TLDR; I think Reddit will keep RCPs and Reddit Gold Program totally indepedent. One handles karma and the other rewards/coins.

Ever since the Reddit news about reworking Awarding: Changes to Awards, Coins, and Premium (https://np.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/14ytp7s/reworking_awarding_changes_to_awards_coins_and/) many of us have been wondering over and over again if this would affect RCPs by somehow making them obsolete or canceling the project which they can because we don't have to forget that Reddit has a beacon with which they can do it.

I think that Reddit is going to follow totally independent paths between the new Gold program and the RCPs.

Reddit Gold Program

On the one hand Reddit will have the new official Reddit rewards system which I am 100% sure it will try to imitate the system of Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, etc. to attract "famous" people to create "quality" content on Reddit and in return they can earn money. It will just replace the current award system/coins system and be totally independent from karma.

Reddit Gold Program

Pros:

• Reddit IPO looking more tasty
• New feature that some good content creators can benefit from.

Cons:

• It requires KYC and a lot of people don't want to KYC their account in Reddit
• It will be only available in the US first leaving a lot of people out of this system.

Reddit Community Points (RCPs)

On the other hand, we will have the RCPs (https://www.reddit.com/community-points/) that are based on the karma earned in some communities and that it is totally independent from award/coins system.

Reddit Community Points

Pros:

• Reddit IPO looking more tasty because from the marketing point of view it is really powerful to be able to say that every user in Reddit from every place in the world can win money in your platform communities to improve their lives.
• It doesn't require KYC, yet. (I am concerned that they could think about expanding Reddit Gold Program KYC to every feature that makes you win money.
• Crypto is the future and Reddit knows that Web3.0 is what they have to try to reach.
• Reddit TOS change considering Reddit Community Points "Verified Virtual Goods" https://www.redditinc.com/policies/previews-terms

Cons:

• They can cancel them in any time because the beacon they own.
• Some effort to run the snapshots, etc.

I know that the pros on RCPs are based in just hype and that my opinion may be compromised by how involved I am in the project but Reddit is doing everything to make look their IPO tasty so I think that pro argument has some weight.

Disclaimer: I know shit about fuck so we will have to wait until we get more news probably in September 2023.

Stay safe!