- Reddit introduced Community Points in 2020 for users to reward each other with tokens.
- Users on the platform reacted sharply to the decision; some critical, others appreciative.
On 17 October, Reddit announced its decision to wind down its Ethereum [ETH]-based Community Points by 8 November.
A Reddit Community team member, cozy_sheets, posted the message across different subreddits such as r/CryptoCurrency, r/ethtrader, and r/FortNiteBR. These subs use the MOON, BRICK, and DONUT tokens, respectively, for transactions.
Reddit’s Community Points are ERC-20 tokens, i.e. fungible tokens created using the Ethereum blockchain. The social media platform introduced Community Points in 2020.
These tokens were initially minted on the Ethereum network before being moved to scaling network Arbitrum [ARB] Nova in 2022.
Reddit used to store these tokens in its wallet, called Vault. Users reward each other with these tokens for making meaningful contributions to the subreddits.
Reddit’s director of consumer and product communications Tim Rathschmidt told TechCrunch,
“Though we saw some future opportunities for Community Points, the resourcing needed was unfortunately too high to justify… The regulatory environment has since added to that effort.”
Once the program is completely phased out, beta participants will no longer find their points in their Vaults or earn points in the communities.
If we look at the price charts of these tokens post the announcement, it was nothing short of mayhem. Notably, MOON’s value dropped by 85%. At press time, it was trading at $0.033.
Source: MOON/USD, CoinMarketCap
BRICK has lost 60% of its value; it was exchanging hands at $0.06 at press time.
Source: BRICK/USD, CoinMarketCap
DONUT has similarly lost around 60% of its value; at press time, it was trading at $0.006.
Source: DONUT/USD, CoinMarketCap
How Reddit users responded
Reactions to the development poured in soon after Reddit announced its decision. One user reported losing a large sum as the platform announced the decision.
“Kinda gutted since I spent well over 25k on moons .. lesson learned I guess, nothing else but BTC and eth from now on”
Another user, however, was positive that this move will purge the platform of those people who are only there to farm tokens.
“Maybe this change will have a positive impact and users who were here just for the points will slowly leave.”
Kraken co-founder and CEO Jesse Powell commented on Reddit’s latest move, saying,
“I personally don’t see the regulatory problems but I get that it’s complicated and evolving and maybe Reddit doesn’t want the hassle.”
Powell suggested the platform should offer a redemption path, such as offering Collectible Avatars or Karma, in exchange for the Community Points.
