New York (CNN Business) The numbers just aren't adding up for Civil Media.

The blockchain company that is trying to change journalism said Wednesday that it is only about a fourth of the way toward an $8 million cryptocurrency funding goal. It has less than a week to hit that cap.

Civil has been trying to sell at least that much worth of cryptocurrency tokens since mid-September. The tokens are intended to create the foundation of an economy that will power the company's model for journalism.

The way Civil sees it, readers and patrons will buy tokens so that they have a bigger stake in the collection of news websites that the company partners with. All participants will abide by a journalistic code of ethics, and the community can leverage their tokens to challenge any content they believe runs afoul of the code. Tokens can also be used to tip journalists for their work.

But the token sale has so far fallen flat. The process to buy tokens was cumbersome, and according to one report, took 44 steps to complete . And while Civil said recently made changes so customers could pay for tokens directly with cash, its latest report suggests that wasn't enough to drive a big uptick in sales.

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