Quick take
- Napster is making a comeback via NFTs and crypto.
- The defunct music streaming platform is reportedly launching the $NAPSTER token.
- The token will be used to buy tickets and other products on the new platform.
Napster is reportedly launching an ecosystem token under the ticker $NAPSTER, which will be used to buy tickets and other products on its new platform. The defunct music-sharing platform is coming back via NFTs and crypto after pivoting to Web3.
The company was acquired by blockchain companies Hivemind and Algorand in May when it announced its planned comeback through Web3. And now Bloomberg has revealed more details about the company’s plans, with a planned token launch.
Napster’s comeback could be deemed ill-timed amid the crypto downturn but Hivemind founder and managing director Matt Zhang remains optimistic about the industry.
“Despite the short-term volatility in the market, personally, I remain very, very optimistic about how this actually will bring a real use case and enduring value, and actually bring a paradigm shift to many sectors,” Zhang told Bloomberg.
The market has lost two-thirds in value after dropping from a total market cap of $3 trillion in November 2021 to just under $1 trillion.
Napster’s new platform will be built on the Algorand blockchain, which utilizes a proof-of-stake mechanism to reduce energy consumption whilst scaling transaction processing speed.
The company is following the footsteps of another platform, Limewire which gained popularity by allowing users to stream music online. It announced its planned comeback as an NFT marketplace earlier this year
Napster wants to create a community-first platform, focused on the welfare of artists. The company said in the whitepaper for its new project that it wants to “[empower] their creativity in the Web3 and the real world.”
Zhang said the ecosystem token $NAPSTER will be limited to a total supply of 10 billion tokens, but maintained that the circulating supply data cannot be revealed until the actual use of the token is fully worked out.
Napster launched in 1999 as a peer-to-peer file-sharing platform. However, it was shut down in 2001 after facing lawsuits related to copyright infringements.
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