A DAB FROM DAPPER LABS The NFT market is still boiling. The latest testament is a huge $305 million capital raise by Dapper Labs, the company behind NBA Top Shot and the underlying FLOW blockchain competing with Ethereum. The deal values the three-year-old Vancouver-based startup at $2.6 billion. Among the investors are basketball legend Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Hornets, and Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant. Five months into its open beta, the blockchain-based collectible platform has already handled more than three million transactions and $460 million in sales on the secondary market. Year-to-date, the combined market cap of major NFT projects has increased by 1,785%. Other blockchain gaming-focused projects like Theta Network, Enjin, Sandbox and Axie Infinity are also gaining traction. Additionally, NFT marketplaces, like Rarible and Opensea, saw their sales rise by anywhere between 50- to 100-fold in the past three months. According to Dapp Radar, in the first quarter of 2021, NFTs set a new transaction volume record of $1.5 billion. |