Discord Retracts Crypto and NFT Plans

According to Discord’s CEO and creator Jason Citron, the company’s plans for NFT and cryptocurrency integration have been scrapped.

He tweeted, “Thanks for all the perspectives everyone.” “At this time, we have no intentions to ship this internal concept.” For the time being, we’re concentrating on safeguarding users against spam, scams, and fraud. Web3 has a lot of excellent features, but it also has a lot of issues that we need to address at our scale. Soon, there will be more.”

Rumors about the integration plans started circulating earlier this week after an outdated poll about NFTs that was given to Discord users emerged online. Citron then followed up with a screenshot of an unannounced integration for two separate cryptocurrency wallet apps on Twitter. These features were part of a normal company-wide “hack week,” according to an official statement to TechCrunch, and were not in active development.

I hope leaders can humbly listen the chorus of vehement moral disgust this teaser has already invited. this sincerely does not have to happen.
https://t.co/JZZBI2npVs

— Kevin Tang (@Yolo_Tengo) November 9, 2021

The survey and screenshot were not well received, with multiple people on Discord’s subreddit pleading for users to cancel their Discord Nitro memberships and numerous people on social media encouraging them to do so.

“We’re enthusiastic about the possibilities for web3 technology and the wonderful ways these communities are coming together on Discord,” Discord told TechCrunch. “Especially those organized around environmentally friendly, creator-focused projects.” “However, we also understand that there are some issues that need to be addressed.”

Following Citron’s remarks, some current Discord employees came to Twitter to express their displeasure, implying that bitcoin inclusion was not embraced by everyone at the firm. Another employee remarked, “I hope leaders can humbly listen to the chorus of vehement moral contempt this teaser has already invited.” “This does not have to happen,” says the speaker.

just got my heart broken and the last thing I need is people DMing me threats regarding any NFT-related content. I have nothing to do with any of that. leave me alone

— Georgia (@georgiadelaine) November 9, 2021

While it appears like Discord isn’t moving through with the wallet integration just yet, there’s still a potential that NFTs and crypto will make an appearance on the platform in the future. It’s unclear what triggered the u-turn, though the Nitro boycott and response from its own employees are unlikely to have gone unnoticed.

Ubisoft, EA, Zynga, and Square Enix, among others, have lately begun to discuss their approaches to NFTs and blockchain games. Given the level of ambiguity in the domain, the reactions to the announcement have been divisive. Last month, the designers of a game based on Netflix’s Squid Game show defrauded early adopters out of $3.4 million.