blockworks.co
Reddit’s native cryptocurrency moons (MOON) has, well, mooned over the past month.
Currently trading at $0.13 per token, the cryptocurrency has soared by about 73% since the start of the year, data from CoinGecko show, with the caveat that there are few markets where it trades and liquidity is miniscule.
Moons is a token built on Ethereum’s blockchain that powers the r/Cryptocurrency subreddit — an online forum for crypto enthusiasts to discuss — and, often, debate — their favored digital assets and related protocol projects. It’s also evolved into an industry hub to share notable news, often as emerging information impacts a token’s price and market capitalization.
Participating Redditors are rewarded with moons tokens, and the token is stored in the social platform’s in-house digital asset wallet.
Moons’ use cases
Moons can be used for a variety of purposes on Reddit, including the purchase of a membership to the r/Cryptocurrency forum for 466 moons a month. Subscribers also receive four new loyalty badges monthly and can include gifs in comment threads.
The moons token also allows users to partake in polls and tip their peers on content shares, generally those perceived to add value for industry participants.
A Reddit user who wished to remain anonymous told Blockworks that they don’t recall when or why they opened their Vault on Reddit, but it was likely due to the fact that “it was there.”
The user said they have used the cryptoassets on a couple of occasions to tip helpful users. Reddit’s nascent crypto tipping mechanism adds an extra incentive for savvy posts on the forum in particular, they said.
Another user, No_Scientist_7094, told Blockworks that they view the token as similar to the Basic Attention Token (BAT) — a blockchain system designed to reward users for their attention on websites via the web browser Brave, a popular pick for digital assets advocates concerned with digital privacy.
On Web2 platforms, if a user looks at ads, the company often pockets the ensuing revenue. But with the introduction of moons on Reddit, the user credited for bringing eyeballs onto the screen would earn money, they said.
“It’s a revenue sharing scheme…I hope it will expand and other platforms will use a similar setup,” they said.
No_Scientist_7094 said that the emerging ecosystem could also be used as pocket money, though they personally had yet to sell any of their tokens — and were not looking to do so for a long time.
“I just tip some here and there and use it to vote on new proposals,” they said.
Reddit’s r/Cryptocurrency succeeding where rivals failed
The Reddit user Mr_Bob_Ferguson told Blockworks that he had contributed to a slew of internet messaging boards, forums and platforms since the 90s. And there had never been an expectation for financial rewards until moons came along.
Despite other subreddits having attempted something along the same lines — and failed (BRICK is a prime example), the reward system has managed to pick up steam.
“Use-cases for moons are slowly building, beyond the initial ‘sub governance voting power,’ through to a new Moonplace.io site, and many are hopeful that Reddit will provide further official integration, such as allowing moons to be used to purchase the popular Reddit Limited Edition Avatars (NFTs) in the future on a marketplace,” he said.
Companies are also using moons to pay for banner advertising and AMAs (ask me anything) in the sub, he said. “These payments are not insignificant, costing several thousand dollars.”
Moons tokens currently have a market cap sitting around $15 million, and Mr_Bob_Ferguson remains optimistic on the potential for the cryptocurrency to continue on its upward trajectory.
One downside: ‘moons-farming’
Although the sentiment around the moons ecosystem has mostly been positive among Reddit community members, users said the token’s introduction also added more fuel to the fire of so-called “moons-farming” behavior.
The practice entails commenting merely for clout’s sake, rather than to contribute to advancing thoughtful discussion contributions.
“The Reddit voting system often doesn’t reward the highest effort content, but instead often low value content that follows a certain narrative,” Mr_Bob_Ferguson said. “For example, after the recent FTX collapse a simple comment of “they should be in jail” would always be rewarded more than a detailed, well thought out, reply.”
Even so, he said, the introduction of moons has upped his own personal engagement on r/Cryptocurrency.
“It is a highly unique way of rewarding users for content,” he said. “It feels as though this type of model may be the future for contributing on social networks.”