Pplpleasr announces decentralized video platform at ETHDenver

A digital artist who goes by the name of Pplpleasr announced on February 18 at the Ethereum-focused conference ETHDenver that she is helping to launch a decentralized video platform called Shibuya. 

Pplpleasr is the NFT artist responsible for Fortune’s NFT cover as well as the decentralized art collection platform PleasrDAO, which is currently raising $69 million. According to a slide deck viewed by The Block, Pplpleasr’s latest project is a media platform she describes as a mix of Netflix, Vimeo and the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter — but with a decentralized spin. Shibuya will enable users to directly affect the platform’s content through the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency.

“Shibuya is a decentralized Hollywood, where cultures and ideas meet in one eclectic and inspiring place,” Pplpleasr said at ETHDenver.

The first piece of media Shibuya will launch is called White Rabbit, which the artist described as including elements of anime, the English drama Black Mirror and Web3. A short preview of White Rabbit released at the conference shows a woman waking up in a field and encountering a prodigious castle. The preview stops there, showing the woman staring down two doors. Each door represents a different ending for the episode. 

To watch the episodes, viewers must mint NFTs on Shibuya that can be staked to cast a vote on the episode’s direction. Voters will then be rewarded with White Rabbit tokens — fractionalized ownership of the web series. 

Shibuya has not accepted outside funding, Pplpleasr said. Other collaborators on the project include the digital artist Maciej Kuciara, who lists their NFTs on the auction house Phillips. The platform will tentatively launch on March 1, Pplpleasr said, and plans to incorporate more media beyond video in the future.