- The merchandise stores were part of the ‘Solana In Real Life’ initiative.
- Solana Spaces now shifts focus to its boutique NFT distribution platform, DRiP.
Solana spaces, a startup operating retail stores with themes of its namesake blockchain, is exiting New York and Miami. The decision was announced Tuesday on Twitter by founder Vibhu Norby.
‘‘We have made the difficult decision to sunset our stores in NYC and Miami by the end of February, and to pivot our Solana onboarding efforts into digital products like DRiP, our free NFT product with more than 100k sign-ups,’’ Norby wrote.
Dubbed Solana Embassy, Solana Spaces’ retail stores were created as part of ‘Solana In Real Life’ (IRL), an initiative funded by Solana Foundation, Phantom, and Orca. The shops sold Solana-branded merchandise and Phantom wallets and were designed as a Web 3 onboarding experience. According to Norby, the company entered into 30 partnerships, held about 50 events, and hosted 75,000 customers within eight months of operation.
Effects Of The Prolonged Crypto Winter
Solana Spaces becomes the latest project to succumb to the prolonged crypto winter, which has claimed many companies and brought about stringent regulations in the crypto space. With the closure of the physical stores, Solana Spaces is shifting its focus to DRiP, a boutique NFT distribution platform also founded by Norby.
‘‘Over the last two months, it became increasingly clear to me that we were at an inflection point with our stores and digital products, and a few weeks ago, we called to focus our ongoing efforts on DRiP,’’ Norby added. The NFT platform reportedly onboards between 500-1000 people per day, much higher compared to Solana Spaces, which onboards the same quantity per week.
The initiative also plans to continue its efforts in Solana IRL through Solana DAO by opening up the software that supports the brand and establishing other spaces where clients can collect Solana Merchandise and participate in IRL activities in New York and Miami.
