Ad Revenue. Someone paying for Reddit Premium gets an ad free experience which is fine but someone who gets gifted Gold also gets an ad free experience. They need as many people as possible to see ads so free loaders have to go…which means so do the coins.

I fully expect that within a year Reddit will start doing what many streaming services are where the lowest tier is free but ad supported, then there’s a paid “limited ad” tier, followed by an even more expensive “No Ads” tier. The current Reddit Premium program will transition to that mid-tier category and they’ll add “Reddit Ultimate” or some BS as the new Ad Free option. It’ll probably cost $10 a month too.