- Time Magazine has pledged to produce metaverse-related content as part of a new deal with Galaxy Digital.
- The magazine will also hold Ether on its balance sheet, becoming the first major media company to do so.
- “Before we can build the metaverse, we need to define it,” said Sam Englebardt, a general partner of Galaxy Digital.
The prominent news publication Time Magazine has pledged to hold Ether and produce metaverse-related content as part of a new deal with Galaxy Digital.
Time Magazine, a news magazine and website based in New York City that has been publishing for nearly a century, has partnered with Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital in a bid to enable readers to explore the metaverse. The 98-year-old publication will hold Ethereum on its balance sheet as part of the deal, becoming the first major media company to do so.
“Partnership commences with launch of weekly newsletter ‘Into the Metaverse’ and the newly created TIME 100 Companies category: Metaverse,” the publication said in an announcement, noting that it aims to release a weekly newsletter on the metaverse and compile a list of 100 firms operating in the industry.
In mid-March, Time Magazine revealed that it will begin accepting digital assets as a form of payment for digital subscriptions in the near future. The publication also claimed that it will mint three of its magazine covers as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). More recently, it released an NFT of a cover featuring the words “Is Fiat Dead?.”
Mike Novogratz, CEO and Founder of Galaxy Digital, said in a note that the metaverse is poised to become an integral part of the economy over the next decade. “Our physical and digital realities are already becoming hard to distinguish,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sam Englebardt, a general partner of Galaxy Digital, pointed out the need to educate people about the metaverse. “Before we can build the metaverse, we need to define it, since, today, the word connotes vastly different things to different people,” he said, adding:
So, with our partners at TIME, our first objective is to create a shared lexicon and understanding of the idea and the opportunities that are emerging as we become an increasingly digital species and continue (and accelerate) our ongoing journey from the physical to the virtual world.
The Metaverse Race is On
As covered by FullyCrypto, the Singapore-based crypto exchange KuCoin has recently revealed a metaverse fund, which aims to invest $100 million to promote early-stage metaverse projects. The fund will also support metaverse education, particularly among the younger generation.
Similarly, the giant social media platform Facebook has dedicated a $50 million fund to “responsibly” develop the metaverse. Microsoft has also dabbled into the metaverse, as CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the company is “creating an entirely new platform layer, which is the metaverse.”
