NFTs
Out of context: Reply #56
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- jonny_quest_lives0
Imagine a “perfect” trading card market. There would not be fakes or alterations. Card grading services would not exist or need to exist, as cards would always be in mint condition. A complete list of all transactions relating to a particular card would be available, and sales could take place almost instantly. There would also be a forced and enforceable scarcity of cards, with all buyers and sellers aware of how many cards were printed.
NBA Top Shot has created that market. It’s just not for actual cards, but stylized versions of looping basketball highlights. These, of course, are not intrinsically valuable. And while they exist on the blockchain as cryptographic hashes, they are currently only for sale and on display on the NBA Top Shot website. You don’t need to own one to watch one. But if you “own” one, you are the only one to own it.
"In my exuberance with my newfound riches, I bought a $149 Ben Simmons dunk. What caused me to spend $149 on a highlight I don’t care about from a player I don’t even really like? I will be honest: It was that the money seemed fake.
The current NBA Top Shot setup makes it seem faker. My balance on Dapper, the wallet that NBA Top Shot uses, is $1,718.70, but I cannot withdraw it. Only 6,000 users on the platform can, according to Dapper."
"But I did find someone who was able to cash out. Josh Ong, a 37-year-old communications consultant in New York, was already familiar with NFT and had purchased some CryptoKitties years ago; “they’re probably worthless now,” he said, correctly. But the idea of a crypto-collectible with an NBA license intrigued him. He spent about $250 on packs late last summer.
By January, the moments he pulled from packs were selling for around $5,000 in total on the platform. He got into it at that point, and bought more cards. He bought and sold moments on the marketplace. He participated in challenges. Eventually, he gained the ability to withdraw and took out about $3,000. It hasn’t hit his bank account yet, though."