LimeWire to make return as an NFT marketplace

LimeWire, the iconic discontinued peer-to-peer file sharing client, is making a comeback — but not in the way you might expect. It will now be a music NFT marketplace.

According to Bloomberg, two Australian entrepreneurs bought the rights to the platform with a plan to revamp its image by selling NFTs.

Read more: Top 15 ways we discovered music before Spotify existed

LimeWire is an infamous part of music history. The platform offered many people a path toward music discovery as well as gnarly viruses. Due to rampant piracy on the platform, LimeWire was shut down in 2010 amid legal controversy. Now, it still holds a nostalgic place for many music fans who associate it with 2000s music and culture.

Brothers Julian and Paul Zehetmayr are hoping to use the nostalgia attached to LimeWire to create a storefront where users can buy and trade music-related NFTs.

“It’s a very iconic name,” Julian says in an interview. “Even if you look on Twitter today, there’s hundreds of people still being nostalgic about the name. Everybody connects it with music, and we’re launching initially a very music-focused marketplace, so the brand was really the perfect fit for that with its legacy.”

LimeWire GmbH, which has no affiliation to the original team, is set to launch in May.