To the vast majority of people, it may seem like very old and totally obsolete technology from a bygone era, however RadioShack, the American electronic goods retailer is not allowing itself to be associated with times gone by.
This week, RadioShack, which was founded over 100 years ago and has over 500 stores across the United States, has catapulted itself into the modern era by fully embracing Non-Fungible Token (NFT) technology and taking it into the mainstream.
The company appears to be looking to radically modernize its product range. Whereas it was once exactly as it is named, a radio shack, and home to the Tandy brand which was a household name among many American families in the 1970s and 1980s where transistor radios and own-brand cassette tapes were purchased.
The words NFT and radio cassette player do not belong in the same sentence, and many traders of cryptocurrency will have likely never used a transistor radio nor listened to music on a cassette however here we have a longstanding name which has transformed itself from the old to the new.
RadioShack has announced this week that it is launching a decentralized finance (DeFi) project as well as an NFT collection.
Not only does RadioShack look forward to the future from its transistor and diode-laden past, but the company has ambitions to revolutionize the DeFi space in taking it even further into the mainstream.
The RadioShack DeFi project begins with a financial instrument known as a ‘swap’ which will be powered by the Atlas USV ( Universal Store of Value) token. The idea is to create a system of constant inflow of third-party tokens to digital exchanges and trade them against discounted USV Tokens.
RadioShack’s ambitious DeFi project is quite fascinating, however it does not stop there as the firm’s NFT is equally interesting. In order to bring it to fruition, RadioShack has gone into a partnership 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.
It appears that art and technology are now very much aligned as what is known among most Americans as a dependable retailer of electronics which is ubiquitous in shopping malls across the country is now operating in digital art, whereas just a few years ago art and home entertainment would never meet.
We live in a brave new world in which large retailers realize their audience is looking for new technology all the time and in which retailers such as RadioShack have the footprint and the audience to be able to take these projects into mainstream use.
Anyone who remembers those old magnetic cassette tapes which could be bought in packets of 10 from RadioShack will realize just how far the world of retail technology and home entertainment has come.
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