Johnny Depp Partners Blockchain-Based Content Sharing Platform TaTaTu

Johnny Depp forayed into the blockchain space with a collaboration with blockchain-based content sharing platform TaTaTu. The actor would engage in the partnership through his production company Infinitum Nihil to develop and produce a film and digital content together, the Hollywood Reporter announced Monday.

TaTaTu, founded by Andrea Iervolino, uses blockchain technology to verify the identity of users and to ensure unique views of content on the platform. It also rewards users with its own cryptocurrency, the TaTaTu token (TTU).

"In this era of democratized entertainment, I admire the imaginative ethos of Andrea and look forward to collaborating together in a liberating, progressive manner that will befit the principals of our respective entities," Depp said about the partnership.

The partnership's first joint project is the feature film "Waiting For The Barbarians," an adaptation of the J.M. Coetzee novel of the same name. Filming is scheduled to begin shooting late-October in Morocco, and the film would be produced by Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s AMBI Media Group, as well as Michael Fitzgerald ("Three Burials") and Olga Segura ("Veronica"). The film would star Depp, Mark Rylance and Robert Pattinson.

The details of how much digital content each side would produce and the timeline for producing it was not revealed.

“Johnny has the ability to conceptualize material in a way that few can, and is unburdened of conventional industry formulas that dictate the projects that get made, traditionally. As we make strides to embrace disruptiveness, Johnny will be a key collaborator with us and we are tremendously excited to back his visions and instincts on stories to bring to life," Iervolino said.

TaTaTu was started in June and has several projects in hand, including the Lamborghini biopic starring Antonio Banderas and Alec Baldwin, a documentary on Jeremy Renner, and "The Sound Of Freedom" drama starring Jim Caviezel and Mira Sorvino. The platform recently also acquired the rights to the documentary "Friedkin Uncut".

The blockchain and cryptocurrency spaces have seen a lot of celebrity involvement lately, with some even taking part in different initial coin offerings and blockchain-based startup projects.

Some of the popular names include Ashton Kutcher who made an investment in Ripple Labs, the blockchain platform, as well as in bitcoin payment service provider BitPay. Some other famous names investing in this space are actor Jamie Foxx, soccer star Lionel Messi, and former boxer Mike Tyson.

Not all celebrity interest in this space has had positive outcomes. According to celebrity news publication TMZ, popular producer DJ Khaled and boxer Floyd Mayweather were sued over their involvement as endorsers for a cryptocurrency project called Centra Tech, which turned out to be a scam. The project cheated investors and “made false claims about their product and about relationships they had with credible financial institutions," TMZ reported Oct. 10

TTU token rose in mid-August to $0.81 but has since lost almost 90 percent in value. The token is currently trading at around $0.13 with a market cap of $13 million, as tracked by CoinMarketCap.