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Blockchain-based social media app Not to be confused with Bitcloud. "DeSo" redirects here. For other uses, see Deso (disambiguation).
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BitClout
Development
White paper(archive)
Initial releaseMarch 2021; 3 years ago (2021-03)
Code repositoryhttps://github.com/bitclout/core
Source modelOpen source
LicenseMIT license
Ledger
Ledger start18 January 2021; 3 years ago (2021-01-18)
Timestamping schemeProof of work
Block explorerhttps://explorer.deso.com/
Website
Websitebitclout.com

BitClout was an open source blockchain-based social media platform. On the platform, users could post short-form writings and photos, award money to posts they particularly like by clicking a diamond icon, as well as buy and sell "creator coins" (personalized tokens whose value depends on people's reputations). BitClout ran on a custom proof of work blockchain, and was a prototype of what can be built on DeSo (short for "Decentralized Social"). BitClout's founder and primary leader is Nader al-Naji, known pseudonymously as "Diamondhands". In July 2024, al-Naji was arrested by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and charged with fraud involving BitClout.

Under development since 2019, BitClout's blockchain created its first block in January 2021, and BitClout itself launched publicly in March 2021. The platform launched with 15,000 "reserved" accounts - a move intended to prevent impersonation, but which backfired as some people with reserved accounts tried to actively distance themselves. Later, in September 2021, BitClout was revealed to be the flagship product of the DeSo blockchain.

History

Origins (2019 - March 2021)

In early 2019, Nader al-Naji became interested in "mixing investing and social media". He started creating a custom blockchain in May 2019, but didn't tell anyone else until November 2020. However, in the fall of 2020, al-Naji pitched BitClout's own investors under his real name and began posting job listings for a "new operation".

Although BitClout was not originally intended to launch until mid-2021, its development was sped up due to "zeitgeist about decentralized social media" in January 2021.

BitClout's first block was mined on 18 January 2021. Its next block was mined on 1 March 2021.

As BitClout (March - September 2021)

In early March 2021, about fifty investors received links to a password-protected website with the BitClout white paper. They were encouraged to explore the site and send the same link to "two or three other 'trusted contacts'". Within weeks users were spending millions of dollars per day on the platform. The platform's founders said they were "completely unprepared", having planned to have a "soft-launch". The leader went by the name "diamondhands" on the platform.

On 24 March 2021, BitClout launched out of private beta. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm Social Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Winklevoss Capital Management, Alexis Ohanian, Polychain, Pantera, and Digital Currency Group (CoinDesk's parent company). During its initial launch, BitClout's currency could be bought with bitcoin, but not sold except on Discord servers or Twitter threads. A single bitcoin wallet related to BitClout received more than $165M worth of deposits.

In March 2021, law firm Anderson Kill P.C. sent Nader al-Naji, the presumed leader of the BitClout platform, a cease-and-desist letter, demanding the removal of Brandon Curtis's account and alleging that BitClout violated sections 1798 and 3344 of the California Civil Code by using Curtis's name and likeness without his consent. Curtis also tweeted, "Adopting Bitcoin's aesthetic to raise VC funding to carry out unethical and blatantly illegal schemes like BitClout: not cool". (However, Curtis's coin, despite not being listed on the official website, can still be bought by users searching for the original username.) Additionally, in April 2021, Lee Hsien Loong asked for his name and photograph to be removed from the site, stating that he has "nothing to do with the platform" and that "it is misleading and done without permission".

On 18 May 2021, diamondhands announced that 100% of the BitClout code went public.

On 12 June 2021, the supply of BitClout was capped at around 11 million coins.

On 18 July 2021, BitClout added the ability for users to mint and purchase NFTs within the platform.

As part of DeSo (September 2021 - present)

On 21 September 2021, it was revealed that BitClout was a prototype built on DeSo, short for "Decentralized Social". As a part of this revelation, diamondhands confirmed his identity as Nader al-Naji. (As early as April 2021, it had been believed that diamondhands indeed that person.)The Bitclout project raised $200M in funding, which went to setting up the DeSo Foundation.

Design

BitClout is a social media platform. Its users can post short-form writings and photos (similarly to Twitter). They can award money to posts they particularly like by clicking a diamond icon (similarly to Twitch Bits).

Top: graph of the BitClout creator coin price curve. Bottom: a tabulated version of the same.

The prices of each account's "creator coin" goes up and down with the popularity of the celebrity behind it. For example, if someone says something negative, the value of their corresponding account may go down. This price is computed automatically according to the formula p r i c e _ i n _ b i t c l o u t = .003 ∗ c r e a t o r _ c o i n s _ i n _ c i r c u l a t i o n 2 {\displaystyle price\_in\_bitclout=.003*creator\_coins\_in\_circulation^{2}} .

At launch time, BitClout scraped 15,000 profiles of celebrities from Twitter to create "reserved" accounts in their names. To claim a reserved account, the account holder would need to tweet about it (which also serves as a marketing strategy). At least 80 such reserved profiles have been claimed.

Proof of stake was introduced in March 2024.

References

  1. "Core/License at main · deso-protocol/core". GitHub.
  2. ^ Lester, Caroline (9 June 2021). "The Dark, Democratizing Power of the Social-Media Stock Market". The New Yorker. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  3. ^ Matney, Lucas (23 March 2021). "Crypto social network BitClout arrives with a bevy of high-profile investors — and skeptics – TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 23 March 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  4. Girling, William (14 April 2021). "BitClout creates the first 'social media stock market' | Financial Services (FinServ)". FinTech Magazine. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  5. "SEC Charges Nader Al-Naji with Fraud and Unregistered Offering of Crypto Asset Securities". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 30 July 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  6. Roberts, Jeff John (30 July 2024). "Feds arrest Princeton grad 'Diamondhands' who raised $257 million for fake crypto social media site". Fortune. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  7. O'Neill, Bridget (5 August 2024). "Nader Al-Naji '14 charged with fraud over crypto startup, BitClout". The Daily Princetonian. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Why BitClout's Diamondhands is HODLing to the Moon". Sequoia Capital Publication. 28 September 2021. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  9. ^ Wieczner, Jen (12 April 2021). "The Mysterious Influencer Stock Market Worth $1 Billion". Intelligencer. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  10. "Bitclout blockchain explorer | Cloutangel". explorer.cloutangel.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  11. "Bitclout blockchain explorer | Cloutangel". explorer.cloutangel.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  12. ^ Wieczner, Jen (12 April 2021). "The Mysterious Influencer Stock Market Worth $1 Billion". Intelligencer. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  13. Seward, Zack (24 March 2021). "The fuss about BitClout". Axios. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  14. Kay, Grace (17 April 2021). "How to use BitClout to bet on the popularity of influencers like Elon Musk on the world's first crypto social network". Business Insider. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  15. ^ Sriram, Samyuktha (26 March 2021). "Controversial Crypto Project BitClout Faces Legal Charges Over Selling Social Tokens Without Users Consent". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  16. ^ Hitt, Tarpley (12 April 2021). "The Shady Crypto Startup Selling 'Shares' in Celebs". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  17. Ang, Jolene (2 April 2021). "PM Lee asks for his name, photo to be removed from BitClout crypto platform that monetises Twitter profiles". The Straits Times. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  18. diamondhands (18 May 2021). "diamondhands on DeSo.Social". DeSo.Social. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  19. "Welcome to BitClout". BitClout. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  20. diamondhands (21 September 2021). "diamondhands on BitClout". bitclout.com. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  21. "Deso | The Decentralized Social Blockchain". www.deso.org. 2021. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  22. ^ LaPorte, Nicole (21 September 2021). "BitClout founder 'Diamondhands' reveals himself and explains why social media as we know it is dead". Fast Company. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  23. "What is BitClout? - The BitClout Guide". Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  24. Mittal, Apoorva (15 April 2021). "BitClout aims to be the 'influencer stock market'". The Economic Times. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  25. MacColl, Margaux (15 April 2021). "Top VCs are loving a new crypto market called BitClout which lets them collect, and make money on, influencers like Elon Musk and Brian Armstrong". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  26. al-Naji, Nader (10 July 2024). "Post by Nader al-Naji". deso.social. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  27. "DeSo founder Nader Blog". deso.social/u/nader?tab=blog. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

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