The Biggest LeBron Sale Yet 👑
Featuring a 114 ETH Giannis Sale, a different LeBron record, the UFC Strike Game, and $900k worth of Hot Packs.
Listen folks.
It hasn’t been an easy year for Sports NFTs.
Although Sorare consistently ranks in the Top 10 weekly NFT collections, and Top Shot + All Day in the Top 30, it can often feel like our corner of the space gets completely ignored by the influencers that just talk about Checks, Apes, and Ordinals.
On top of that, our markets are prone to constant oversupply and wild fluctuations, and we’re left to bicker amongst ourselves as to who’s fault it all is.
But sometimes, a ray of hope shines through, like this past week when someone spent 114 ETH on a Giannis 1/1 Unique Card on Sorare.
A little context: Unique Cards on Sorare allow users to enter Unique contests, where their top weekly scorers earn them Super Rare cards (also very valuable). So yes, that $200k Giannis card actually has utility!
The previous NBA Sorare sale record was just 48.9 ETH, set by Anthony Davis.
Why this is huge: The fact that there is still this type of big money in Sports NFTs should be enough to erase all tribal lines and make anyone bullish on our favourite platforms.
We’re up there, folks. Sports NFTs matter, and can still reach the mountain tops of the single-sale charts. Even if it takes 2-time MVP to do it.
And if that wasn’t cool enough, you’ll never guess who’s up next on the Sorare 1/1 auction block: The NBA’s all-time leading scorer, LeBron James.
The question is: how much will he go for?
So with our eyes set on a potential new record, lets take a quick look at all the action from this past week.
Looking to pre-game tomorrow? We’ll be on Spaces LIVE with the All Day All Night crew to drop some giveaways and chat all things Super Bowl. Come hang! 🏈
🏈 Reddit Launches Super Bowl NFTs
Fresh off from onboarding over 5 million accounts to NFTs, Reddit has launched Super Bowl avatars - available right now to all Redditors!
Since its launch earlier this week, the collection has already minted over 1 million NFTs, in yet another huge win for the space and mass adoption.
This is also a win for Polygon, the successful Layer 2 scaling solution, which was chosen by Reddit to mint their web3 collections. Starbucks and now Doritos have also chosen Polygon as their chain of choice.
And maybe, just maybe, these types of efforts are changing what were once unchangeable opinions…
🥊 UFC Strike Announces a Game
This went totally under the radar this week, but is quite big in the long run imo.
UFC Strike launched just about a year ago, and peaked in February 2022 at about 9,000 Monthly Buyers. Now it’s down to under 1,000 and in desperate need of a revival.
In comes Concept Labs, a gaming company that has also worked with Pixel Vault, to develop a PvP style fighting game for Strike (appropriate).
The announcement comes alongside a leadership swap, as Concept Head of Gaming Rob Winkler will take over the direction of the product.
Now, what will this game look like, and more importantly, will it be fun? Only time will tell, but this is definitely big news for Dapper Labs as it represents the first true evolution of one of their sports products.
Strike will finally be more than just collectibles.
🚀 LeBron’s Record Packs Go Wild
As you may have heard, LeBron James is now the all time leading scorer in the NBA.
And NBA Top Shot was ready for the Moment, launching $9 LeBron Hot Packs just minutes after the bucket went down.
The first wave of these packs (25,000) sold out within the hour, and 3x more subsequent waves sold out by the next day. In total, they sold 100,000 Hot Packs, netting a cool $900,000 in the process.
On top of a surprise drop, TS will also be rewarding the top 25 LeBron holders with Legendary Moments of the actual record breaking bucket - and giving away more of those Moments to a few lucky people who bought the packs.
Personally, I’m a fan of this type of quick action that meets fans in the heat of the moment and the emotions. More momentus hot packs, less random oversupply!
🎲 Dingaling Goes Big on Sexton
Not directly related, but former TFM-podcast guest Dingaling noticed a sweet betting opp the other night, just moments after Mike Conley had been traded and a betting line on Collin Sexton had not been updated.
They put in $50,000, and supposedly it worked, netting about $40k in profit.
And Ding is gonna need it, after spending 211 ETH (not a typo) on Bitcoin Ordinal Punks earlier this week.
It’s all about Super Bowl this week!
🔴 Claim Your Reddit Super Bowl Avatar | 30 seconds
Reddit launched FREE Super Bowl NFTs, and you can choose one of four from the collection.
🔴 Buy an NFL Starter Pack, Get Rebate | 30 seconds
ALL DAY is wasting no time getting new (and previous) users back to the platform. In this week’s “Starter” Playbook, buy a $10 Starter Pack and get $10 back instantly.
🔴 Sign Up For a Free Digi Dragon | 2 minutes
Gabriel Leydon is claiming that he has bought Super Bowl ad airtime, and will be sharing a QR code for the LARGEST free mint ever. But you can front run that (apparently) by signing up for an Allow List chance on his website.
🔵 Hangout Tomorrow on Spaces | 5 minutes
We’ll be on with All Day All Night crew for a Super Bowl morning Twitter Spaces, complete with pack giveaways and previews.
🔵 Play Watch-To-Earn Tonight on B/R | 10 minutes
Yes, this is a partner plug, but also super legit. NBA on TNT has gone full web3 and are hosting trivia 3x per week in their Discord. Win tokens to trade for NFTs!
🔵 Prepare for Levels.Art minigame | Wait a few days
Our old friend Jordan Lyall (if you watched the Space Jam episode of TFM, you know) is releasing a mini game this Thursday alongside artist Bryan Brinkman.
So much happened off the court in the NBA this week that it’s easy to forget that some actual basketball was played!
Less highlight, more drama, as Anthony Davis is pretty much the only person at Staples Center who doesn’t celebrate LeBron’s achievement.
Notable highlights from the last seven days:
Sports
NFL ALL DAY launched their peer-to-peer pack Marketplace | TFM
NBA Top Shot rolled out a beta mobile app (finally lol) | Shot Talkin’
With Dookey Dash done, a new adventure is coming from Yuga Labs | Yuga
TS + AD will be heading to the Mint Collective conference | MINT
Sorare NBA will be holding All Star Game specific tournaments | Sorare
Web3
The WORM🪱 has visited its 1,000th wallet | The Worm
Visa is testing Stablecoin payouts on Ethereum | Watcher
The SEC banned Staking on Kraken and Gary Gensler made this cringe video
The Weekly Chart
We’ve been working to expand our web3 sports data coverage, and that starts with some monthly stats on total users + volume in the ecosystem.
Very soon, I hope to be able to split the Sorare totals out by sport (MLB, NBA, Soccer) and by Primary vs Secondary sales. That should give us a clearer views of the numbers.
It’s crazy to think that Kyrie Irving requested a trade just LAST SUNDAY.
And then, as you may know, Durant ended up on Phoenix.
This trade led to probably the craziest trade deadline in years, which spawned this incredible tweet from Pat Bev, just hours before he was traded.
And well…for good form, we need to include some actual web3 content.
Heck, to top it off, let’s look at the best NFT fails, thanks to Wale.Swoosh
This newsletter is brought to you by Bleacher Report, Watch to Earn.
Watch. Play. Earn. Redeem.
It’s that simple in the newest game from Bleacher Report!
During NBA on TNT, test your trivia knowledge and for every correct answer you can earn B/R Tokens which may unlock future access to limited quantities of real-world and digital assets, which are planned to be made available via an online marketplace!
The project features:
Live Trivia during NBA on TNT
Earn extra B/R Tokens in Discord
Use your B/R Tokens to redeem prizes
Terms Apply. See brw2e.com for details.
**This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter, podcast, or publication should be considered financial or trading advice of any kind. Please do your own thorough research and make your own trading decisions. This is not advice.”
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