Civil unrest: How a blockchain-based journalism startup bumbled its launch

Enlarge / Civil CEO Matthew Iles, as seen in this promo video. (credit: Freethink / YouTube)

In March 2018, Matthew Iles-the head of Civil, an ambitious blockchain-for-journalism startup-stood in a tiny New York conference room with a few colleagues seated around him. Wearing a peach-colored sweater, Iles looked up at a mounted camera to speak to dozens of colleagues spread around the world about how the future of Civil was looking bright.

"We're feeling very bullish about the value of our tokens as it relates to the value that has been estimated in all of the agreements that we have shared with you guys so far," the CEO said in an internal video recording obtained by Ars.

Civil aims to orchestrate the creation, sale, and management of an Ethereum-based crypto-token, known as CVL, meant to serve as the underpinning of a slew of recently founded ambitious news sites.

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