Decentralized social media protocol DeSo has announced a $1 million bounty for competitors who can build Reddit using its native blockchain. The decision comes in response to Reddit's recent decision to restrict API access, which sparked controversy within its community and led to protests with temporary blocks on Reddit boards. The move also affected third-party developers who had to shut down their apps due to increased API costs.
The developers of DeSo see these controversies as indicative of the ongoing problems associated with centralized social media platforms. They also refer to Elon Musk's Twitter decision to impose read restrictions on new and verified accounts, citing concerns about data scraping and system manipulation. DeSo Founder Nader Al-Naji believes that these incidents reflect a broader societal shift where users are seeking greater autonomy and control over social media content, similar to how they own and use money in the case of Bitcoin.
DeSo, founded in 2019, offers monetization features such as revenue-generating coins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and tips. The protocol claims to store user identities, profiles, content, and social graphs entirely on-chain, ensuring that content cannot be banned or blocked at the protocol level. Recently, DeSo introduced new in-app proposals, including the decentralized exchange platform Openfund 2.0.
In September 2021, DeSo raised $200 million in funding from prominent investors such as A16z, Coinbase Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Pantera Capital, and even Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Currently, the DeSo community has seen the launch of over 150 projects, although The overall market value remains relatively small.
