Mariah Carey, Motorhead among musicians ready to accept Monero
Dozens of musicians, including Mariah Carey, G-Eazy and Motorhead, are to accept the Monero cryptocurrency for merchandise. Monero's Project Coral Reef retail platform lets music fans buy items from more than 35 artists at discounted prices. In addition to being an alternative payment option, Project Coral Reef also seeks to raise awareness of Monero's secure and private system, which, unlike bitcoin, does not make transactions publicly available on the blockchain.

Will you be doing your holiday shopping with cryptocurrency? The open-source cryptocurrency Monero is banking on it.

On Tuesday (Dec. 5), Monero announced its new online shopping initiative called Project Coral Reef that allows music fans to purchase holiday gifts and merchandise from over 35 artists, including Mariah Carey, G-Eazy, Kaskade, Motorhead, Toby Keith, Fall Out Boy and more at discounted prices.

“As cryptocurrencies become more popular, it’s important that my fans have choices when it comes to how they buy my songs and merchandise,” said G-Eazy in a statement. “Given Monero is one of the safest, most secure and most private cryptocurrencies, it’s one of the best options for my fans this holiday season.”

As well as offering an alternate payment option, Project Coral Reef is a community-driven effort intended to raise awareness for Monero’s secure and private system that runs with a unique protocol and code-base and possesses with algorithmic differences relating to blockchain obfuscation. Monero points this in contrast to the more widely known BitCoin — which just passed $10,000 per coin — where transaction information is publicly available on the blockchain.

“Cryptocurrencies are fast becoming more popular to make purchases, but not all currencies are created equal and not all are as private and secure as people think. Project Coral Reef is a very important step towards the mainstream adoption of Monero,” said Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni, lead maintainer of Monero, in a statement. “For the first time, consumers around the world can use Monero to securely and privately buy their favorite artists’ music and merchandise.”

The new initiative is launching in partnership with payment processor GloBee, music merchandising companies Global Merchandising Services and Manhead Merchandise, as well as the involved recording artists.

“Our focus is to create the best environment for fans to engage with their favorite artists’ merchandise and licensed products,” said Christopher Drinkwater, head of e-commerce for Global Merchandise, in a statement. “With the emergence of cryptocurrencies as an increasingly popular way for consumers to purchase goods, it makes sense that we partner with a trusted digital currency such as Monero to allow fans to transact with artists in a way in which they have never been able to before.”



“As someone on the front lines of the music merchandise business, I know how passionate fans are in supporting their favorite band or artist,” added Chris Cornell, founder and CEO of Manhead Merchandise. “I also know how much they value keeping their financial information private. Giving fans the option to use their Monero to purchase awesome gear at our artists’ stores this holiday season is a win-win for our artists, and our fans’ right to privacy.”

Find out more about Project Coral Reef here and see a list of all participating artists here.