NBA Top Shot: A crypto-collectible for NBA fans

Have you ever wanted to collect your favorite NBA player’s iconic moments? Are you looking to get into the whole cryptocurrency craze the world is in right now? Then, maybe NBA Top Shot is for you! NBA Top Shot is the latest crypto-collectible or NFT in which the most iconic NBA moments are turned into digital tokens for you to collect.

What is an NFT?

NFT means “non-fungible token,” basically meaning that it can’t be replaced or unique. Compared to a bitcoin which is “fungible,” wherein you can trade one Bitcoin for another, an NFT means you have a unique asset that is yours alone. The crazy thing is that almost anything online can be turned into an NFT. From an audio recording of a fart (we’re not kidding! It sold for USD 85PHP 4,988INR 7,204EUR 81CNY 619) to a person’s tweet to a digital copy of a painting, anything can be turned into an NFT and sold as long as there is a market for it.

On a very technical level, NFT’s are part of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is a type of cryptocurrency much like Bitcoin or Dogecoin. The Ethereum blockchain technology allows information to be stored in it that allows NFT’s to be possible.

READ: What are NFTs?

This is where NBA Top Shot comes in. Created by the Vancouver-based company Dapper Labs and backed officially by the NBA, it allows you to collect and own “moments” or virtual trading cards (more like short GIFs) of your favorite NBA players. Like traditional trading cards, you have to purchase “packs” of moments using actual money containing a set of random cards for you to collect. Moments are also divided into different rarities from common up to legendary and beyond.

Similar to other physical trading cards, there may be multiple copies of your specific card. This is where serial numbers come in. Each specific card you get has a unique serial number that makes it a unique asset. The lower the serial number, the higher the possible value of your card will be. For example, a Legendary LeBron James card sold for over USD 300,000PHP 17,605,650INR 25,424,940EUR 285,690CNY 2,183,490! So the serial number and the card’s rarity matter in how much value your “moment” holds.

How do you get started with NBA Top Shot?

The first step into the world of NBA Top Shot is creating an account through their website www.nbatopshot.com. This is where everything happens in the NBA Top Shot world. Creating an account is very straightforward. Just click sign-up on the upper right corner. You can either choose to connect your Google account or sign up with a different email address. Dapper will also ask for your mobile number for security purposes if you lose access to your device or need to recover your account in the future.

Once you’ve created an account, you now have your very own Dapper Wallet. This is where you store funds and use them to buy NBA Top Shot moments. First off, you will notice that you’re given a random username. You can easily change this by going to your profile and changing your username with something you’re more comfortable with. Next is loading up your account.

You will need to put some funds into your Dapper account. Then, on the upper right-hand side, click on “My Dapper Wallet,” which will lead you to the “Payments & Payouts” section. Here is where you can load your Dapper wallet using your credit card or cryptocurrency (Dapper accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash). I’ve personally tried using local debit cards, and so far, none have worked for me, but any credit card that I’ve used does work.

Now there are two ways for you to purchase some cards. First is waiting for a pack to “drop.” On the main page of NBA Top Shot, you will see announcements for when the next pack drop will happen. All you have to do is wait until the “drop” will happen and join the queue to purchase a pack. The queues are sometimes long, and you might not get a chance to purchase a pack if your random queue number is too high so remember to be early and cross your fingers!

The second way is through the marketplace. The marketplace is where you can find all the NBA Top Shot moments. From your common moments all the way to legendary moments. NBA Top Shot allows you to easily search for a specific card you want or narrow down your search to the cheapest cards in the market to get your collection started!

I suggest first looking at the “Lowest Asks” section to get started with some low-cost cards to collect. Once you find the specific card you are looking for, you can click “Select and Buy” and choose a serial number for your card. Again, lower serial numbers sell for more money than higher numbers!

Now you can check out your moments in your collection by going to the “My Moments” link up top in the collections tab. Congratulations! You have just started your NFT and NBA Top Shot collection journey!

What are the downsides to NBA Top Shot?

While NBA Topshot has grown exponentially in the past year, there are still some risks involved. First is that NBA Top Shot is still in “beta,” so many kinks and quirks are still being solved by Dapper Labs, like people not getting into queues, bugs in buying moments, and sometimes an unstable and laggy website.

The second is that it involves quite a bit of luck (if that is a risk for you). Like any other trading card collectible, you don’t know what you’re going to get in a pack. If you’re lucky enough to snag a LeBron James moment, then you’ve hit the jackpot! But some cards don’t have the same value as these superstar moments.

Lastly, the market is very volatile. Cards that were once USD 500PHP 29,343INR 42,375EUR 476CNY 3,639 are now down to just USD 50PHP 2,934INR 4,237EUR 48CNY 364. Some call it a market correction, and others say it is because of the overall state of cryptocurrency right now. The fact that NBA Topshot is still connected to the Ethereum blockchain and the cryptocurrency world means that prices and the market can be unpredictable. So make sure to use the money you’re comfortable losing. But who knows? Bitcoin was down just a couple of years ago, and look where it is now. You never know how big NBA Top Shot might be because even NBA players themselves are getting into the craze!

Why not try NBA Top Shot out? The thrill of collecting cards, albeit digitally, is there. The excitement when opening your digital packs, the fact you get to own a moment of your favorite player, and the potential of earning some money are there as well. It’s a lot of fun joining this world of NFT’s and digital collectibles, and NBA Top Shot is the best there is. So if you’ve been looking for a way to get into cryptocurrency and love collecting cards, why not give NBA Top Shot a “shot”?

This article was written by Andre Co.