Investor Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and husband of tennis legend Serena Williams, is among the latest high-profile names to support NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.
“I invested a lot in women’s sports, but the rise of NFTs and the collectible card boom will be HUGE for women’s sports,” Ohanian tweeted on Saturday.
“Save this tweet,” he added, noting that women who invest in the NFTs and other digital assets market “are going to change the game,” especially as the user experience and platform interface improve over time “and the market becomes more efficient [and] liquid.”
NFTs are unique cryptocurrency tokens used to represent digital assets, including artwork, collectible sports items and video clips, to name a few. NFTs can be bought and sold, as can physical assets. And, as they run on blockchain, a decentralized digital ledger that documents transactions, ownership and validity of the asset that NFTs represent can be tracked.
In February, a prominent NFT clip showing a LeBron James dunk was sold for more than $ 200,000 through NBA Top Shot by Dapper Labs, an online platform that sells NFT collectible “moments” from popular players. And it wasn’t just a one-off situation – NBA Top Shot has generated more than $ 230 million in sales so far, CNBC reported.
While collectibles so far have mainly focused on men’s sports, Ohanian predicts that the NFT market for women’s collectibles will be even bigger.
“These markets are dominated by men now. Women are undervalued, just like in other markets, even though they really have a lot more influence on the dollar,” said Ohanian. tweeted, also pointing out that women control a larger share of consumer spending than men.
For example, he said, “have you seen the mimetic strength” of Megan Rapinoe, a legendary American professional footballer.
“[W]What happens when someone in the United States can invest in ‘Megan Rapinoe’ shares? “asked Ohanian.” Spoiler: it’s going to the moon. “
Ohanian continued to note that “the billions we’ve seen so far on business cards” transactions on platforms like NBA Top Shot and the digital football collectible platform Sorare “are ignoring half the world (for now)” for not yet selling collectibles from Sports women.
In fact, Dapper Labs is “actively developing experiences for women’s sports,” a company spokesman told CNBC Make It, “including WNBA”.
Sorare also has similar plans. Ohanian is an angel investor at Sorare, and one of the “big projects” he is working on with the company is to put women’s football on the platform, a spokesman for Sorare told CNBC Make It. Sorare are women, although the platform does not yet offer collectibles from women athletes, says the company.
Like Ohanian, investor Mark Cuban also predicts that the NFT market will disrupt the sports collectibles market, along with the art, music and film industries.
“This generation knows that a smart contract and the digital asset it reflects or a CryptoAsset is a better investment than seeing, touching or feeling from the old school,” wrote Cuban in a January post.
Those who buy NFT-based collectibles bet that the market will appreciate as much as physical business cards. After all, “people WANT to celebrate their superheroes, men and women, and missing out on that opportunity will look silly in 20 [years], “Ohanian tweeted.
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Disclosure: CNBC has the exclusive cable rights outside the network for “Shark Tank”.