[PretzelPirate]

I think the answer looks different when you talk about NYT (a large organization most of us probably trust to not steal) vs smaller websites/blogs. I wouldn’t pre-pay some no-name blogger $5 and trust them to charge me properly.

With the pre-pay model, you may even end up with each site dictating it’s own payment terms, which would naturally create opportunities for scammy terms that users don’t understand until their money is gone.

A tipping model incentivized quality content and keeps funds under the user’s control.

In this specific case, it looks like some Strike-related company will have custody of funds, which does defeat the purpose of using a decentralized payment method.