Jason Citron, Discord's founder and CEO, reassured users Wednesday that there are no plans for the company to move its business towards NFTs.
Citron shared an image of the crypto wallet MetaMask embedded into Discord's user interface in a tweet earlier this year. He also included the text "probably nothing" -- a shorthand language used in the NFT space to describe something that's going to be big. He retweeted Wednesday's previous tweet, noting that Discord doesn't have any current plans to integrate crypto wallets in its app.
Everyone, thank you for your perspectives. This internal concept is not currently being shipped. We are currently focusing on protecting users against fraud, spam, and scams. Web3 offers many benefits, but there are still many problems that we must address at this scale. We will be sharing more information soon. -- Jason Citron (@jasoncitron) November 11, 2021
Discord also gave the following statement to TechCrunch, clarifying its plans:
"We are grateful for all the views we have received in response to the internal idea you might have seen in a Tweet earlier this week. We want to make it clear that we do not plan to ship it at the moment. We are excited about web3 technology's potential and the positive interactions these communities have on Discord, particularly those that are focused on creator-focused, environmentally friendly projects. We also know there are problems that we have to solve. We are currently focusing on protecting users against fraud, spam, and scams.
Citron shared the screenshot casually Monday as a reply. However, it was not intended to be an official company announcement. Discord users were passionate about the tweet. The company quickly clarified that the screenshot was part a community hack week project, and not something for the social chat app. However, the horse had already left the barn.
Discord users who were concerned about the crypto space quickly encouraged one another to cancel their Nitro subscriptions. This is Discord's premium paid service that allows the platform to remain ad-free. Discord users became outraged and pointed to a poll the company had conducted asking them their opinions on Web3 or NFTs.
Although the screenshot was a mockup of how a crypto wallet integration might look, Discord was actually actively exploring how blockchain technology can complement its mission. Some of this work will now be put on hold while Discord reviews how it can best align its values with the vibrant communities that have established home bases on the platform.
Discord users attributed their strong reactions to Citron's tweet to the negative environmental effects of cryptocurrency mining. Some disapproved of "NFT bros" more generally. But within Discord's NFT communities, users expressed concern that integrated crypto wallets could only increase the number of crypto scams.
One tweet that received 20,000 likes said, "Cancel your Nitro immediately and choose other - cite CEO's tweet about the matter as your reason why." "A loud and immediate public drop in revenue will be the only thing that can change it at this time."
Citron clarifies that Discord listens to its community. While many NFT projects call Discord's servers home (and there are many), a vocal portion of Discord's users don't want the company touching the crypto business with even a ten foot pole.
Although backlash is not something that companies like, Discord's negative reaction to its nascent crypto interests shows how much its users love its product as it stands today. Social media users fear change. Just look at the reactions to any Instagram UI changes. But Discord users seem particularly anxious about protecting the product they already love.
