3 min read
On November 8, Jason Citron, the CEO and founder of social messaging platform Discord, tweeted an image featuring the Discord layout and an integration with crypto wallets MetaMask and Wallet Connect.
Now, just a few days later, he has walked back this seemingly harmless hint, adding that Discord has “no current plans to ship” this crypto wallet integration.
The reasons are unclear, but based on the wave of negative responses to the initial tweet, the crypto feature was likely halted due to strong pushback from the Discord community. “Can’t wait to tell my friends that Discord is encouraging pyramid schemes,” reads one tweet that attracted over 12,000 likes.
Another user responded to the initial tweet with “don’t make me do it, Jason,” adding a screenshot showing a user canceling their Nitro subscription. Across the more than 3,000 replies, a number of users have followed suit in threatening to cancel their subscriptions.
A Discord spokesperson confirmed with Decrypt via email that the company has "no plans to ship" its crypto integration. They added that Discord is "excited about the potential for web3 technology and the positive ways these communities are coming together on Discord, especially those organized around environmentally friendly, creator-focused projects."
When looking through Discord’s support channel, there are also thousands of posts urging the company not to integrate crypto or NFTs.
There's a reason that the Discord community's cryptocurrency critics adopted the strategy of threatening to cancel their Nitro subscriptions.
Nitro is Discord’s premium service, which costs $9.99 per month and offers users an increased upload limit, animated avatars, and several other services. It’s also the firm's primary revenue stream. The Wall Street Journal reported that the service earned the company $130 million in 2020 and $45 million in 2019. These figures have also attracted many investors looking to bet big on the company’s future.
Following a $500 million investment led by Dragoneer Investment Group in September, the social platform is now valued at a whopping $15 billion.
But as Discord grows beyond its roots in the world of gaming and esports, crypto communities are nonetheless playing a much more influential role in how Discord evolves.
Though it’s difficult to quantify the number of crypto-specific Discord servers compared to all servers, Citron’s hints indicate that the company is listening to this fast-growing user base.
For now, though, it appears that Discord's crypto enthusiasts are outnumbered by crypto critics on the platform.
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