Reddit, home to thousands of communities’ endless conversation is testing two Ethereum-based tokens to reward engagement in two of its communities, which together have more than 2 million members. The tokens are called “Moons” ($MOONS) and “Bricks” ($BRICKS). Moons is launched for /r/Cryptocurrency community which has 1 million members and Bricks token is issued for the 1.3 million members of /r/ForniteBR community. Both tokens are Ethereum-based ERC20 tokens and can be claimed, viewed, and spent from the Vault right inside the Reddit app which is an in-app Ethereum wallet that has a private key and recovery phrase and available on both iOS and Android.
According to Reddit, the tokens are currently in beta testing and the testing mode will continue through summer 2020. Reddit said that "the smart contracts and mobile apps have been reviewed and audited by Trail of Bits, an independent security firm with blockchain expertise." Reddit members will be able to use these tokens to tip other users, buy badges and awards, take part in polls, or buy a special membership. Users have control of their private keys, which means no one else can access the coins except the users themselves and not even Reddit can take them away. Because both are on a public blockchain, user balances and transactions are public and tied to their Reddit username. Tokens can be transferred to any Ethereum wallet just like any other Ethereum token.
The total number tokens has a hard cap of 250 million tokens in each Reddit community. For example, there will never be more than 250 million $MOON tokens. Initially, 50 million tokens will be distributed based on karma (Reddit’s score system) earned in the subreddit to date. The amount of tokens issued diminishes over time, and can only be earned by contributing content (by posting or commenting for example). Whenever tokens are used to buy badges or memberships, they are burned, which means destroyed and reintroduced into the next month’s distribution.
While Facebook’s Libra and Telegram’s Ton cryptocurrency projects have either been delayed or cancelled Reddit is introducing cryptocurrency to its 400 million users. This means millions of people will soon own wallets for storing ERC-20 tokens.
|