Will Kickstarter's Move to Blockchain Make It Easier to Crowdfund Your Next Project?
The crowdfunding platform is supporting the development of an open-source protocol that "even Kickstarter competitors" can use.
By Chloe Arrojado •
Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter is now aiming to incorporate blockchain technology in its crowdfunding mission, according to a Wednesday blog post.
To do this, Kickstarter is supporting the development of an open-source protocol that will create a decentralized version of its functionality. Kickstarter.com will then adopt the new infrastructure after it's built. Though the Kickstarter will be built on top of this new protocol, it will also "be available for collaborators, independent contributors, and even Kickstarter competitors, from all over the world to build upon, connect to, or use."
"We think bringing all that we've learned about crowdfunding since 2009 to inform the development of a decentralized protocol will open up exciting new opportunities for creative projects to come to life. In the coming weeks, a white paper will be released outlining the technology and plans for the protocol," Kickstarter founder Perry Chen and CEO Aziz Hasan wrote in the post. Kickstarter is partnering with open-source, carbon-negative blockchain platform Celo to build this new protocol.
Kickstarter users won't "see" the shift per se, as the company told Bloomberg the change will not affect the way people use the site. However, users "will benefit from its improvements." According to Bloomberg, this development will start in the first quarter of 2022, and Kickstarter expects to transition later in the year.
Related: 8 Benefits of Blockchain to Industries Beyond Cryptocurrency
Seeing that blockchain technology and crowdfunding share some similarities, the move isn't too left-field. Distributed autonomous organizations (DAOs) are already using blockchain technology to fund various projects. One group, ConstitutionDAO, even raised more than $40 million to try to buy the Constitution.
"In the coming years, we believe large swaths of the internet will be reconstructed from the ground up by open and decentralized networks of contributors, who participate in the design, operation, governance and even ownership of the technology themselves," Kickstarter wrote in the blog post. "We believe that helping build the infrastructure and tools that help bring creative projects to life is an important and exciting way for us to serve our mission."
Related: 5 Ways Hybrid Smart Contracts Are Changing the Blockchain
