THAT’S HOW NIKE IS APPROACHING THE METAVERSE

Good morning dear readers of Tecnogalaxy, today we will talk about Nike that bought a company to produce sneakers through NFT for the metaverse.

For those who don’t know, NFTs allow you to buy and sell ownership of unique digital items and keep track of who owns them using the blockchain. NFT stands for “fungible tokens” and can technically contain anything digital, including drawings, animated GIFs, songs or elements in video games. An NFT is unique, like a real painting, or a copy of many, like trading cards, but the blockchain keeps track of who owns the file.

What are the NTFs?

NFT has made headlines lately, some sold for millions of dollars, such as the high-profile meme like Nyan Cat and the “deal with it” sunglasses auctioned off. There are also many discussions about the massive use of electricity and the environmental impact that NFT have.

Back to us, one comparison I’ve heard over and over the last year is that buying NFT for people in the metaverse is just like collecting sneakers, and now Nike is apparently trying to make sure it’s ready for the literal version of that possibility. The clothing giant, in fact, has just announced the acquisition of RTFKT Studios, which he defines as “a leading brand that leverages cutting-edge innovation to deliver next-generation collectibles that combine culture and gaming“.

RTFKT says that in February, a collaboration with the growing artist, FEWOCiOUS, to sell real sneakers paired with virtual ones, thanks to this they managed to sell about 600 pairs/NFT in just six minutes, earning over 3.1 million dollars. It was the same early spring period when most of us heard about NFT for the first time, as Grimes sold digital artwork worth about 6 million on March 1. It is not clear if any of these digital objects are worth as much today; looking at OpenSea and Nifty Gateway, right now, I see that some of them are listed or have recently been sold at less than their original prices.

But he forgets the past, and that time he photoshopped a pair of his sneakers on Elon Musk, RTFKT is moving forward, and just the other day the startup supported by A16Z launched the collaboration Clone X NFT with the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, offering a series of metaverse digital avatars ready for use with various collectible traits.

The company’s website immediately asks visitors to connect their Metamask wallets, which is one of the ways NFT owners can check their purchases, with the idea that at some point in the future you will play or enter other types of VR spaces where your objects can materialize, once those spaces have read the blockchain to assess which elements you have rights to.

This is the kind of vision that Nike is buying, crediting the company founder Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le and Steven Vasilev to exploit “the latest game engines, NFT, blockchain authentication and augmented reality to create unique virtual products and experiences.”

During the announcement of the agreement, without revealing how much was spent, Nike placed the lightning-style logo of RTFKT next to its iconic swoosh, Jumpman and Converse. These brands have decades of history, built on top-notch athletic sponsorship, distinctive designs and a basic culture that actually exists in the real world. RTFKT, meanwhile, was founded in January 2020. It says that “human development in consciousness has accelerated faster than expected. We are here to accelerate our digital future now”.

This is all about Nike and NFT, to a forthcoming article.

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