RadioShack is Back – BSC?Times

Do you remember RadioShack? Your local RadioShack was the one-stop-shop for everything from bulky cell phones to tiny fuses. They were one of the most prominent players in tech and reached their peak in 1999. So how much have things changed since then? To give you an idea, the top-selling computer brand of 1999 was Compaq.

Oh yes, we all feel the nostalgia now. That’s precisely what RadioShack and Tai Lopez are counting on. Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), co-owned by Tai Lopez and Alex Mehr, is a holding company that focuses on taking globally renowned brands that thrived at one point with physical locations and brings them to the forefront with online sales. They have already purchased huge brands such as Pier 1 Imports, Modell’s, Stein Mart, Dressbarn, and Linens n’ Things.

Many have probably heard of these guys at some point. Alex Mehr is the co-founder of Zoosk, which sold for a reported $258 million in 2019. Apart from being an entrepreneur, he is also a former NASA scientist and has a doctorate in complex system designs. Tai Lopez is an investor, business mentor, and motivational speaker who came to fame in 2015 when he promoted an ad on YouTube showing off his Lamborghini and his giant bookshelf full of books. While some saw this as shameless self-promotion, Lopez said it was a calculated move to cut through the clutter of other ads and capture the public’s attention. This has led to a long successful run as an internet influencer with his “67 Step Program”, a social media marketing training program, and a Podcast called “The Grand Theory of Everything.” With REV and their new RadioShack acquisition, they are making a play to become a massive player in the world of Defi.  

The new RadioShack is all about cryptocurrency and bringing blockchain tech to the mainstream world of big business. It’s fair to say that there is a cut-off between the Crypto Twitter traders and high-level business executives. REV wants to take advantage of the RadioShack legacy name and use it to become the bridge between the two worlds. 

Focusing on Defi, RadioShack plans to roll out Token Swaps initially to get businesses more comfortable with Defi. They are calling this the “low hanging fruit” of Defi. Their plan seems to start with swaps and work their way up to more complex Defi processes. The projection for the company could be huge if they can get big businesses to understand and integrate with Defi protocols. 

So how does a brick-and-mortar tech store do this? REV has partnered with Atlas USV. Atlas USV, also started by Thai Lopez and Alex Mehr, keeps the partnership in-house and should provide both brands with a smooth symbiotic relationship. USV or “Universal Store of Value” has been created as a universal, decentralized, and widely accessible Defi base layer. The plan is to use Atlas’ treasury to provide liquidity to their network and to ease the minds of large corporations that there is real money backing the protocol. 

The $USV token will be the base layer token. Atlas Users will interact by buying USV and staking it in smart contracts. The protocol itself will interact with the rest of the Defi world by issuing Bartering Contracts. Users will be able to transfer other tokens to the protocol’s treasury and, in turn, be rewarded with discounted USV. Every transaction will grow Atlas’ treasury and give more liquidity to the network. Atlas plans to continue to grow as its treasury grows, offering new layers and protocol activities to add additional profit sources.   

So the big play is to use the brand recognition of RadioShack to bring new hesitant corporate investors and companies to the table by providing an easy-to-understand Defi model. RadioShack will be an onboarding ramp for the Atlas USV network, and in turn, REV is creating two new entities (one re-branded) with tremendous growth potential. Defi is a fantastic financial tool. People who are well versed in Crypto understand the basics of Defi and are comfortable with the technology. The big issue is that these financial tools are not comprehended by most. It would be great to see a user-friendly retail investor-focused Defi company rolling out a massive launch; the addition of big corporate partners has the potential to bring in a considerable amount of money and liquidity to a market that performs better with capital. 

Sorry folks, don’t get your hopes up on walking back into your local RadioShack anytime soon. But who knows, maybe you will be able to step back in and buy yourself a hardware wallet and swap out some tokens one day. Until then, enjoy the memory of that old RC car you got for your birthday when you were 10.