Tech entrepreneur and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has confirmed his participation in an effort to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations. He lately introduced that he has joined Mission Liberty’s bid to purchase the extensively in style social media platform, with intentions to shift its infrastructure onto blockchain know-how. The initiative comes at a time when the U.S. authorities continues to stress TikTok’s Chinese language father or mother firm, ByteDance, to divest its U.S. belongings or face a possible ban within the nation.
Mission Liberty, a corporation based by American businessman Frank McCourt, has been main the initiative. Experiences point out that the group goals to restructure the platform in a means that grants customers higher management over their digital identities and private knowledge. McCourt has referred to this acquisition try as “The Folks’s Bid,” a reputation that aligns with the group’s mission to prioritize person knowledge possession and improve creator autonomy.
Ohanian has been vocal concerning the necessity of shifting possession buildings in social media. He has emphasised the significance of customers having management over their very own knowledge and guaranteeing that content material creators have full possession of their audiences. The proposed acquisition would facilitate this imaginative and prescient via the combination of a blockchain-based system referred to as “Frequency.” This decentralized social community, constructed on Polkadot’s infrastructure, is designed to present customers with direct possession of their private knowledge whereas enhancing transparency and accountability.
In accordance to stories, the implementation of Frequency would introduce a brand new method to knowledge administration, making the platform extra equitable. The initiative seeks to redefine the position of customers and content material creators inside digital communities by putting management of their arms reasonably than in centralized company entities.
Political and Trade Developments Affect the Bid
The bid for TikTok’s U.S. operations comes amid ongoing political scrutiny of the platform. Previously, TikTok confronted regulatory challenges within the U.S., together with a brief shutdown earlier than being reinstated below former President Donald Trump’s administration. Latest developments have reignited discussions about its future within the nation, contributing to the urgency of the acquisition effort.
Ohanian will not be the one outstanding determine concerned within the initiative. Experiences verify that investor and cryptocurrency advocate Kevin O’Leary, recognized for his position within the tv present Shark Tank, has additionally joined Mission Liberty’s efforts to purchase TikTok’s U.S. operations. This participation from high-profile people indicators a powerful push in the direction of decentralization and blockchain integration inside main social media platforms.
Ohanian’s Continued Involvement in Blockchain Initiatives
Ohanian’s curiosity in blockchain know-how is properly established. Throughout his tenure at Reddit, the platform allotted a portion of its money reserves into cryptocurrencies reminiscent of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon. Nonetheless, stories point out that almost all of those holdings had been liquidated within the third quarter of 2024.
Thrilling information for the digital world…
I am formally now one of many folks making an attempt to purchase TikTok US — and convey it on-chain.
TikTok has been a game-changer for creators, and it is future must be constructed by them↓ pic.twitter.com/SPq1Ppv1kK
— Alexis Ohanian 🗽 (@alexisohanian) March 4, 2025
Reddit additionally launched varied blockchain-based initiatives below Ohanian’s management, together with “Reddit Collectible Avatars,” a group of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Polygon blockchain. Moreover, the platform experimented with an Ethereum-based reward system known as “Group Factors,” designed to incentivize person contributions to particular subreddits. Nonetheless, this method was ultimately discontinued in late 2023.
Past Reddit, Ohanian has a private historical past of cryptocurrency investments. Experiences recommend that he acquired 50,000 ETH at a value of roughly $0.30 per token in 2014 and has utilized cryptocurrency for varied private transactions. In 2021, he explored the potential of constructing a decentralized social media community on the Solana blockchain. This venture was reportedly related to Sam Bankman-Fried, the now-incarcerated founding father of the FTX cryptocurrency change.
Way forward for a Decentralized TikTok
The Frequency blockchain, which is meant to help the revamped TikTok platform, incorporates distinctive options designed for social media purposes. Mission Liberty describes its construction as having a particular pricing mannequin that allows seamless integration between varied purposes constructed on the platform. This method goals to facilitate high-volume social interactions whereas sustaining effectivity.
Supporters of the acquisition effort consider this initiative may set a brand new precedent for the event of digital communities. They argue that remodeling TikTok right into a decentralized platform would signify a big shift within the social media panorama, prioritizing equity, transparency, and person empowerment. The end result of this bid stays unsure, but when profitable, it may redefine how social media platforms function sooner or later.
