Kickstarter Announces That It Will Move to Blockchain
The crowdfunding site will make use of the Celo blockchain for this purpose.
Key Takeaways
- Kickstarter has announced that it will transition to blockchain.
- Kickstarter's user experience will remain the same, but blockchain will add governance and reward features behind the scenes.
- The new blockchain platform will make use of Celo, a proof-of-stake-based carbon negative blockchain.
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Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has announced that it will soon integrate its main service with blockchain technology.
Kickstarter Will Transition to Blockchain
Kickstarter says that will create a “decentralized version of [its] core functionality” that will “live on a public blockchain.”
The company noted that blockchain will make it easy to reward participation in new ways, and that it will also allow for the mixing of different protocols and software components.
Kickstarter’s platform will be built on Celo, a mobile-focused DeFi blockchain platform. The firm also drew attention to Celo’s carbon-negative features, namely the fact that it relies on proof-of-stake and uses its token to offset greenhouse gas emissions.
Blockchain Will Add Governance Features
Kickstarter will also establish a governance lab that will help direct the development of the protocol. The firm noted the growth of alternative governance models and believes there is an “important opportunity to advance these efforts using the blockchain.”
While this will involve voting rights, Kickstarter did not indicate whether it would create a governance token for this purpose.
More details will be revealed in a whitepaper set to be published by the company in the coming weeks.
Changes Are Behind the Scenes
Development will be led through an independent organization called Kickstarter PBC. Kickstarter itself will later be transitioned to this platform, albeit in a way that works behind the scenes.
“You won’t see the [blockchain] protocol, but you will benefit from its improvements,” Kickstarter explained in its blog post, assuring users that the overall user experience will remain the same.
Kickstarter was created in 2009 and has handled more than $6 billion of pledges for 200,000 projects. Along with Patreon and GoFundMe, it is one of the largest creator funding platforms.
The company’s closest blockchain competitors at the moment are monetization platforms like Coil and Gitcoin, as well as specific crowdfunding DAOs such as ConstitutionDAO.
Disclaimer: At the time of writing this author held less than $100 of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins.
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