Discord's IPO plans are heating up, but there's still a big question hanging in the air—how exactly does the platform make serious money?

The chat giant has become absolutely central to crypto communities, NFT projects, and Web3 builders. You'll find virtually every major token project, DAO, and protocol running their core operations through Discord servers. It's basically become the nervous system of the Web3 ecosystem.

Yet here's the tension: while Discord dominates community infrastructure, its monetization strategy remains fuzzy. The platform relies on Nitro subscriptions and server boosts, but that model hasn't exactly translated into blockbuster revenue numbers compared to its massive user base.

As the company pushes toward going public, investors are naturally asking the hard questions. Can Discord unlock meaningful revenue from its Web3-native communities? Will it need to introduce controversial features that risk alienating its crypto-native user base? How does it balance growth with maintaining the culture that made Discord indispensable to builders and creators?

The IPO timing is interesting too—it comes as tech platforms face renewed scrutiny around profitability and sustainable business models. For the crypto community that calls Discord home, the real story isn't just about the IPO itself. It's about whether Discord can grow its bottom line without destroying the open, permissionless ethos that made it so valuable to Web3 in the first place.