Meme Factory, a blockchain-based marketplace for digital collectibles, goes live today.
Meme Factory is built on ethereum and allows users to create, issue and trade “provably rare” digital collectibles, according to an announcement.
The platform was created by blockchain startup District0x Network, which raised $9 million via an initial coin offering in August 2017. The funding was raised in ether (ETH) cryptocurrency and saw participation from venture capital firms Boost VC and CoinFund.
District0x describes the platform as “a true decentralized digital collectibles marketplace, completely self-governed and functioning autonomously on the ethereum blockchain.”
So how does it work? The marketplace enables users such as artists to create original tokenized memes and submit them for consideration to what’s dubbed the Dank Registry. Registry curators, who are holders of the project’s DANK token, will then scan the submissions and decide which memes will make it to the platform. Finally, collectors can buy those memes using ETH, according to the announcement.
Memes will be issued in a limited number, while existing memes can be traded and resold on a secondary market.
According to District0x:
“These provably rare memes will exist indefinitely on the blockchain, giving a strong incentive to create and collect as many as possible.”
The firm told CoinDesk last year that, once the platform is fully built, entrepreneurs will be able to build websites, what it terms “districts,” to develop communities around a range of purposes.
Districts will be decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that enable posting, searching, reputation and payments using District0x’s software. Outside of Meme Factory, for example, District0x also built Name Bazaar, which allows users to buy namespaces on ethereum.
“We see blockchain and tokens allow all kinds of uses that were never possible before,” said co-founder Joe Urgo at the time.
Originally scheduled for Wednesday, District0x said on Twitter that the launch is now expected Thursday.
Featured image and screenshot via Meme Factory