Reddit shelves its pseudo-currency plans for now

Bad news if you were hoping to swap Reddit Notes with friends: the internet community just put its don't-call-it-a-currency project on ice. As Reddit's Alexis Ohanian argues, the company doesn't want to dive into cryptocurrency (even when it doesn't have conventional monetary worth) until both the legal and technical aspects are "further along." He wants to make sure that users get the "full value" of their equity, and that's reportedly not possible right now. It's not clear that this is the only motivation, mind you. Notes was started under Reddit's previous CEO, so it may be as much about a change in leadership philosophy as anything else. Whatever the cause, you'll have to make do with handing out Reddit Gold if you want to reward your fellow redditors without relying on third-party services.