DeSo Launches $50M Fund for Decentralized Social Ecosystem

The foundation of DeSo, the blockchain started by the founder of social media site BitClout, has unveiled a $50 million fund to support the development of a decentralized social media ecosystem.

• Established by Nader Al-Naji (who formerly used the pseudonym “Diamondhands”) as the blockchain for BitClout, DeSo aims to offer a framework for social networks, just as Ethereum provides tools to build decentralized computer programs.
• The DeSo Foundation’s $50 million Octane Fund will help accelerate the growth of the DeSo developer ecosystem. It will draw from the $200 million in venture capital the project has received from Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures and others.
• The fund will focus on early-stage initiatives that will then build a demo on the DeSo blockchain or integrate DeSo features into an existing product.
• While BitClout’s purported goal of decentralizing social media earned Al-Naji the pseudonym “the Facebook killer,” he now says that the network was merely a proof-of-concept for DeSo.

Read more: BitClout’s Alleged Leader Hit With Cease-and-Desist by Prominent Crypto Law Firm