"First, it's about collecting"
Rosenblatt, 23, tells CNBC Make It.
"Then, it comes down to
community. Brady's co-founder,
Autograph CEO Dillon Rosenblatt,
says there are two primary reasons
people shell out so much money for
NFTs.Since then, Autograph has sold
more than 100,000 NFTs, according
to a company spokesperson, with
prices ranging from $12 to $1,500
each. The digital assets can then be
sold on Autograph's secondary
market for thousands - or
sometimes millions of dollars. A
signed Brady NFT is currently on the
market for $4 milion. A signed Biles
NFT is on sale for $100,000.Crypto
enthusiast and seven-time Super
Bowl champion Tom Brady is one of
those NFT-friendly celebrities. In April, the football star co-founded
Autograph, a Los Angeles-based NFT
marketplace start-up. The company
quickly signed exclusive deals with
athletes like Tiger Woods, Wayne
Gretzky, Derek Jeter, Simone Biles
and Tony Hawk.From a slew of
record-breaking sales to celebrity
interest, non-fungible tokens
unique pieces of data stored on
blockchain ledgers, often in the form
of digital artwork- have taken 2021
by storm. Trading volume for NFTs
surged more than 700% to $10.7
billion during this year's third quarter
alone, according to a report from
blockchain analytics firm DappRadar.
Collecting, Rosenblatt says, is human
nature: Over the years, humans have
collected everything from postage stamps and coins to baseball cards.
"There's been a love for collecting for
all of human history," he says.
NFTs could be "the next frontier of it
Rosenblatt says. That's because
NFTs aren't replicable: Their
ownership and validity can be
tracked and verified from the
moment their data gets uploaded to
a blockchain ledger. Rarity is a
valuable trait in any collector's world,
and each NFT is guaranteed to be
unique.
As for community, psychologists say
collecting is so popular partially
because it comes with a deep social
motivation. Dr. Shirley Mueller, a
neuroscientist who researches the human urge to collect, wrote in
Psychology Today last year that a
primary motivating factor for many
collectors- whether consciously or
subconsciously - is to enhance their
network of friends.
Some people, Rosenblatt says, buy
digital assets specifically so they can
become part of the NFT community.
"When somebody makes one of
those iconic purchases, the whole
space knows about it. It's the same
as somebody who buys a really
unique car in the car world,
Rosenblatt says. "In a way, it can be a
Cool flex item for the people that
value that."
Autograph encourages that sense of
Community by giving users access to
a chat group on Discord, where
buyers can talk directly with
influencers who offer branded NFTs
on the company's platform. Brady, for
example, made an appearance in the
chat group just last week.
Other top NFT marketplaces- like
OpenSea, Larva Labs or NBA Top
Shot-offer their users similar
access to private Discord chats. Put
simply, Rosenblatt says, buying an
NFT at any price can make you feel
included in the latest craze
"It's an entryway into this world," he
says.
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