I just can’t resist starting a post on this anymore.
Heard about NBA Top Shot listening to Chris Vernon on The Mismatch pod a little over a week ago and have been obsessed since.
For those unawares it’s an NBA and NBAPA licensed digital video trading site. You can purchase “packs” of videos starting at $9 for 3 common videos and watch as their value moves on the market. So far videos are reselling for between $1 and $100,000.
Yeah.
There’s so much going on here that I don’t know where to go next.
It’s still in Beta so there’s A LOT of frustration. They’re experiencing exponential growth with demand way over supply. They release packs about twice a week with little if any advance warning; sometimes in the middle of the night (the bastards).
I find it fascinating. My first night in, there were no packs to buy so I looked up LaMelo and saw he had one video available in a locked quantity of 4000 and on the market for about $200. That was last Saturday night. Overnight I watched it rise to $250 then $300 and $325. So over breakfast Sunday morning I’m talking to the wife about it and she’s like “buy some of that shit.” So I bought a LaMelo for $349. This week I’ve watched it rise to $599 then back down to $425 and now this morning resting at about $500.
That’s TAME compared to others’ experience.
I could go on (and on) but will stop here. Let me know what y’all think.
Warning: This is a high volatility environment. Don’t spend what you can’t afford to lose; and don’t charge up your credit cards unless you can back them up.
As I mentioned, this is BETA. It’s also important to mention that while you can put money into this market you cannot yet get it out. You can sell your videos (On Top Shot they’re called Moments), and bank your returns. Withdrawals are forthcoming but as yet unavailable.
There are fees attached to transactions as well. A variable fee on deposits based on amount deposited (more is less), a 5% fee on market sales, and an upcoming fee on withdrawals. They have a lot of sources/royalties to pay I’m sure.
Short supply for now. Don’t know how it will play out. Also it’s all kind of absurd since the videos are essentially worthless except as trade tokens. Non-fungible tokens to be exact (NFT’s); which are an emerging market of crypto/blockchain backed digital assets.
I expect this concept to expand to many sports. UFC is coming soon. It’s already active in European Soccer. Likewise, there is a growing market in digital art and virtual land acquisition. It’s bonkers, but what isn’t these days. Seriously, wtf isn’t?
I’m not buying anymore until I get a stick of bubblegum with it. j/k
In-game commodities (land, character clothes, weapons, etc) is pretty fascinating. I get that in that if you want that experience in the game, you have to pay for it. (or earn it) The digital art thing, though, I’m not so sure about, but I’m intrigued.
In the world of music, the big push seems to be low print run special vinyl along with digital download. So you get a physical memento (and playable record) along with the digital music you’ll likely use the most. But I’m curious if limited digital items would have the same gravity.
It’s a virtual collectibles market, so “ownership” is relative. The asset value is real though. Ask the guy that bought a limited LeBron James for $100,000 and swears it will go to a million. Said something about 1.2 billion basketball fans worldwide…
The rabbit hole is real. I’ve had to remind myself that I make more by you know actually working at my job and not be sitting there refreshing Top Shots all day.
It’s settling down for me. Just waiting for some new packs to drop now. See if I can snag one and make some side money.
Dunno though I could sell a Haliburton today and put that into a KD (?). lol
