Tom Brady launches his own NFT platform, Autograph, where celebrities can auction off digital collectibles to fans
- Tom Brady is launching his own non-fungible token (NFT) platform, becoming the latest celebrity to offer digital collectibles in the soaring blockchain market
- Autograph will launch this spring and promises to include major names in sports, entertainment, and fashion, who will offer their own digital collectibles to fans
- NFTs are digital representations of assets or info that can be bought or sold
- Authenticity of NFTs is verified through blockchain technology, which is a digital ledger that can only be altered publicly, in theory, preventing fraud
- Brady hasn’t identified any other celebrities who will be involved with Autograph
- The NBA has recorded $500 million in NFT sales on its platform, NBA Top Shot, which allows fans to buy tokenized highlights priced between $2 and $210,000
- NBA Top Shot creator, Canadian blockchain technology company Dapper Labs, secured $305 million in funding from Michael Jordan and others sports icons
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is launching his own non-fungible token (NFT) platform, becoming the latest celebrity to offer digital collectibles in the soaring blockchain market.
That platform, Autograph, will launch this spring and promises to include major names in sports, entertainment, and fashion, all of whom will create unique digital collectibles, a Brady spokesman told CNN.
NFTs are digital representations of assets or information that can be bought or sold. Authenticity of NFTs is verified through blockchain technology, which is a digital ledger that can only be altered publicly, in theory, preventing fraud. Unlike cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, NFTs can’t be traded at equivalency because each one is unique.
Although NFTs can be used to represent a variety of information, they’re making headlines as collectibles — anything from JPEGs of priceless art to a soundbite of a flatulent Brooklyn man passing wind (yes, this is true, and it sold for $85).
Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is launching his own non-fungible token (NFT) platform, becoming the latest celebrity to offer digital collectibles in the soaring blockchain market
A tokenized version of Twitter’s first tweet has sold for $2.9 million, but that was nothing compared to a digital collage by artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, that went for $69.4 million at auction.
The sports industry has also embraced NFTs.
The NBA has already recorded $500 million in NFT sales on its platform, NBA Top Shot, which allows fans to buy and trade digitized video tokens priced between $2 and $210,000.
Meanwhile NBA Top Shot creator, Canadian blockchain technology company Dapper Labs, has secured $305 million in private funding from the likes of current and former league stars such as Michael Jordan, according to The Associated Press.
As for Autograph, Brady and partner Richard Rosenblatt are hoping to offer more than just digital memorabilia. The pair say Autograph will have live auctions, physical product drops, and other in-person experiences for customers.
‘Autograph will bring together some of the world’s most iconic names and brands with best in class digital artists to ideate, create and launch NFTs and ground-breaking experiences to a community of fans and collectors,’ Rosenblatt told CNN.