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- Big3 offering ownership NFTs in all 12 teams
- DeGods is the largest NFT community on Solana
Decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) DeGods has acquired a significant stake in Big3 team Killer 3s by purchasing non-fungible tokens (NFT) that promise a stake and considerable influence over any of the 12 franchises that comprise the Ice Cube-backed three-on-three basketball league.
DAOs use smart contracts powered by a set of rules to allow collectives, rather than an individual or a centralised body, to have authority in decision making. The rules, as well as any actions taken, are recorded and verified with blockchain technology, in theory providing a high degree of visibility.
DeGods, the largest NFT community on the Solana blockchain, has purchased all of Killer 3s’ 25 ‘fire tier’ NFTs. These tokens give owners intellectual property and licensing rights for team names, logos and merchandise, as well as other gameday activations and cost US$25,000 each, pegging the DeGods investment at this level in Killer 3s at US$625,000
Additionally, DeGods has also secured the ability to whitelist up to 500 of the 975 ‘gold tier’ NFTs for its members to purchase. These NFTs include VIP access to every match, limited edition merchandise, voting rights, calls with captains, coaches, commissioners, and referees, and even a championship ring for winning team owners, who will also receive a percentage of a future team sale.
Big3 says the development is a major endorsement in its plans for the competition, adding that 100,000 people haves signed up to its ownership Discord channel since launching its NFT initiative earlier this month.
“This is a huge step forward in the innovative ownership-like model we are creating for the league,” said Big3 co-founder, Jeff Kwatinetz. “Big3 teams have not been organised around geographical locations so instead of being from a city or state our teams are going to represent communities.
“The DeGods bring a diverse, very active, and forward thinking fan base to our league and we are looking forward to them spearheading community fandom for their team. We are thrilled to welcome DeGods to the Big3 and are looking forward to collaborating on the future of their team and the league overall.”
“This is probably the most fascinating experiment in the entire NFT space right now,” said DeGods Founder, Frank DeGod. “It’s cool because owning and operating a basketball team is a dream for millions of people. Now, we get to make that dream true for our holders.”
Other notable examples of sports organisations looking to apply a DAO structure to sport include SailGP and MotorDAO, however all projects remain in their infancy.
