Mailman Dave
If you live on Twitter or Instagram you will see people bragging about NBA Top Shot, either they have just found an unreal clip or sold a clip for a lot of money. So what is Top Shot and why are people so excited about it? In real simple terms, it’s a gif. It’s literally a highlight clip that is a couple of seconds of a player, so why are these clips starting to be worth thousands of dollars when you can watch these clips for free on Youtube. It’s because it’s fun, it’s very similar to playing cards. Player cards were insanely popular back in the day but then died. Since the pandemic playing cards have exploded and are more popular than ever. When I was younger I collected hundreds of playing cards that have just sat in a binder collecting dust. Maybe it’s time to get wipe that dust off and see if I can make some extra money from an old Alfonso Soriano card.
How is that dunk by Ja worth $250,000? Cryptocurrency makes my brain hurt, and I don’t know anything about it I just know there’s a limited amount and that’s what drives the price. There’s the meme stock Doge which is literally just an internet dog that is somehow now worth $0.053098. The clips are created using blockchain so it’s impossible to hack, and even though I just took a screen recording of the Ja gif it can’t be duplicated.
The rareness and how great the clip is of course drives the price up, but there’s also the gambling aspect to it. If you have a Zach LaVine clip and LaVine wins the MVP that will drastically increase the price of LaVine’s Top Shot gif. If you think you’re a fortune teller and can see the future you can select players that you think will have a great season. If you’re a fortune teller and can see the future you would also be rich from investing in bitcoin or when GameStop was $4.
There’s a couple of ways that you can get your hands on these gifs one is a more traditional way where you just see a gif that you like, put in a price, and hopefully, your price is enough, and you get it. Or you can get a pack from Top Shot. Packs are broken down as so.
A common pack is $9. You get 9 common moments(gifs), which all have a production of 1,000 plus, and with no maximum. So the chances of you getting a rare moment where you can make some money is slim to none.
A rare pack is $22. You get 7 common moments, one rare moment, which has a maximum production of 999.
A legendary pack is $230. You get 6 common moments, 3 rare moments, and one legendary moment, which has a maximum production of 99.
You can’t just go onto Top Shots website and buy a pack whenever you want. Instead, they are doing limited drops. First come, first serve, and once the drop is out that’s it. It makes the packs even more valuable since you can’t just buy them whenever you want. It’s pretty much the same as when your drug dealer gets his shipment in.
Is it a good financial idea, who the fuck knows? This seems like it was grown from the boredom that quarantine has started. Every cousin has some sort of get rich quick scheme they’re trying to push onto you. Is Top Shot one of them? I have no idea, but it’s fun and I won’t put down fun.
