TIME Magazine to Hold Ethereum on Balance Sheet in Metaverse Content Deal

Cryptocurrencies are slowly but steadily making the transition from speculative to mainstream assets, as more and more businesses include them in their balance sheets. However, Bitcoin has experienced the most widespread acceptance in this area, with companies such as Microstrategy and Tesla being early adopters.

TIME Magazine has extended its reach to include Ether, the biggest altcoin by market capitalization, becoming the first major publishing business to keep Ether on its books. TIME magazine is one of the most widely read and respected periodicals in the world.

Since its inception over a century ago, the New York City-based media powerhouse has maintained its position as a reliable bi-weekly magazine with unwavering integrity. With a circulation of more than three million copies, it is the second most widely distributed weekly publication in the United States, behind People.

It claims to have more than 20 million readers per week. TIME will now have ETH on its balance sheet as a result of this. Galaxy Digital, an investment business created by Wall Street veteran Mike Novogratz, collaborated with the magazine on the project.

The alliance will be focused on the metaverse, which is a new sector that has received a lot of attention in recent weeks due to its potential. TIME will collaborate with Galaxy to educate its readers about the fast developing industry via the publication of a new newsletter titled “Into the Metaverse.”

It will examine how our physical and digital lives are merging in the metaverse world and will include interviews with the visionaries who are pioneering this brave new world. Sign up for the newsletter here.

In his own words, Novogratz predicted that “over the next decade, the metaverse will become a progressively essential aspect of the international economy; the distinction between our physical and digital worlds is already becoming difficult to discern.”

“We are looking forward to working with TIME, an iconic brand that is at the forefront of innovation, as we attempt to invite readers, artists, and the inquisitive into the metaverse and explain the immense amount of change that is taking place there.”

And, as part of its efforts to promote the metaverse, TIME will take a risk by taking payments in Ethereum rather than cashing out. This will be the first time that ETH will be accepted by a major journal.

“Galaxy Digital fully understands the tremendous growth potential for the metaverse and Web3, and the team is playing a vital role in helping to educate the conventional world on this transformation,” said Keith Grossman, the President of TIME magazine. “In working with such visionaries, I am overjoyed at the prospect of combining the power of media and the metaverse in order to educate our readers and pave the way for a more immersive virtual future.”

TIME magazine said earlier this year that it will begin accepting cryptocurrency as payment for subscriptions starting in January. In addition, it held an auction in March to sell an exclusive series of three of its covers that were not previously available as NFTs.

In April, TIME teamed with Grayscale to produce a video series on bitcoin. The payment to TIME was made in Bitcoin by the Barry Silbert-led business, and the publisher committed to keeping the Bitcoin on its books.

At the time of publication, Ethereum was trading at $4,120, a decrease of 2.4 percent over the previous 24 hours. It is down 15 percent from its all-time high of $4,860, which it reached only a week ago, according to Bloomberg. Ethereum’s downward trend is not unusual, with most other tokens also seeing a drop in value over the last week as the market settles following a few of weeks of rapid growth.

Despite the decline in the value of Ethereum, its trading volume has remained relatively stable, indicating that investor interest has not waned in the cryptocurrency. In the last 24 hours, it has risen to $23.3 billion, putting it even higher than when Ethereum reached its all-time high a week ago.