NEW YORK, March 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tapinator, Inc. (OTC: TAPM) ("Tapinator," the "Company," "we," "our" or "us"), a developer and publisher of category leading games for mobile platforms, is pleased to announce that it is in development on NFT500, a subscription casting service and collection platform focused on blue chip NFTs. The term "casting" refers to displaying digital art, in the form of NFTs, on a physical display. In addition, the platform may allow subscribers and other stakeholders to participate in the potential appreciation of the NFTs. The service is expected to launch this Summer, with a preview companion mobile app planned for later this Spring. Consumers may sign up for the service at nft500.com.
We expect NFT500 will represent a premier collection of blue chip NFTs from top digital and traditional artists from around the world. While still nascent, we have already begun to build this collection and we expect to accelerate these ongoing efforts in the coming months and years. Initially, we plan to launch a mobile application that will provide discovery access to the NFT500 collection. This will be followed by the NFT500 service that will provide customizable access to the collection through an exclusive subscription casting service. We are taking a unique, artist-centric and long-term approach to this exciting new asset class. Data science and proprietary relationships will drive our art acquisition strategy. We will be commissioning NFTs directly from artists, in addition to working with forward thinking galleries and auction platforms.
The NFT500 service will offer a unique pricing and scarcity structure that will include a generous downstream royalty system for participating artists. We are also exploring the possibility of including both our casting and artist communities in any potential long-term capital appreciation from the collection through the recently minted $NFT500 Token, although we cannot guarantee that any appreciation will occur.
Ilya Nikolayev, CEO of Tapinator, commented, "When we look out several years, we envision consumers with screens in their homes displaying NFT based digital art. We expect that a substantial majority of these consumers will choose not to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on NFT collections, but rather will utilize our NFT based subscription service to cast pieces from our collection onto their wall. In addition to enjoying pieces from our collection, subscribers may, through the $NFT500 Token, simultaneously have the ability to participate in the potential appreciation of the underlying collection of blue chip NFTs that comprise the NFT500. We look forward to providing more information about this new casting service and collection platform in coming months as we approach the launch."
About Tapinator
Tapinator Inc. (OTC: TAPM) develops and publishes category leading games for mobile platforms. Tapinator's library includes more than 300 titles that, collectively, have achieved over 500 million mobile downloads, including notable properties such as Video Poker Classic and Solitaire Derby. Tapinator generates revenues through the sale of branded advertising and via consumer transactions, including in-app purchases and subscriptions. Through its Revolution Blockchain subsidiary, which was established in 2018, the Company is also investing in the non-fungible token ("NFT") economy as it relates to gaming, art & collectibles. Founded in 2013, Tapinator is headquartered in New York, with product development and marketing teams located in North America and Europe. Consumers can find high-quality mobile entertainment wherever they see the 'T' character logo, or at http://tapinator.com.
Background on Tapinator's NFT Initiatives
As background, in January 2018, we concluded there was a significant future market opportunity for NFTs as it related to gaming, art and collectibles. In February 2018, Tapinator announced the beta launch of BitPainting, a digital platform for collecting iconic art on the blockchain, and one of the very first NFT marketplaces. The application was built on the Ethereum Platform and relies on our proprietary smART contracts. At the time, we communicated our belief "that the $45 billion art market was ripe for disruption by blockchain technology through crypto-collectibles (e.g. NFTs) which will drive art sales via digital scarcity and will democratize fine art investment."
In March of 2018 and in conjunction with Mego Games, we launched Darkwinds, an online fantasy based trading card game. We announced that a "feature of Darkwinds, as compared to other on-line card games, is that it runs on top of the Ethereum network. More specifically, all Darkwinds cards are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or crypto-collectibles, a new standard for virtual objects where players have perpetual rights to sell, trade and give away their items, both within and outside of the game's ecosystem." Today, the game's cards continue to be available to trade on third party NFT platforms such as OpenSea.
When we initiated these pioneering efforts, we recognized that the NFT market was in its infancy. We were extremely proud of the high quality of both of these products and that they were brought to market both cost-effectively and on schedule. Despite the quality of these applications, however, we were disappointed by the relatively small market size for both products at the time and the regulatory uncertainty surrounding crypto collectibles. Based on our experience with these initial launches, we concluded that the addressable market in 2018 was too nascent to generate significant near-term value for our shareholders.
On March 15, 2021, we publicly announced the following: "Today, we believe that the market for NFTs has finally arrived, despite the fact that we are still in the very early stages of the market's development. The recent $69 million record Beeple digital art sale at Christie's and the $200+ million in sales to date of NBA Topshots digital moments are just two data points representing this exciting new era and opportunity for blockchain based digital art and branded collectibles. While BitPainting was too early to market in 2018, we are confident that our vision was accurate. Furthermore, the expertise that Tapinator acquired while building the application, as well as our study of the market for the past three years, are valuable assets that we are now leveraging as we develop a new NFT platform which we expect to announce later this month." Ilya Nikolayev, CEO of Tapinator, commented, "Current NFT marketplaces are extremely cluttered. For example, OpenSea indicates that it lists over 4 million items on its platform. We do not believe that another uncurated, NFT emporium is the future. We do, however, believe there is significant opportunity within certain other areas of the NFT market. More specifically, we believe that the ability to offer curation and democratization of NFTs will provide significant utility to NFT consumers and can create significant shareholder value. We plan on announcing our upcoming NFT platform within the next several weeks via a landing page that will provide an overview of our upcoming product and allow visitors to request an invitation to join. We believe that we were one of the first and currently few public companies to operate within the NFT space and, accordingly, we are pleased to communicate our ongoing progress in this area to our growing shareholder base during these most exciting times. Although we cannot guarantee that our NFT initiatives will result in material monetization for Tapinator, we are excited to soon announce a platform that, we believe, reflects the need for curation and democratization within the space."
Forward Looking Statements
To the extent that statements contained in this press release are not descriptions of historical facts regarding Tapinator, they are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe," "goal," "seek," "plan," "feel," "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "target," and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, our expectation that NFT500 will launch this Summer with a preview companion mobile app planned for later this Spring, our expectation NFT500 will represent a premier collection of blue chip NFTs from top digital and traditional artists from around the world, our plan to launch a mobile application that will provide discovery access to the NFT500 collection to be followed by the NFT500 service that will provide customizable access to the collection through an exclusive subscription casting service, our expectation that both our casting and artist communities may participate in any potential long-term capital appreciation from the collection through the recently minted $NFT500 Token, our vision that in several years consumers with screens in their homes will be displaying NFT based digital art, our expectation that a substantial majority of these consumers will choose not to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on NFT collections but rather will utilize our NFT based subscription service to cast pieces from our collection onto their wall, our belief that the NFT market has finally arrived, our belief that BitPainting was too early to market in 2018 and our belief that our vision for the NFT market was accurate, our belief that there is significant opportunity within certain other areas of the NFT market, our belief that the ability to offer curation and democratization of NFTs will provide significant utility to NFT consumers and can create significant shareholder value, our belief that we were one of the first and currently few public companies to operate within the NFT space and our belief in our ongoing progress in the NFT area. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Tapinator undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. The quoting and trading of the Company's common stock on the OTC Marketplace is often thin and characterized by wide fluctuations in trading prices, due to many factors that may have little to do with the Company's operations or business prospects. As a result, there may be volatility in the market price of the shares of the Company's common stock for reasons unrelated to operating performance. Moreover, the OTC Marketplace is not a stock exchange, and trading of securities on it is often more sporadic than trading of securities listed on a national securities exchange. Accordingly, stockholders may have difficulty reselling any of their shares. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of the Company, please see the Company's Supplemental Information Report as filed with the OTC Markets on March 16, 2020 and as updated from time to time.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or an offer to buy any shares of Tapinator's equity securities.
CONTACT:
Tapinator Investor Relations
https://ir.tapinator.com/
investor.relations@tapinator.com
(914) 930-6232
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tapinator-announces-nft500-301258097.html
SOURCE Tapinator, Inc.