News Digest

Reddit plans bitcoin-style currency to give back to users after raising $50M

Millions of dollars’ worth of shares in online link-sharing website Reddit will be divided between users in the form of a bitcoin-style cryptocurrency. The website - which describes itself as ‘the front page of the internet’ - has just finished a $50m (£30m) funding round. All of the investors have agreed to set aside 10% of the round’s proceeds to give back to the community. Reddit chief executive Yishan Wong said the company was considering creating a cryptocurrency backed by the shares, which will be distributed based on a user’s contribution to the site.

The investors in this round have proposed to give 10% of their shares back to the community, in recognition of the central role the community plays in reddit’s ongoing success.

Reddit chief executive Yishan Wong

The latest investors include PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, actor Jared Leto, hip-hop star Snoop Dogg, and Mr Wong. In a blog post, Mr Wong said Reddit - founded in 2005 - had always operated “on a shoestring budget”. He added: “We’ve long been trying to find a way for the community to own some of Reddit, because it is your contributions that help to anchor the site and give it strength.” Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies which are not backed by a nation or bank. Bitcoin is the best-known and most valuable.

We’re going to need to figure out a bunch of details to make it work, but we’re hopeful. We’ll have more specifics to share about it soon, but in the meantime we wanted to mention it here.

Yishan Wong