It’s no secret that crypto currency investors are suffering as a result of the market’s record decline in value. Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are, on the other hand, making a lot of money as they go through it. Last week, OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace, set a new monthly sales record of $3.5 billion, despite the fact that the month is just halfway over.
One early NFT collection in particular has had a resurgence in the last 30 days: NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs’ licensed NBA “moments” on the Flow blockchain.
PFP (profile photo) collections like Bored Apes, Meebits, and World of Women are generating the most buzz and headlines in the NFT world. However, NBA Top Shot was widely credited with kicking off the widespread NFC obsession in March of last year. Then, in June, the NFT market crashed, and by August, when NFTs had been pronounced dead, Top Shot had lost its luster. Top Shot was dubbed “NFT light” by many in the NFT community since it was designed expressly to attract normies and allowed for dollar transactions.
Just like the Brooklyn Nets, the NFT collection has Kevin Durant to thank for this surge and success. According to CryptoSlam data, the collection’s secondary market sales have increased by 72 percent in the last 30 days, totaling $53.8 million.
NBA Top Shot debuted a new TV and social media ad campaign featuring Durant this week, as well as a free Durant NFT “moment” for first-time Top Shot pack buyers. It’s the latest in a long line of crypto promotions for Durant, who has also signed on as an ambassador for Coinbase, which he had previously invested in—and Coinbase became the NBA’s official crypto exchange in October.
Dapper Labs, the firm behind the NFT collection, has expanded its horizons beyond basketball and will soon release Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Strike NFT collectibles, based on video footage from UFC events and minted on Dapper’s own Flow blockchain, similar to NBA Top Shot.
Dapper Labs also announced in September that NFL All Day, a long-awaited NFL version of Top Shot, would be released at the end of the current NFL season. It’s unclear whether highlight clip NFTs will be as popular among NFL fans as they were among NBA fans, but it’s apparent that more sports organizations will be knocking on Dapper’s door to get their own version up and running.