revenue after the initial sale. And it’s voluntary – collectors who value WordPress support the foundation by participating in the market.
Core Contributor Coins
Limited-edition NFT collectibles honoring WordPress contributors across 41 major releases.
This is reputation as collectible. Contributors get recognition. Collectors get historical artifacts. The blockchain provides provenance.
Not financially valuable (probably). But culturally significant to the community.
The Plugin Ecosystem
The article listed five WordPress plugins enabling Web3 functionality:
1. Unlock Protocol: Drag-and-drop content monetization. Readers connect Ethereum wallets to access premium content.
2. EthPress: MetaMask login integration. Use your Ethereum wallet instead of traditional username/password.
3. WordProof Timestamp: Automatic blockchain timestamps with downloadable certificates. Set it and forget it.
4. LikeCoin: Registers content metadata to blockchain, rewards curators with tokens. Social validation meets tokenomics.
5. Web3 Donations by DePay: Accept cryptocurrency donations peer-to-peer across multiple blockchains.
These weren’t (and aren’t) perfect. Adoption was low. UX needed work. But they demonstrated that WordPress’s plugin ecosystem was already experimenting with Web3 primitives.
Why HubSpot’s Coverage Mattered
HubSpot isn’t a crypto publication. It’s a marketing and CMS platform with millions of users. Most are businesses trying to figure out inbound marketing, not crypto enthusiasts chasing the next memecoin.
Having them cover Web3 and WordPress legitimized the conversation beyond the crypto echo chamber.
The audience reading this article was:
- Marketing professionals wondering if NFTs are relevant to their work
- Business owners hearing about Web3 and trying to separate signal from noise
- Content creators looking for new monetization options
- WordPress users curious if this blockchain stuff matters to their sites
That’s a mainstream audience. And HubSpot framed the discussion practically – not "Web3 is the future" but "here are specific use cases and existing tools."
What I Learned from the Coverage
External coverage of your ideas forces clarity. HubSpot’s writer had to extract the most important points from my 40-minute talk. What survived?
The philosophy: Web3 and WordPress share values around openness and freedom.
The practical use cases: NFTs for creators, token-gating for commerce, timestamps for trust.
The existing ecosystem: Real projects and plugins, not just theoretical possibilities.
What didn’t survive: The technical details, the skeptical concerns, the nuanced discussions about when Web3 makes sense versus when it doesn’t.
That’s journalism. Simplify, highlight key points, make it accessible. Not wrong, but necessarily incomplete.
It reinforced that if you want mainstream adoption, you need clear, practical use cases. "Democratizing finance through decentralized coordination" is philosophically compelling but operationally vague. "Mint your articles as NFTs and earn secondary royalties" is concrete and actionable.
The Bigger Context
This HubSpot article came out June 9, 2022 – three days after the WCEU talk, a few weeks before the WP Tavern podcast, a month before the WordPress.tv video published.
I was having the same conversation repeatedly: explaining Web3 to WordPress audiences, connecting philosophical alignment to practical applications, acknowledging skepticism while demonstrating existing utility.
External coverage like this helped that message reach beyond people who attended WCEU or follow WordPress news closely. It put the ideas in front of marketers, business owners, and content creators who might never watch a WordCamp talk.
Whether they were convinced is another question. But at least the conversation was happening in mainstream business contexts, not just crypto Twitter.
That felt like progress.
Publication: HubSpot Blog
Title: What You Need to Know About Web3 and WordPress [+ Insights from WCEU Speaker Dave Lockie]
Date: June 9, 2022
Based on: WordCamp Europe 2022 presentation
Author: HubSpot Staff Writer
Read the full article: HubSpot Blog
Find me: Contact form, @divydovy, hi@divydovy.com
Note: This article came out just days after my WCEU talk and helped bring the Web3/WordPress conversation to a mainstream business audience. HubSpot’s platform reaches millions of marketers and business owners who might not follow WordPress development closely. Getting these ideas in front of that audience felt significant – even if adoption would take years.
Sources:
- HubSpot: What You Need to Know About Web3 and WordPress
- WordCamp Europe 2022 – Dave Lockie
- WordPress & Web3 Slides – SlideShare
