PenX.io offers an incredibly robust blogging platform with a host of features that would normally require the use of a half dozen sites and services.
Part 1 in a series: Intro
Last weekend I discovered a brand new startup blog service, PenX. I really enjoyed its unique feature set, and sleek themes from the get. If you are used to the massive theme selection of some web2 blog platforms, the choices here may seem limited at first. I ran into a few problems with some of the more complicated aspects of it, and reached out to the Discord server.
The next day I had a reply from the projects lead developer. He’s a great guy, and took a lot of his own time to walk me through some of the problems I was experiencing.
This is when I learned that the team was very small, and that PenX was in a still very early phase of development. Due to our conversations, 0xZio made several adjustments over the next few days, reconciling all the issues I’d encountered thus far.
0xZio.eth is the lead developer at PenX. There is a Farcaster channel for PenX, in which I’ll be aiding in the moderation. There isn’t much there at the moment, but that will change fast.
Now, because of the extremely early stage in the PenX lifespan, I recommend creating a new wallet to interact with it. Or perhaps you have several sitting around for exactly this reason(As I do).
You’ll need a wallet that is compatible with the Base L2 chain. With this wallet, you’ll sign for most actions, even if they involve no monetary exchange.
PenX has 2 features built in that you cannot find in any other blog suite. The first of which is a fully customizable, set any price you like, establish as many tiers as you like, membership system. Lots of blogs have membership systems. I’ve never seen anything give the user this much control and freedom over how memberships work.
The second, which ties in with the other features is a CreatorFi Launchpad. Here, any PenX user can mint their own token in base, and allocate it as they see fit. Again, there is a high degree of freedom here, unlike any launchpad I’ve ever used.
These features will cost you a fractional amount of ETH on Base to cover the standard, super cheap gas and such of Base.
Another feature you’ll notice quickly is PenX’s proprietary token, which any blog owner may claim daily. The $PEN token currently has no equatable value, but as more users discover this incredible package, I expect that to change.
All content can be token-gated as the author sees fit. And every post can be set to collectible, in the manner you’re probably used to seeing on Paragraph and Mirror. This feature is the final setting before posting publicly, so you are always aware of a posts collectibility. Posts can also be gated until they are minted, which is a unique twist on what we’ve seen from the other Web3 major platforms.
Any post can be commented on. All posts have a Tip button so your readers can reward you without minting. There’s also a fully detailed collaboration system.
Currently content can be set to several formats, including, Journal entries, Blog posts, static pages, an image gallery, and databases.
Each blog also comes with a personal subdomain option, mine is https://exoteric.penx.io/, for example.
I’ve only begun to really dig into the real robustness of this new platform. It’s also available for self-hosting with a one-click deploy.
That’s where I’ll end this post, however, as it’s already far longer than I intended.
Jack Lhasa
A Shaman with an addiction for fresh startups.
Https://exoteric.live
Https://exoteric.penx.io/
Be on the lookout for more posts about PenX from me, as I intend to do a deeper piece on the features I’ve only briefly described here.
