Following their recent partnership with journalism platform Civil, Forbes will soon publish on blockchain. And eventually, all Forbes content may exist on a distributed ledger. Here’s what blockchain adoption could mean for the media giant and journalism on the whole.

Forbes Will Publish on Blockchain

In a major move towards blockchain adoption, Forbes announced that they’re partnering with Civil, a blockchain journalism platform that runs on Ethereum.

Civil co-founder Matt Coolidge told Blocklr in an email, “Forbes will be publishing metadata of stories from its cryptocurrency desk on Civil by Q1 of 2019.” In other words, they’re only putting some of their data, not entire articles, on the blockchain for the time being.

“The act of publishing Forbes metadata on Civil also serves as the starting point for potential licensing and syndication technologies in the future,” wrote Forbes Communications Executive Matthew Hutchison in an email.

In other words, they could potentially publish all content on the platform by the end of 2019. This will depend on reader engagement.

Blockchain Could Revolutionize Journalism

Blockchain can benefit journalism just as it’s evolving with industries ranging from music to international trade. As a peer-to-peer network, distributed ledger technology allows journalists to publish articles without reporting to a third party entity, like advertisers.

Instead, tokens will control the network. The CVL token will serve to support journalists and create newsrooms. These are specific news ecosystems that have applied and adhere to Civil’s ethical journalism guidelines.

This blockchain journalism platform also offers members a plugin, created by the Civil Media Company. In Forbes‘ case, this software will allow them to simultaneously publish on their own platform and store data on blockchain. This will mean that content readers encounter will have been verified. Additionally, journalists won’t have to re-enter their work or grapple with a new technology.

Unauthorized content distribution is also something that an immutable ledger can rectify. “High-level, our goal is to give content creators better visibility into where their content is published and republished across the web,” wrote Coolidge.

The protocol that governs the network was created by a centralized, for-profit organization. However, CVL token holders will control the blockchain democratically after October 22, 2018. This is one week after their token sale ends.

One of the Biggest Media Companies Adopts Blockchain

Forbes To Publish On Blockchain Journalism Platform Civil

Forbes just became the latest media company to join Civil’s blockchain journalism platform. In August 2018, Associated Press partnered with them to track content via blockchain-based licensing.

Not only can cryptocurrency function as a faster payment method than Visa and AMEX, but it can support independent reporting. By replacing third-party backers with a democratic tokenized system, this blockchain journalism startup strives to make news more ethical and affordable.