RadioShack Enters DeFi And Announces a New NFT Collection
U.S. electronics retail icon RadioShack is moving focus on DeFi and NFTs. According to their website: “Our mission is to be the first protocol to bridge the gap in mainstream usage of DeFi.”
RadioShack was a technology hallmark in the late 1990s. Big box stores dominated the emergence of new technological innovations, when personal computers, cell phones, printers, and the like all started to hit the market and were host to a fast race to be a leader in innovation.
In recent years, big box presence has dried up, and RadioShack has been largely seen as a legacy brand that failed to shift to consumer demand – investing in brick and mortar without optimizing their online shopping experience.
DeFi
Over the weekend, the company confirmed a pivot into decentralized finance (DeFi), referring to the blockchain-based protocols that allow people to send, receive, trade, lend, and borrow funds without intermediaries.
According to the new website, RadioShack “will be the bridge between the CEOs who control the world’s corporations and the new world of cryptocurrencies.”
“RadioShack, and RadioShack alone, can bridge the gap and ‘cross the chasm’ of mainstream usage for Cryptocurrency.”
RadioShack has partnered with Atlas USV (universal store of value), a DeFi protocol that allows applications to be built atop it. RadioShack DeFi aims to begin by creating a decentralized exchange (DEX) similar to Uniswap or Sushiswap that taps into liquidity pools. This model lets token holders trade directly for any other token.
Atlas’s Ethereum-based token USV is new enough that it isn’t even one of the 10,000+ assets tracked by CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap, though it can be traded on DEXs. According to RadioShack, the protocol “allows USV users to purchase third-party tokens in the open market and then transfer them to the Atlas USV treasury in return for discounted USV tokens.”
Initially, the relationship is theoretically a win-win situation because liquidity providers get their hands on new tokens that they can exchange for profit. In contrast, RadioShack gets third-party tokens to increase its treasury.
“Atlas USV protocol is a long-term holder, not a reward-oriented, short-term provider of liquidity,” which gives its platform a comparative advantage as it secures long-term liquidity.”
This way, users guarantee that the team would not sell the tokens to finance itself. Likewise, Radioshack assures that over time, “once the liquidity pool surpasses other exchanges’ liquidity level in any token pair, our swap efficiency will be unbeatable for that pair.”
NFTs
RadioShack is also promoting a collection of NFTs. According to the website, RadioShack team has partnered with The Franklin Mint, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and others to launch its tokens, which are now available for purchase on the NFT Opensea marketplace.
The collection consists of some 74 assorted pieces, including drawings of the company’s CEO, Alex Mehr, as well as some three-dimensional designs, sports-themed photographs, vehicle photos, and other various designs.
