News mavericks: Meet the duo reshaping journalism with crypto

The Newshound meme coin will fund investigative stories alongside any other news that independent journalists have always wanted to pursue and make it available for a global media network. The project’s aim in doing so is to engage a new generation of attention-driven news consumers with a variety of next-generation news products.

Digital asset entrepreneur Daniel Mark Harrison founded the independent news site called Marx Rand in 2015, which featured household-name journalists such as Nate Thayer, Ben Wolford, and Alex Wilhelm. Among its biggest scoops was an exposé revealing that an FBI agent was leading the South Carolina Ku Klux Klan, as well as investigations into human trafficking within the auto industry.

He said: "NewsX is an engine for change, combining the trust of traditional media brands with the community power of new media, and that engine is powered by partnering with Blockchain communities who represent billions in daily spending."

Mike Leidig, founder of the social enterprise NewsX and a director of the British National Association of Press Agencies, said the revenue generated will give journalists the freedom to write the stories they want to, rather than what they are forced to.

He said: "A journalist who only works for one publication will always struggle to get certain stories published. But if they have an almost infinite number of publishers, there will always be someone somewhere willing to publish, especially when the journalist guarantees the content with their byline.

"Likewise, even publishers that operate one sided echo chambers, when exposed to the broad spectrum of content from the vast NewsX feed, will be tempted to offer different perspectives. This addresses another major issue in modern media, namely polarisation, by encouraging balanced debate."

Harrison, who wrote for Forbes, Benzinga, Dow Jones, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post before founding Marx Rand, said the biggest challenge had always been bringing together the diverse elements of the media landscape and securing long-term funding to support a new business model.

At the heart of this is restoring the separation between independent editorial content and everything else that masquerades as journalism, including PR, marketing, and activism.

Blockchain-backed investment in news

The NewsX project, co-created by Leidig and Harrison, is partnering with major memecoin communities on the Solana Blockchain to ramp up investment, alongside the millions they hope to generate for the initiative.

They are using Leidig’s Community Interest Company (CIC), registered at Companies House as being set up to support independent journalism, to provide guarantees about the project’s aims.

NewsX founder Mike Leidig said: "Feedback from the crypto community, which values freedom of speech, like NewsX, has been fantastic, and we've already received significant investments to start the project."

Newshound will be launched this month on Pump.fun, a memecoin creation platform that provides technological integrity to the launch process.

In addition, NewsX has acquired the legendary news platform DailyGoat.com, an early news site pioneer from 2010, and aims to use the platform to continue the investigative work of Marx Rand by publishing stories that independent journalists have struggled to place elsewhere.

But NewsX also aims to bring serious, investigative reporting to the world of crypto journalism.

Leidig, whose undercover investigation into human trafficking for The Sunday Telegraph won the Paul Foot Award, and whose investigation into pyramid scheme fraudster Bernie Madoff helped return millions in stolen cash to investors, uses his agency’s expertise in viral tabloid content to make even the most complex issues accessible and engaging.

He confirmed that the priority will always be to offer the best stories to the biggest media brands, but that no story should go unpublished, with the DailyGoat.com being revived to serve as a publication of last resort for important investigative journalism.

The site was purchased earlier this year with financing from Harrison WLL, a Bahraini investment vehicle set up and owned by Harrison.

Leidig said: "Freelancers will be commissioned exclusively and paid on completion through our partnership with PayDesk, the editorial payment service that ensures instant payment upon completion of assignments and has 10,000 verified journalist users worldwide.

"I looked at many opportunities to fund the pivot to a free newsfeed, but nothing compares to the potential of Blockchain and cryptocurrency. In mainstream media, it has struggled to gain a foothold. I’ve tried to discuss it with colleagues in newsrooms, but there’s still little interest. However, if Newshound’s launch is successful, I know attitudes will change overnight, along with their interest in reporting on this space."

Crypto’s role in news discovery

NewsX has also purchased millions of tokens in another Solana-based memecoin called BIRD after announcing plans to integrate the coin’s AI-powered data tool, Little Birdie Bot, to track memecoin trends which often foreshadow news events.

NewsX is using the Little Birdie Bot tool and other similar innovations to identify news trends before competitors—many of which emerge first on the Solana Blockchain in the form of meme coins before making mainstream headlines.

Development on Blockchain can be fast-paced and hectic. Little Birdie Bot has undergone rapid development since launching less than two weeks ago, with three real-time bots up-and-running and a thousands-strong community already in place.

“Birdie is the sort of technology that could potentially be a game-changer in real-time data monitoring, not just for traders but for news organizations too, so the investment was a logical one for NewsX, which is already using the bots to identify news trends first. Any one of these can become billion-dollar plus players in no time, and that's the nature of Blockchain,” said Harrison.

Daily Goat aims to continue the legacy of high-quality investigative journalism, following in the footsteps of Marx Rand, which won acclaim for its groundbreaking reporting.

Leidig said: "Everyone here shares the vision that crypto markets provide a beacon of hope for independent journalists seeking to finance socially valuable but commercially unprofitable reporting,"

Like NewsX’s upcoming token, Newshound, Little Birdie Bot was also created on Pump.fun, a fintech platform launched by UK crypto entrepreneur Alon Cohen.

Pump.fun’s ecosystem has exploded in size, now valued at over $4 billion, according to Dune Analytics, with reported earnings of $350 million in its first year.

However, partnering with crypto startups is not without risks. Pump.fun’s parent company, Baton Corporation Limited, based in Bury St. Edmunds, UK, is currently facing a US lawsuit over claims that tokens created on its platform qualify as securities.

Critics have also accused Pump.fun of fuelling an attention-driven economy, where users push increasingly extreme tactics to promote their coins.

Still, regulatory sentiment appears to be shifting. Since Donald Trump’s re-election last November, the SEC has paused most regulatory actions, signalling a radical shift in US crypto policy. Trump has publicly stated his desire to make the US a global leader in crypto, even launching his own Trump and Melania memecoins on Solana’s blockchain, both of which are now worth billions.

Press Gazette reported last April that NewsX was planning to launch its own memecoin, Newshound, on Solana.

"There will always be critics," Leidig said, "but the fact is that there’s no funding available for independent agencies any more. So we are having to look beyond traditional channels to get important stories published. Blockchain technology is now offering real utility.

“If we can convert this into funding for independent news—especially in underreported areas like court reporting—then that’s a huge win for society. Everything we’re doing aligns completely with Keir Starmer’s vision for UK-led tech innovation."

Story: NX