Cryptocurrencies have revolutionized finance and art. And now they are revolutionizing communities. We know of many ways that Web3 is driving higher standards of privacy, data security, and freedom of expression. But there is much more than these issues. There are thousands of current and future benefits that Web3 will bring. One example that gets everyone involved in online communities (fandoms, discords, even a corporate Slack group) excited is tokenized communities.
Tokenized communities are not new, they have been around for some time almost even as cryptocurrencies. But the mechanisms we use to interact with them, and their capabilities in general, are advancing rapidly.
(Auto-)Community Moderators
Anyone who has moderated a community knows the challenges and frustrations this brings. Spam, harassment and toxicity can be difficult problems. If only there was a way to automatically determine what moderation actions to take and decentralize community authority…
With token-based communities, this can be possible. Members holding X amount of a token can vote on posts or content to be removed, and if a sufficient number of members of the governing community determine that a post should be removed, this could even be done automatically.
In the event that such an automated governance system does not meet the needs of a community, specific moderation authority could be granted to the most active members of the community with a sufficient number of tokens and/or by granting them certain NFTs. The extension to communities that support artists, musicians, etc. It is practically immediate.
“The great thing about cryptocurrencies is that what are often thought of as infrastructure and operational costs are outsourced and captured as value in the token. So users can generate income by maintaining the network,” Jarrad Hope, one of the founders of Status, recently commented.
The people who invest the most in a community can literally be the people who invest the most in the community, and this investment can be perpetually used productively for the same community!
welcome to the club
In addition to more effective community moderation, tokenized communities could distribute general roles based on the stored amount of a token or NFT. Features, content and discussion could be supported by such requirements.
These types of ideas are still being developed, but we already have precedents. Reddit, for example, has a subreddit accessible exclusively to members with Reddit Gold. Discord and Twitch have features that are closed behind payment or membership.
But… what if we could do this with all communities?
About the Author: Nick Bolduc is a Social Media Manager at Status Network. He is a maximalist of decentralization and a privacy enthusiast