An NFT collection developed in-house is being released by DraftKings as the company believes sports will be a major driver of blockchain adoption in the future.
For the NCAA’s college basketball tournament, which begins on Tuesday and runs through April 4, a Boston-based sports betting company is launching the NFT (non-fungible token) series.
We chose March’s college basketball tournament to launch our new digital collectibles program because of its “dramatic and spectacular” nature, co-founder Matt Kalish said.
An upcoming Primetime NFT Series will feature releases timed to coincide with major sporting events, the first of which is the 2022 College Hoops Collection. In an interview with Blockworks, DraftKings’ senior vice president of marketplace operations, Beth Beiriger, said that the company may introduce future NFT collections in conjunction with the NBA Playoffs and the Super Bowl.
DraftKings’ digital collectibles marketplace was unveiled in August, and now the company is bringing its NFT drops and secondary-market trading to the masses. NFT platform Autograph had previously announced that it would be the exclusive distributor of sports-related NFT content.
For the first time, says Beiriger, the NFT series connects digital collectibles to the company’s traditional line of products. In order to participate in DraftKings sportsbook and daily fantasy offerings, holders of the 2022 College Hoops Collection NFT will be eligible for site credit.
It will be given to those who have all eight NFTs in the collection, after the NCAA championship game, so they can get the next Primetime NFT Series drop early.
A key part of that early onboarding process is digital collectibles, according to Beiriger, who told Blockworks that “we see sports as a mainstream driver for blockchain adoption.”
Today, consumers have already been conditioned for the ongoing digitization of sports, thanks to cashless concessions in stadiums, online ticketing, and much more,” she said.
Beiriger said the company is also keeping a close eye on the blockchain gaming market as play-to-earn models take off.
An NFT-based fantasy game is expected to be released in time for NFL season 2017. The NFL Players Association has agreed to grant DraftKings the right to license its games to its active players.
Polygon partnership
As part of its partnership with infrastructure platform Zero Hash, DraftKings also announced that it would be putting its treasury’s digital assets into the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain. The partnership with Polygon, which the company had previously announced, has now been further solidified.
For Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of Polygon, DraftKings will become “an even more active participant in our Polygon ecosystem, playing an important role in securing and maintaining the integrity of our blockchain,” he said.
Creating a pool of Web3 talent
According to job postings, the company is actively recruiting crypto experts to join its ranks.
When it comes to its NFT marketplace, DraftKings is looking for a senior Web3 engineer to assist with “building and expanding our blockchain infrastructure to ensure the scalability and availability of the entire platform,” according to its website.
An anti-money laundering specialist is also needed by the company, which is looking for someone who can investigate cryptocurrency, blockchain, and the NFT marketplace.
Despite its acquisition of Scarcity Labs, a company that specializes in blockchain and cryptography, DraftKings is looking for people from all industries who can help the company succeed.
Cryptocurrencies are so new and fast-growing that “we do not want to miss out on premier talent by focusing solely on crypto natives,” said Beiriger.
Recruiting a diverse pool of employees with a variety of native professional backgrounds or transferable skill sets is as important to us as bringing on new customers.