Ye, who is no stranger to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, praised the technology during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience in October 2020. “The bitcoin guys have a view on what true liberation of America and humanity will look like,” he said.
A photo of Ye wearing a “Satoshi Nakamoto” hat recently went viral on social media.
The purchase of Parler comes after West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were suspended earlier this month for “antisemitic comments”—something he won’t have to worry about with his own platform.
The agreement is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Parler. Parler’s parent company, Parlement Technologies, will provide ongoing technical support.
Parler, which launched in September 2018, has long positioned itself as a free-speech Twitter alternative. Parler was removed from the Google Play and Apple App stores following the January 6 capital riot. Parler was also kicked off Amazon Web Services (AWS) for a lack of policing of questionable and violent content, according to the tech giant.
On February 15, 2021, Parler resumed service with new content filters. The app will be available again on the Apple App Store on May 17, 2021, and on Google Play on September 2, 2022. That same month, Parler announced a $16 million Series B funding round.
According to the analytics website SimilarWeb, Parler had 1.3 million visitors in August. In comparison, Trump’s Truth Social received 9 million monthly visitors, Twitter received 6.8 billion, and Facebook received 18.2 billion.
DeepRedSky, Parler’s NFT marketplace, was launched in March. The first launch featured “CryptoTRUMP Club,” a line of digital art featuring Trump’s image. Later collections include the Babylon Bee, Brandon Tatum, and former first lady Melania Trump’s POTUS TRUMP NFT collection.
Melania Trump made her own waves by launching her own series of NFT collections on the Solana blockchain. The Solana Foundation quickly abandoned the project.
Parlement Technologies is bullish on West’s ownership prospects.
“This deal will change the world, and the way the world thinks about free speech,” Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer wrote in a blog post, adding that “Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again.”
“Ye demonstrates once again that he is one step ahead of the legacy media narrative,” Farmer continued. “Parlement will be honored to assist him in achieving his objectives.”
