Previously, I made a post about Crowdbucks, but I just had a random (most likely stupid) follow-up thought.
What if the issue isn’t which currency to use — but the assumption that it needs to be “real” currency at all?
What if, instead of money, there was something like FediCoin / FediBucks / credits / points (name doesn’t matter), NOT crypto, and NOT blockchain — more like how platforms such as Wattpad operate?
Or like how carnivals and fairs work: You exchange real money at a booth, and in return you get tokens or fake currency that are only usable inside that ecosystem.
Some comparisons:
Wattpad coins
App “credits” or points
Forum reputation systems with unlocks
Arcade tokens
Fair/carnival tickets
In a Fediverse context, this could hypothetically be used for things like:
Supporting instance costs
Boosting posts or creators (opt-in), which could then potentially be exchanged for real currency (maybe, idk)
Unlocking cosmetic or convenience features
Community rewards instead of ads
Again, not crypto, not speculation, not “number go up.” More like an internal exchange or contribution system that stays inside the Fediverse.
So my questions are:
Is this fundamentally incompatible with Fediverse values, or just unexplored?
Would this be more acceptable than direct monetization or ads?
Could something like this remain optional and non-extractive?
Has anyone already experimented with something similar?
I don’t have the time, energy, or technical knowledge to build something like this — just curious whether this idea is interesting, terrible, or already solved.
Would love to hear thoughts from people more familiar with Fediverse economics and culture.
EDIT:
It gives off Japanese Pachinko vibes.
“You exchange real money at a booth, and in return you get tokens or fake currency that are only usable inside that ecosystem.”
To me that sounds like Reddit’s award system.
“Boosting posts or creators (opt-in)”
I hate this idea. I don’t want algorithms nor paid boosting to change the sorting of content. That’s one of the reasons I left Reddit.
Instead of introducing a complex internal currency or paid boosting, Fediverse instances could adopt a simple, transparent system inspired by Signal’s (the messenger) supporter badges.
Users voluntarily donate to their instance (one-time or recurring). In return, their profile gets a small, instance specific badge visible next to their avatar.
Badges are purely visual, they don’t have any influence on post visibility or sorting.
Edit:
I forgot to mention, that the badges are only visible for a certain time, like a month or so
edit end
I’m not saying, that this is the best solution, but to me this solution is fair, doesn’t interfere with the core values of the fediverse and still raises awareness of the importance of financial support.