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Reddit has just launched a waitlist for the new site-wide expansion of its long-anticipated Community Points. The Ethereum-based token rewards program will finally allow the tokens to be introduced to the website for those who wish to sign their subreddits up for it and connect the social media site to the crypto and blockchain industries even more directly.
Reddit takes the next step into crypto
Reddit has been one of the two social media sites — right up there with Twitter — that has been particularly open to the cryptocurrency industry for years now. However, with the new site-wide expansion, it is preparing to take the next step.
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Originally, the website started using crypto two years ago, in December 2019 when it launched token rewards called Donuts for the r/Ethtrader subreddit, and then two more tokens called Moons, for the r/Cryptocurrency and Bricks for r/FortniteBR subreddits.
Now, the platform will introduce an opt-in feature for any subreddit. The feature will not be too different from Reddit’s existing karma points. Redditors will be able to earn the Community Points by contributing to their favorite subreddits — the ones that sign up for the feature, including the creation and uploads of valuable content. They can also earn them by moderating the community.
Users are warned not to trade their points for now
For the time being, the points remain in beta, which is why Reddit advised caution. It also noted that selling, exchanging or trading the points is against the site’s rules for the moment and that doing so would be considered very risky behavior, as points can be lost or not migrated to Ethereum’s network properly.
Of course, despite the warning, some owners of the trial token already made plans to trade the tokens for fiat. But, once the reward system — currently on the testnet — moves to the mainnet, the tokens will likely be allowed for swapping, holding, or trading, just like any other ERC-20 token.
For now, the subreddits that participate in the program will be able to create special memberships where users can spend their points for purchasing things like badges, animated emojis, gifs, and alike. There will be other benefits, like weighted polls, where users with more points will be able to have greater influence on the results of the poll. Meanwhile, the tokens will be stored in each user’s personal Vault, where they can manage them within the Reddit app.