Investor Naval Ravikant Wants to Disrupt Twitter With Blockchain 'XPRIZE'

An early investor in Twitter is seeking to fund a blockchain alternative to the popular social media platform.

In new remarks to CoinDesk, Naval Ravikant, the co-founder of AngelList, revealed he intends to sponsor a prize that will be awarded to anyone who can develop a version of Twitter with no central authority, and where users are able to monetize their contributions.

The capital is being made available as part of an initiative that will provide financial assistance to entrepreneurs seeking to build blockchain applications on the Blockstack platform.

While details about the prize remain sparse, Ravikant told CoinDesk:

"I am indeed helping the Blockstack team and will be donating a small prize for a decentralized microblogging service."

Blockstack's competition is modeled off the prestigious XPRIZE, established in 1995 by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis and Google director Ray Kurzweil to reward innovators who tackle some of the world's largest problems.

Yet, the prizes, which require builders use Blockstack’s suite of tools for creating decentralized apps, are part of a larger push by the company to connect developers to capital.

Also today, the New York-based startup launched the Blockstack Signature Fund, a $25 million venture capital fund backed by Lux Capital, OpenOcean, RisingTide Capital, Compound and VersionOne.

Disclaimer: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Blockstack.

Image of Naval Ravikant via CoinDesk press images