On March 23, TIME will publish the world’s first decentralized magazine edition as an NFT on the blockchain. The NFT issue has a cover essay by Andrew Chow, editor of TIME’s Into the Metaverse magazine, on Vitalik Buterin’s fight for the future of Ethereum.
The subject was chosen in consultation with the LITDAO. LIT is a web3 cultural currency and NFT venture that developed and constructed the world’s first entirely decentralized book earlier this year. Although the magazine will be housed on the blockchain, it will be accessed through a decentralized protocol that will allow holders to see the whole issue via an interactive NFT. TIME will airdrop the NFT issue through Circle to a select number of TIMEPiece and genesis LIT communal wallet users.
Circle, the exclusive issuer of USD Coin (USDC) and a global online finance company that specializes in providing internet-based payments and financial infrastructure to businesses of all sizes, is the presenting partner for the world’s first blockchain-based magazine. Transient Labs was the technical partner on this project.
The announcement follows TIME’s successful first year in the web3 space, which led to the formation of many exciting new enterprises since TIME’s March 2021 debut. TIME’s web3 development has already generated over $10 million in revenue and built a passionate community of over 25,000 artists, collectors, and fans, with over 5,000 TIMEPiece holders linking their digital wallets to TIME.com for frictionless access.
Keith A. Grossman, President of TIME said that as TIME continues to push the boundaries of what is possible within the web3 ecosystem, producing the world’s first full-length magazine on the blockchain seemed like a natural extension of their brand, and they knew this issue, in particular, would be cherished by their community.
TIME also announced today the appointment of Will Ban as the company’s first-ever VP of web3 Operations. Ban formerly worked at Artsy as the VP of Secondary Marketplace. Ban will be responsible for implementing TIME’s web3 strategy, which includes increasing the company’s support for Creators and Artists, Collectors and Community, CMOs and Brands, as well as the development of web3-based television series.
On Friday, March 18, at 10:00 a.m. EST, Chow will join Grossman for the weekly TIMEPieces Discord Community Town Hall to discuss his cover piece on Buterin. TIMEPieces may be found on Twitter @timepieces or Discord at discord. gg/timepieces.
To learn more about TIME’s connection with the NFT community, please visit time.com/timepieces.
