In one embodiment, a computing device includes: a media player operative to at least play a content item on the computing device, a blockchain-based wallet application operative to transfer a transaction amount to a publisher wallet ID via an associated blockchain-based transaction service, a secure digital rights management (DRM) client application operative to verify the transfer of the transaction amount to said publisher wallet ID according to a public transaction ledger associated with the associated blockchain-based transaction service and upon successful verification of the transfer of the transaction amount to the publisher wallet ID at least unlock a locked version of the content item, and a processor operative to execute the media player, the blockchain-based wallet application, and the DRM client application.