Kickstarter has announced plans to create a “decentralized future” for its platform. Next year it will switch to the blockchain protocol. The company’s decision was criticized by many indie developers, promising to switch to other crowdfunding platforms.Kickstarter told about its plans on the official website.
The transition to blockchain will take place in several stages:
- based on the Celo blockchain platform, the company will develop its own open source protocol in order to create a decentralized version of the platform;The solution will be developed by a new independent organization Kickstarter PBC, which will be partially funded by the company itself;
- Kickstarter also plans to open an “independent management laboratory” that will monitor development, do research and communicate with the community on the topic of protocol management.
- The platform’s transition to blockchain will begin in the first quarter of 2022 and will be fully completed by the end of next year.
According to Kickstarter, the new protocol will not affect the user experience in any way and will only give the participants of the site more opportunities.
“We believe that soon large sections of the Internet will be reconstructed from scratch with the help of open and decentralized networks. They will consist of people directly involved in the creation, management and even ownership of technologies. We look forward to building the infrastructure and providing new tools to bring creative projects to life,” the company said in a statement.
News about the transition of Kickstarter to the blockchain protocol caused a strong reaction in the community. The announcement was especially painful for small indie developers who had previously received funding on this platform more than once.
“Now I have three Kickstarter projects in the works. I’d rather put them on a shelf or transfer them to another platform than support this nonsense,” said game designer and screenwriter Matthew Gravelyn.
I have 3 @Kickstarter projects in the works right now and you better believe I’d rather shelve them or move them to a new platform before supporting this garbage. Get out of here with this crypto bullshit @Kickstarter! pic.twitter.com/oF2GffdoTr
— Matthew Gravelyn (@mrmatthew)
She noted that she will switch to Indiegogo if Kickstarter “deals with this crypto nonsense.”
“Hey, Kickstarter, I will no longer use your platform if you are related to cryptocurrency or NFT,” wrote graphic designer Christina Stone—Bush
this is extremely upsetting and disheartening news, @Kickstarter — i hope they reconsider because if kickstarter gets into crypto im not sure i can justify running kickstarters anymore https://t.co/Y3UxoEL55X
— jay Dragon ????PAX Unplugged (come to my party!) (@jdragsky) December 8, 2021It is worth noting that Kickstarter has not yet disclosed details about whether the updated platform will use cryptocurrency or NFT.
The developers’ fears may be confirmed, or they may be in vain.