EXCLUSIVE: What if being active on social media could earn you cryptocurrency?

Ever since the Cambridge Analytica massacre opened our eyes to the perils of social media, many have yearned to quit these platforms. We all have at least one friend that told us to #DeleteFacebook or delete Twitter, Instagram and so on. But what if you were actually paid to be active on social media?

No, this is not a story on influencer marketing. Rather, it's a story about a comparatively lesser-known platform, called VoxWeb. The Singapore-based company had earlier announced a plan to pay its users for using their personal data. VoxWeb also promises its users never to serve targeted advertising.

Now, the platform is shedding a little more light on how it plans to do so. The answer is in something that's as much of a buzzword today as social media itself - cryptocurrency.

The platform, which is two million users strong at the moment, is going to announce its own cryptocurrency, called Vollar.

While Vollar is similar to any cryptocurrency out there, it differs in two important aspects. For one, the first 50 million adopters of Vollar can earn the currency simply by being active on VoxWeb, though there will be an upper limit. That essentially means your social behaviour acts as a miner for earning the currency. VoxWeb's Founder and CEO, Yash Mishra, says they might even consider increasing the number to 100 million users later.

Second, Mishra says Vollar is different in how its currency/monetary policy has been formulated. The currency policy is how a crypto provider manages the volatility of his/her currency. Mishra says VoxWeb's policies can ensure that Vollar doesn't fluctuate as much as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and other currencies do.

Vollar will initially be part of the VoxWeb platform, where it will be used to "build e-commerce and fintech based revenue streams". However, it will eventually be sold on coin exchanges etc. So, users will one day be able to buy Vollar for cash or perhaps exchange other cryptocurrencies for Vollar.

While Mishra doesn't explicitly say so, the move is obviously an effort at providing a hook. VoxWeb plans to disseminate the currency to 50 million early adopters. With two million users on the platform, that theoretically means all of VoxWeb's current users will have the chance to make some crypto cash. And more users might come onboard because they are essentially being paid for it.

As a platform, VoxWeb is similar to Instagram. But instead of photos only, it lets you add a voice clip to the pictures.

Being the creator of the currency, VoxWeb will create the blockchain it needs. And as crypto works, it will earn Vollar itself when transactions are done by users. If the coin's price appreciates in future, VoxWeb could be sitting on a goldmine of a revenue stream.