In a recent announcement, Reddit revealed the discontinuation of its ambitious blockchain Community Points program. This comes three years after its inception, causing massive declines in the associated cryptocurrency token values. While the exact reason for this decision remains cloaked in corporate speak, the aftershocks have been felt deeply in the pockets of MOON, BRICK, and DONUT token holders, according to Santiment, a market intelligence platform.
😠 #Reddit's community is expressing disdain toward its CEO #Spez & the choice to sunset community points toward $MOON, $BRICK, $DONUT, & others commonly earned through insight contributions and peer tipping. #Moon plummeted as much as -89.9% in ~3 hours. https://t.co/8gvFpBEc6H pic.twitter.com/vr1Sl8VyjG
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) October 17, 2023
Created to reward and incentivise creators and developers, Reddit’s Community Points initiative used Ethereum’s ERC-20 tokens. MOON emerged as the crypto community’s central asset on Reddit, while BRICKS and DONUT found their niche as reward mechanisms and native assets for specific subreddits.
Tim Rathschmidt, Reddit’s Director of Consumer and Product Communications, expressed the company’s sentiment to TechCrunch, stating,
Despite witnessing potential future avenues for Community Points, the growing demands in terms of resources and the evolving regulatory landscape made it unsustainable. Our moderators and supportive communities have been instrumental, but the program is just not scalable anymore.
The end of this journey was not a soft landing for the involved tokens. In the hours succeeding the announcement, MOON’s value plummeted by a whopping 85% to just $0.03071. Concurrently, BRICKS saw its value erode by 46.5% to stand at $0.05341, and DONUT wasn’t far behind, marking a decrease of 55.57% to $0.005998.
With such a drastic decline, there were whispers of a potential ‘rug pull’ – a notorious strategy where developers dissolve a project and abscond with the invested capital. Though it’s a weighty accusation, Jameson Lopp, a known figure in the blockchain security realm, brought attention to the crisis by highlighting a distraught investor’s comment, hinting at the same possibility.
Regardless of speculations and conspiracy theories, one truth is evident: the holders of MOON, BRICK, and DONUT tokens have been hit hard. As the crypto world keenly observes Bitcoin’s ETF approval developments, it’s crucial not to overlook the ripple effects of major platforms like Reddit altering their blockchain strategies. Only time will tell if these token values can recover or if this marks the end of their journey.
