Kickstarter to go crypto

The future of crowdfunding is crypto.

Kickstarter, one of the world’s biggest crowdfunding platforms, has recently announced its intentions to build a decentralized platform governed by an independent lab.

The protocol will be built on Celo blockchain, chosen for being carbon-negative – Celo uses PoS consensus and runs a carbon offset program. It also provides high transaction speed and tiny fees, a non-negligeable quality in the era of skyrocketing gas fees on Ethereum.

Since its launch in 2009 Kickstarter has helped fund 205k projects by processing nearly $6 billion in pledges from 20 million backers. The company has always highlighted its mission to “enable people to join together to help bring creative projects to life”, and in the blockchain era the most honest interpretation of such mission is decentralized.

In addition to honestly keeping up with its mission, Kickstarter’s blockchain endorsement is a strategic move. The old crowdfunding business model might be in danger of becoming obsolete. Companies are raising funds via ICOs (crypto version of an IPO), via NFTs (like Stoner Cats NFT collectibles used to finance the creation fo the eponymous animated series), via DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) that are formed with a goal to invest (RedDAO buying digital fashion, FreeRossDAO buying Ross Ulbricht’s NFTs and promoting his clemency petition, ConstitutionDAO aiming – and failing – to buy a rare copy of the US Constitution… etc)

As mentioned in Kickstarter’s announcement, “Just as the internet changed the world by making it easier to share information, the blockchain is revolutionary in the way it makes it easy to share value.” Crypto for crowdfunding is a natural match, and the industry is catching up.