Blockchain-based journalism platform Civil token sale goes live

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Blockchain technology has infiltrated the media industry, and one startup has taken full advantage. Civil is a community-run decentralized platform that supports independent journalism. The startup’s token sale went live yesterday, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the support of journalism worldwide.

In a blog post, Civil’s founder Matthew Iles reiterated the startup’s commitment to supporting journalism against what he termed as a growing encroachment by the big tech companies. These giants, including Facebook, Google and Twitter, have continued to sap audience and revenue from media houses, he stated. This has led to the laying off of thousands of journalists globally, with even the big media houses such as Buzzfeed and Huffington Post falling victim. He went on to write:

“We founded Civil to make an impact on the world using decentralization and network effects to create an alternative model to support journalism and the information needs of citizens. Most importantly, though, we have focused our core attention where it belongs: not on technology, but on journalism. Our mission is to support independent journalism and restore trust in quality journalism.”

The Civil Media Company prices the Civil Tokens (CVL) at $0.2 a token. The token sale will neither have a soft and hard cap nor will it have a time limit. The total supply will be capped at 100 million CVL tokens, Iles revealed.

However, the CVL token will be unique in that its value will increase with every purchase. The startup will apply a transparent, fixed and linear slope that will raise the value of the tokens until the last token goes for $0.94.

This isn’t the first token sale that the startup has conducted. In October last year, Civil held a token sale, but it was unsuccessful. According to a blog post by Iles then, over 3,000 people had purchased CVL tokens. However, the money raised didn’t meet the threshold which was set at $8 million. The startup ended up raising $3.5 million from New York-based Ethereum incubator, ConSensys. 

Civil supports membership by individuals and newsrooms as well. For individuals, one has to purchase CVL tokens to become a member. For newsrooms that qualify to join the platform, the startup donates a sizable amount of CVL tokens. These newsrooms get to publish their content on Civil’s blockchain platform and also get to accept donations in the form of CVL tokens from other members. Some of the newsrooms that are members of Civil include Sludge, Colorado Sun, ZigZag, Documented and Block Club Chicago.