Nike just did it! Huge NFT revenue sees it lead pack

Cryptocurrency

Nike, the world’s most popular sports apparel firm, is also the leader in the NFT space for brands.

The $30 billion American giant has amassed $185.3 million in revenue from NFT drops, with $93m worth of primary sales and $92m in royalties.

Data from Dune Analytics and first reported by NFTGators showed Nike has inspired 67,000 transactions, with volumes in secondary markets approaching $1.3bn.

European competitor Adidas generated the fifth largest revenue from NFTs, but was way behind with $10.9m from 51,000 transactions.

The CloneX collection topped Nike’s list, generating $39.93m, followed by trainers-themed collection MNLTH, which generated $24.22m.

Nike acquired NFT startup RTFKT in December 2021 to accelerate its Web3 strategy, just weeks after the CloneX collection launched. The NFT company has produced most of its campaigns to date, including MNLTH and MNLTH2, Mint Vial and virtual Cryptokicks trainers, which launched in April.

The latter collection included 20,000 NFTs, including one design by Takashi Murakami which was purchased for $134,000.

In second spot in the Dune Analytics list was Dolce & Gabbana ($25.6m revenue from 9,000 transactions), followed by Tiffany, which recently launched its NFTiff token allowing CryptoPunk holders to mint customised pendants. Tiffany’s $12.6m came from just 74 transactions. 

Gucci ($11.6m) was fourth ahead of Adidas then Budweiser, Time Magazine, Bud Light, AO and Lacoste.

Trading volume in the overall NFT market fell 40% in Q2 2022 as interest fades in the digital collectibles.

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Cryptocurrency shorts

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is not worried about coming through its latest crypto winter, this time as a listed company, despite warning that crypto exchange fees will shrink. “I can’t tell you what the world’s going to be like a year from now,” he told CNBC. “We have this saying internally: ‘it’s never as good as it seems, it’s never as bad as it seems’. If we keep building great products, we’re going to do fine over the next five or 10 years.”

Uniswap community members have voted to create the Uniswap Foundation to support open-source development and community governance within the protocol. The foundation is requesting $74m from the DAO treasury, which currently holds over $3 billion in UNI, the protocol’s native token.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has spoken out in defence of the founders of Tornado Cash after the crypto mixer was sanctioned by US authorities for allegedly enabling the laundering of stolen funds through its platform. Likening the writing of code to a book, he said: “For the most part, it’s just words. You’re not telling people to go do this.”

Iran’s association of importers has called for a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency after its government, which faced the most economic sanctions in the world prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, used crypto to pay for imports recently.

Transact365, a UK-based global payments platform powering merchants across the globe, has struck a strategic partnership with crypto exchange FINECTUM. Merchants can now accept and process crypto payments, including BTC, LTC, USDTE, USDTT, ETH and more, across five continents.

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Crypto prices

The overall market cap of the more than 20,700 coins is at $1.03 trillion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 2.3% increase in the last 24 hours.

Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – gained 2% to $21,400. BTC is 12% down on a week ago.

Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – grew 4% to $1,645. ETH is 7% down over the course of a week.

Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token climbed 1% to $299, leaving it 7% down over seven days.

The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP gained 3% to 34.4c, with its price 12% down on seven days ago.

Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, added 2% to below 46c and is 21% down in a week.

Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token added 2% to $35.04 and is 21% lower than its price a week ago.

Meme coin DOGE was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE grew 1% to 6.8c and is 22% down over seven days.

Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, grew 4% to $7.55 and is 17% down on its price a week ago.

Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token added 6% to $23.25 and is 17% down in a week.

Polygon aims to securely connect blockchains as a sort of decentralised internet. Its MATIC token gained 6% to 81.5c, while it is 15% down in a week.

To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in recent times – and for round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments – click here.

For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.