Blockstack Bets On $1 Million Payouts To App Devs After SEC Reg A+ Approval

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In a pointed backhander to Google’s now-defunct “Don’t be Evil” mantra, Blockstack is piling on an extra incentive to encourage app developers to use their decentralized computing platform.

Their call to developers is to create apps that “Can’t be Evil”, with a developer reward program that will increase payouts from $100,000 to $1 million per month in its App Mining Program by May 2020. Blockstack PBC is a public benefit corporation that wants to decentralize computing and return privacy to users.

Blockstack Token Offering Greenlit by SEC

Last Wednesday the startup won SEC approval to sell digital tokens under Regulation A+ of the 2012 JOBS Act, making it the first U.S. company to qualify. A Regulation A+ offering means it will be able to raise funds from retail investors in addition to institutions and accredited investors.

Blockstack plans to raise $28 million through its token sale. Of that, it will dedicate $12 million to its App Mining Program, hoping to attract app developers to its decentralized blockchain. The aim is to encourage developers to create apps that protect user privacy, have well-designed interfaces, and are robust and secure.

App Reviewers such as Product Hunt, TryMyUI offer developers ongoing, data-driven feedback. The better the app, the more the developer earns.

Stanley continued, noting that “Apps created on Blockstack are already disrupting a number of corporation-controlled online services, and we are looking forward to welcoming more developers on board that are also committed to building user-controlled applications that can’t be evil.

Blockstack at the Forefront of a Decentralized Internet

The New York-based company is healthily backed by Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Lux Capital, and Digital Currency Group. Now with SEC approval to issue a Reg A+ raise, the startup will begin ramping up its monthly payouts from $100,000 to $200,000 in Stacks tokens (STX) in August. That figure will hit $1 million next May.

Blockstack’s decentralized computing network and secure app ecosystem has already begun disrupting app development by supporting and funding developers.

Graphite Docs, the decentralized document management service that protects privacy and freedom of speech, Dmail, the secure, encrypted email service, and BitPatron, a censorship-resistant subscription membership platform have already benefited from using Blockstack’s App Mining platform, which the company launched last year. 

Blockstack In The Right Place At The Right Time?

From funding to app development, from censorship-resistance to payments, our networks are moving rapidly toward decentralized solutions, as trust in centralized, data-hungry corporate entities slumps.

Facebook’s Calibra grilling at the Senate Banking Committee suggests lawmakers are becoming ever-more skeptical of the intentions of large corporations. 

Elastos’ Rong Chen explores the idea of a decentralized web when he says, “We can have WeChat without Tencent. YouTube without Google. Twitter without Twitter.”

Such projects are being developed across the blockchain community – from the massive (EOS’ Voice) to the Kickstarted (Junto, on Holochain).

Now, with a nod from the SEC, Blockstack could join the evolution toward a more decentralized version of the web that serves users ahead of corporate interests.

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