Share this article
Blockchain vs Fake News? Startup Userfeeds Takes Up Fight
A new startup is seeking to fight the phenomenon of fake news using an ethereum-based blockchain platform.
Updated Sep 11, 2021, 1:19 p.m. Published May 16, 2017, 10:00 a.m.
Blockchain startup Userfeeds has developed a platform aimed combatting fake news through the use of reputation schemes.
Thrust into the spotlight by last year's US presidential election, the launch comes at a time when voters across the world have been awash in divisive information-dissemination practices as diverse as trolling, clickbait articles and spam.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
However, the Polish startup is now building a blockchain solution it believes could help solve the issue by fixing what it says is the "underlying cause" of all these practices: the finite supply of human attention.
Maciej Olpinski, the co-founder and chief executive of Userfeeds, told CoinDesk:
"In our view, the only way to fix these problems is to modify incentives that make it economically viable to produce and spread these types of content."
Olpinski explained that, due to the economics of online publishing, it can sometimes make more sense for websites to produce low quality content that can be quickly converted into advertising dollars. Further, due to the closed nature of advertising and social media platforms, readers can never be sure who is behind messages in their news feeds.
The big idea behind Userfeeds is to create a credible system of content ranking that rewards users for their feedback. Built on the ethereum blockchain, it allows users to "design voting systems to quickly gather feedback on important topics" and "reward users for actions taken within your application with your own currency".
Olpinski said:
"Blockchains and tokens are really interesting to us because they allow us to experiment with alternative economic incentives."
To further progress its R&D work, Userfeeds has secured about $800,000 in seed funding from BY Capital, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and entrepreneur and investor Piotr Smolen.
According to the startup, the goal is to use the money to develop in-house apps that can help demonstrate the value proposition of platform.
Newspapers image via Shutterstock
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Farcaster Switches to Wallet-First Strategy to Grow Its Social App
The protocol still consists of casts, follows, reactions, identities and wallets, and third-party clients are free to emphasize whichever components they want.
What to know:
- Farcaster is shifting its focus from social media to its in-app wallet and trading features to drive user engagement.
- Cofounder Dan Romero acknowledged the lack of sustainable growth in their social-first strategy over the past 4.5 years.
- The wallet's trading tools have shown the strongest product-market fit, leading to a strategic pivot towards financial use cases.
Top Stories
