Posted a thread about this on the NBA forum, but also going to post here as collectables are a form of investing.

New website that uses non-fungible tokens on the blockchain to track ownership of digital collectables, in this case NBA highlights of specific players known as "moments" which are similar to trading cards. This has blown up over the last two weeks with top sales of certain moments going for $35K, 70K yesterday and now 100K this morning.

You buy "packs" just like trading cards and open them digitally and add random moments to your online collection. You can then sell or trade these moments on the online marketplace. There is some scarcity to the moments as some are limited and have a certain mint, making some more valuable than others, just like cards. The benefit of this over owning physical cards is 1) everything is digital, nothing physical to keep or that can be damaged, 2) everything is recorded on the blockchain so all transactions of these moments can be seen and a history of transactions are recorded and stay with the card 3) no "grading" or anything like that involved, pure marketplace that is not driven by the physical condition of the item.

Prices of these moments have 10x since the wave, a lot of people wanting to collect "Series 1" (last season, the first for Top Shot) or other rare moments that have a limited supply.

I've put in ~300 this weekend trying to just collect some series 1 and other players I like. You could flip and try to make a quick profit if prices continue to climb or hold for long term. Wondering if there would be anyone interested in forming a group to make larger purchases? Each go in 10% or something to try and nab something of higher value we wouldn't be able to buy alone.

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I Spent $35000 on a Video You Can Find All Over the Internet: Here's Why

Not really an NBA fan but I know what NFTs are and wouldn't be surprised if something like this absolutely exploded. Reminds me of cryptokitties back in 2017 which eventually, imploded but not after huge gains.

Ag13 said:

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I don't get this at all. Grading of cards is part of what gives them value. There are very few 9's and 10's out there of the older rare cards giving them legitimate scarcity. The only things giving these scarcity is that the company making them decides what quantity to make and sell and so by therefore it's limited.

From what I understand about it, the only thing giving it value is that someone else might pay more for it in the future. Isn't this kind of the definition of speculation? If you owned the highlight and its distribution rights (like a copyright) and got paid every time sports center played the reel, then sure I could see the value in that for truly big moments (think Jordan Game 6, Kick 6, etc). But some random dunk by Trae Young in a regular season game? How often will that moment ever be thought about or played in the future?

So what am I missing here? Seems to be another entity taking advantage of blockchain mainia (combined with sports memorabilia mania that's currently happening). At least kids can play with beanie babies.

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bingo. I've been heavy into sports memorabilia the past decade. False scarcity is worthless. I don't understand modern cards going for hundreds of thousands. Now a PSA 10 Jordan Rookie; then you have something. I think there are 200 in that condition that exists. Lately they've been on a tear. The PSA 9s are going for 40k.

I will say that the NBA partnering with this company and licensing it gives it a very interesting outlook. Commissioner Silver, the owners, the NBAPA are all pretty careful/calculating in their league decisions, so they clearly see something in this. It'd be different it was some rogue outfit flipping player performance stock.

The NBA also needs large injections of money at this point.

It's being pushed on a lot of the different calls and "clubhouses" I am in on, but like others I simply do not see it taking off... Just because it has the two hottest trends (blockchain and sports memorabilia) doesn't mean it's a natural fit.

With as many "market movers" as I've heard talking about this suddenly all at once, I kinda wonder how many of these large transactions are actually legitimate and how many are the market movers swapping money so they can purport these large sales.

So, I put in 1K over the weekend and spent about $700 on select moments. My largest purchases were Alex Caruso moments, one 'Early Adopters' moment for ~120 and a Western Conference Finals moment for $370. The rest of my purchases have been a mix of Series 1 (2019 - 2020 season) and Series 2 (current).

Right now, after two days, my account is worth a little less than 1K on the 700 I spent, so I have "gained" ~ 40%. I have not attempted to sell anything yet, so value is only based on the "lowest sales price currently in the market". I am using the intangible.market calculator to find my account worth. Obviously this is kinda flimsy because there is no guarantee 'bids' are actually present on any of the 'asks' in the marketplace.

You can view my collected moments here -- https://www.nbatopshot.com/user/@Ranger222

Based on my experience, the price increases are being seen on the 'rarest' items currently -- those that have an already set mint (series 1 and others). Series 2 has seen little price increases over the weekend unless it is a star player or popular rookie (Durant, etc)

My currently strategy right now is to just hold....hoping that growth continues. For my non-Aggie plays in my 'moment' collection, I have been trying to focus on under-valued players who may be featured in the NBA playoffs (Joe Harris, etc) and try to sell then.

Gotta give the creators props tho -- insane growth in a short amount of time

Ag13 said:

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So what am I missing here? Seems to be another entity taking advantage of blockchain mainia (combined with sports memorabilia mania that's currently happening). At least kids can play with beanie babies.

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I would argue that it is a disruptor to the memorabilia (card) market. You don't have to spend 2 months (or longer) getting your card graded. No more mailing cards to complete purchases. All purchases out in the open and logged. I can share with you immediately my 'collection'. I can sell/purchase from anyone around the world immediately (which makes the NBA product the most interesting compared to other sports aside from soccer obviously -- potential for a world market).

This really comes down to if you believe trends are moving digital over physical....for me, I don't mind placing a small percentage of net worth to diversify and hope this does become something. I've sat on the sidelines not understanding/believing things like this, but I couldn't ignore the amount of people in the past two weeks that caught on, immediately understand and bought in. That says something to me.

I'm heavily invested in Lamelo. Up 100% at this point but don't plan to sell anytime soon. They are about to add badges for rookies seasons and a special badge for first game. The Lamelo will get one of those first game badges. Next plan is to buy up some cheaper rookies (some of which don't have moments yet).

I'm investing/playing around in this with 4-5 friends. We bought Lamelo as well, but that's the worst highlight I've ever seen. I know it's his first assist, but it shouldn't have even been graded as an assist and he's barely in the picture. Will be interested to see how that does when Lamelo has other highlights that have been released.

We are mainly focusing on Rookies for now, and are hoping the badges will make them go up in price over time.

It's pretty fun.

Ranger222 said:

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So, I put in 1K over the weekend and spent about $700 on select moments. My largest purchases were Alex Caruso moments, one 'Early Adopters' moment for ~120 and a Western Conference Finals moment for $370. The rest of my purchases have been a mix of Series 1 (2019 - 2020 season) and Series 2 (current).

Right now, after two days, my account is worth a little less than 1K on the 700 I spent, so I have "gained" ~ 40%. I have not attempted to sell anything yet, so value is only based on the "lowest sales price currently in the market". I am using the intangible.market calculator to find my account worth. Obviously this is kinda flimsy because there is no guarantee 'bids' are actually present on any of the 'asks' in the marketplace.

You can view my collected moments here -- https://www.nbatopshot.com/user/@Ranger222

Based on my experience, the price increases are being seen on the 'rarest' items currently -- those that have an already set mint (series 1 and others). Series 2 has seen little price increases over the weekend unless it is a star player or popular rookie (Durant, etc)

My currently strategy right now is to just hold....hoping that growth continues. For my non-Aggie plays in my 'moment' collection, I have been trying to focus on under-valued players who may be featured in the NBA playoffs (Joe Harris, etc) and try to sell then.

Gotta give the creators props tho -- insane growth in a short amount of time

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Got nosy and checked Ranger222's account - it's valued at >$10,000 in less than a month since he posted. I think everything on Top Shot is still unrealized value at this point, but 10x in less than 30 days is nuts.

It's exploding. My group has way more in this than we imagined we would. We quickly added a lot more to our initial buyins after we played around with it for a week or so (much more than we initially planned). And everything has just moon shot. So the value of our current holdings is pretty ridiculous right now. We are currently doing the Cool Cats Master Challenge to try and get the Lamelo reward, which I think will be one of the most sought after moments on the site for years to come.

We keep thinking of selling some to take some chips off the table, or get our initial "buyins" back. But it seems like this is just getting started. So we keep concluding that it's dumb to take chips off the table this early before the masses really hear about it and get involved. The NBA hasn't really even started marketing it yet, and they will eventually.

It's alot of fun. And we fully realize that there is a risk that we could end up losing everything we have put in. We'll see.

EVERY time I think GaryV is full of *****....

Initially I thought Lamello was the blockchain top shots was built on. Then my brain caught up. Big ballers gone big ball.

Glad to see the returns piling in. I have some original prints of cryptoart that have 20x'd in 6 yrs.

Physical art versus digital art appreciation/fanatization will be fascinating to watch over the coming decade.

Big market correction currently occurring. Seems like a ton of people are taking profit all of a sudden. My buddies have a theory that it's because a lot of people maxed out credit cards and are trying to sell now before the end of the month. Haha, that actually may be partially true.

So the moments can have like 100 of the same? I see a bunch of some of the cards but with about 25 asks with a huge spread

Depends on what series and what types of moments you are talking about. But short answer is that a hihglight can have anywhere from 25 to 15,000 moments (or cards). Generally speaking, the rarer, the higher the price, as long as the other characteristics are equal (such as rookie, whether it's his first points/assist, popularity/success of player, how good the highlight is, etc).

I just checked back and now I joined a line available to get a pack, I think. I am in line for Stress Test.

Stress tests are heard to get now that it's gotten so popular. They only release 5k packs in a stress test. Normal pack drops are 20k packs. They are still in Beta phase with the website and have had quite a few issues with it when there is heavy traffic. That's why they do the stress tests every now and then.

As of a month ago, it was much easier to get packs (I'm sure it was ridiculously easy before that). With the influx of so many new customers, getting packs has become sort of a lottery.

mavsfan4ever said:

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Big market correction currently occurring. Seems like a ton of people are taking profit all of a sudden. My buddies have a theory that it's because a lot of people maxed out credit cards and are trying to sell now before the end of the month. Haha, that actually may be partially true.

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How can you tell?

I'm wanting to get this going. I've tried to sign up for an account and after two days they are adding new users again. Now the marketplace is down for maintenance.

mavsfan4ever said:

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Stress tests are heard to get now that it's gotten so popular. They only release 5k packs in a stress test. Normal pack drops are 20k packs. They are still in Beta phase with the website and have had quite a few issues with it when there is heavy traffic. That's why they do the stress tests every now and then.

As of a month ago, it was much easier to get packs (I'm sure it was ridiculously easy before that). With the influx of so many new customers, getting packs has become sort of a lottery.

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Yea I didn't get in. I can see how it's a real problem with people probably trying ten different ways to get the new cards.

I can see them instituting some advanced identity verification plus even maybe game attendance incentives for this in the future.

Someone needs to start this for college football. But I bet you'd have to get the NCAA on board and that seems like a nightmare. College football fans would eat this up it seems.

BCG Disciple said:

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mavsfan4ever said:

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Big market correction currently occurring. Seems like a ton of people are taking profit all of a sudden. My buddies have a theory that it's because a lot of people maxed out credit cards and are trying to sell now before the end of the month. Haha, that actually may be partially true.

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How can you tell?

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Just from following our holdings and a lot of the holdings we've been keeping our eyes on. There was a big sell off early today and prices dropped, mostly in the common cards. But "drop" is relative bc they had gone up a ton in the last week/month. So probably a needed correction.

BCG Disciple said:

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I'm wanting to get this going. I've tried to sign up for an account and after two days they are adding new users again. Now the marketplace is down for maintenance.

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Maintenance happens pretty often. It can be kinda frustrating but I'm assuming they will eventually get that taken care of.

Ok I see there is a premium pack drop today at 11. I take it I will need to be on the website and try to enter the drop ASAP?

Add me to the camp of I don't understand it, or this class of digital collectibles in general. Why would I spend money to collect these when I can find high quality videos of any of these highlights for free in a million other places? I'm not a card collector, but I can imagine it would be cool to take your rare cards to trade shows or have friends over and check out your display case or whatever. What do I do with these? Show people videos that they can get for free?

I can understand things like digital collectibles in gaming, where there is actual utility and irreproducibility. This to me though appears to be a pure speculative greater fool theory play. Hope nobody takes offense to that - I fully acknowledge that maybe I'm the fool.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but what's the intrinsic value of a cardboard picture of Mickey Mantle with his stats on the back? You can find his pictures and stats all over the internet.

TxAG#2011 said:

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Ok I see there is a premium pack drop today at 11. I take it I will need to be on the website and try to enter the drop ASAP?

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Correct. There is usually a 5-10 minute period prior to the drop where you can enter. And then at 11, you will see where you are in line (which is random as long as you enter the drop ahead of time). Your chances of getting a pack are low because they announced this premium drop ahead of time. So even though these packs are more expensive, I expect more people than normal to be on the site.

corndog04 said:

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Add me to the camp of I don't understand it, or this class of digital collectibles in general. Why would I spend money to collect these when I can find high quality videos of any of these highlights for free in a million other places? I'm not a card collector, but I can imagine it would be cool to take your rare cards to trade shows or have friends over and check out your display case or whatever. What do I do with these? Show people videos that they can get for free?

I can understand things like digital collectibles in gaming, where there is actual utility and irreproducibility. This to me though appears to be a pure speculative greater fool theory play. Hope nobody takes offense to that - I fully acknowledge that maybe I'm the fool.

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Yea, I'm not saying this will definitely be around in 20 years. Who knows, but I think it's hard to imagine how much everything will turn to digital in the next 10-20 years (sports cards, art, music, collector's items, etc). And your arguments against it can be made for physical cards and basically any collector items in general. You can always pull up pictures online of any collector items. The fact that you can pull up and print out thousands of pictures of Michael Jordan playing in his rookie year doesn't make his rookie cards any less valuable.

And they are making digital frames where you can display your top shot moments or other digital NFT art in your home or office if you want to. If this blows up, it will be just like any other high priced collector items, and people may want to "flex" by showing them off in digital frames. I think that the digital frames will be especially popular for digital art in the future. For instance, imagine a famous artist makes a very limited number of digital art creations. Then, the buyers of that digital art would be the only individuals in the world who would be able to display that specific digital art.

And the NFTs have some characteristics that are advantages over physical cards or physical art. For instance, just to name a few, there is zero chance of fraud, which is rampant in the physical card industry. I would never spend big money buying physical cards on ebay or anywhere else online because the chances that the card is fake is so high. That risk is completely taken away with NFTs. And the fact that there is a 24/7 marketplace where it is so easy to trade is another big benefit. And the security is very easy and secure.

So who knows who the fool is in regards to something like this. It could be either side, and that's part of what makes it so fun.