Tokens based on subreddit reputation saw dips over 85% after the announcement.
Reddit’s blockchain-based “Community Points” rewards crash after sunsetting::Tokens based on subreddit reputation saw dips over 85% after the announcement.
It’s indisputable they failed to think this through, but did Reddit make any money off the attempt alone?
Is this entire switch to blockchain and then abruptly stopping it a net loss, or a minor, short-term net gain?
Serious question, because while I have a general understanding of what blockchain is, the whole who benefits/who loses and how that happens thing has become far too complex for me to really follow, so I’m hoping someone here can tell me.
Also, they didn’t shut it ALL down, apparently there are still some rubes to be fleeced via blockchain:
Notably, Reddit’s NFT marketplace was not targeted for closure.
So. Net loss? Net gain? Neutral? What’s your best guess, and why?
The belief amongst some is that reddit basically did a rug pull. People could and would buy these crypto points with real money, so reddit likely made money. Odds are it just was not successful outside of niche subreddits, hence:
Its newer Contributor Program, which rewards users with actual money from the Reddit gold and karma they accrue, is one such example. “Part of why we’re moving past this product is that we’ve already launched, or are actively investing in, several products that accomplish what the Community Points program was trying to accomplish, while being easier to adopt and understand,” Reddit’s director of consumer and product communications, Tim Rathschmidt, told TechCrunch.
Crypto also hopefully seems to be on the decline, and it’s possible Reddit did not want to appear to be behind the times.
While most people likely never noticed the loss of their Community Points, some who actively acquired them, or even bought more on the blockchain, are reporting losses of thousands of dollars. Conspiratorial claims of Reddit having “rugged” the currencies—pulling money from the system before a sudden shutdown—floated on social media.
I’m gonna laugh so hard if people get insider trading charges on shit coins because of this.
Crypto bros are really fond of the whole “use the blockchain to take your assets from one platform to another” grift, but it:
Doesn’t work if the other platform doesn’t support it
Could be done without a blockchain if both platforms agree to share a database
It’s like you said: Do any other websites care about your Reddit karma? No. Why would they? It’s only 2 uses are to make people addicted to Reddit through gamifying their opinions and filtering bot accounts by having a minimal karma threshold to post on subs.
Classic investment scam- offer a valueless item at a price, get everyone hyped up about the new item which is supposed to gain value, get people to invest, let the insiders in the company know so they can sell off, then get rid of it altogether. I hope they get prosecuted for this.
Did Reddit actually accept any money for these junk tokens? It kinda sounds like they didn’t, they just issued them and then decided to quit using them. If they did accept money for them, then yeah, sure sounds like securities fraud.
In general, the cryptocurrency “industry” cannot exist without crime (ransomware, fraud, money laundering, etc.) – but this one just seems like a bad product that was cancelled. Most major cryptocurrencies should be considered to be backed by crime, in the same sense that dollars used to be backed by gold and silver: the underlying value of Bitcoin is that you can use it to pay criminal ransoms or acquire fentanyl. But this one just seems to have been backed by fake internet points.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !technology@lemmy.world
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
English
It’s indisputable they failed to think this through, but did Reddit make any money off the attempt alone?
Is this entire switch to blockchain and then abruptly stopping it a net loss, or a minor, short-term net gain?
Serious question, because while I have a general understanding of what blockchain is, the whole who benefits/who loses and how that happens thing has become far too complex for me to really follow, so I’m hoping someone here can tell me.
Also, they didn’t shut it ALL down, apparently there are still some rubes to be fleeced via blockchain:
So. Net loss? Net gain? Neutral? What’s your best guess, and why?
The belief amongst some is that reddit basically did a rug pull. People could and would buy these crypto points with real money, so reddit likely made money. Odds are it just was not successful outside of niche subreddits, hence:
Crypto also hopefully seems to be on the decline, and it’s possible Reddit did not want to appear to be behind the times.
What could possibly be the point of a decentralized currency that is utterly dependent on a centralized system?
Answer: no point.
Probably to get the normie crypto people to use Reddit.
“Normie crypto” sounds like an oxymoron
Just another database posing as “blockchain” to sound hip.
I’m gonna laugh so hard if people get insider trading charges on shit coins because of this.
Someone spent thousands of dollars? Or many users collectively spent thousands of dollars?
I’m not sure which is more believable.
Why on earth would you invest money into reddit coins?
I can’t believe they ever had value.
removed by mod
Why the hell did people buy this crap with real money
Because they didn’t accept monopoly money at the time?
How is this supposed to work exactly? Does any other site care about your reddit karma?
Anyone remember Klout, I think it was this but before blockchain.
It doesn’t.
Crypto bros are really fond of the whole “use the blockchain to take your assets from one platform to another” grift, but it:
It’s like you said: Do any other websites care about your Reddit karma? No. Why would they? It’s only 2 uses are to make people addicted to Reddit through gamifying their opinions and filtering bot accounts by having a minimal karma threshold to post on subs.
I was on reddit for 15 years and never once heard of these until people posted articles on Lemmy.
Same I figured it was just one of their trendy marketing strategies and a way to monetize the platform.
Is it … solar powered?
Solar FREAKIN Crypto!
deleted by creator
Classic investment scam- offer a valueless item at a price, get everyone hyped up about the new item which is supposed to gain value, get people to invest, let the insiders in the company know so they can sell off, then get rid of it altogether. I hope they get prosecuted for this.
Did Reddit actually accept any money for these junk tokens? It kinda sounds like they didn’t, they just issued them and then decided to quit using them. If they did accept money for them, then yeah, sure sounds like securities fraud.
In general, the cryptocurrency “industry” cannot exist without crime (ransomware, fraud, money laundering, etc.) – but this one just seems like a bad product that was cancelled. Most major cryptocurrencies should be considered to be backed by crime, in the same sense that dollars used to be backed by gold and silver: the underlying value of Bitcoin is that you can use it to pay criminal ransoms or acquire fentanyl. But this one just seems to have been backed by fake internet points.
Who could possibly have predicted this?!?
Oh. Yeah. Anyone with two working brain cells.
That’s a high bar, I mean they are still on Reddit after all
heh.