Reddit’s Blockchain-based Community Points is Saying Goodbye, But Why?

One of the most famous features of Reddit is its Community Points, but soon, this blockchain-based rewards program will be saying its goodbye to the world as the company deems it so. This helped Redditors earn a part from their contributions to their "Community," a.k.a. the subreddits to which they are actively participating, alongside other engagements that benefit the public.

The blockchain-based points were interchangeable with Ethereum, best known for being the second-top cryptocurrency now, with its infrastructure considered as the wallet.

Reddit's Blockchain-Based Community Points is Saying Goodbye

TechCrunch reported that Reddit confirmed its shut down of the Community Points, a feature that it had since 2020, as part of its favoring of other programs to help its users. "Though we saw some future opportunities for Community Points, the resourcing needed was unfortunately too high to justify," said Tim Rathschmidt, Reddit's director of consumer and product communications.

According to Reddit, the Community Points has evolved, and with this, it "is no longer set up to scale," focusing on those less difficult to scale to offer its communities.

Community Points would be phased out by early November, giving users less than a month to earn and collect more points before it bids farewell.

Why is Reddit Shutting Down Community Points?

Reddit's continued operation of Community Points is costly, and it seems like this is no longer enough to justify the "resourcing needed" to continue offering this feature.

The Community Points offered a way to add credibility and "reputation" to Redditors, as well as use for special features and buying memberships, and once spent, these points will get "burned." Reddit's Vault acted as a crypto-wallet to store these points.

Reddit and the Blockchain

The feature that introduced the blockchain experience in Reddit is best known as the "Community Points," and it was first introduced by the platform years ago, available for all Redditors to opt in. As long as these Redditors bring a positive presence and helpful assistance to co-Redditors, they are subject to receive these points that can be exchanged for Ethereum.

However, this was not the only focus of Reddit on the blockchain, particularly as the platform features a "Blockchain Wallet" which has already seen a record number of transactions amongst its community. Over 3 million NFT Avatars were already purchased by Redditors via this wallet, and this was only after several months of launching its NFT marketplace, which started in July 2022.

In a social news aggregator platform like Reddit, the blockchain is one suitable technology that is available for all to use, one that allows rewarding the steadfast contributors in the community. However, this feature was short-lived, as Reddit now discontinues Community Points for all users, with future rewards focusing on other methods, no longer using this blockchain-based setup.