How Reddit ended Gold-era awards and coins in 2023, briefly tried a simpler “golden upvote,” then relaunched awards in May 2024 tied to Gold and the Contributor Program — a culture story about recognition, clutter, and cash.
Why awards were cultural infrastructure
Before they were a product roadmap item, awards were a shared language: a gold icon meant someone spent money (or a free award) to mark a comment as special. Community Awards let mods mint local memes. That clutter annoyed many people — and delighted others. Removing it was never only a UI cleanup; it changed how Reddit felt when you scrolled.
July–September 2023: coins and awards sunset
On 13 July 2023, Reddit product staff (u/venkman01 in r/reddit; parallel modnews from u/judy-funnie) announced that Reddit would sunset coins and awards, including medals, Premium awards, and Community Awards. New coin purchases stopped that day; existing coins and awards remained usable until 12 September 2023. Reddit Premium itself stayed, but the monthly coin drip and Premium awards would end with the sunset.
The Verge’s same-day report captured the user mood: iconic Gold disappearing while API anger was still fresh, plus hints Reddit was exploring a “contributor” direction. Treat Android-app reverse-engineering leaks from that week as unconfirmed speculation unless Reddit later said the same thing in its own voice.
Timing mattered. The sunset landed weeks after the API pricing confrontation. For many users, losing Gold was not a neutral declutter — it was another signal that classic Reddit rituals were negotiable when the company wanted a simpler, more monetizable product surface.
May 2024: awards return — with Gold, not classic coins
On 17 May 2024, The Verge reported Reddit’s own admission that the interim golden upvote approach “missed the mark,” and that Reddit was relaunching awards on web and apps. Users buy Gold (not the old coin packs by that name) to give awards; UI was simplified; safety limits kept awards off some sensitive/NSFW contexts. Users who lost coin balances were to receive exclusive free awards as a make-good, per that coverage.
Help articles still describe awards priced in Gold and point eligible accounts to the Contributor Program, where paid awards plus karma can convert into cash payouts after identity/Stripe checks — a structural change from the old Gold-for-Premium-time era. Reddit’s Contributor Monetization Policy (effective 15 May 2024) is the policy spine for who may earn.
The awkward middle: golden upvotes
Between the September 2023 cutoff and the May 2024 relaunch, Reddit experimented with a thinner recognition layer often described as golden upvotes — a paid emphasis that tried to be simpler than fifty award icons. By Reddit’s own later admission (as reported by The Verge on 17 May 2024), that interim system “missed the mark” and was not as fun or expressive as legacy awards.
That confession matters for culture writers: Reddit did not merely flip awards off forever. It acknowledged a product miss under public pressure and reconstituted a familiar vocabulary (award icons) on top of a new token (Gold) and a monetization path (Contributor Program). Continuity of icons does not mean continuity of the old coin economy.
Who felt each chapter
Long-time users lost a ritual, then got a familiar-looking ritual back with different economics. Mods lost Community Coins/Awards as a local recognition toolkit in 2023; the 2024 system is more centralized around Gold and platform rules. Eligible contributors gained a path to cash that did not exist in the classic Gold era — which also invites debates about farming, spam, and whether recognition should be monetized at all.
Karma remains a separate scoreboard; see Reddit karma and upvotes explained for voting mechanics. Awards are about paid (or free) emphasis, not the same as upvote totals.
Common questions
Are “coins” back? The 2023 announcement killed coin purchases. The 2024 relaunch centers on **Gold** for paid awards. Do not assume old coin balances automatically restored as cash.
Is this a how-to for earning money on Reddit? No. SubMouse explains the culture and documented policy arc. Payout eligibility lives in Reddit Help and Contributor terms.
Sources
- r/reddit — Reworking Awarding: Changes to Awards, Coins, and Premium (13 Jul 2023) — Primary sunset; 12 Sep 2023 end date; Premium caveats.
- r/modnews — Evolving awarding on Reddit (13 Jul 2023) — Mod/community coins impact.
- The Verge — Reddit is getting rid of its Gold awards system (13 Jul 2023) — Independent contemporaneous report.
- The Verge — Reddit brings back its old award system (17 May 2024) — Relaunch; golden upvote miss; Gold packs.
- Reddit — Contributor Monetization Policy (15 May 2024) — Policy effective date; eligibility framing.
- Reddit Help — What are awards and how do I use them? — Current awards-in-Gold Help framing.