coincodex.com
Key highlights:
- Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter is backing a blockchain-based decentralized protocol that will provide a similar functionality to the Kickstarter platform
- Kickstarter selected Celo as the blockchain to build the new protocol on
- Kickstarter plans to transition their business over to the protocol once it's ready
Kickstarter plans to transition to a blockchain-based, decentralized protocol
Popular crowdfunding platform Kickstarter says that it will be backing a blockchain-based open source protocol that will provide similar functionality to the existing Kickstarter platform. The announcement was made in a post written by Kickstarter founder Perry Chen and CEO Aziz Hasan.
Kickstarter has selected Celo as their blockchain of choice, citing Celo’s efforts to minimize their environmental impact and make their blockchain accessible globally.
Development of the protocol will be started by Kickstarter PBC, an independent organization established by Kickstarter. According to Chen and Hasan, the goal is for the Kickstarter.com business to ultimately be built on top of this new protocol without impacting the experience that Kickstarter users have grown accustomed to.
Blockchain is of course already playing an important role in crowdfunding, as token sales are a common way of raising capital for projects in the crypto space. DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) are also being used to raise funds for projects that go beyond crypto and blockchain. For example, a DAO recently managed to raise more than $40 million in an attempt to buy a rare copy of the U.S. constitution.
To complement its protocol, Kickstarter will also be launching an “independence governance lab” that will be tasked with creating the protocol’s governance system, and will also tackle the issue of alternative governance models more broadly by publishing research and observations. The governance lab will be headed by Camille Canon, who was the executive director of Purpose Foundation before taking on the new role.
Chen and Hasan concluded their post by saying they believe decentralized networks will have a major role in shaping the future of the internet:
“In the coming years, we believe large swaths of the internet will be reconstructed from the ground up by open and decentralized networks of contributors, who participate in the design, operation, governance and even ownership of the technology themselves. We believe that helping build the infrastructure and tools that help bring creative projects to life is an important and exciting way for us to serve our mission.”
We can expect to learn more about Kickstarter’s new decentralized project in a whitepaper that’s expected to be released “in the coming weeks”.
The markets for CELO, the governance token of the Celo protocol, responded to the news with a quick rally. The token’s price climbed from $3.70 to a local peak of $4.66, before eventually declining in price along with the rest of the cryptocurrency market.