After writing my post about earning a lot on Medium, it seems that the table has now turned, putting the platform in a negative light.
Medium is failing.
But why?
When 2025 started, it seemed like a bad year for Medium. The writers (the community) are upset about not receiving enough payment for their written stories.
This image is made and designed by the author using Canva
Medium pays based on the number of reads and engagement. The more reads you receive, the more rewards you will get.
Take my post as an example: it is my most rewarded story so far, receiving $58.82 in lifetime earnings (and still counting).
This image is a screenshot by the author
I have other stories that are still earning through reads.
It was good. My first month of being active on Medium paid off. I earned a lot.
However, this month, it seems that everything is in chaos.
Writers are not getting paid enough.
Because of that, many writers are disappointed and are sharing their insights on this drama.
The drama escalated when Tony, the CEO of Medium, commented on one of the stories, saying they are not getting investors now.
I got this screenshot from Bin Jiang’s post.
It is clear that Medium is struggling financially.
̶H̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶u̶n̶d̶;̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶l̶e̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶ ̶
The lack of transparency from the company is putting it in trouble.
The communication with the community isn’t even effective, as they are not releasing official announcements (just comments, which are later deleted), which adds to the current issue.
I haven’t done a background check on the current CEO, so I can’t make any judgments about him, but all I can say is that they might be missing something, or their strategy isn’t working.
They are losing investors. The business is supposed to generate profit to make it work.
But to make it happen, they should take care of their community (the writers) who make the platform work.
Honestly, I don’t want Medium to fail. I don’t want it to lose its users.
Aside from earning significant rewards from it, the platform is effective at driving traffic to my website.
Believe it or not, Medium is the highest referrer of traffic to my website. And I earn from ads on the side.
It is also what made me write more again. I want to be more active in writing because of it.
So far, I still have my subscription to Medium until next month, and am still considering renewing it.
I still get paid, but not as much as before.
Now, the main goal is to find an alternative to Medium that everyone can use on the side.
Here is where Hive comes in.
Is it time for Hive to win over Medium’s customers?
Hive is a great Medium alternative for writers where you earn cryptocurrency for every blog you post.
The best thing is that you can earn HIVE (power) and HBD at the same time. In fact, after writing for years, my account now has more than $1,000 in value (I wasn’t that active, so I only have this amount).
This image is a screenshot by the author
But if you write quality content and pick the best niche in the community, it can earn you a lot per post.
Take a look at these users getting more than $100 for just one post.
This image is a screenshot by the author
The best thing about Hive is that it is Web 3.0 and decentralized, so everything is transparent.
This is how the rewards work:
- You post a blog in the right community and use tags effectively.
- Engage with other writers.
- Wait for other users to “upvote” your post.
Every “upvote” (clap on Medium) has a value. Imagine receiving 1k claps on Medium but not getting paid for it.
On Hive, when someone upvotes you (gives you a clap), you get paid. That is how you earn money.
Now, every user has a different vote value. The more Hive power they have, the more money they will get.
Hive power is like money that is “locked” to your account. You can unlock this later.
The main purpose is to grow your account and increase your influence on the platform.
Take a look at this example:
This image is a screenshot by the author
@leo.voter has 2,284,491.061 Hive Power (which is around 1,121,545.75 USD in value as of writing), so if they upvote (clap) on your post, you will get paid based on the percentage they give you.
In my case, I currently have around 3,000 Hive Power, so when I give you 100% of my upvote, you will receive around $0.035 as a reward.
This image is a screenshot by the author
Here’s the formula: the more upvotes you receive (and the more HP they have), the more money you will get.
The secret is to get a lot of support from the community. To make this happen, the community encourages everyone to stake or lock their HIVE on their accounts and increase their holdings.
But you can still receive some percentage of your earnings, of course. It is your earnings and rewards, after all.
I also publish this on my website. All images are made, designed, and screenshot by the author unless stated otherwise.