Now that the cryptocurrency hype has largely died down, maybe this will finally be the right time to say this:

The lesson from cryptocurrency ruining everything it touched, wasn't just "cryptocurrency is bad". The other lesson is that making something *about* money, of *any* kind, is the fastest way to stamp out any kind of healthy community dynamics and turn it into a race-to-the-bottom.

If you start your project by focusing on "monetization" as the goal, it will never become an enjoyable place for people to be. You cannot "monetize" your way out of a capitalist society. That people need to pay the bills, doesn't change this.