NBA Topshot is a National Basketball Association affiliated collectible platform that enables an in-built marketplace and authenticity via use of the blockchain. The partnership was formed between Dapper Labs, best known for their Cryptokitties, and the NBA.
It should be noted that these moments are NFTs (non fungible token). This is a unit of data that is stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, that certifies any digital file to be unique. An NFT functions as a cryptographic token, but unlike cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, they are not mutually interchangeable, in other words, not fungible.
In economics, fungibility is the property of a commodity whose individual units are essentially interchangeable, and each of its parts is indistinguishable from another part.
In simple terms, fungible means two units of a certain object are identical, for example 1 Bitcoin in comparison to another Bitcoin is pretty much the same in value and physical/technical characteristics; NFTs are all individually unique hence the term “non-fungible”.
The collectible value comes from the fact that customers own the moments that they witness live on the television or if they are lucky, in person. Owners are able to purchase rare or breathtaking moments that they witness. These moments contain such facts as the player box score, the highlight stats, the player stats and recent sales history. You also will have the moment you own played out as a GIF on the moment, from multiple angels I might add, which is amazing.
They are currently only dropping packs at certain times, unless you have created a new account, then you will be able to immediately buy a pack. They usually hype up the waiting rooms to join the drops for their packs. It is refreshing to see them utilizing a random order queue system; this helps to ensure that everyone is given a fair chance to obtain a pack. They usually have a 1 pack per collector during these pack drops and this helps prevent whales, collectors with a lot of money to spend, from snatching up all the packs.
How Topshot works!
NBA Topshot utilizes the Flow blockchain to confirm authenticity of the moments. Every moment is minted with a specific serial number which is used to identify the card and will indicate which specific moment you have out of that edition. With celebrities such as Diplo, rappers like Quavo and Basketball players like Seth Curry as collectors, the explosion on the NFT marketplace can lead to the explosion of the value of them.
Each moment comes with a breakdown of the rarity/collectible value of the card.
As one can see from above, the text attached to the moment is displayed as well as some useful statistics for you to view.
They currently have a rarity tier system.
Tiers:
- Common Tier
- Edition Size 1000+, this means that they will continue minting this moment until it is removed from circulation.
- A CC on the moment indicates the current circulating count of the moment suggesting that more of these moments might be minted in the future
- An example of a common moment can be found here.
- Rare tier
- Edition Size min 150 – 999 max
- An LE means limited edition and means that no more can ever be minted! Which helps to ensure that the moment remains rare and valuable
- Also the moment features upgraded artwork styling and improved visual design on the moment.
- An example of a rare moment can be found here.
- Legendary Tier
- Edition size min 25 – 99 max
- Only the greatest of moments are kept for here.
- An example of a Legendary moment can be found here.
- Ultimate/Platinum Ice Tier
- The edition size is only 3! These are the most coveted of the moments captured by the NBA team.
- Ultimate Tier GENESIS
- Edition size 1
In terms of growth, we are already on season 2 of the collection as it follows the usual NBA game cycle. Often there are challenges where you are required to hold/purchase certain moments before a certain time, if you do then you are rewarded with a collectible moment like this.
Currently in the works is a mobile version of basketball called NBA Hardcourt that will allow you to use your NFTs in online tournaments, which will give the chance to win possibly rare moments, etc. We will have to see how the development of this goes, currently we do not have much information on it but a brief mention on the about page.
Popular NBA NFTs & Their Price History
- Le bron James
- This moment would have been pulled from the From the Top, on the 28th of September 2020 one of these moments was selling at $1199.00 and now the lowest ask is $250,000.00.
- Vince Carter
- This moment would have been pulled from the Cosmic set, on the 7th of August 2020 one of these moments was selling at $1333.00 and now the lowest ask is $125,000.00.
- Ja Morant
- This moment would have been pulled from the Holo MMXX set, on the 30th of November 2020 one of these moment was selling at $2200.00 and now the lowest ask is $250,000.00.
Value of an NBA Token
As with most NFTs, there is a certain element of hype attached to NFTs. However, hype is subjective and does not always have a direct correlation to the potential success (price increase) of a specific NFT. We can look at it perhaps a bit more reasonably.
With most NFTs there are a few variables that provide something that is technically intangible, tangible value. Just think, what made those soccer cards we used to collect as kids valuable, what about pokemon?
Most cases you need a community that would actually “want” these cards and secondly, they should actually be “rare”. There we go, the good old economic concept.
Therefore, you are likely to get lucky by investing in NBA Topshot moments with a devoted fan group; additionally, if the team is successful or wins a championship…the value of the cards may potentially hike especially if they were one off releases. Such as we see now with the NBA Finals in 2021, since the Milwaukee Bucks won now all their player’s moments from this season will come with a Championship Year badge.
The future of sport collectibles are here. No longer will we have to worry about the authenticity or condition of a collectible, we can rest assured that the ol’ mighty blockchain has our back. This beautiful fusion has allowed for the collectible game to come permanently to the digital world.
You can review our available course materials to learn more about blockchain and cryptocurrency here.
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Written by Alexander Hilton © Crypto University 2021