They bought Steph Curry NFTs on FTX. Now they are gone
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Superfans of Steph Curry who bought the basketball legend’s digital collectibles, also known as NFTs, are yet another victim of this month’s FTX collapse.
“It’s horrible,” said software engineer Sangeet Parashar, who bought three of Steph Curry’s NFTs for over $1,500 each. “Losing it because of FTX’s carelessness is absolutely gut-wrenching.”
Earlier this month, collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX halted customer withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy, leaving billions of user funds in limbo. This also applies to FTX’s NFT marketplace, which launched a number of NFT projects, the most notable being Steph Curry and Coachella NFT.
What’s worse, Steph Curry NFT holders say they were encouraged to keep their NFTs on FTX instead of holding them elsewhere. They were told that special prizes like meeting Curry would only be available to those who held them at FTX.
“Do the NFTs have to be in an FTX account wallet for you to enter the giveaway?” asked a customer earlier this month in the NFT project’s Discord chat.
The official account of the NFT project responded yes, writing “We don’t have access to your wallet if it’s not on FTX.”
But since the FTX collapse, the NFT project has said little, only sending messages to users that they would let them know as soon as they had more information and that they appreciated their patience.
Curry himself has remained silent about FTX, although he is now a defendant in a lawsuit and the subject of a regulatory investigation in the state of Texas. Another FTX promoter, Tom Brady, has scrubbed his Twitter profile of FTX tweets. Curry, who also used his brand and personal profile to boost FTX, has not.
Curry was one of the celebrities who wholeheartedly embraced FTX, announcing a long-term partnership with FTX in September 2021. Fortune reported that he received a stake in exchange. He starred in an FTX ad where he said he didn’t know anything about crypto but he didn’t need to since he was using FTX.
Part of the partnership were Curry’s NFTs, the “2974 Collection”, sold exclusively on FTX. The collection consisted of 2,974 unique images celebrating each of his career three-pointers up until the date he broke the NBA record for three-pointers. The NFTs were originally sold for $499 each, with all proceeds going to his foundation “Eat. Learn. Play.”
Parashar said the best thing about being a Steph Curry NFT holder was the community. An avid Curry fan who had flown to cities specifically to attend games, buying the NFT gave him access to a club where he could hobnob with Curry’s old college teammates.
“To be able to be a part of such a diverse community was amazing,” he said. “This is what NFTs are going to open up for you. The NFTs enabled a lot of community engagement that wasn’t possible before.”
Another NFT holder said he wants to hear more about whether the NFTs can be “restored”.
“What are things you can do instead of waiting to see what happens with FTX?” said Armaan Talwar, who works in the cryptocurrency industry. “They’ve been a little quiet.”
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