LimeWire, the former file-sharing platform turned Web3 company, has acquired the rights to the infamous Fyre Festival brand and plans to relaunch it with a crypto twist.
In a Tuesday announcement, LimeWire said it had purchased the Fyre Festival’s trademark, logo, domain and social media accounts. Marcus Feistl, LimeWire’s chief operating officer, told Cointelegraph that the new iteration will include offline events, with LimeWire’s LMWR token powering access to products and services.
The Fyre Festival became a symbol of failed hype in 2017, when a promised luxury music event in the Bahamas collapsed into chaos, leaving attendees stranded without proper food or accommodations. Its founder, Billy McFarland, was later convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison. LimeWire confirmed that McFarland is not involved in the new project.
Feistl said the initiative is led by an entirely new and separate team. He also promised that this iteration will not be like the first Fyre Festival’s launch. “We’ll definitely not make past mistakes again,” Feistl said. “Our plans for Fyre are not limited to digital products, but also exploring real-world experiences.”
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Fyre Festival IP rights acquired on eBay
According to a July New York Times report, the rights to the Fyre Festival brand were sold on eBay for $245,000. Feistl told Cointelegraph that LimeWire acquired “the trademark, logo, domain and social media accounts,” which he feels is “all relevant IP to the brand.”
While the company did not share much in terms of details, LimeWire said its LMWR token would be a key part of the initiative, “powering access to future products and services.” LimeWire CEO Julian Zehetmayr said the company is not bringing the festival back but “bringing the brand and the meme back to life.”
LimeWire said the LMWR token is to be deeply ingrained into the new Fyre Festival initiatives, with Feistl saying, “There are plenty of ways to integrate LMWR into the new Fyre,” mentioning utility-driven and marketing applications.
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LimeWire: from file sharing to crypto
LimeWire was a popular peer-to-peer file-sharing service from the early 2000s that ceased operations in 2010. It came back with a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace in 2022 after rights to the name found their new owners.
In 2023, LimeWire also released a web3 game themed on the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, playing on nostalgia for 2000s digital piracy. More recently, in late 2024, the firm also returned to its roots by debuting a decentralized file-sharing feature powered by BNB Greenfield.
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