Leeds United and Golden State Warriors’ Investors Nick Swinmurn Ventures into NFT Market Via Hellebore Game
- The Hellebore fantasy game is scheduled to launch on Tuesday.
- Swinmurn said that he became more interested in the Web3 industry during the Covid pandemic because of NBA TopShot and other NFT collections.
- Some NBA TopShot NFTs featuring the likes of LeBron James have sold for $100,000.
Nick Swinmurn, an entrepreneur in the sports industry, is venturing into the non-fungible token (NFT) industry via the Hellebore fantasy game. The Hellebore platform markets itself as the first NFT-powered sports prediction game.
Notably, Hellebore players can start by purchasing a “Siber” NFT for 0.03 ETH, which grants them access to the site. Then, players can form leagues and play head-to-head matchups to win NFT prizes, and unique fan engagement experiences.
“Play Hellebore isn’t meant to replace traditional fantasy sports,” Swinmurn noted. “We expect crypto natives [to be] early adopters that know the value of digital ownership, but we are also passionate about helping to educate and onboard newcomers.”
Reportedly, the Hellebore fantasy game is scheduled to launch on Tuesday. Whereby the first sports users can predict outcomes of baseball, football, and soccer to win prizes.
Forward, the company anticipates adding hockey, golf, tennis, and basketball integrations by the end of 2023.
Bigger Picture of the NFT Market and the Sporting Prediction Industry
Swinmurn is an investment guru, particularly in the sporting industry. He has been in the sporting industry for years after selling Zappos.com to Amazon back in 2009. However, Hellebore is his first Web3 venture since he left the online shoe company.
Swinmurn said that he became more interested in the Web3 industry during the Covid pandemic because of NBA TopShot and other NFT collections.
“Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it,” he said.
Notably, Some NBA TopShot NFTs featuring the likes of LeBron James have sold for $100,000.
According to Swinmurn, the cryptocurrency and the NFT market possesses a lot of potential energy, thus prudent in building now in preparation for future bull markets.
The sporting industry and the NFT market have attracted more investors mostly due to their sheer size of the global market. Furthermore, the play-to-earn industry has been in the lead among other DeFi ecosystems according to data collected by Coingecko.
Combining the sporting prediction industry with the prediction market creates a major company with the potential of hitting a billion dollars in a few years. Remember Swinmurn left Zappos.com before it hit the $1 billion market cap.
Possibly, Swinmurn sees this as the best opportunity to create a startup that ends up hitting a billion dollars in a few years. Moreover, the NFT market, let alone the cryptocurrency industry, is less regulated around the world. Thereby giving investors a chance to play with speculative aspects of cryptocurrency traders.
Side Notes
Blockchain technology through Web3 has convinced many investors from traditional markets. According to a report by market decipher, the Sports NFT Market size is estimated at $2.6 billion in 2022 and forecasted to reach 41.6 billion by 2032. Furthermore, the sports NFT market revenue doubled in 2022 achieving 100 percent growth according to the report.
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
