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RadioShack announced plans to rebrand as a cryptocurrency exchange platform in an effort to keep the 100-year-old brand alive.
The Texas-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2015, and again two years later before Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) acquired the company in November 2020. REV leaders Tai Lopez and Alex Mehr also founded Atlas Universal Store of Value (USV), a crypto that has now partnered with RadioShack to help realize this new vision.
A RadioShack store in Dallas in 2015 (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
“The RadioShack brands have resonated with consumers for nearly 100 years, and we are confident RadioShack’s relaunch as a cutting-edge e-commerce company will amplify the awareness of this iconic brand internationally,” Mehr said in a statement last year upon acquisition.
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One year later, REV will try to revamp RadioShack as a decentralized finance area to “lead the way for blockchain tech to reach mainstream adoption.”
Representations of the Ripple, Bitcoin, Etherum and Litecoin virtual currencies on a PC motherboard in this illustration picture, Feb. 14, 2018. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration / Reuters Photos)
Mehr and Lopez specifically aim to bridge the generational gap that currently exists between the more active crypto community and the wider, mainstream audience.
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“We will be the bridge between the CEO’s who lead the world’s corporations and the new world of cryptocurrencies,” a statement on RadioShack’s website reads.
RadioShack initially plans to serve as a token swap market, which it called the “lowest hanging fruit among the many defi opportunities.” This sets RadioShack up as a competitor to exchange services such as Coinbase and Binance.
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The company justified partnering with Atlas USV because it is a “long-term holder, not a reward-oriented, short-term provider of liquidity.”
Some experts believe 2022 is the year in which cryptocurrency can see its greatest uptake in adoption and participation in cryptocurrency, meaning RadioShack’s move may be perfectly timed.
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REV has purchased a number of familiar retail brands that faltered in the past decade, including Modell’s, Pier1 and Dressbarn.