Thread by @gengelstein

Re: Kickstarter blockchain announcement - I received an interesting email laying out what may be behind this. Author requested to remain anonymous, but here are the details from them:

🧵:

Europe has a new law in place that will place some restrictions on crowdfunding platforms. This has not been widely reported, mainly because it is a European issue. Source (French): compte-pro.com/crowdfunding-l…

To summarize: within 1 year, crowdfunding sites will have to have approval from the European Union. Also, they will be responsible in case of failure of a project, and will have to pay back in this case.

The law also imposes a limit on the amount of money raised by a single project owner (5 million euros in one year, which can be a problem for some companies like Mythic games, which exceed this amount). (This is a simplification - it's more complex than this)

Switching to blockchain allows Kickstarter to do several things:
- decentralizing the service will allow them to bypass the European Union approval (the anonymity of the blockchain makes it impossible to know where what comes in and where what goes out).

- They will be able to keep their current operation, i.e. not being responsible in case of project failure.
- Finally, the blockchain is in fashion and it is a great opportunity to play in front of shareholders.

That's why they want to put this system in place as early as 2022, before the obligation of the European approval. Consumers will not benefit from this change. It's just Kickstarter bending the rules to avoid the European law.

Again - this is just a theory. But it seems plausible.

UPDATE: More knowledgeable folks than I have advised that the new regulation does not cover crowd-funding, but other activities (crowd equity and lending). So this theory is incorrect.