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Kickstarter moving to blockchain for some reason

Kickstarter moving to blockchain for some reason

Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has said that it will be moving to a blockchain platform.

In a blog post, the firm said that it was backing the creation of a new decentralised crowdfunding protocol that will be hosted on the supposedly "carbon-negative" Celo blockchain. Kickstarter compared the creation of this protocol to that of HTTP and SMTP, which help power internet browsing and email respectively.

Once this protocol has been successfully created, the crowdfunding service will be moving its operations to it. Kickstarter has said that users will not notice that they are using this decentralised system. The protocol will also be made available to anyone who wants to crowdfund, be it on Kickstarter or another site.

"We believe decentralisation will result in innovation like we’ve never seen before, and that it’s key to the future of crowdfunding," Kickstarter wrote.

"We're excited to be working towards that future—as always, in service of our mission to help bring creative projects to life."

Since 2009, video game Kickstarter campaigns have raised more than $1 billion.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.