Block.one-backed social NFT platform Voice to cease operations
Voice has decided to wind down its business just two years after pivoting from a social network to an NFT platform.
Voice was initially planned as a decentralized social media network but later “upgraded” into a non-fungible token (NFT) platform for creators. Now, it is winding down its services amid regulatory roadblocks.
In an X (formerly Twitter) thread, Voice said it will be “winding down operations” over the coming months, citing the ongoing uncertainty in the crypto and NFT market. The startup didn’t elaborate on the decision. Still, it believes in the “tremendous potential web3 holds to empower creators.”
“At this point, we feel that it is in the best interest of Voice and its community to use the resources we have left to optimize our wind-down process for you.”
Voice
In the next few weeks, Voice will announce a service to bridge NFTs from its platform to self-custody wallets with support for public networks such as Ethereum, Polygon, or EOS.
Bumpy road for Voice
Voice was first teased in 2019 when Block.one, the company behind EOS, purchased the Voice.com domain name from MicroStrategy for a whopping $30 million in cash. Besides that investment, Block.one also put an additional $150 million toward the project costs.
Originally, Voice was meant to be a decentralized social networking platform designed to revolutionize the social media ecosystem with blockchain technology. However, in January 2021, Block.one co-founder Dan Larimer parted ways with the company to focus more on creating “free market, voluntary solutions for securing life, liberty, property and justice for all.”
In 2022, Voice CEO Salah Zalatimo wrote in a now-deleted blog post that the company would “upgrade” to a social platform “where users can create digital arts across all formats,” including NFTs. Since then, however, the platform failed to become a competitor to other NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea or Rarible.
