The blockcain and technology startup Honeycomb has been selected as one of the ‘smartest’ and most ‘clever’ by the Online News Association Conference (ONA18). In the last years, new companies and startups started to grow offering very interesting products and services.

NiemanLab, part of the Nieman Foundation asked whether Honeycomb is able to convince users and mine cryptocurrencies with mobile phones and donate it to news organizations. Using Honeycomb’s software, users would be able to mine Monero (XMR) with their mobile phones when they are sleeping.

After it, it would be possible for users to donate the proceeds to news publishers around the world. According to the company, there are some very valuable benefits behind that. Companies would no longer depend on ads or collect user data to monetize their news feeds.

And indeed, this is a good software used by users to pay for the news they consume. That means that publishers that offer subscription services can consider a ‘free’ service and use Honeycomb instead.

Orlando Watson said that revenue from crypto mining never existed before and it could support a new investigative journalism. According to him, ‘any new revenue is worth it for a news organization.’

At the moment, Honeycomb is searching new publishers that will be joining the platform and test the capabilities it has. At the moment, Watson explains that some publishers and nonprofit newsrooms have shown their interest in using the service.

According to the Digital News Report only nine per cent of Americans have received news alerts on their mobile phones. At the same time, Apple has decided to ban mining applications on is App Store. However, Google Play has also decided to ban crypto-mining applications from the Google Play Store.

At the same time, it is not easy to convince uses to donate the funds they were able to gather with their mining activities to news agencies. That means that Honeycomb might be targeting a very small niche of individuals that are willing of doing so.

Watson commented on the matter:

“I would love to see us a broader journalism community, people who care about sustainable and quality jounralism, harness the power of new technologies rather than be the victims of it.”

At the moment, readers are learning about how webs are monetized and how companies generate their revenues. In the future, this could be used as a way to generate profits for companies that do not want to rely on advertisers or other companies.

Companies such as Honeycomb are working in order to build the future of the internet. Blockchain technology is clearly changing the way several companies and industries work.