Reddit partners with FTX to empower communities

As part of its long-term push to use blockchain to empower its communities, Reddit has partnered with FTX, according to an Aug. 9 press release.

Reddit users can use FTX Pay to pay for gas fees on Community Points transactions. In 2020, Reddit launched a token called Community Points to reward active users who have posted quality content on the platform. The token ERC-20 is a measure of reputation and contribution to Reddit communities.

In July 2021, Reddit chose Arbitrum as its scaling partner to scale the system to millions of subreddits.

In an Aug. 9 press release, Offchain Labs, developer of Arbitrum Nova, announced that it will be live on the Reddit Community Points system, which will be the first major deployment on the chain. The arbitrum Nova blockchain claims to offer low-cost and high security.

Users can purchase special memberships, gifting them, or even make governance decisions once earned, by using the Community Points in various ways. On-chain transactions require gas fees. If users have insufficient network fees, they can purchaseETH using FTX Pay with their credit or debit card, according to FTX's blog post.

Niraj Sheth, the Reddit software engineer, said in a statement:

The deployment of Reddit's Community Points on the Arbitrum Nova blockchain could unlock new potential use cases, like gaming ecosystems using Community Points as currency.

Reddit has been experimenting with the idea of giving users more ownership and empowerment via the use of a digital ledger. In July 2022, Reddit launched digital Collectible Avatars which are non-fungible NFTs stored on the Polygon Layer 2 solution. The collectibles aimed to allow artists to earn fees for their work, even commission on secondary sales, while giving buyers the license of ownership.

Tim Rathschmidt, Reddit's director of consumer and product communications, told CryptoSlate in an email:

Reddit is a model for what decentralization could look like online; our communities are self-built and run, and as part of our mission to empower our communities, we are exploring tools to help them be more self-sustaining and self-governed.