Opinion Blockchains potential to reinstate trust in information
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views and opinions of the editorial team at crypto.news.
Forecasting markets are currently one of the most captivating applications of blockchain technology. In fact, they have generated over $3.1 billion in betting volume in Q3 of this year alone, and this success is no coincidence. Polymarket, the leading prediction market platform and widely considered crypto’s first ‘killer app,’ has achieved what few other blockchain applications have: it has captured mainstream attention and influenced major events, accounting for 99% of the prediction market share. Take the 2024 US elections, for example. Polymarket has managed to reach American households through mainstream media, transcending crypto-native circles and showcasing how blockchain can fundamentally revolutionize our interactions with knowledge.
However, prediction markets are just one aspect of a more significant shift—an evolution in the generation and verification of information. And this transformation goes beyond mere incremental improvements; it represents a fundamental change that takes the proven success of crowdsourced platforms like Wikipedia and Reddit to the next level.
Wikipedia and Reddit were truly groundbreaking. They revolutionized the harnessing of collective wisdom throughout the early 2000s. Wikipedia’s open-editing model created a global hub for knowledge, leveraging diverse contributions to build a widely trusted resource. Reddit, on the other hand, facilitated public discourse where upvotes and downvotes represented the community’s consensus on valuable and reliable content. These platforms democratized access to information and opinions in a way that centralized media never could.
However, it is important not to overlook their flaws. As successful as they were, these platforms fell short in critical ways. Despite its strengths, Wikipedia has struggled to maintain neutrality. Content wars and biased edits are inevitable in an open-editing system where a relatively small group of editors ultimately have the final say, leaving the community to trust their objectivity. Reddit, despite its promise of democratized opinions, often unintentionally promotes clickbait or sensationalism, favoring content that attracts votes rather than accuracy. While these two platforms are just a couple of examples among many crowdsourcing platforms, they remain susceptible to manipulation, whether through misinformation, organized brigades, or groupthink, even as they continue to be widely used.
This is where blockchain comes in, and this evolution is not a matter of choice; it is essential. Blockchain addresses the very issues that have long plagued crowdsourced platforms: trust, accuracy, and sustainability. These platforms were built on the premise of collective wisdom, but without the right protocols in place, there is always a vulnerability that allows misinformation and bias to seep through. This is not unlike the problems seen across legacy media, where even with the best intentions, flawed systems can undermine them. Blockchain offers the missing piece: transparency, accountability, and a system of incentives that prioritize truth over popularity.
Every edit, vote, or contribution is recorded immutably on the blockchain, making it impossible to manipulate the system in the shadows. The transparency offered by blockchain-enabled proof-of-unique human protocols can fundamentally change the dynamics of accountability and trust in a way that open-editing systems have always struggled with. These protocols prevent the setup of multiple accounts to manipulate outcomes, bringing a level of radical transparency that shifts the dynamics of trust, ensuring users can rely on the integrity of information because it has not been tampered with.
As demonstrated by Polymarket, prediction markets provide a solution that Reddit’s voting system cannot: they reward truth, not popularity. While Reddit’s upvote system allows the community to surface popular content, popularity does not equate to truth. It is relatively easy to manipulate the system, with clickbait headlines often rising to the top even if they are misleading or inaccurate. In prediction markets, participants are compelled to bet on what they believe is true. Getting it right is rewarded, while getting it wrong results in losses. Accuracy, not attention, becomes the deciding factor in this market-driven approach, creating a self-regulating system that prioritizes verifiable truth.
Blockchain also offers a solution to the broken financial model of journalism. Traditional crowdsourced platforms have struggled to create sustainable financial models that do not compromise quality. Blockchain introduces decentralized funding models, such as quadratic funding, where the community, rather than advertisers or corporate interests, decides which content should receive funding. This creates a self-sustaining system in which high-quality journalism can thrive, free from the pressures of paywalls or ad-driven content. Information is not just a product; it is a public good that should remain accessible and free, and blockchain can help ensure that.
Beyond information, blockchain is also decentralizing opinions. Instead of leaving public discourse in the hands of corporate media and a few influential voices, prediction markets allow the crowd to determine the weight of journalism or research. People not only consume news; they stake their reputation and money on what they believe to be accurate. Over time, the crowd validates what is true, creating a decentralized system that makes it much more difficult for bad actors to manipulate public opinion.
Most importantly, blockchain brings accountability, something that is sorely lacking in traditional crowdsourcing platforms. On these platforms, users can contribute anonymously or without facing real consequences. This creates room for trolls, bots, or bad actors to distort the system. Blockchain fixes this by ensuring that every decision made is fully auditable. There is a clear chain of responsibility, and users are held accountable for their actions. No more hiding behind anonymity—blockchain ensures that contributors have to stand by the integrity of the information they support.
The future of crowdsourcing and blockchain is clear. Crowdsourced platforms, as we know them, are already outdated. Wikipedia and Reddit were revolutionary in their time, but they simply cannot solve the problems of trust, bias, and financial sustainability that we face today. Blockchain is not just the next step; it is the necessary evolution.
In the future, crowdsourced platforms will not only be places to gather information; they will be active marketplaces where users, not centralized gatekeepers, determine quality, truth, and value. Blockchain, prediction markets, and decentralized funding models like quadratic funding are already paving the way for this future. These tools are not optional add-ons; they are the foundation of a decentralized, transparent internet where unbiased, high-quality journalism and research can flourish.
So the question is no longer if blockchain will bring the next evolution—it is when.
