Reddit relinquishes control of r/cryptocurrency subreddit's Moons token contract

Reddit admins have relinquished control over the smart contract for the r/cryptocurrency subreddit's Moons token.

The admins renounced control over the token’s contract located on the Arbitrum Nova network, an action that ensures its decentralization and continued use on the subreddit.

The action follows prior decision by Reddit to sunset its community points program that first introduced the Moons token in 2020.

Furthermore, 98,000 Moons tokens from the community pool were also burned, which along with prior burns lowered the total supply from around 126 million to 83 million.

“This is a significant milestone as the community now has assurance that there will be no further changes to Moons’ contract in the future,” the subreddit's official statement read.

Moons tokens were part of Reddit’s community points program for the subreddit introduced in 2020, designed to incentivize user engagement. The program’s discontinuation, announced by Reddit in October, immediately impacted the Moon token’s market value. The price of Moon tokens sharply dropped from $0.25 to less than $0.04 within hours.

Moons' market recovery

A few weeks later, a recovery in the token’s value was observed after the subreddit decided to give up control of the contract in November, ensuring the token’s ongoing existence, independent of Reddit’s community points program and any centralized governance.

Since confirming the plan to remove control of the contract, the value of Moon tokens has seen a substantial increase, soaring over 200% from $0.05 to $0.2. Currently, the token trades at $0.15.

Prior to Reddit’s official statement, on-chain data suggested that many moderators associated with the subreddit liquidated large quantities of Moons. Following these transactions, these moderators were removed from their positions.

The article was updated to clarify that admins from Reddit renounced control of the token contract rather than the subreddit moderators.