2021 will be forever remembered as the year of NFTs, when this particular sector of the crypto industry exploded, bringing millions of buyers, sellers, collectors, artists, celebrities, and even companies to start working with NFTs. I’m working with some of them, so I see that the hype is real.
But, even though it seems like everyone is playing the NFT game these days, that is not entirely the case, and we were interested in seeing which are the biggest names and brands that have actually already jumped on the NFT bandwagon in the year when it exploded.
1. eBay
eBay has a massive presence in online shopping, and so its decision to embrace the NFT sector was a major move earlier this year. The company said back in May that it will allow NFT sales on its platform, allowing users to buy and sell digital collectibles at any time.
The move came after a few extremely successful months that the NFT sector saw, with billions of dollars in NFT purchases in the first half of 2021 alone. eBay has already invested heavily in infrastructure for physical collectibles, such as trading cards, sneakers, watches, and more, and this has gone a long way in terms of buyer verification.
However, buying digital collectibles is not user-friendly, and so eBay entered the sector knowing that it will have to work on adapting the infrastructure.
2. NBA
Another major example came when the National Basketball League, also known as NBA, entered the NFT movement. The League invested heavily in digital-first outreach programs throughout European markets, which led to a global campaign featuring sports stars from all over the world.
The NBA also teamed up with a number of well-known individuals, including rapper Quavo.
Meanwhile, the League’s VP and head of fan engagement and DTC for the NBA, Europe, and the Middle East, George Aivazoglou, said that the decision to go NFT helped the League accelerate some aspects of the overall fan experience, and pivot to a digital-first, direct-to-consumer approach.
And don’t forget about the NBA TopShot project, built on the FLOW blockchain. It already has
hundreds of thousands of fans.
3. Nike
Nike needs no introduction, as the athletic apparel and footwear giant is known throughout the world for its products. Now, however, it is also known for dabbling with non-fungible tokens, although it is not using them for digital art, but rather as a patent for its footwear.
The company’s initiative is called Cryptokick, and it is an NFT series that removes barriers between digital and physical worlds. Basically, as soon as the physical shoe and its NFT counterpart are linked, and the user purchases a physical shoe, its digital version will become available in their ‘virtual locker.’
That way, if the user ever sells the physical shoe, they will also be selling the digital one. Meanwhile, the virtual shoe can change characteristics, crossbreed, and more.
4. Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres has been encountering cryptocurrencies on her show ever since Ashton Kutcher’s donation to her charity all those years ago, and when the NFTs went big, the popular comedian and talk show host did not waste any time in dipping her toes into the newly emerged crypto sector.
DeGeneres used the NFT market to sell a picture of a cat, which actually did extremely well. The picture was sold for $33,495, and Ellen donated it to the World Central Kitchen, showing that NFTs can be used for charitable purposes, as well.
5. Mark Cuban
NFTs have also caught the eye of billionaires, such as Mark Cuban, who sold his company in 1999 to Yahoo! For $5.7 billion of Yahoo stock.
Now, he is getting very much into the NFT market, selling NFTs of his tweets for around $1,000 per piece.
Cuban also said directly that if he were starting a business today, he would build it on blockchain technology and the NFT sector, which is a major endorsement coming from such a successful entrepreneur and businessman. Given his NFT tweet sales, Cuban seems to not only believe in his own advice, but he actually follows it, which is proof enough that his statement was not just empty words.
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