NFT’S expanding universe

NFTS — non-fungible tokens — are essentially limited collectibles recorded on a blockchain to prove ownership and authenticity. Over the last year, NFTS are having a defining moment. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet was sold as an NFT for $2.9 million. The artist known as Beeple entered the record books when a JPG file he created as an NFT sold for $69.3 million, the highest price ever paid for a piece of artwork that exists only digitally. The rock band Kings Of Leon’s eighth album, “When You See Yourself”, became the first major rock album to be released as an NFT. And slowly, from art, to literature, to music, the NFT has percolated to the one sphere where maximum mass audiences reside — sport.

In October last year the NBA launched NBA Top Shot, a marketplace where fans can buy and sell basketball related NFTS — which can be anything from a still photo, a GIF to the highlight of a dunk with embedded graphics. By August this year, NBA Top Shot had received close to $500 million in sales.