Civil, a decentralized blockchain-based media startup, has closed its shop today, and its official website is now been replaced by the company CEO Matthew Iles’ message on this move. The crew and technology behind the media startup were all absorbed by ConsenSys.
ConsenSys is an Ethereum incubator based in New York, funded by Civil. In the meantime, employees and tech used by Civil have been assimilated to an Ethereum-based provider of identification solutions that is going forward.
The blockchain-based media startup was founded back in 2016 as one of the pioneering companies to explore the potential of blockchain technology and crypto in the media industry. In addition, the objective of Civil was to enable publishers to set up a credible media outlet by staking its native CVL tokens.
“Although the journey for Civil is over, our new team continues to develop cutting-edge technology that I believe will contribute to building a better internet. This isn’t the outcome we had envisioned, but nevertheless, we’re proud of what we accomplished,” writes IIes.
Additionally, users could also use the CVL tokens to reward publishers or even stake them to participate in decision making on the platform. Unfortunately, Civil’s initial coin offering (ICO) back in 2018 did not turn out as anticipated, forcing the startup to rework its strategy, and gave it another shot in March 2019 by offering membership to its users.
Blockchain-based media startup has been on the closing track for six months
Furthermore, as per the startup’s post mortem interview, it has been on the way to shut down for about six months now. Civil has had major employees leave and on top of this; the firm lost its basic funding from ConsenSys, and it was impossible to replace the funding.
Early into the year, the blockchain-based media startup ceased financing newsrooms; while future collaborations with established media outlets didn’t work out. As a result of all these shortcomings, the Civil’s magnificent exercise of a decentralized; self-regulated media marketplace, unfortunately, came to a stop.