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LimeWire Launches Nostalgic Browser Game With Crypto Rewards
The legendary file-sharing service has been resurrected as a browser-based game where players download virtual files and try to avoid viruses.
LimeWire, the early 2000s peer-to-peer file-sharing service, reinvented itself last year as a creator membership platform and NFT marketplace with a Patreon-style paywall feature. Since its relaunch, LimeWire has experienced trading volumes of over $1 million, with a waiting list of 3 million users and 20,000 active creators.
Now, in a flurry of nostalgia, LimeWire’s original music-sharing app has been resurrected in Web3 format as a unique music-downloading game.
The browser-based game simulates an old Windows desktop with LimeWire software running. Players must enter an email address to play, and gameplay involves users pretending to search for music and movies to download, while avoiding viruses.
“Our approach in tapping into nostalgia to promote the new LimeWire was a conscious decision to acknowledge and celebrate our roots. The nostalgic connection not only resonates with those familiar with LimeWire in its early days but also introduces the younger generation to the rich history of LimeWire as we venture into the Web3 landscape,” says Julian Zehetmayr, LimeWire Co-CEO.
Also Read: A Guide To Digital Payment Methods In The Middle East
The game allows players to search for any musician, song, or movie popular in the early 2000s. When selected for a “download”, 10 points will be awarded. The simulation will continue until the timer runs out or a player accidentally unearths “a virus”.
It’s worth pointing out that we’re talking about a game here, so no illegal files or viruses are actually downloaded!
The LimeWire game will be available for one month, ending on May 15th. Players with the highest recorded scores will earn crypto rewards in the form of 150,000 LMWR (worth $30,000) — LimeWire’s upcoming ERC-20 token to be released next month.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
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