Earlier this week, Jason Citron, the CEO of Discord, shared an image that appeared to tease that the app would introduce cryptocurrency integration to its popular online chat service. However, Citron has now announced that the company will not be implementing the controversial feature.
Citron thanked those who responded to the original tweet on Wednesday night and to those who shared their perspectives. Citron says that the company has "no current plans to ship this internal concept," noting that the company is going to protect users from spam, scams, and fraud, promising that more details will be shared soon.
"Web3 has lots of good but also lots of problems we need to work through at our scale," Citron tweeted.
Thanks for all the perspectives everyone. We have no current plans to ship this internal concept. For now we're focused on protecting users from spam, scams and fraud. Web3 has lots of good but also lots of problems we need to work through at our scale. More soon.
— Jason Citron (@jasoncitron) November 11, 2021
Based on the final sentence, which refers to "Web3," it appears the company has not completely ruled out implementing cryptocurrency or NFTs in the app. For those wondering, "Web3" refers to an iteration of the internet that is crypto-based.
Of course, this is not the first time Discord has tried to gauge interest with users on its thoughts on this subject. Before Citron teased a crypto wallet coming to Discord, an image went viral on Twitter where a user screenshotted a now-expired Discord survey that focused on NFTs and Web3.
In recent weeks Blockchain and NFTs have become a hot topic in the gaming industry; major gaming publishers EA, Epic Games, Square Enix, and Ubisoft have either expressed interest, support, or confirmed it was planning to develop Blockchain games and NFTs.
In contrast, this October Valve implemented a new rule that bans Blockchain games that issue NFTs or cryptocurrency from its digital game distribution platform Steam.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
