The Convergence of AI, Content, & Crypto will Change the Internet! | Michael Blau

July 6, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Michael Blau, founder of DRIP and former A16Z crypto deal partner, spent his early career as a magician—working for David Blaine, performing at the Magic Castle, and learning from a mentor named Ossie Wind. That background in illusion and sleight of hand turned out to be surprisingly good preparation for crypto. "I got super into the finance piece of it," Blau says, describing his first encounter with flash loans in DeFi. "I was like, that's real magic. That's crazy." Now he is building DRIP, a platform that lets writers get paid when AI agents use their work, and he thinks the entire internet economy is about to flip back to a pay-per-use model.

From Magic to A16Z to Founding

Blau grew up in Las Vegas, studied finance and computer science at Washington University, and spent his teenage years as a magician—performing at the Magic Castle and interning for David Blaine. That background in illusion gave him a natural affinity for crypto's more surprising mechanisms. "When I first learned about flash loans, I was like totally mind-blown," he says. "You could borrow millions of dollars, do whatever you want with it, return it in 12 seconds with 9% interest, and if for whatever reason the borrower didn't return the money, the transaction was reverted, and it's as if it never happened. I was like, that's real magic."

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What you'll learn

1 (01:01) **The Pay-Per-Use Thesis** - Michael Blau argues the internet will return to a pay-per-use model, driven by AI agents and subscription fatigue.
2 (04:00) **Guest Background & Path to Crypto** - Michael Blau's journey from magician to A16Z crypto investor.
3 (09:40) **From BlackRock to A16Z** - How a flash loan revelation led Michael to leave traditional finance for crypto venture capital.
4 (11:57) **Key Learnings from A16Z** - The venture firm's philosophy on evaluating founders over ideas.
5 (17:47) **Introducing DRIP** - A platform for writers to sell paywalled content to AI agents on a pay-per-use basis.
6 (22:44) **The New Demand Source** - Why DRIP is additive to subscriptions, not a replacement.
7 (26:56) **Logistics & Stablecoin Strategy** - Current and future payment infrastructure for DRIP.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Michael Blau, Head of Product and CTO at Royal.io, the company behind Drip, joined me to discuss how the platform is helping writers and content creators get paid in stablecoins when AI agents use their work.
Topics:
- Why use use Drip for financial market research instead of just asking ChatGPT, Grok, or Gemini?
- Integration with Base and Tempo
- Michael's time at a16z investing in crypto
- AI Agents and future economy
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⏰ Time Stamps ⏰
00:00 Intro
03:27 Michael's background
43:50 Wrap up questions
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