The sub-Reddit forum that drove the GameStop rally through a community effort against short-sellers is now seeking to enter blockchain space and eliminate market speculation from the equation.
Stock Markets Get Blockchain Treatment through WSB dApp
WallStreetBets’ name gained popularity around the same time GameStop short-sellers tried tanking the company’s stock but were met with a stern pushback from social media communities, and specifically the sub-Reddit, which rallied its members and cost hedge fund managers a lot of money.
Accusations of market manipulations and “lack of substance” flew around as befuddled investors watched their money disappear in thin air as a result of a social media-driven stock rally spurred on by WallStreetBets and the Millennial-focused trading platform Robinhood.
Now, WallStreetBets founder Jaime Rogozinski wants to see blockchain technology leveraged to uproot precisely what mainstream investors have cried foul of during the GameStop debacle – market manipulation.
The group is currently looking to launch a dedicated WallStreetBets decentralized app or dApp. It will come with a $WSB governing token, allowing the community to make decisions as to how the existing stock portfolio of investments should be managed.
The solution seems to mix many things together, from non-hierarchical groups to index funds, to decentralized autonomous organizations, to a more conventional approach to stock markets, which essentially means that mainstream investors may need to be wary of the next challenge coming from the disruptor-forum-turned-dApp.
Harnessing the Transparency of Blockchain and Smart Contracts
WSB isn’t flying into this blindly, though, and the group behind the sub-Reddit released an official press statement, which read:
“By harnessing the transparency and community consensus mechanisms provided by blockchain and smart contract technology, WallStreetBets ETPs may serve as an alternative to the kind of market manipulation perpetuated by opaque and politically connected banks and hedge funds.”
WallStreetBets
Decentralized autonomous organizations or DAOs are becoming popular, allowing people to come together and invest. Rogozinski seems convinced that this is the right move for financial markets, calling it “the next logical step.”
Embracing this innovation predicts WSB’s founder “will result in stronger, more democratized markets and will empower individuals around the world.”
Disruptors such as Robinhood and WallStreetBets are going to proliferate in the future, and mainstream financing will do well to accept that, despite some pushback from investment titans such as Warren Buffet qualifying these solutions as preying on the “gambling” element of the stock market.