Reddit Launches Cryptocurrency Tokens Based on Ethereum

• Reddit launches “Community Points,” a crypto-based rewarding system for its users.
• People will win tokens for contributing quality content and receiving upvotes from other users.
• The tokens will be based on the Ethereum blockchain, and the project will exit beta after the summer.

Reddit has launched a beta testing period for two Ethereum-based tokens, namely the “$MOONS” and the “$BRICKS.” The first one will be handed out to members of the “r/Cryptocurrency,” while the latter will be distributed to the “/r/FortniteBR” community. This whole initiative is called “Community Points,” and it’s meant to encourage users to contribute more content on the popular social media platform, as giving them something back for doing it can work as a strong incentive. The new feature will now undergo testing through summer 2020, and depending on the feedback from the community, it may or may not be rolled out for Redditors.

Both the “$MOONS” and the “$BRICKS” will be ERC-20 tokens that are issued on the Ethereum blockchain, while their users will have to create a Vault on Reddit to serve as a storage and management wallet. The social media company contracted Trail of Bits to help them audit the system and to ensure that no security bugs will compromise the promised blockchain experience. After the beta testing ends, and if Community Points stay, the user balances will be migrated to the Ethereum platform, and all balances on Reddit, the transactions, and the memberships will be reset.

Community Points can be gifted, tipped, and transferred between users, so you will have full control over what you want to do with your tokens. Moving them to any Ethereum blockchain address will also be possible. Core contributors will get points for posting and for having their posts upvoted, meaning quality comments will be awarded more tokens. The more Community Points a user has, the more powerful their voting gets, so receiving an upvote from a core contributor will have an additional value. These points will be publicly shown as a number right next to the username, so the “power” of a user will be demonstrated to everyone in the community.

The distribution of $MOONS and $BRICKS will occur every month, based on the “Karma” of each user. Users will be given six months to claim their Points before these expire. Initially, 50 million Points will be handed out to the community, while the maximum cap is set to 250 million. Half of what users spend in order to buy things on Reddit (GIFs, badges) will be made available for redistribution. Finally, Reddit will cover the initial cost of “gas” for accessing Ethereum’s blockchain through the Vault, but it will get a 20% share of the Community Points. Another 20% will be reserved for the broader Reddit community, and a 10% cut will go to the moderators.