For all the evangelizing about crypto that's gone on in the past few years, the recent state of the market has been more than shaky.
Crypto started to tumble toward a crisis point in May 2022, losing around half its value by the time June rolled around. It sent crypto investors into panic, prompted Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk to convert 75% of the company's bitcoins into fiat currency, and moved Meta's META Facebook to shut its digital payment project, Novi.
Crypto lenders also started to fold, such as Voyager Digital and Celsius Network, which filed for bankruptcy in July and June respectively.
It all looked pretty sour, but some crypto believers -- such as Michael Saylor, who recently stepped down from his longtime position as CEO of MicroStrategy (MSTR) -- refused to be daunted by the situation.
Not all businesses have lost faith, either. And now, a new collaboration between the website that calls itself "the front page of the internet" and the crypto-to-fiat exchange platform FTX Pay is in the works.
Crypto Swaps are Coming to Reddit
The cryptocurious flocked to Reddit to discuss the topic as far back as 2010, when the subreddit called r/bitcoin was launched. Many considered that the decentralized nature of the platform made for an ideal space to discuss everything from crypto basics to price speculation.
Reddit launched its own custom tokens back in 2020 with Community Points. Now, thanks to a new partnership with digital asset exchange FTX Official, they will have a brand new use.
"We are thrilled to launch our global partnership with Reddit today," FTX said in a tweet on Aug. 9. "As one of the largest social networks with over 400 million active users each month, Reddit has been a pioneer in web3, announcing Community Points back in 2020 as a novel way to empower its online communities.
"In 2021, Reddit selected Arbitrum in a scaling bake-off to bring Points to the Ethereum mainnet using Arbitrum Nova. Today, Community Points are going live, and users can collect and get access to Points earned via FTX Pay."
Rollout in Two Communities
The Points system will roll out in two Reddit communities first: r/CryptoCurrency and r/FortnightBR. Users' Points will show next to their usernames, and they can be used for a variety of things, including buying perks such as special memberships, displaying badges next to usernames to indicate status, and more. Points can be viewed within the Reddit Vault wallet on mobile or web.
Once you have some points built up to use, you can collect them by paying ethereum network fees, which are also known as gas funds. If you're in need of more funds to cover these network fees, you'll be prompted to purchase more ethereum, which is where FTX's payment services come in.
As of this morning, Reddit's official Community Points signup page remains in waitlist status, but if you'd like to get in on the action once more Reddit communities are added, you may as well go add your name.
