Kickstarter has revealed that it is the latest tech company to try buying into the blockchain hype.
The crowdfunding site is looking to switch its crowdfunding service from real-world money into blockchain. As per The Verge, the company announced that it will help aid the development of a so-called "open-source protocol" to make a decentralized version of its core service-aka crowdfunding.
Kickstarter announced the switch in an official blog post, where it detailed how everything will work. It gets fairly technical there, but the main goal for the company is to commit to a "more open, collaborative, and decentralized future."
One of their reasons, as per the blog, is to try to give other people on the platform a chance to get funding.
So far, the crowdfunding platform has managed to fund over 200,000 projects (with over $6 billion in total pledges since 2009). And yet, the company states that there are still too many projects out there that never see the light of day because of a lack of funding.
This, according to Kickstarter, has the potential to be fixed using blockchain technology.
Once everything is set up, the open-source protocol will be on a public blockchain that will allow literally anyone to use it or build upon it. This includes even the company's direct competitors in the business.
As of this writing, the crowdfunding giant will be essentially creating a new company to establish a similar platform using the Celo blockchain, reports CoinDesk.
The main reason for choosing Celo is due to its apparent dedication to minimize the impact of blockchain technology on the environment, as well as making the tech globally accessible by implementing mobile access.
Does This Mean Kickstarter Projects Could Soon Be Backed With Crypto?
If everything goes well, the short answer is yes. And it could actually be good for the crowdfunding site moving forward, given how the market has shifted.
By embracing blockchain and crypto, Kickstarter could regain a bit of lost relevance, according to Bloomberg. That, and there are also other companies-some of them over a century old-that have been looking to make the same shift.
The only problem with blockchain technology (one of the biggest criticisms against it, actually) is its energy-intensive nature. And that would be right. Crypto and blockchain tech in general does consume a massive amount of electricity-electricity that is mostly sourced from fossil fuels at this point.
The biggest offender would be crypto mining, whose energy requirements are so massive that entire countries are cracking down on it to reduce their carbon emissions. A perfect example would be China.
Fortunately, choosing the Celo blockchain alleviates that Achilles heel, which could help make the crowdfunding company's switch stay more relevant for longer.
For now, the protocol still doesn't have a name. However, the crowdfunding platform did make it clear that the overall experience on their site will be the same, even with the big shift.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
