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Superfans of Steph Curry who purchased the basketball legend’s digital collectibles, also known as NFTs, are yet another casualty in this month’s FTX collapse.
“It’s horrible,” said software engineer Sangeet Parashar, who bought three of Steph Curry’s NFTs for over $1,500 each. “To lose that because of FTX’s carelessness absolutely sucks.”
Earlier this month, collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX halted customer withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy, leaving billions of user funds in limbo. This also applies to FTX’s NFT marketplace, which launched a slew of NFT projects, the most notable being Steph Curry and Coachella NFTs.
What’s worse, Steph Curry NFT holders say they were encouraged to keep the NFTs on FTX rather than hold them elsewhere. They were told special prizes like meeting Curry would only be available to those who kept them on FTX.
“Do the NFTs have to be in an FTX account wallet for you to be entered in the giveaway?” one customer asked earlier this month in the NFT project’s Discord chat.
The official account of the NFT project responded yes, writing “We do not have access to your wallet if it is not on FTX.”
But since FTX’s collapse, the NFT project has said little, only messaging users that they would let them know as soon as they had more information and that they appreciated their patience.
Curry himself has stayed silent on FTX, though he is now a defendant in a lawsuit and the subject of a Texas state regulatory investigation. Another FTX promoter, Tom Brady, has scrubbed his Twitter profile of FTX tweets. Curry, who also used his brand and personal profile to boost FTX, has not.
Curry was one of the celebrities to wholeheartedly embrace FTX, announcing a long-term partnership with FTX in September 2021. Fortune reported he received an equity stake in exchange. He starred in an FTX ad where he said he didn’t know anything about crypto, but didn’t need to since he was using FTX.
Part of the partnership were Curry’s NFTs, the “2974 Collection,” sold exclusively on FTX. The collection consisted of 2,974 unique images celebrating each of his career three-pointers up to the date he broke the NBA’s all-time record for scoring threes. The NFTs were initially sold for $499 each, with all proceeds going to his foundation “Eat. Learn. Play.”
Parashar said the best thing about being a Steph Curry NFT holder was the community. An avid Curry fan who had flown to cities specifically to attend games, buying the NFT provided him entrance into a club where he could hobnob with Curry’s old college teammates.
“Being able to be part of such a diverse community was amazing,” he said. “This is what NFTs are supposed to open up to you. The NFTs enabled a lot of community engagement that was prior to that not possible.”
Another NFT holder said he wants to hear more about whether the NFTs could be “reminted.”
“What are things you can do instead of waiting for what’s happening to FTX?” said Armaan Talwar, who works in the cryptocurrency industry. “They’ve gone a little bit silent.”
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Anna Tong can be reached at [email protected]
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