A former employee of British Sky Broadcasting, Ciarán Murray developed an interest in decentralised tech before founding Dublin-based Olas earlier this year.
It is no secret that global news media is facing a crisis. Social media platforms are steadily rising to become the main sources of online news, especially among younger people. At the same time, social apps are inundated with disinformation, a situation being exacerbated by advances in emerging technologies such as generative AI.
“The traditional media industry is currently grappling with economic challenges and declining trust, largely due to biased reporting, the rise of micromedia that completely lacks quality controls, and unsustainable revenue models,” says Ciarán Murray, a blockchain expert who previously worked in the media sector.
Murray is passionate about finding a solution to some of these woes in the industry and supporting high-quality journalism and research. To that end, he launched a decentralised media platform earlier this year called Olas.
“The goal is to democratise access to quality information while providing greater financial rewards to those that supply the content,” he explains.
“We use blockchain technology to create a space where high-quality content free from the editorial direction of media owners can thrive. Our mission is to solve the economic and bias issues in traditional media, making information more trustworthy and accessible for readers and journalism more lucrative for writers.”
‘No owner or controller’
Blockchain is decentralised, distributed and public digital ledger. It can be used to record transactions and data across many different computers. The record can be shared, but it can’t be altered retroactively without altering all of the subsequent blocks and disrupting the consensus mechanism of the network – thus named ‘blockchain’.
Olas targets anyone who consumes or produces what Murray refers to as “reviewed media” – including journalists, researchers, academic institutions and everyday news consumers.
Before getting interested in decentralisation technologies, Murray worked with British Sky Broadcasting in the late 2000s, where he came across first-hand some of the challenges faced by journalists and media companies.
“Over the years, I transitioned into the blockchain space, advising on various projects and successfully launching a decentralised application last year.”
Using blockchain technology, Murray wants to ensure that Olas is a media platform with “no owner or controller”. The nature of blockchain also enables the use of micropayments.
“We’re employing a novel breakthrough in funding technology called quadratic funding to ensure journalism and science is closely tied to communities and popular demand rather than primarily influenced by monied interests,” he explains.
“We are utilising prediction markets as an alternative to editorial and peer review and these are complemented with reputation systems that track people’s performance in the markets. We are also employing decentralised identity technology that includes proof-of-humanity protocols to prevent the protocol becoming dominated by bots. Finally, we’ve also designed anti-collusion mechanisms to prevent the system from being gamed by organised interests.”
In essence, Olas wants to be a media platform that “cannot be co-opted by the powerful to be used for their benefit”.
“Close secondary goals are to make a pluralistic media landscape economically sustainable again through the introduction of a new economic model far more suited to public goods like information and to produce a much higher quality product by subjecting output to market discipline.”
‘Radical shift from the status quo’
And while Olas hasn’t been around for very long, things are going well for the Dublin-based start-up. Murray and his team of blockchain and media experts are currently focused on coding and implementing innovative mechanisms for the platform.
Meanwhile, Murray is actively looking to engage with journalists, researchers and other stakeholder who can benefit from the platform.
“Our outreach efforts are aimed at building awareness and fostering relationships within these communities. Additionally, we’ve been increasing our visibility and presence within the broader Web3 and media landscapes, which has been critical in positioning Olas for a successful launch and growth phase,” he says.
“Of course, attracting investment is a significant part of our strategy moving forward. We’re actively engaging with potential investors and partners, showcasing how our unique model can solve some of the most pressing issues in the media and information sectors.”
The idea, according to Murray, is not just to find investors who are attracted by the financial potential of Olas, but also share the company’s vision to create a more “equitable and trustworthy” media ecosystem.
“There’s a lot of scepticism towards new technologies and models, especially those that propose such a radical shift from the status quo,” he says. “Despite these challenges, we remain committed to our mission and continue to innovate and adapt. We believe in the transformative potential of Olas and are dedicated to overcoming these obstacles to achieve our vision.”
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