Crypto Corner: The Sports Slice
Easily the biggest headline in sports and crypto this week? The biggest league in basketball is adding another crypto partner to its Rolodex with Sorare. Sorare completes the league’s “triple threat”, with Dapper Labs acting as the league’s NFT distributor, and Coinbase the league’s official crypto exchange.
Every weekend we cover all the biggest stories from the past week in crypto and sports. Let’s dive into the NBA’s latest deal, and all the other big stories from the past week.
The sports disc
The NBA’s latest Web3 partnership
Sorare is pushing the North American market. After securing MLB as a partner earlier this year, Sorare has doubled down with another ‘big 4’ sports league, the NBA.
The collaboration was largely unexpected, as the NBA hasn’t shown much of a problem with its existing NFT partner, Dapper Labs, and their Flow blockchain that powers the NBA’s (and WNBA’s) Top Shot product.
Should Dapper be worried? In our report last week, we took a look at the bullish and bearish perspective. On one hand, Dapper communicated to community members that it was excited to release the gamified “Hardwood” product, essentially a fantasy-inspired use of Top Shot NFTs. Sorare has seemingly stepped in and secured his position to fill that gap.
On the other hand, competition breeds better products, and this move will definitely keep Dapper on his heels — and the NBA deal doesn’t appear to be in jeopardy. This could be the NBA seeking an “ace in place” approach and bringing in Sorare for its particular focus: building fantasy-style NFT platforms for sports leagues.
While Dapper still has a lot to write home about when it comes to a growing list of partnerships, Sorare’s emergence in the North American market should likely emerge as a major contender for Dapper, which hasn’t had a formidable challenge in the market yet. While both products can certainly coexist, only time will tell how this dynamic plays out.
Report: Sports NFT market to double by 2022, up to $2.6 billion this year
A new study by Market Decipher reveals that the sports NFT market doubled from $1.3 billion to $2.6 billion this year, and projected growth is expected to develop at an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36.3 % – which could see sports NFTs hit a market value of $41.6 billion by 2032.
The report mentions four main buckets that can stimulate NFT growth: cards, accessories, collectibles and video clips. Limited edition video clips have led the way for sports NFTs this year, according to the report, with the North American market leading the way.
Should Dapper Labs be concerned? The largely dominant NFT player in sport in the U.S. market is facing a formidable challenger in Sorare, who is unleashing fantasy game NFTs with major leagues like the MLB, the NFL, and now the NBA. Dapper Labs' Flow blockchain (FLOW) likely has continued headwinds to come. | Source: FLOW-USD on TradingView.com
Warriors’ co-owner Swinmurn launches NFT project
There is no shortage of crypto advocates and NFT fans throughout San Francisco. Look no further than some of the ownership behind the Golden State Warriors NBA franchise. Zappos founder and Warriors co-owner Nick Swinmurn is launching his own fantasy sports-inspired NFT game, according to reports this past week.
Swinmurn works with “Play Hellebore”, where different NFTs give access to certain functions and possibilities. The game will enable users to leverage a blockchain to predict results for professional sports games, starting with baseball, football and soccer.
Gaming and esports: Yeeha Games implements Fiat ramps
Bybit-backed Yeeha Games has released nearly a dozen games in the GameFi space to date, and in recent days added a new partnership to the list. Yeeha announced that they will work with Capital for a fiat on and off, as well as no gas fees on crypto transactions.
GameFi continues to find its niche in crypto despite significant headwinds.
We follow up with Ocavus Jon Cheney
In last week’s “Slice,” we covered a new partnership deal between BYU Athletics and growing blockchain firm Ocavu. Following this report, we took the time to sit down with Ocavu CEO Jon Cheney and talk through Cheney’s perspective on NFTs, growth in sports and more. You can read the full transcript here.
Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com
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