Blockchain journalism startup Civil announces new token sale with no hard cap, soft cap, or time limits

After the first failed attempt, blockchain journalism startup Civil has announced that it is going to launch a token sale again, but with no hard cap, soft cap, or time limits.

Founded in 2017, Civil is an Ethereum-based decentralized marketplace that aims to introduce a new, sustainable operating model for journalism predicated on two distinct features: economically incentivized self-governance and permanent recording of authorship and content. The startup entered into partnerships with the Associated Press and Forbes this year.

The startup’s CVL token sale, which concluded on October 15, 2018, failed to hit the soft cap of $8 million. Civil said at the time that it was working on a “much simpler” token sale.

In an online post dated December 19, Civil co-founder Matthew Iles announced that the company will once again start selling CVL tokens.

“Unlike last time, there will be no hard cap, no soft cap, or time limits. Instead, interested members of the public will just buy tokens right from our website, civil.co. Our tokens will stay on sale on a continuous basis until we sellout of the 34MM public allocation.

“All net proceeds will go to the Civil Foundation to fund public-service journalism efforts around the world.”

In addition to the token sale, Iles announced the plans to launch Civil Registry and Civil Publisher

• Civil Registry: A self-governing, token-curated whitelist of newsrooms that have been approved to publish content on Civil’s platform.
• Civil Publisher: The tool that Civil newsrooms to index verifiable data about their articles to the blockchain, or even permanently archive all their work. It is currently available for newsrooms using WordPress. Iles said that the company plans to roll it out to other publishing systems soon.

“Currently, Civil counts 18 newsrooms among its ranks with a total readership near 10MM people, and more than 50 additional newsrooms are preparing to join for our February launch,” said Iles. “The Civil Foundation is charged with community-building, and their ambitious goal is 1,000 small to midsize newsrooms onboard worldwide by 2020.”