Reddit is winding down its blockchain-based rewards program, Community Points, in order to focus on programs that are easier to scale. Community Points were launched in 2020 as a way for Redditors to “own” a piece of their community by earning Ethereum tokens for positive engagement in select subreddits. These tokens could be used to unlock special features and were displayed next to usernames as a measure of reputation. However, scaling the program proved to be a challenge, and Reddit has since rolled out other incentives like the moderator rewards program and the Contributor Program, which allows users to convert their Reddit gold and karma into cash. Reddit’s director of consumer and product communications, Tim Rathschmidt, stated that the company is phasing out Community Points to prioritize programs that are “more set up to scale and benefit more users.” Although the exact number of subreddits affected by the cut is unknown, Rathschmidt assured that it would be small. This isn’t the first rewards program Reddit has ended this year, as the coin system was also discontinued earlier.
