Cryptocurrency Comes to Social Media: What’s All the Fuss About Next-Gen Tokens?
Cryptocurrency and social media platforms have long held a positive relationship, with many media outlets promoting and helping the crypto world grow further. Many investors who were in the dark about cryptocurrency have had their eyes opened to the possibilities of trading with crypto tokens. Thus, many success stories perpetuated across Facebook and prompted a surge in the value of Bitcoin throughout 2017. Now the market has gone through a decline period and the once buoyant buzz around cryptocurrency on social media has cooled.
That doesn’t mean that the relationship between social media and cryptocurrencies has died; rather, it has taken on new forms and is evident in a wave of new crypto tokens.
What are those tokens?
In short, these next-gen tokens are a new reimagined version of traditional cryptocurrencies that aim to draw on the usefulness of traditional tokens while also removing many of the negative connotations. For example, in 2017, there were a lot of ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) that hit the market and turned out to be scams. Genuine ICO projects were overrun by scam projects and struggled to get traction because of investor cautiousness and scepticism.
The new generation of crypto tokens aims to steer away from these negative aspects and instead generate investor confidence through engagement and functionality. There are also many tokens that are backed by assets in the hope that building a virtual currency on a tangible asset will create a more stable and secure trading environment. The last thing that such tokens are doing is that they’re tied to specific industries or spheres, introducing new solutions to them.
Where the emerging tokens are usually bought?
The cryptocurrency industry is a world of possibilities and one that you should keep a keen eye on, especially if you’re an investor or trader. New tokens pop up on a daily basis, with some showing a great potential for both short-term and long-term profit.
As a rule, it takes little time for the most promising tokens to reach the leading cryptocurrency exchanges. There are two types of them – crypto-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat exchanges. Although the former type generally has more crypto tokens on offer, it is less convenient for beginners as it requires that the users already have Bitcoin or Ethereum for exchange operations. Thus, if you’re new to the crypto world, the best place to start is crypto-to-fiat platforms.
One such example is CEX.IO. This exchange allows you to buy and sell crypto tokens using national currencies like USD, EUR, GBP, and RUB. Broadly speaking, it acts as an online shop for the cryptocurrency where you can make purchases via a credit card or bank transfer. The best thing about this platform is that it features an option of instant cryptocurrency buying. Simply put, you can become an owner of the desired token in no time – this is rarely the case with crypto-fiat exchanges. As a rule, CEX.IO stays relevant with market trends and introduces the tokens that enjoy the highest customer demand. So, once you decide on buying a newly emerged crypto, make sure to check its availability on this platform first.
Next-gen social media cryptocurrency
There’s already a handful of social media platforms that utilize crypto tokens as a means to grow their reach and reward user engagement. Here are 3 of the most innovative and exciting social media platforms that rely on cryptocurrency as an integral part of their structure.
Sapien Network
Sapien utilizes the Ethereum blockchain and is fundamentally a news outlet akin to Twitter where users can catch up on the latest news as well as share stories with the wider community. ‘Sapiens’ (the Sapien network users) are able to reward other users for their contributions using the decentralized Ethereum blockchain. The mission statement is simple — to reward creators and champion truth over financial gain.
Thus far, Sapien has attracted a wide array of users from various backgrounds. Still, in its relative infancy, it is yet to be seen how successful and how scalable this project will be in the long run.
Steemit.com
Steemit has long been the dominant cryptocurrency-powered social network and has grown rapidly since it was first started. Taking the shape of a forum-style platform, it is most similar to other online forums like Reddit. Again, Steemit uses a reward and recognition system where users can allocate the STEEM tokens to other users. It is also built using blockchain technology, making Steemit decentralized as well.
Steemit has by far the biggest audience of any cryptocurrency social media platforms and it continues to grow its community. Although the users of Steemit believe it to be vastly superior to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, the platform does lack the functionality of those two. Thus, Steemit may have to go through a series of changes to continue holding its number one market position in the crypto-based social media world.
Indorse.io
As you have probably noticed, the trend with cryptocurrency social networks is to take existing social media models and build on them by incorporating cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Indorse is your crypto version of LinkedIn, where users can create profiles and then advertise their professional expertise.
Unlike LinkedIn, however, Indorse realizes that anyone can make a false claim on their profile. To combat this, a points-based system has been developed where people can endorse and validate other’s claims. Whilst it isn’t infallible, it does improve on the existing structure employed by professional networks, and people can get a fairer sense of other user’s credentials.
The future of cryptocurrency-based social media
It could easily transpire that one or all of the mentioned platforms can garner enough widespread interest to make a meaningful contribution to social media.
The challenges they face are enormous, especially when you consider the amount of financial clout that the conventional social media platforms have to outperform the competition. With enough innovation, however, a crypto social media platform could one day be the primary model that is employed by social media outlets.