Refereum Transition Update - May 2020

Three years later

In early 2017, Refereum set off with an ambitious goal; Redistribute marketing budgets away from advertising corporations and into the pockets of passionate people. A new generation on Twitch and Youtube created video game content that broke internet records. Unfortunately for them, these content creators were not able to capitalize on the true value of what they were creating. We saw this travesty, and set out on a mission to reward people for sharing their passion.

On our mission since then, we’ve redistributed over a million dollars worth of $RFR tokens and hundreds of top retail games to passionate gamers. From top AAA games like Fortnite and Battlefield, to countless beloved indies dear to our hearts, the Refereum platform allowed some of the best game developers to usher in a new-age of influencer marketing at scale by incentivizing and rewarding gamers who share their games. We’ve entertained the millions of gamers that joined our platform with game keys, exclusive content, contests, and more. We’re proud to prioritize a global audience of gamers that might not have access to institutional banking methods by using emerging blockchain technology. Our instant payments, global payment reach, affiliate fraud reduction, on-chain ecommerce, and our major technical partnerships has helped pioneer decentralized finance forward for everyone.

While any journey always has highs and lows, we remain nothing but forever proud of our gaming community, our partners, and Refereum’s progress in establishing a better future for gamers.

Changes

We remain headstrong on our journey, and hoping to forever learn and adapt. Every day, we learn from our community's feedback. We learn from our game partners' goals and concerns. We learn about the realities our decentralized partners face. We learn about the timelines of certain technology adoption. We learn from the perspective of regulators and our lawyers about evolving risks in the industry. We learn about the world’s priorities during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Often, such learnings of feedback, concerns, realities, timelines, perspectives, and priorities, are never pleasant — but we must adapt Refereum in order to make the biggest positive impact we can.


Moving Forward

In response to those learnings, Refereum will be adapting. We will be taking the Refereum platform offline for the foreseeable future to evaluate and rebuild. Our goal will be to apply our three years of learnings onto a fresh slate, iterate on where gamers and developers find value, wipe away technical debt, streamline operational and team requirements, all which allow Refereum to faster adapt and succeed going forward. While we’re excited for the long-term opportunity of these changes, we acknowledge and aim to reduce the impact of any unfortunate short-term drawbacks.

The main drawback of rebuilding is that we will be taking the current platform offline. The platform will be going offline May 16th 2020. All payments and rewards will still be provided. Platform users and influencers with unused game codes or unspent $RFR will be notified via email with reminders to do so. If you have any questions, we will continue to promptly respond to your support requests at team@refereum.com during this time. As always, no user data will ever be released or sold. Of course, you’ll still have the option to delete your account data by emailing team@refereum.com from an account tied to your Refereum account. Due to the nature of the rebuild by working directly with users and partners, we can not accurately estimate when or how the platform will return. Through working with users and partners, it’s also potentially possible we might not find a sustainable and valuable solution that enable a re-launch - but these changes give Refereum the best chance in doing so.  

These changes will allow Refereum to adapt and better iterate towards our goals in the future. We share your frustrations, and appreciate your support and understanding during this transition. Please feel free to get in touch with us for any reason at team@refereum.com.

With love and stay safe,
~ Dylan, and the Refereum team

TLDR

Refereum is re-building
The current platform is going offline May 16th 2020
Please claim your rewards, and spend your $RFR
Stay tuned for updates for all things new

FAQ

What happens to my data after the site goes offline?
Data remains in encrypted storage as it has been for the relaunch of Refereum.

Will you sell or release any of my data?
We have never and will never release or sell data in any way to anyone.

How can I delete my data?
You still have the option to delete your data at any time by emailing us at team@refereum.com from an email account connected to your account and we will promptly delete it.

What happens to CD keys and prizes after the current platform goes offline?
You have until May 16th 2020 to save any game keys you have received from Refereum. We will be sending you email reminders.

I’m expecting a payment or reward, will I still get it?
As always, you should automatically get your rewards. For any reason, reach out to us at team@refereum.com.

Any updates or changes to the $RFR token?
No changes to the $RFR token are planned and will continue to function as it always has.

Where can I continue to spend my $RFR?
Since $RFR has become a majority decentralized currency, there are partners and 3rd parties that accept $RFR for various entertainment goods. However, as we can not guarantee or support purchases on other platforms, we thus highly recommend you spend your remaining $RFR on the hundreds of Refereum games in our store before May 16th 2020.

When will the site / platform be back up?
As discussed in detail above, due to the nature of the rebuild by working directly with users and partners, we can not accurately estimate when or how the platform will return. It might be that Refereum takes a very different form in the future. Through working with users and partners, it’s potentially possible we might not find a sustainable and valuable solution that enable a re-launch - but these changes give Refereum the best chance.  

I have a question or need support!
We’re still here to help! Simply email team@refereum.com.