KICKSTARTER IS LOOKING INTO DECENTRALIZATION
earlier this month, kickstarter announced their commitment to a more open, collaborative, and decentralized future. this includes moving its platform to the blockchain, something that has the internet divided.
‘as a first step, we’re supporting the development of an open source protocol that will essentially create a decentralized version of kickstarter’s core functionality,’ kickstarter said on a blog post. ‘this will live on a public blockchain, and be available for collaborators, independent contributors, and even kickstarter competitors, from all over the world to build upon, connect to, or use. we think bringing all that we’ve learned about crowdfunding since 2009 to inform the development of a decentralized protocol will open up exciting new opportunities for creative projects to come to life. in the coming weeks, a white paper will be released outlining the technology and plans for the protocol.’
There’s still so much more we can do together to make new creative ideas become reality. https://t.co/dw2BkYdhyf
— Kickstarter (@Kickstarter) December 9, 2021
MOVING INTO THE BLOCKCHAIN MEANS MORE TRUSTWORTHINESS AND VIABILITY
founded in 2009, kickstarter has funded over 200,000 creative projects with more than $6 billion pledged by users worldwide. in the blog post, the company states that these funded projects have created an estimated 750,000+ part-time jobs, 80,000 full-time jobs, over 20,000 companies and nonprofits, and $13.5 billion in additional economic impact.
kickstarter says that their move into the blockchain aims to create better ways for creators to connect with their communities, and for backers to have easier and more profound access in the discovery and participation of the projects, as well as to better control their data and have more tools to assess the trustworthiness and viability of the project.
We know our community has a lot of questions about this new direction, including how it will benefit creators, and how we’ll stay true to our environmental commitments. We are listening. We’ve started an FAQ at https://t.co/YG1XSdpMCZ with what we’ve been asked the most. https://t.co/v8ti7mMpIE
— Kickstarter (@Kickstarter) December 15, 2021
‘the protocol will live on celo, a carbon-negative, public blockchain, be open source, and be available for collaborators, competitors, and independent contributors from all over the world to build upon, connect to, or use,’ kickstarter continued. ‘this openness enables everyone who is interested in the promise of crowdfunding to help build its future and have a say and stake in how it works. blockchain will also open the potential to be rewarded for contributing to the systems that you use everyday.’
the announcement has users divided, mostly commenting on two main subjects: the environmental impact this move might have, and the damage campaigns might suffer if associated with crypto scams. the backlash has been so intense that kickstarter took to twitter to where they said they have started an FAQ to solve people’s doubts.
project info:
name: kickstarter moving to the blockchain
juliana neira I designboom
dec 18, 2021