CryptoKitties Creators Get Partner with the NBA for A New Collectible Token

Dapper Labs, the creators of one of the most popular blockchain games CryptoKitties, are getting ready to turn the digital token world upside down.

NBA patent for Dapper Labs

The March 24 edition of the Intellectual Property Magazine of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has listed Dapper Labs for receiving rights to use National Basketball Association (NBA) branding. This will include pictures of games as well as players which will be used for a digital collectible token by the company in Brazil. The new program will be called “NBA Top Shot” and it will allow basketball fans to have better interactions with their favorite players. The program will use engagement tokens linked with the player contracts and games of the event.

CryptoKitties is one of the most popular games in the world built atop blockchain technology and is known to have famously clogged the Ethereum blockchain because of its high volume on one occasion. The company is interested in partnering with sports organizations. Last month, it announced a partnership with the MMA event Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for which it will launch tokenized MMA Tamagotchis.

Sports team show interest in blockchain

Though the blockchain industry is still in its nascent stage and its most popular use cases are related to the finance, governance and global supply chain sectors, sports fans may also be able to utilize this technology. Tokenization could be very useful in the sports industry and collectible tokens like those by Dapper Labs could become popular and create a new industry.

In the United States, the Socios platform is providing engagement tokens for different franchises in the Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Football League (NFL). Blockchain development firm ConsenSys conducted a live auction for NBA’s Sacramento Kings on blockchain in January.

Juventus, the Italian soccer team announced in February that it will be offering digital trading cards of their team’s payers using the Sorare blockchain platform. UK’s Lancashire Cricket Club is also selling tickets using TIXnGO’s blockchain-based ticketing systems. However, we must note that blockchain’s inclusion in sport has mostly been on the marketing level and is yet to make a big impact. In such a scenario, it would be interesting to note what Dapper Labs can do with its UFC and NBA tokens.