BRISBANE, Australia, April 23, 2024 – – YouPay, the professional gifting platform for professional creators, and MintStars, an innovative content platform that helps creators and fans earn more with lower censorship, today announced that they have entered into a collaboration partnership with the purpose of establishing a baseline for how creator focused platforms can operate to enhance the professionalism and legitimacy of the adult content focused creator economy.

The creator economy is continuing to grow and evolve and both YouPay and MintStars recognize the need for professional, trustworthy and stable platforms to be available for creators to engage with their fans. This collaboration is seen by both as step forward to creating synergies that all creators and their fans can benefit from.

Positioned as the professional platform for professional creators, YouPay has a strong focus on identifying value aligned, creator focused partners with a core goal of supporting creators to have access to solutions that support their personal goals and help them achieve their full potential in the creator economy.

MintStars was born out of a desire to eliminate the exploitation of and discrimination against adult content creators by providing a more inclusive alternative to existing platforms, with lower fees, protections from chargebacks and censorship, and enabling creators to profit from fans reselling their collectible content. The MintStars model encourages fans to actively promote the work of creators, shifting the responsibility from creators alone and creating a dynamic where fans have a vested interest in supporting and amplifying creators’ content.

“Creators are looking for stability and professionally operated solutions as they build their business around platforms that support their personal brand monetization approach” commented Matt Holme, Founder and CEO of YouPay. “We have seen a significant shift in platform reliability recently with a number of solutions ceasing to operate, putting the fundamentals of the creator economy at risk. We’re actively seeking out partnerships with like-minded platforms and solutions to provide a collective support network and trust for creators across all categories. MintStars have developed a strong reputation and following with creators, and we’re excited to be working with the team.”

“A core focus for us at MintStars is ensuring creators can get paid without fear of deplatforming, and we’re delighted to collaborate with YouPay to enhance the level of professional capability and trust for our respective users” said Jessica Van Meir, co-founder and COO of MintStars. “We need to de-stigmatise adult content creators, and this collaboration is another step toward improving the environment that adult content creators operate in while enhancing the acknowledgement of adult creators as legitimate, professional businesspeople that should have the same rights as any other category of creator or influencer.”

Under the collaboration agreement, YouPay and MintStars will work together to identify opportunities where they can share resources and capability to enhance their solutions as well as create new avenues for creators to engage and access knowledge and support to help them achieve their full potential both professionally and personally.

“We hope our collaboration partnership is an announcement to the community that there are sex-positive partners out there that are focused on meeting creators’ needs in the long-term, while ensuring sustainability by minimizing personal and financial risk,” said Van Meir.

Holme added, “our collaboration partnership with MintStars follows directly on from our recent partnership with Sidenty and is another example of our focus on bringing access to like-minded partners to our creators and their fans. We’re super excited to see where our collaboration will lead.”

About YouPay

YouPay was created in 2020 in Brisbane, Australia by former EA Sports producer and digital entrepreneur, Matt Holme, to bring privacy and security to online Wishlists. Today YouPay operates globally and has over 150,000 users. Combining an interactive approach to ecommerce with a powerful focus on connecting people, communities, and customers digitally, our mission is to change the future of gifting in a safe and secure way.

About MintStars

MintStars was created by sex workers’ rights advocate and researcher Jessica Van Meir and entrepreneur Daniel Sargent in 2021, and was borne out of their frustrations with how content platforms treated their creators. Driven by a shared passion of bringing innovative solutions to a traditionally underserved sector, MintStars is built on the principles of inclusivity and care for creators. MintStars offers no fees for creators, chargeback protections, immediate payouts, and low censorship, while aligning incentives between creators and fans through limited edition collectibles.