ViacomCBS has teamed up with non-fungible token company Recur with the goal of ushering many of its franchises and intellectual property into the rapidly expanding world of NFTs.
Under the terms of the agreement, ViacomCBS and Recur—a relatively new venture whose first project will be unveiled sometime this fall, according to its website—will “create a unified environment where fans can buy, collect and trade NFTs,” the two companies jointly said in a statement.
The project is due to launch in the spring of 2022 and will encompass a wide swath of ViacomCBS’s portfolio of entertainment brands, including CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Paramount Pictures and characters and stars like SpongeBob SquarePants, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi of "Jersey Shore" fame and "The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah.
ViacomCBS is “thrilled” to launch its partnership with Recur, said Pam Kaufman, the media giant’s president of consumer products, adding that its products will be targeted to “voracious collectors and first-time NFT buyers alike.” The exact nature and design of the blockchain-based NFTs that will be sold has not yet been disclosed.
Recur’s aim is to create a “chain agnostic” environment—meaning a space where multiple blockchains, including the cryptocurrency most commonly associated with NFTs, Ethereum, can be registered and accepted for simplified use—said Trevor George and Zach Bruch, co-founders and CEOs of Recur.
That’s one of several components of the companies’ agreement designed to welcome novice NFT buyers, many of whom may not yet be familiar with the digital collectibles.
In another bid to expand access, the new platform developed by ViacomCBS and Recur will also accept major credit and debit cards, which runs contrary to much of the current NFT marketplace where most business is transacted via Ethereum.