Crypto Corner: Sports Slice

Sports and Crypto’s Biggest Headlines of the Week Easily? Basketball’s Biggest League Adds Another Crypto Partner to Rolodex With Sore. Sorare completes the league’s “triple threat” with Dapper Labs serving as his NFT distributor for the league and Coinbase serving as the league’s official cryptocurrency exchange.

Every weekend we cover all of the biggest crypto and sports stories of the past week. Dive into the latest NBA deals and all of the other major news from last week.

sports slice

NBA’s latest Web3 partnership

They are boosting the North American market. After securing his MLB as a partner earlier this year, Sorare has doubled down in his NBA, another “Big 4” sports league.

The partnership was mostly unexpected, as the NBA has shown no major problems with existing NFT partners Dapper Labs and the Flow blockchain that powers the NBA (and WNBA) top shot product.

Should Dapper Worry? Last week’s report covered bullish and bearish views. On the one hand, Dapper has been telling his members of the community that he is looking forward to the release of a gamified “Hardwood” product. This is basically a fantasy-inspired use of Top Shot NFTs. Sorare came in and seems to have secured a position to fill that gap.

On the one hand, competition has produced a better product, and this move will certainly continue to follow Dapper – and the NBA deal doesn’t appear to be in jeopardy. But it may introduce Sorare for its specific focus of building a fantasy-style NFT platform for sports leagues.

Dapper still has a lot to write down when it comes to its ever-growing list of partnerships, but Sorare’s entry into the North American market could come across as a major competitor to Dapper, who has yet to face a formidable challenge in the market. There is a nature. Both products can certainly coexist, but only time will tell how this dynamic will play out.

Report: Sports NFT Market to Double in 2022, Hit $2.6 Billion This Year

According to new research from Market Decipher, the sports NFT market is expected to double from $1.3 billion to $2.6 billion this year, with projected growth proceeding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36.3%. By 2032, it will have a market capitalization of $41.6 billion.

This report calls out four main buckets that can spur NFT growth: cards, accessories, collectibles, and video clips. Limited edition video clips are paving the way for sports NFTs this year, with the North American market leading the way, according to the report.

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. It’s just part of the ownership behind the NBA franchise Golden State Warriors. Zappos founder and Warriors co-owner Nick Swinmarn will launch his own NFT game inspired by fantasy sports, according to reports last week.

Swinmurn is working on ‘Play Hellebore’ where different NFTs grant access to specific functions. The game will allow users to leverage blockchain to predict the outcome of baseball, football, soccer and other professional sports games.

Gaming and eSports: Yeeha Games Implements Fiat Ramp

Bybit-backed Yeeha Games has released nearly a dozen games in the GameFi space to date, and recently added a new partnership to its slate. Yeeha has announced that it will work with Cavital on-ramp and off-ramp for fiat and no gas fees for cryptocurrency trading.

GameFi continues to find its place in the cryptocurrency niche despite considerable headwinds.

Follow up to Okav’s John Chaney

Last week’s “Slice” covered a new partnership agreement between BYU Athletics and growing blockchain company Ocavu. Following that report, I took time out with his CEO at Ocav, Jon Cheney, to discuss Cheney’s perspective on NFTs, sports growth, and more. You can read the full transcript here.

Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com

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