Who remembers LimeWire, the now-defunct peer-to-peer file-sharing service that dominated the early 2000s? Again in its heyday, Limewire had greater than 50 million month-to-month energetic customers. However issues modified in 2010, when the filesharing web site was shut down by U.S. federal courtroom after a four-year authorized battle.

For individuals who are nonetheless nostalgic in regards to the place you downloaded your first MP3, you’re not alone.

Contemplating the rebellious nature of the platform, maybe it makes good sense that LimeWire is now being resurrected on the blockchain. And after months of teasing a tokenized provide, the brand new iteration of the long-lasting peer-to-peer service has lastly been revealed. Nevertheless it’s vastly totally different than what you may bear in mind.

The brand new LimeWire

It’s protected to say that LimeWire has undergone vital transformations since its inception in Could 2000. After being shut down in October 2011, the legacy platform appeared to have been in limbo till the model rights had been acquired by Austrian brothers and businessmen Julian and Paul Zehetmayr in 2021.

Throughout the preliminary NFT increase, the 2 undoubtedly noticed the parallel between the defiant, peer-to-peer NFT tradition and that of peak LimeWire earlier than deciding on plans to carry the model onto the blockchain as an NFT market. Now, the “new LimeWire” has emerged to assist reinvent how followers and artists share content material and work together with one another.

So, what is that this newest model of the defunct service? In essence, as defined on the LimeWire web site, the brand new LimeWire is “a platform for content material creators, artists, and types to create membership-based communities for his or her most passionate followers.” However how?

All of it has to do with group.

The brand new LimeWire goals to assist content material creators construct recurring income streams by offering a platform and framework for direct fan membership. In flip, followers will obtain entry to unique content material, a non-public group, the power to straight talk with artists and types they patronize, and develop into part of their journey.

If it sounds kind of like an NFT fan membership to you, you’re heading in the right direction. Primarily, LimeWire will act as a Web3 subscription platform for group constructing. And this platform might be catered towards music creators and shoppers.

“The brand new LimeWire, initially relaunched in mid-2022 as a market to purchase, promote and commerce digital collectibles, has now advanced right into a fully-fledged membership platform,” the LimeWire web site explains. “By way of blockchain know-how, we make unique content material and belongings ownable and tradeable, permitting followers to not solely eat unique content material but in addition to take part straight within the success of the creators they help.”

All issues thought of, the brand new LimeWire enterprise may show to be a stable Web3 model integration. And contemplating that group constructing has anecdotally been the obligation of creators and collectors — and one which has existed midway between Twitter, Discord, and varied NFT marketplaces — the advantages of this, what nearly feels to be a kind of Web3-powered Patreon, appears simple.

The LimeWire token

However what’s the plan, precisely, for LimeWire to floor itself on the blockchain?

To raised fuse with the sensibilities of Web3, the Zehetmayr brothers opted to maneuver away from NFTs (a minimum of for the second) and recenter on one other outstanding side of the blockchain — crypto. To take action, they got down to provide a group token that will basically fund the brand new LimeWire platform and act because the lifeblood of the ecosystem.

Within the type of an Ethereum-based ERC-20 utility token, LMWR is alleged to be deeply embedded into the LimeWire ecosystem, designed to be of profit to holders whereas enhancing the consumer expertise throughout the platform. And with the LimeWire token public sale, which launched on Could 2, 2023, the dissemination of 1 billion tokens to Web3 group members (and undoubtedly some normal traders) will seemingly maintain sufficient weight to behave as a catalyst for one thing modern to return.

Actually, inside the primary 2 hours of the LMWR public sale, Limewire raised greater than $2 million.

Subsequent comes the query of what the LMWR token may really be used for. Though it’s not straight corresponding to tokens like ApeCoin or $FWB, customers can take into account the utility of the token as akin to that of choices in the identical vein. That’s to say that, as a group and utility token, it is going to seemingly be of worth and significance in the whole lot that LimeWire does from right here on out — particularly relating to the fan-artist financial system.

For fanatics who discover the prospect of being a part of the blockchain-powered internal circle of LimeWire individuals equivalent to Elijah Blake, Cheat Codes, Soulja Boy, and Slushii alluring, investing in LMWR when it turns into tradable on varied crypto exchanges could possibly be a superb transfer. However for those who could be skeptical of one more legacy model being resurrected in Web3, the basic crypto technique of ready and watching can also be a stable selection.