News
Reddit Plans To Convert Its Karma Points To ERC-20 Tokens
When tokenized, Karma points would become independent of Reddit, existing on community-controlled blockchains.
A series of now-deleted Tweets by Reddit engineer Rahul Kothari has recently revealed that the social media site is planning to start converting user’s Karma points into ERC-20 tokens.
“When we all pull this off, we would onboard 500M web2 users into web3 and then there is no going back. Let me say that again — 500 million new crypto users” wrote Rahul in his Tweet.
Currently, Karma points are supposed to reflect how much individual users contribute to the community, and they are earned for posting, commenting, and receiving or giving awards.
When tokenized, Karma points would become independent of Reddit, existing on community-controlled blockchains. Reddit calls such points Community Points, and two subreddits already use them: r/CryptoCurrency and r/FortNiteBR.
While r/CryptoCurrency calls its Community Points Moons, r/FortNiteBR uses the name Bricks. In both cases, Community Points reward posters, commenters, and moderators for their contributions, and they are distributed on a monthly basis.
One cool feature enabled by Community Points is weighted voting, where members get one vote for every Point they have, making it possible for the biggest contributors to influence voting the most.
Also Read: Riyadh Will Become Home To The Second Snap Creator Studio Globally
Community Points can also be traded just like any other token with a sizable user base. At the time of writing, one Moon is worth roughly $0.20 and one Brick nearly $0.10. By attaching a monetary value to Reddit contributions, Community Points change the game quite dramatically, and many Reddit users, including those involved in crypto, are not thrilled by this.
“Once they started passing out moons the sub’s quality content dropped, the bots showed up, and now they have votes seemingly every month to tweak how the moons are handed out and what is banned from the sub. It’s ridiculous,” commented u/goofytigre in the r/Ethereum subreddit.
Considering that Reddit is already criticized for being an echo chamber, it will be interesting to see the effect of the tokenization of its Karma points on the community.
News
UAE Prepares To Launch Two Satellites: Thuraya-2 And MBZ-SAT
HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum chaired the first meeting of the Supreme Space Council yesterday.
HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, chaired the first meeting of the Supreme Space Council in Dubai on December 16, 2024. The session highlighted the UAE’s ambitious space plans and took stock of the sector’s economic progress.
The council emphasized the growing role of private companies in advancing space technologies, noting that their contributions are now equal to that of the public sector. Members also praised initiatives like the Space Economic Zones Programme, which are designed to fuel innovation and investment in the space industry.
خلال ترؤسنا الاجتماع الأول للمجلس الأعلى للفضاء، بحثنا الاستثمارات الوطنية والمشاريع المقبلة في قطاع الفضاء والذي يشهد تطوراً مستمراً… وجددنا التزامنا بدعم ومواصلة تنفيذ برامج طموحة لاستكشاف الفضاء الخارجي حيث وصل حجم الاستثمارات في هذا القطاع إلى 40 مليار درهم خلال السنوات… pic.twitter.com/etJ33OnuSu
— Hamdan bin Mohammed (@HamdanMohammed) December 16, 2024
Discussing the UAE’s space journey, HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum remarked, “The national space sector continues to grow and advance, and we take immense pride in the remarkable achievements we have accomplished over the years”.
Sheikh Hamdan also received updates on two upcoming satellite projects: Thuraya-2 and MBZ-SAT. Thuraya-2, developed by Space42, is slated for launch this December. Meanwhile, the MBZ-SAT, created by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), will soon follow. MBRSC, a major driver of the UAE National Space Programme, continues to lead the nation’s space-related developments.
Space42 took the opportunity to showcase its advancements, including ongoing collaborations between public and private entities. The company also outlined strategies to promote innovation, boost revenue streams, and create new opportunities for growth in the sector.
Also Read: IBM Opens New Doha Office To Support Qatar’s Digital Growth
The UAE’s current projects build on a growing legacy of space exploration. Back in 2020, the nation made headlines with its Mars mission, successfully sending a probe into the planet’s orbit in 2021. This mission, which is now in its second phase as of June 2024, has been collecting critical data to develop a comprehensive diurnal image of Mars.
The UAE also ventured into lunar exploration with an unmanned mission aimed at studying untouched regions of the Moon’s surface. While the probe ultimately crashed during its landing attempt after communication was lost seconds before touchdown, the effort represented a significant step in the country’s exploration ambitions.