The GUN system allows to host comments on readers’ devices

Popular blogger Hacker Noon has announced that it will partially store its content on the blockchain. The company is not satisfied with the way content is managed by Medium and has opted for a decentralized solution.

CEO David Smooke announced that the initiative will be implemented using the GUN system developed by ERA Inc. Post annotations and comments will be stored locally on readers’ equipment. Currently, the Hacker Noon blog has over 4 million monthly readers.

“Blockchain technology can distribute the cost of hosting a site like ours, where people spend over 25 million minutes reading each month,”

Smooke said.

The GUN system developed by ERA Inc.

ERA CEO Mark Nadal said that online annotations and comments will be hosted on readers’ devices using GUN. Annotations will only appear if they are approved by the contributing author.

The system was first tested in July 2019 and blockchain systems have proven that they can be used both quickly and on a scale. During the test, the GUN system served the readers successfully for 48 hours.

Both companies are working on further integrations of blockchain features in the near future.
Launched in 2016 by Smooke and business partner Jay Zalowitz, along with wife Linh Dao Smooke, Hacker Noon announced its intentions to leave Medium last spring. They said they were dissatisfied with the platform because they did not have general control over the content, such as titles, ads and URL redirects.

In a March 2019 podcast, Smooke stated that Medium offered to buy Hacker Noon for a very small fee. The company opted for a crowdfunding campaign, eventually getting $ 1.07 million from 1,200 people.

“Less reliance on central entities is essential for the internet to mature into a technology that works for people who use it,”

Smooke said.