Alexis Ohanian Joins Project Liberty's Bid To Acquire TikTok US Operations

According to Cointelegraph, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has confirmed his involvement in Project Liberty's initiative to acquire TikTok's U.S. operations, with the goal of integrating the platform onto a blockchain. Ohanian's participation was initially reported by Reuters on March 3, when Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt announced that Ohanian would join as a strategic adviser, focusing on social media. In a March 3 post on X, Ohanian stated, "I'm officially now one of the people trying to buy TikTok US — and bring it onchain." He emphasized the importance of data ownership, saying, "Users should own their data. Creators should own their audience. Period." McCourt, who established Project Liberty, has been assembling a consortium to purchase TikTok's U.S. operations with the aim of restructuring the platform to give users control over their digital identities and data. The proposal revolves around "Frequency," a decentralized social network protocol that provides users with ownership of their personal data, utilizing Polkadot's infrastructure. Ohanian expressed his vision for TikTok's future, stating, "TikTok has been a game-changer for creators, and its future should be built by them. Frequency will empower these principles to become reality. And with transparency and accountability at the core, this new TikTok won’t just be fairer — it’ll be GREATER." Ohanian is well-versed in blockchain technology. Starting in 2022, Reddit invested its excess cash reserves into Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Polygon (POL), although most of these assets were sold during the third quarter of 2024. In 2022, Reddit also launched a blockchain-backed avatar system known as Reddit Collectible Avatars, a collection of Polygon-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that users could purchase and add to their profiles, offering additional perks. However, NFT sales declined alongside the broader crypto market downturn. Reddit RCA's head, Bianca Wyler, resigned from her position in January. Additionally, Reddit previously operated a blockchain-based rewards service called "Community Points," which was discontinued in late 2023.