A DAO Wants to Buy Blockbuster for $5 Million
The group aims to revive the former video rental giant as a digital service.
Key Takeaways
- A newly-formed group called BlockbusterDAO aims to raise $5 million to buy Blockbuster from Dish Network.
- The DAO plans to raise funds by minting NFTs, which will be sold to investors at a price of 0.13 ETH ($530) each.
- If the purchase is successful, the DAO will spend funds on partnerships and on building a streaming video service.
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An Ethereum-based DAO named BlockbusterDAO has announced in a Twitter thread that it is aiming to raise $5 million in NFT sales in order to purchase the Blockbuster video rental brand.
DAO Seeks to Acquire Blockbuster
The group, operating on Twitter as BlockbusterDAO, aims to raise $5 million in ETH. It aims to do so by minting and selling original NFTs that will be priced at 0.13 ETH ($530) each.
The $5 million offer is based on a “low ball” estimate of $1.8 million previously put forward by Retail Ecommerce Ventures CEO Tai Lopez. REV has successfully bought brands such as Pier 1 and RadioShack, suggesting that the estimate is a fair one.
Either entity would need to buy Blockbuster from the U.S. television provider Dish Network, which currently owns the brand.
Though several Blockbuster franchise stores remained open after Dish Network acquired the brand in 2011, only one outlet has remained open since 2019. Dish has nevertheless continued to use the Blockbuster brand in its digital streaming services.
Group Aims to Build Streaming Service
If BlockbusterDAO successfully buys the Blockbuster brand, it aims to build a new video service around the name. It plans initially to buy festival films and to partner with other distributors and companies.
“Our mission is to liberate Blockbuster and form a DAO to collectively govern the brand,” the group wrote, meaning that it will allow members vote on future investments and budget allocation.
BlockbusterDAO added that it plans to “turn Blockbuster into the first-ever DeFilm streaming platform” and a “mainstay of…the Web3 brands.” Eventually, the project aims to build its own streaming service, with movie passes issued as Ethereum ERC-20 tokens.
The effort is currently being led by Tasafila.eth, who is also the founder of Superinfinity, a DAO focused on NFT ownership.
What Is a DAO?
DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations, are organizations that nominally have no central leadership and are instead often governed by a vote from a community of governance token holders. Those who invest in a DAO usually gain the right to vote in key decision-making processes.
Certain DAOs, such as Gitcoin and MolochDAO, have raised funds for development in the Ethereum ecosystem. Some popular cryptocurrencies, such as Dash and Dai, are also governed by DAOs.
DAOs attracted mainstream attention this November when a group of crypto investors raised funds to buy a rare original copy of the U.S. Constitution from a Sotheby’s auction. That DAO raised $45.6 million towards its goal but was ultimately outbid.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies.
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