Bitcache, a crypto project founded by political activist and founder of the now-defunct file hosting service Megaupload, Kim Dotcom, has begun a liquidation process in New Zealand due to unpaid legal fees by the company.
“The business formerly known as Bitcache has been liquidated because a law firm that offered to work for shares in the company decided years later to invoice the company for past legal fees,” tweeted Kim late Thursday. He pointed out that he “was the evangelist for the business and supports the liquidation of the company.”
The controversial tech entrepreneur has been fighting extradition to the U.S. to face copyright infringement charges for years. In 2012, the FBI alleged that his now defunct service, Megaupload, earned millions by helping people illegally share files.
Despite news of the liquidation, Kim Dotcom tweeted on Thursday that the project will continue under a new name, Fileshop. He added that it’s “been developed from scratch with a completely new code base and without any of the Bitcache IP.” He said he’s also working with some “friendly previous investors and partners.”
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The good news is that the project is now called FileShop, has been developed from scratch with a completely new code base and without any of the Bitcache IP. Very happy to announce that friendly previous investors and partners have not been forgotten and that this app is coming.
The new project, says Dotcom, aims to become a “Bitcoin Cash killer app.”
The Bitcache blockchain, was touted by Kim as a disruption in how online content creators will be able to monetize their content. It was built as a subscription-as-a-service that would allow for Bitcoin to be used for micro-payments–receiving substantial funding through the well known investment firm, BnkToTheFuture.
According to a report from Newsroom, a New Zealand media outlet, the platform failed to launch in early 2017, due to “unexpected hiccups” Kim Dotcom said at the time. Dotcom, says Newsroom, was named as an evangelist due to his ongoing disputes with the US government over the now-defunct website MegaUpload.
Although Kim Dotcom tookheavily to Twitter throughout 2017-2018–claiming his company would introduce millions of new users to Bitcoin–the project never came to fruition. In late 2022, after years of silence, Dotcom announced the project “never got the software right.”
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Newsroom reported that Auckland lawyer and former Bitcache director Phil Creagh applied for liquidation last month.
“It’s pretty straightforward, there are fees owed and not paid. The company has not taken any steps so far to avoid being placed in liquidation,” Creagh told the news outlet. “We’ll put it in liquidation and see what, if anything, can be recovered.”
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