“Curryverse” in Virtual Environment: NBA Star Enters Tokenized Fandom

NBA star Steph Curry is bringing Curryverse into the Metaverse world

National Basketball League (NBA) star and non-fungible token (NFT) enthusiast Steph Curry has filed a trademark for the "Curryverse," indicating plans to create interactive "virtual environments" to sell metaverse and NFTs. The full trademark filing includes rights for "entertainment services, namely, personal and virtual and metaverse appearances" by Curry as well as "online gaming services like virtual worlds." The filing is the first known crypto-related trademark claimed by Curry, though the three-point champion has been an ambassador for crypto exchange FTX since September 2021.

NBA star Steph Curry is also no stranger to the NFT community, having purchased a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT in August 2021. The basketball star's collection also includes other digital collectibles, such as a membership pass to Web3 golf startup LinksDAO. He released his first official NFT release in partnership with Under Armour in December 2021, grossing more than 2200 ETH (around $3.5 million) in sales volume, according to OpenSea. Curry's NBA team, the Golden State Warriors, has also embraced Web3 integrations with a series of partnerships to sell NFT collectibles as part of the larger "tokenized fandom" genre.

However, this is not the first time for NBA entering the metaverse world. The National Basketball Association is the next entity to hop on the Metaverse wave with the introduction of the NBA All-World. In collaboration with the National Basketball Players Association and mobile app development company Niantic, NBA All-World is a free game that will launch during the 2022-2023 season. The on-the-go game will allow users to compete as actual players using geolocation and immersive features.