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NBA Top Shot Review

NBA Top Shot Review​

The National Basketball Association’s official branding has influenced the rise of NBA Top Shot as a noticeable name in the world of NFTs.

Like traditional sports trading cards, NBA fans can purchase tokens that represent memorable moments in NBA history. Crypto Slam reports that this project has been incredibly successful – it is the most prosperous NFT collectible to date, generating over $600 million in sales by June 2021. In addition, it has established a prominent position in the uncharted territory of NFT markets due to its similarity to other forms of traditional sports memorabilia.

NBA Top Shot in short

  • Seen as the most successful NFT collectible.
  • Employs all NBA’s elite talents like Lebron James and Zion Williamson.
  • Alike cardboard trading cards.
  • Most memorable moments have been sold for hundreds of thousands.

The NBA’s Top Shot program has been a huge success, with fans spending millions of dollars on virtual collectibles. But not everyone is happy about it. Some have raised concerns about the program’s sustainability and whether it’s fair to those who can’t afford to participate. Here, we take a look at the pros and cons of the NBA’s Top Shot program.

Pros

  • The Flow blockchain offers lower fees than Ethereum
  • No cryptocurrency payments are necessary for users.
  • Widely considered to be the number one NFT collectible with a strong focus on mainstream public.
  • Offer new items regularly

Cons

  • Deficient support for cryptocurrencies
  • NBA Top Shot is a very custodial platform
  • Still in the initial stages of development, and people must go through a verification process to confirm identities

Buying NBA Top Shots NFTs

To start out with NBA Top Shot, the only choice currently is the official NBA Top Shot site.

This website will provide you with the option of buying NBA Top Shot packs or obtaining a particular NFT via the secondary market from another user. If you want to get hold of a special NFT or start opening packs, take the initial step by creating your own NBA Top Shot account. This task can be done on NBATopShot.com by entering your email address or linking the platform with your Google account.

You’ll be asked to provide some standard identification details like your name, home country, and date of birth. Then, to confirm your identity, you’ll receive a text message on your phone with a code to enter on the Dapper website. Subsequently, you’ll get a recovery code that must be used in case you’re unable to sign in using your telephone number.

This new account will work with other Dapper products, not just NBA Top Shot. When you’ve created your account, you will be able to buy your first pack. Newcomers have the opportunity to get a Starter Pack for only $9. Furthermore, those looking for particular Moments can search for them specifically in Marketplace.

The NBA Top Shot History

Since October 2020, NBA Top Shot has been a prominent platform within the blockchain NFT world. It debuted during the 2020 “bubble” season of the corona pandemic.

Dapper Labs built the NBA Top Shot platform, and so far, it is the most active and popular NFT collectible set since the launch of Cryptokitties.

The remarkable scale of NBA Top Shot NFT sales surpasses that of any other current collectibles, including CryptoPunks and Cryptokitties. Astonishingly, some of these have fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales.

Roham Gharegozious, CEO of Dapper Labs, has announced that NBA Top Shot has reached the milestone of over 1 million users. Such success indicates that the NBA will likely investigate ways to further engage with the NFT market.

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Upsides to NBA Top Shot

One of the main benefits of NBA Top Shot is its user-friendly nature. Compared to other blockchain and crypto products, it is straightforward to comprehend.

The platform was designed with the NBA enthusiast in mind; credit cards and debit cards are the recommended payment method, eliminating confusion about using cryptocurrencies to purchase NBA Top Shot packs.

The Dapper Labs wallet employed on this platform is custodial. While this takes away the general ethos of decentralization found with the underlying value associated with blockchain technology, making the platform custodial improves the user experience and functionality for users unfamiliar with self-managing non-custodial crypto wallets.

It’s worth mentioning that NBA Top Shot has opted for Flow as its blockchain technology rather than Ethereum, a decision by the platform team that will assist in keeping costs down once open to non-custodial structures. Although some may see the use of a more centralized basis and custodial wallet as essential in the cryptocurrency world, it is unlikely there would be many advantages gained through maximum decentralization in the NFT market.

The NBA’s official stamp of approval on NBA Top Shot has undoubtedly made it a mainstream sensation. The rapidly growing user base is composed largely of veterans in the traditional sports trading card world, and the frequent release of new packs only builds further engagement with the product.

Downsides to NBA Top Shot

Despite its noteworthy success in terms of mainstream acceptance, NBA Top Shot has some drawbacks that should be taken into consideration. For example, the platform is still relatively new, so some elements still need to be added.

The NBA Top Shot Moments has been a success, but users would be delighted with more variety in the kinds of cards available. For example, introduce simple player NFTs similar to traditional sports trading cards. Blockchain enthusiasts may take issue with its custodial nature. Still, it’s debatable how much the platform stands to gain by switching to a more decentralized model when its value comes from the NBA license anyway – not to mention that it could make it harder to use.

The most significant concern facing NBA Top Shot is the considerable demand for verification that users must apply. Most people are disinclined to share personal details simply to buy and sell digital basketball cards online.