Asterion (website)

Asterion is a recently-launched crowdfunding, e-commerce, and membership subscription platform owned by ArgosyMTM Group, under the Argosy New Media subsidiary, marketed as “one central platform for creators to make money off their work”. It was announced in a press release on December 9, 2021, initially as only a crowdfunding platform, but on December 17, it was announced that “the scope of the Asterion project is expanding” to include e-commerce and membership subscriptions.

The underlying software is designed as open-source, under a BSD license, and is designed so that anyone can make their own independent platform using the software, “for the same reason why the people behind Wikipedia made MediaWiki”. The name Asterion originates from a character from the Argonautica, which is also known as “The Argosy” (therefore being a stealthy pun on the parent company’s name, Argosy New Media).

Though the reason why Asterion was created was not stated in the press release, Ellen Peck has confirmed it as “a answer to Kickstarter adopting the Windows-ME-level error in judgement that is blockchain technology”. Later, when Shopify announced plans for an integrated NFT marketplace, Asterion announced it was expanding its scope to include e-commerce.

Asterion officially launched on January 1, 2022, with the marketing campaign, “New Year, New Platform”. It has been noted that the Asterion terms of use forbid anything NFT, blockchain, or cryptocurrency related, which has lead to some fears of, for example, artwork relating to the “Dogelore” meme being false-flagged due to the existence of Dogecoin. However, Peck has said that “as long as it’s not plugging shitcoins, DogeLore is OK on Asterion”.