Attempts by traditional financial institutions to censor adult content on OnlyFans have highlighted the need for decentralized platforms, according to Dfinity founder Dominic Williams.

Dfinity founder Dominic Williams believes content creation platforms like OnlyFans are ripe for disruption now that decentralized technologies have become mainstream. He’s inviting developers to build a blockchain-driven content platform on Internet Computer (ICP) — a powerful general-purpose blockchain launched by Dfiniity Foundation earlier this year.

In August of this year, major financial institutions such as Bank of New York Mellon, Metro Bank and JPMorgan Chase effectively forced OnlyFans to ban sexually explicit content on its platform. CEO Tim Stokely told the Financial Times that his company, which has become synonymous with adult content creation, “had no choice” but to heed to the banks’ demands. (The banks reportedly threatened to cut ties with OnlyFans because of the reputational damage of servicing an adult content platform.)

While Stokely would eventually reverse the decision to ban explicit content after receiving assurances from banking partners, the whole ordeal sparked a public debate about censorship. Dominic Williams said OnlyFans represents a case study on why content creation platforms need decentralization.

“[OnlyFans] could also be censored by any of the traditional IT services it uses to run its online services, such as cloud services and data centers, in the same way Amazon Web Services switched off the Parler social media service.”