As more and more businesses are impacted by tariff volatility, some executives, like Ridhima Kahn, vice president of business development at Dapper Labs, are viewing the assault on the cost of physical goods as another use case for digital markets powered by blockchain to shine.
“I’m seeing a lot of brands rethinking where revenue and fan engagement come from,” Kahn said during an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. “A lot of franchises, like the ones we work with — NBA, NFL, Disney — have already had years of success with digital collection, and we’re seeing a lot of brands express interest in digital collectibles as a way to engage with fan bases at a time when physical costs are riskier and unknown.”
Propelling brands to take a deeper look at digital merch is the desire to better understand fandom. Flow now has tradable highlights like a “LeBron Dunk” or a “Steph Curry 3-Pointer” that live inside the NBA app and has commemorative NFTs tied to NFL game highlights in NFL All Day.
But with Super Bowl ticket stubs and other digital mementos powered by blockchain, digital goods are proving they can unlock deeper in real life (IRL) fan experiences, courtside or on the field.
“When you look at the amount of time folks are spending online or in digital environments, it’s only increasing,” Kahn said. “That’s really motivating brands to identify where their fans are spending time and where they can reach them where they’re at. It’s also a great way to engage a more global fan base simultaneously, versus in a more limiting, geo-targeted way, which caters more toward the global fan bases that want to engage with these brands.”
Digital as a go-to-market strategy
Because fan bases have become more globalized, the online experience just happens to offer a faster, more accessible environment for digital goods, particularly collectibles, versus the current marketplace for physical goods that’s being hampered by enigmatic tariffs.
Related: Are Donald Trump’s tariffs a legal house of cards?
“Average NFT sales are up 7% quarter-over-quarter, with NFL All Day and NBA Top Shot delivering $2.5 million and $5.6 million, respectively,” Kahn said. “We’re also seeing total value locked (TVL) at an all-time high of $44.4 million on Flow, led by protocols like KittyPunch and other markets that offer next-gen investing and trading opportunities — a trend that’s signaling a broadening use case for blockchain and crypto beyond…
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