LONDON, Sept. 22 (Reuters) – A year ago, it might seem like a long time ago when a company created a digital platform for basketball fans to buy and exchange videos of the matches of the NBA that they could probably watch for free online.

It was even more baffling when some clips changed hands for tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

These highlights, approved by the U.S. National Basketball Association, were sold as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs – crypto assets that use the blockchain to authenticate their ownership, giving them some cachet and marketable value. Read more

The NBA Top Shot platform has proven to be so popular that the crypto company behind it, Dapper Labs, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $ 250 million and is now heading into football thanks to a deal with the division. elite Spanish LaLiga.

So just as some basketball fans – or speculators – paid more than $ 200,000 for a video of a LeBron James slam dunk, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid fans will be able to “own” the glorious goals of Karim Benzema or Luis Suarez.

While the whole concept leaves a lot of people confused, there is a lot of money behind it.

New investors for Dapper Labs include Singaporean wealth fund GIC, which joins hedge funds Coatue, a16z and GV (formerly Google Ventures) to support the three-year Vancouver-based company.

The numbers tell their own story.

NBA Top Shot, launched in October last year, was among the first NFT products to take off as the industry grew in popularity in early 2021. Monthly sales fell from $ 1.5 million in December 2020 to $ 43.8 million in January, then peaked at $ 232 million in February. . Read more

But growth slowed in the second quarter of the year. As of June 2021, monthly sales were $ 53.1 million. Read more

Dapper Labs said the football platform will launch in June 2022 and allow people to purchase NFTs of video “moments” from Spain’s top teams.

“Bored MONKEYS” FOR 24 MILLION DOLLARS

NFTs are a new phenomenon, having exploded in popularity in various fields during the pandemic as enthusiasts and investors scramble to spend huge sums of money on items that only exist online.

They are becoming more and more common. In the art world, for example, a set of NFT “Bored Ape” sold for $ 24.4 million in a recent online auction at Sotheby’s. Read more

It’s a sign of their financial potential that La Liga – one of the most prestigious divisions in the world’s most popular sport – is keen to harness its wagon to technology. Read more

“The partnership between LaLiga and Dapper Labs will bring us as close as possible to our fans around the world through new and growing support, and alongside the industry partner who created and launched the entire NFT movement,” said Javier, president of LaLiga. Tebas.

As the crypto asset market continues to heat up, collectible and sports-related NFTs were the most popular categories in the first half of the year, according to NonFungible.com, a website that tracks NFT market data.

Sorare, an NFT fantasy soccer game, said on Tuesday it had raised $ 680 million in funding from investors led by SoftBank. Read more

Dapper Labs, which also built a blockchain, Flow, and an NFT game called CryptoKitties, said it would use $ 250 million to “continue to develop and support leading sports, entertainment and music products. on the brand which will be put online and developed on the Flow blockchain “.

Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Pravin Char

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