I think they dont like the fact that these awards also grant reddit premium to the user who receives them. But they cant just remove that feature of the rewards without killing rewards otherwise they look really bad. So the new award system will just be a community highlight. Maybe something that changes the background color of the post to highlight it on the front page. Like gold background. Then they will allow advertisers to also pay to make their “paid advertisements” also have background colors to generate a dark pattern where they trick you into clicking ads because you think they are awarded front page posts.

Thats my guess at least.

Probably, but that is a horrible business plan for Reddit. The awards system ended up being a great idea for Reddit to gain revenue; a mega upvote.

Honestly I don’t think they care. I think they are only concerned about the immediate sale.

Who would be stupid enough to buy at this point?

They’re guess: retail investors.