"CoinDesk" issues reward token "$DESK", plans to release roadmap within the year

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many annual major conferences have switched to online formats. The Consensus conference organized by CoinDesk, Consensus 2021, is no exception. Although virtual conferences may be less engaging, the reward token $DESK issued during the conference has unexpectedly received positive feedback, significantly increasing participant interaction.

During the four-day Consensus conference, CoinDesk used the issuance of the reward token $DESK as an experiment to attract a wider readership. It appears that even tokens without direct fiat value can incentivize participants and foster community engagement.

$DESK

According to details released by CoinDesk here, $DESK is a token issued in collaboration with the NFT marketplace platform Unifty, hosted on the Ethereum test network Rinkeby. This means that once $DESK is officially launched, it will be directly compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem, such as wallets and DApps.

The purpose of this token includes:

• Introducing participants to cryptocurrency for the first time
• Enhancing overall engagement

What can $DESK do?

Attendees can earn $DESK by completing various tasks at the consensus conference, such as purchasing tickets, watching the conference, and using the tokens to redeem gifts in their NFT marketplace, including:

• NFT cards
• Sponsor gifts
• Strategic partner gifts
• CoinDesk physical gifts
• CoinDesk tokenized articles
• Online meetings with top personalities
• Two large pizzas in tribute to Bitcoin Pizza Day

Driving Engagement with Rewards

The COVID-19 pandemic forced CoinDesk to hold the consensus conference online for two consecutive years. They found that even with strong and influential speakers, the audience easily gets distracted while watching online conferences, and the motivation to watch the entire event diminishes. Therefore, this year they introduced the incentive token $DESK.

As of 5/27, $DESK has been claimed by over 1,371 addresses, with each wallet receiving an average of about 25 tokens and holding an average of 3 NFTs. This means that participants have collectively redeemed over 4,000 NFTs.

Aaron Stanley, Managing Director of CoinDesk Events, stated:

The most challenging part of engaging in the crypto space is going from 0 to 1, so we are trying to make the first step as simple as possible, and $DESK could potentially change the business model that has been leaning towards static for many years.

He pointed out that the team is still planning everything related to $DESK and will release the $DESK roadmap in the coming months. He is personally very excited about whether $DESK can reshape the media, challenge Web 2.0 giants, and innovate Web 3.0 business models.